She never apologized!

She died. Aged 96. 

"Now that she is gone, the imperial monarchy must end too. ... That would be an end to celebrate"https://t.co/ebYBESvarf

— Sriram K (@congoboy) September 9, 2022

The following is a re-post from March 2022:

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In the post-WWII Anglo-American world, two events happened in 1952.  On the eastern side of the Atlantic, Princess Elizabeth ascended to the throne after the death of her father.  Later in the year, General Eisenhower won the presidency in a landslide victory over his Democratic opponent, Adlai Stevenson.

The former had a "divine right" to the throne.  In what was once a colony of the British monarch, Eisenhower campaigned and convinced the electorate that he was the best man for the job.

After serving the maximum eight years, Eisenhower returned to life as a regular citizen of the United States.  Elizabeth has been holding on to the throne at a ripe old age of 95.

The Queen continues to be the titular head of many of her former colonies.  So, she sent her grandson and his wife on a goodwill tour to a couple of them in the Caribbean.

The royal grandson made some waves even before reaching the blue Caribbean waters.  When commenting on the situation in Ukraine, he forgot that we do not live in a world in which the king is always correct.  We are only too happy to remind the royalty if they are walking around in the nude.

He said that it was “alien” to see war in Europe.

Those of us who did not sleep through the history classes in high school know well that if anything Europe has been a battlefield for ever.  And the bloodletting was so massive across Europe that even though there are conflicts in Africa that involve a few countries, the phrase "World War" refers only to the horrible wars in Europe.

Alien to see war in Europe?

This gifted royal grandson and his wife headed to the warm Caribbean, where the reception was not always pleasantly warm.

In Belize, for example, the royal couple had to cancel their first engagement after Indigenous Q’eqchi Maya villagers protested plans for the royal helicopter to land on a local football field. ...

Protesters in Kingston carried or wore signs telling the British to SehYuhSorry, and, in honor of 60 years of Jamaican independence, groups posted 60 reasons the British should formally apologize for slavery and more than 400 years of exploitation.

The Queen's representative 'expressed “profound sorrow" and said that “slavery was abhorrent, and it should never have happened.”

You see how he distanced himself from all that?  Like a Nixonian "mistakes were made."  It is not without reason that English teachers stress using the active voice.  Tell us who did it!

Of course, the royal grandson did not personally enslave humans.  He did not colonize alien lands.  But, his royal status is intimately tied to all that and more.

So,what should be done to move forward?

What we now need is for the west, especially the United Kingdom, to seriously engage with us on this matter. And, it’s not just lip service that we require. Flowery words and artful symbols not only do not placate us, but words without action will also offend us. We need leaders in civil society, in politics and in the monarchy to not only acknowledge historic exploitation and the consequences thereof but to begin to make concrete steps to rectify it. 

Work has already been done. The Caricom Reparations Commission has outlined a clear 10-point action plan with a tangible plan forward for creating justice.

Here in America, to seriously engage on such matter is what the inheritors of Eisenhower's political party do not want to do.  In fact, Republicans have actively passed laws, in the states where they are in power, that ban any sincere discussion of the past and how that past has brought about the present.  Further, they believe that this ban on history will be a critical part of their campaign to win back the Congress and the White House!

These two countries on either side of the Atlantic are supposedly the beacons of democracy!

Warning: Super Sensitive

My vocabulary wasn't anywhere near Vijay's, but I knew enough that I could maintain my class standing as a high achiever.  Every once in a while I tripped because of my haste, which was a problem that dogged me throughout school.  It is funny, when I think about it, because anybody who knows me now would never imagine that I was once a schoolboy who was always in a hurry to do his work!

In the senior classes, English was taught by a guy who later turned out to be one of the only two teachers who slapped me hard.  He has been dead for a few years now.  They say one shouldn't talk ill about the dead.  But, do people who say that know anything about history, where credit is given when it is due, and people and institutions are faulted when they need to be.  My experiences are my personal history, dammit!

Anyway, it was in the ninth grade, I think, when in a Q/A that was an oral class activity, I don't recall what I said or did but all I remember is this master-slapper calling me "super sensitive."

What he perhaps did not know is that he was correct.

As long as I have been aware of the world around me, I have always been super sensitive.

I have also been described as a shy kid.  And later, perhaps an introvert.  A loner. A wuss.

Source

A layer that makes all these more complicated is my level of empathy, which easily transfers other people's problems on to my mind.

Apparently all these together make me, in psychological terms, a Highly Sensitive person (HSP):

Check. Check. Check. ... 

Looks like I will score highly, if I were tested. 

Elaine Aaron, who phrased this HSP, has a website about it.  Of course.

That's me.  How did she know?
 (I did take the self-test.  And, ahem, off-the-charts, practically!)

When I look at those questions, I can't help but wonder:

• Wouldn't people prefer life without sounds of sirens, harsh bright lights, rough fabric on them?
• Wouldn't we want a life without violence and, therefore, wouldn't we want to avoid watching violence?  Okay, Tom & Jerry is an exception to the rule ;)
• Wouldn't people like to enjoy fine scents, tastes, sounds, and works of art?
• Why would people not want to have a rich inner life?
• There are people who do not want their kids to be sensitive?

Unfortunately, we now live in an age of trumpism where a person like me is a poster child for what's wrong with America.  To the tRump MAGA Republicans, cruelty is the point.

I don't understand, I cannot imagine, why we wouldn't want a population of empathetic, arts-loving, introspective people, who do not like violence of any kind.

A man's home is his castle, where the woman is a ...

 Take a look at the following funnies:

You see a pattern there?

Old man Earl is incapable of doing anything at home.

Haha.

Except, it is not funny.

For years, decades, I have been expressing concern, even worried, that young men and old men alike apparently think that they are babies who can't do anything on their own without their mama's or wife's help.    It is godawful. Pathetic.  This is, of course, way worse in the old country.  The difference between the US and India is merely in terms of magnitude; but those differences are like asking a drowning person if they would prefer to be a foot underwater or ten feet underwater.  

It is not funny that grampa doesn't really know how to make waffles, or that he is not allowed to use the stove.  It is not funny because I have seen one too many such men.

While men might even talk a good talk of equality, when the test is for the sponge meeting the dishes, well, talk is easy:

One study that amused me looked at various tasks and how they affected people’s satisfaction with their relationship. For women, it was all about dishwashing — if that task was shared, they were happier, and if they did all the dishes, they were discontent. Men were happiest when they shared errands, and least happy when they did more cleaning and laundry than their partner.

It is not that men do not do chores; take a look at the following chart :

Perhaps you think, "hey, it seems like there are some chores that men do, and some that women do."  If you think that way, well, think again.  How often does the yard need to be worked on, and how often do the dishes need to get done?

It’s striking to me how much chores break down along gender lines. The chores men do more of are usually outdoors, like car upkeep and yard work. The chores women do more of are indoors, like cleaning and cooking. But there’s a big reason men’s tasks are more desirable — the chores they do happen weekly or less often, and the ones women do happen daily or several times a day.

Grampa sets a bad example for the grandson, right?  Are you also concerned now?

So, what can be done?

Among other things, maybe "parents giving their sons as many chores as their daughters, or schools and pediatricians’ offices who need to reach families calling fathers, not just mothers."

Ahem, shouldn't that always have been the norm?

I hope that mothers will convince their young boys that real men aren't afraid of the kitchen and the laundry room, and that real men know what bed skirts and duvets are.

(PS: Studies show that this issue is less of a problem in same-sex relationships.)