Boy George
If we listen to mainstream media outlets like the BBC we might be forgiven for thinking that in the countries that comprise the British Isles we are all currently in a state of national fervour and basking in the warm glow of joyous anticipation of the future life of Prince George of Cambridge, whose every milestone will now fill the front pages and generate endless photo-shoots, street parties and unseemly profiteering by the shoddy goods industry throughout his entire life.
A star is born, George Alexander Louis Windsor the artist formerly and indeed formally known as Prince.
Interestingly since the birth of the royal baby nobody where I work, nor in the several largish meetings I have attended this week outside of work, nowhere has anyone made even a passing mention of the arrival of wee Georgie Windsor. The media of course has been full of it and George is I believe the first person in the entire history of humanity to have their own Wikipedia page before they were born.
Somewhere in the region of 370,000 babies are born every day worldwide, about 2,000 of them are born in the UK, but on Monday last according to the serried ranks of the servile corporate media there was only one birth that mattered.
Somewhere in the region of 370,000 babies are born every day worldwide, about 2,000 of them are born in the UK, but on Monday last according to the serried ranks of the servile corporate media there was only one birth that mattered.
While the media is having a ball most of us aren't or have become so utterly bored with the royal birth manufactured clamour that after a day or two of wall-to-wall media brainwashing many have zoned out of the hullabaloo.
The 60th Birthday Party of the Proto-Perpetual War
As light relief from the Windsors I have been enjoying the revelation of state secrets in Pyongyang this weekend and the realisation why prisoners of war never wanted to go home, with images like this from the 60th Anniversary of the armistice in (but not the end of) the Korean War on 27July this year. The conflict is referred to in North Korea as the "Fatherland Liberation War", and the signing of the armistice on July 27 is celebrated as "Victory Day".. |
North Korean Army during the Victor's (or Victoria's Secret) Parade in Pyongyang
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Getting back to our very own British dynastic cult of personality for a moment, the official cork-popping bonanza had no street level resonance anywhere I have been in the last week in central England. The global corporate media hype has predictably gone into overdrive here and around the world celebrating a rather commonplace event, the birth of a baby to a young couple in London.
This, as coincidence would have it, has for me certain unmistakeable parallels with what the very same media has said about public shows of affection in Pyongyang, toward their own dynastic and dear leader, but of course there is a personality cult in North Korea isn't there?
Kim-mania?
On his right kids who wanted to be there on his left kids who didin't? |
The outpourings of avuncularity in the mainstream media around the birth of this global child whom in strictly cyber terms represents a symboloic virgin birth, never before did a future monarch have for his value added birthright a globally branded virtual reality like that bestowed upon George by Uncle Rupert and Auntie Beeb. The fawning official media will I suspect be focusing more on the child's first steps than his potty training as George is created and shaped by the likes of Saatchi and Saartchi and Hello magazine into a dashing young prince.
The country might have gone to the dogs but George has inherrited an entire network of industries whose sole purpose is to to ensure he George Windsor is forever regarded as special, exceptional, a gift from God and the best monarch money can buy.
A cult of personality according to Wikipedia "arises when an individual uses mass media, propaganda, or other methods, to create an idealized, heroic, and, at times god-like public image, often through unquestioning flattery and praise." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_of_personality
In comparing Prince George with Kim Jong-un we are capturing different stages of the process of creating a cult of personality on opposite sides of the world and ostensibly at least, on opposite sides of a great ideological divide. But is that really true? Or in reality is Kim the latest in the dynastic family line just like George is the latest in his (our) dynastic family line too... peas in a pod with much more in common than what separates them.
They both belong to global Disneyland, the fantasy industry created to convince us that we still live in a nation state with a government and a leader and a flag, but we don't in any other sense than the contrived ceremonial that obscures the true nature of globalized corporate governance. That is true whether we live in Pimlico or Pyongyang, all news is infotainment all babies start life innocent and beautiful including Kim Jong-un, the girls he is pictured with above seem to have been convinced that nothing has changed there with Kim.
They both belong to global Disneyland, the fantasy industry created to convince us that we still live in a nation state with a government and a leader and a flag, but we don't in any other sense than the contrived ceremonial that obscures the true nature of globalized corporate governance. That is true whether we live in Pimlico or Pyongyang, all news is infotainment all babies start life innocent and beautiful including Kim Jong-un, the girls he is pictured with above seem to have been convinced that nothing has changed there with Kim.
The crowd gathers as a man leaves the St Mary's Hospital in London
enroute to Buckingham Palace after the Duchess of Cambridge gave birth
to boy. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday July 22, 2013. The
baby weighed 8lbs 6oz and was........
The Korean Central News Agency described Kim Jong-un as "a great person born of heaven", a propaganda term only his father and grandfather had enjoyed, while the ruling Workers' Party said in an editorial: "We vow with bleeding tears to call Kim Jong-un our supreme commander, our leader." I doubt any English monarch or leader since the Roman invasion has been described in such flowery terms by anybody, but we shouldn't let cultural and linguistic differences obscure the processes of creating a monarch. The methodology is the same. What is interesting about Prince George is he is the the first global corporate monarch, he is destined to become the King of America and everywhere else according to the corporate soothsayers who write the script for the vision, the illusion or the hallucination call it what we will, it is the hypnotising effect of advertising and propaganda which are the activities otherwise known as the news.
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| Kim Jong-un |
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| Prince George |
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Prince George is destined to become King George VII of Great Britain and King George I of global NATO and the world! This is his official destiny perhaps, but from what I've seen on the street this week it hasn't caught on here much. I suspect that a large proportion of the camera clicking crowds outside the maternity suite who shreaked with joy at the news of George's birth, were visitors from abroad or people who live in London and have a badge from every official event within reach of public transport. As for the rest of us its more a matter of keeping calm and carrying on.... as per usual.... no big deal, Korea is on the other side of Nania so a long way from here where all we have to celebrate is another royal mouth to feed, oh joy!
I sure hope that baby doesn't grow up to look like his Grandpa Charles !!
ReplyDeleteI see why you have been enjoying that 60th anniversary celebration. That's my AA :-))
And it is good to know that there are some normal people over there in your fine country. I would hate to think everyone was going gaga over boy George. :-P
That's me Lia, I never fail to rise to the occasion and you're right of course the kid's granddad is indeed pug ugly, or what is known in these parts as 'a right minger'.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering whether he is the love child of Kim Jong-un or not, we'll do anything to stop him firing those nuclear missiles at Seoul.
LOL he does favor old Kim doesn't he? ;-)
DeleteA dead ringer I'd say Lia
Delete"Prince George is destined to become King George VII of Great Britain and King George I of global NATO and the world!"
ReplyDeleteBoy George may well find this is his destiny, as you point out - but if it hasn't caught-on over there, I can tell you that it *certainly* hasn't caught on here.
Anyone who can connect the dots and who Stayed Awake in Class is thoroughly fed up with the status-quo. The Larval George is simply a symptom of a larger problem.
Real news is hard to come by, and needs researching - all we usually get here is travelogue and 'celebrity' nonsense.
Le bonton roule....
Thanks for the reassurance that the royal soap opera has not permeated every pore of the anglosphere into a seamless skin of top-dressing "news" items based upon the royal neonate and his parents/grandparents/great grandparents/ great great gramps and so on ....Who but a monster could wish anything but good fortune upon a baby whoever its parents may be? This however is no ordinary baby, he is a global internet virtual baby, anonimity is not an option, but as the PRISM thing demonstrates.... it actually isn't an option for any of us anymore anyway. Its good to hear from you again Astra its the wave theory of postmodern revolution at work here I'm sure. This I think is to be applauded.
DeleteOnward and upward then!
Cheers
Well done AA! I find most interesting the notion of a personality cult and the parallels between the younger Windsors and the hereditary regime currently headed by Kim Jong-un in North Korea. I hadn't considered this fully until you're essay here.
ReplyDeleteNor had I realized the uh...interesting green undergarments of the female recruits of the NK People's Army on Parade. Were similar uniform choices to be adopted by leggy distaff members of Her Majesty's Armed Forces at the next pomp and circumstance event at Westminster Abbey, well, suffice to say it could make the Monarchy seem more relevant for young men...and those young in heart.
The interest in the William and Kate birthing seemed all the rage among the media. CNN and CBS covered the last days of the birth story like it was a modern Superpower Summit or Czech Crisis.
People magazine devoted 18(!) pages to the birth and first appearance of Prince George. One pines for some of that old fashioned Jeffersonian republican virtue. Suffice to say I think the UK Royal Family is the biggest publicity mill in the Anglosphere.
There is some comfort that Prince Charles and his ilk--unlike the Kims of North Korea--have no real political power, or so we can hope. This is likely what saved the Saxe-Coburg/Windsor line; the question I would have is why so many people are still so interested in the UK after all the decades of successful (or at least stable) rule by commoners?
Most major European royals were kicked asunder after the Great War of 1914-18 and the pure fact of there being anything but pretenders to a non-existent throne in England is a source of either great sentiment among the public at large or a very good advertising game. Of course most people don't care about it all, but the royal family still is in business and still floats up and down the Thames on barges and hold ceremonies. There is a Disneyland aspect to it all that I find interesting. I also feel relieved I don't as a taxpayer have to foot out for these frills and camera-ops.
Thanks Doug you make some important points here about the shameful lack of lingerie at our own Trooping the Colour and how the monarchy would be more acceptable if only there were more knickers on parade up at St Jame's Palace and all the way down Pall Mall.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't agree more with you on that point Doug, modesty will be the downfall of the dynasty I'm sure of that. Since the pictures of topless Kate went out of the news its all about decorating the nursery nowadays. But guess what, dead on cue Kate's reference tits are back in the news as another photograher is arrested today in France. The Royals at home are a reality TV soap opera and a costume drama at the same time, which is great if you happen to be British, but has left all us English without a parliament or even a national assembly to call our own and that is why England must secceed from the United Kingdom and like our neighbours throughout the Celtic Fringe strive for home rule and independence from the British state.
I wouldn't go so far as to say that Charles and the other royals don't have political power in the UK though Doug, they remain the most influential entity across the entire Queendom as is. The Royals rule and that is that, the courts and the armed forces are royal, the prisons belong to her majesty, the police and parliamentarians swear oaths of allegiance to the crown and for the time being at least, the mail is royal too. I think it is seriously political when a family runs a state, a commonwealth and more particularly a global corporate empire without reference to the will of the people they are supposed to represent.
At least Kim Jong-un only orders aircraft to be scrambled he doesn't actually fly one himself searching out brown peasants to strafe on behalf of his grandmother does he?
But yes Doug you are indeed blessed not to have to fork out to keep this roadshow going like a perpetual fireworks display, no wonder we can't afford any schools, hospitals or social services, whatever the corporate multinational banksters haven't taken from the population of the Great Britain the remainder belongs to the crown.
I certainly wouldn't put anything past those scoundrels in the French media in their efforts to practice "lese-majeste" against the current occupants of the English throne. I have generally thought of QE-II as being around to read weekly dispatch boxes, open Parliament with blather normally heard at US Chamber of Commerce luncheons, and the weekly offering tea and biscuits and advice to the real power, the PM and his/her ministers.
ReplyDeleteThe reality on the ground may be quite different, AA, as I have said in the past your idea of a free England is not without much merit given her long history as an independent kingdom prior to 1603, 1717, The Act of Union of 1800, or whenever discerning people believe the trouble started. There still is, as you say, still a lot of oath-taking and bowing and such going on and all this sentiment probably does contribute to a militant streak that should have made a quiet and bloodless exit after the implosion of GB's shockingly massive overseas empire. Had i the means the question of continuing the monarchy or pensioning off it's older kith and ken to a rest home in Guernsey would come up for a vote every four years. At least the Queen would have to justify herself and you might be able to get the "royal" shuck and jive off the Armed Forces recruitment posters. What beautiful universities and community centers could be made of those Crown holdings.
Now you're talking Doug, think how much extra room there will be on British banknotes which always useful for all the extra noughts when inflation really kicks in in our treble-dip recession hit nation. Having said that I was struck by the idea of pornographic bank notes to encourage saving at a time when interest rates are so low, but I digress. I personally am perfectly happy to live cheek by jowel with the Scots and the Welsh and to collaborate with them and others on a whole range of joint ventures and mutually important projects. But first England needs its own parliament so we can communicate on an equal footing of self determination and sovereignty with all the other countries that [at least in theory] have their own government.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that is too much to ask is it Doug?
Thanks for your insightful contribution and your noting of those years when trouble restarted .... but certainly crunch years for the swallowing up of the ancient Kingdom of England into this now rapidly unravelling conglomerate the so called United Kingdom. This is what we might call soft balkanisation, that's the aim anyway Doug.
Yes, I hardly think citizens of Scotland and Wales need fear England becoming the next Serbia, AA. I suspect no matter how you balkanized the business of "muddling through" in the Isles would continue unabated. Pornographic bank notes seem more in the sphere of the Swedes somehow, yet your idea is reasonable for the "added value" the currency would immediately hold.
DeleteI noticed from the news that a portrait of Jane Austen is going to grace the cover of an English bank note soon. While she was not sexy enough to be a girl on the old "Doctor Who" sci-fi show, at least this is a move in the right direction. The next step is a ten pound note featuring 60's and 70's beauties like Helen Mirren, Julie Christie and Diana Rigg as "the three graces" of Nottingham Forest or St. John's Wood.
Later, "hard currency" could become hard core---all in such a way that I'm sure only the real blue-noses would bother to object.
I'm not so sure baby boy George will ever become king and master of all he sees. He seems to come from a family of long lived individuals and by the time granny and papa shuffle off to the hereafter the whole concept of hereditary power may have run its course. I find people becoming les and less tolerant of the power and privilege of the few. I'm thinking he has at least 30 years before he can become king and in that time who knows what will happen. Or maybe that’s just wishful thinking.
ReplyDeleteI hope it isn't just wishful thinking Loretta, I'll do my bit to get rid of them though...I don't agree with hereditary power here nor in NK, but I hope for the child's sake he has a more normal upbringing than the heir apparent can expect to have.
ReplyDeleteOn a personal level I bear the royals no grudges themselves... it is the institution I oppose, which is very different of couse to my regicidal 17th century English republican forebears. I agree that people are fed up with the dysfunctional establish, the corruption and the unfairness of it all. The information revolution has changed the way we relate to authority and it has altered perceptions of what is and what is not legitimate power. Thanks for making those points Loretta.