Know Your Enemy
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A Royal Mess
🕑 Added 2021-03-21 20:44:13 +0000 UTCMatt and Sam finally take on a controversial subject: the British royal family. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's recent interview with Oprah set off a firestorm of commentary—not least from aggrieved conservatives who were outraged at the young couple's criticisms of the monarchy. Why was the Right so upset by the interview? Why did the defenders of the American Revolution find themselves siding with our ancient enemy? Then your hosts turn to a documentary that offers an acerbic look at the media coverage of Princess Diana's death—Diana: The Mourning After, by none other than Christopher Hitchens. It leads to a discussion of neoliberalism, what happens when the powerful to share their struggles and appear relatable, and more!
Watch:
Diana: The Mourning After, a television documentary by Christopher Hitchens (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4)
Further Reading:
"Piers Morgan Refuses To Cave Over Meghan Markle Criticisms: ‘Freedom Of Speech Is A Hill I’m Happy To Die On,’" Jordan Davidson, The Federalist, March 10, 2021
"Harry And Meghan Are Only The Latest Villains To Emerge From The House Of Windsor," Carina Benton, The Federalist, March 17, 2021
"Meghan Markle is No People's Princess Like Diana," Evita Duffy, The Federalist, March 11, 2021
"An American Defense of Britain’s Constitutional Monarchy," Joseph Loconte, National Review, March 18, 2021
"The Royal Family Has Weathered Worse Crises Than Meghan and Harry," Conrad Black, National Review, March 10, 2021
"Meghan and Harry’s Royal Nonsense," Madeleine Kearns, National Review, March 18, 2021
Comments
Patrick Jones-O'Brien
They're really missing the point about the liberal-conservative defence of the post-commonwealth monarchy. Manhood suffrage existed in Britain before it did in the US!
Erin Lynn
Listening to this in Oct 2021 listening to your optimism for the "end of the pandemic" 😭
Heather McIntyre
Just to add on Conrad Black's crime was white-collar stuff, fraud and obstruction of justice. He gave up Canadian citizenship to get a peerage title in Britain but still deigns to tell Canadians how we're unpatriotic for not appreciating the British empire enough anymore. Sam's totally right about it being a defense of imperialism
Avery Griffin
Thought this would be a stupid episode. Now it's one of my favorites.
Dan Anderson
As always I learned a lot. I never gave a shit about the monarchy, but it's so interesting to hear about its relevancy to US politics. And as always, listening to you guys' conversation is like talking to my brother on the phone. So good...
Chad Bailey
You guys are definitely touching on it. But how about getting Pater Edmund Waldstein on the show. He’s pretty much the chief intellectual of the Josias, and a Facebook friend of mine!!!
Chad Bailey
Wow. You guys definitely need to do a whole segment on modern American monarchists. Some reactionary Catholics. Some neo-Falangists. And so on...
Thomas Arnold
If there was one thing Hitch hated about the Di apotheosis it was Elton John's Di dirge. https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/princesss-story/
Joshua Freund
Bummed that you guys mention the "Your Wrong About" Diana series, but judging from your commentary haven't seemed to have listened to it. A bit harsh on Diana––a woman who was, for lack of a better word, trafficked from her teens on, her elite privilege withstanding. Would love to hear Sarah Marshall "YWA" this episode. Other than that, fun stuff...
Know Your Enemy
"Americans have insufficient antipathy toward the extraordinarily rich. I hope this isn’t a controversial view. We like them too much." First line of the first piece I wrote for Matt in February 2017! (-Sam) https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/capital-without-borders
Seth
Mildly disappointed to hear you guys accept the British Conservative line about the English Civil War/Glorious Revolution. Rather than the genuine article of a Burkean Revolution, the English Civil War Era gives the left some early and rich examples of common people straining against rising hierarchy and early empire, such as the diggers and to a lesser extent the levelers.
joe
Enjoyed the NRx tangent you guys went on, would love an episode where you really dig into their whole schtick. Their tentacles currently extend into a lot more institutions than people are comfortable admitting, and diluted versions of NRx ideology are the driving force behind a ton of SV projects.
Luke Mayville
This ep. brought me back to Adam Smith’s observation, in the Theory of Moral Sentiments, of widespread “sympathy for the rich and the great.” He believed the mass of mankind tended towards this type of sympathy, and that only the few “wise and good” were immune to it. Another interesting discussion of this theme is the chapter on “celebrities” in C Wright Mills’ The Power Elite.
Alexander Lemons
If Diana was a problem child for the monarchy, then someone needs to write an alternative history where she leads the anti-war movement in 2003, piles on when Harry ends up in Afghanistan, and then supports Corbin for PM.
Hannah
This is extremely well timed as I just listened to the Dispatch podcast episode that covers the Oprah interview (for my sins), and was treated to Jonah Goldberg ranting about manipulative social climber Meghan unable to treat any institution as more important than herself. Interestingly his co-hosts all disagreed and hilariously pointed out he hadn't even bothered to watch the interview.
Lou Guberti Ng
The Prince Andrew reference at the end just calls attention to the fact that we are owed a goddamn Jeffrey Epstein show
