Reuters (AP) covers the story of Michelle Obama touching the Queen of England's back during a meeting during the Obamas trip through Europe. I read the coverage of this event and thought to myself, this is hilarious and is deeper than meets the eye. So now I bring it to you with my own commentary.
I love when I read about dignitaries, royalty, and political celebrities being spoken to or touched out of the norm. They readily invade our mental space everyday through media, while we the commoners are expected to uphold some practice that we didn't have any part of creating. And the crowd should go Booooo! It's like mental fornincation. We're so mind fucked by their "power" that we readily except traditions that have been put in place by people that have oppressed us for centuries. Wonderful.
First, I laughed about Michelle Obama riling up the British press when she touched the Queen. But then I thought about it and realized who are these people that originated these rules (King Henry I killed my wives because they wouldn't give me any sons the 8th) and why do we still carry on these roles of "conduct"? Are most of us mindless sheep and find its easier to be this way?
My boss loves to use the word decorum (I think it makes him feel educated), so I'll enjoy using it too. I think its appropriate for describing the behavior and snottiness of blue blood folk. While I do feel its important to honor culture and ways of life in order to show respect to the people. Some things are primarily about show, and when the press is covering this like Michelle Obama has lost her mind and the old dusty traditionalists are upset. It makes me say come ooonnnn. Ms. Michelle is married to the most "powerful" Black/African American (He really is African American, let's keep it real) man [recognized face of power] in the world. So where does that leave her? Free to touch the queen, I mean the queen touched her first. Anyway I decided to blog and let you figure out what you think, if you feel this is way deeper than a touch on the small of the Queen's back (I could have made that so naughty) or if you even care...
PS. Thankfully an American journalist went to the defense of Ms. Michelle.
Beginning of the story....
The rules are set in stone, and so the eagerly watching British media sputtered when the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, briefly put her hand on the back of Queen Elizabeth II as the two chatted at a reception. Etiquette is quite stern about this ("Whatever you do, don't touch the Queen!"). In 2007 John Howard, then Prime Minister of Australia, got plenty of criticism for apparently putting his arm around the Queen to direct her through a crowd. He denied actually touching her, but photographs suggest that he came quite close. (Another former Australian Prime Minister did put his hand on the Queen in a similar circumstance and was later branded "the Lizard of Oz.")
*You can read the rest on Yahoo
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