The trouble with having a viewpoint is that invariably there is a danger of alienating half of the recipients of your thoughts.
Facebook is the only “social” networking site I use. There are dozens of them out there and all seem to do exactly the same job. I’m not a great online “social” type of person anyway. So one port of destination is just fine for me.
Sometimes my way of being “social” online is to cast my opinion on matters that I read about on other websites, items in the news and general interactions in life as a whole. Rather like a dinner party where you talk and discuss issues. After all it’s all part of being “social”. It’s a way of getting a viewpoint across and creating healthy sometimes vibrant debate. And in this ever shrinking multimedia wide web life we seem to lead I cannot see anything wrong with that at all.
Right now (and for a very long time indeed) one gripe I have is right here on my doorstep. It’s something I feel strongly about and I flatly refuse to keep bottled up like some dark and dreadful secret in the closet.
I refer my view at the very heart of our constitution here in Great Britain and therefore something that I feel that I have every right to have an opinion of. And as it affects the nation in which I live and was born there is no danger that I could be again tarnished “an interfering foreigner” – a label that has been applied to me frequently in the past in more than one nation.
I am a huge believer in modernisation and moving forward. I do not believe in change for change’s sake. But I do think that development is healthy and good for any country. If you look through the history books you will know full well that without progress and modernisation countries and cultures would have become stagnant to the point of extinction.
Sometimes when you try and suggest that tradition itself and the fabric surrounding it should be modernised some people seem to go into a psychological meltdown at the very thought.
Great Britain prides itself in its democracy and its freedom. But it’s all very well having pride, a degree of smugness and self-satisfaction except when you scratch the surface you will see that from a democratic point of view this nation is stuck firmly in the past.
On the one hand we are quite happy to tell other people and other countries across the world how to behave. We even send our troops into countries and cultures, risk the lives of our armed forces all in the name of freedom and democracy. Yet on our very doorstep we have a system whereby the head of state has remained unelected for hundreds of years.
I have an opinion on this issue. And my view is that we should have an elected head of state and move forward like many other modern nations in this world. On the other hand others hold the view that we should remain as we are and the family that has been the head of state all this time should continue to do so. That is an opinion – alas it is not mine.
But by virtue of the fact that I have my view should not necessarily turn me into some trouble making nasty little animal. Indeed the feeling from those who disagree with me is that I am some sad loser who does not enjoy watching people have a good time (the recent wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge). This could not be further from the truth, but when you’re up against it and you see an opinion which you do not agree with some people resort to applying hurtful frequently incorrect labels purely because I hold opposing opinion.
So in this world which is shrinking at the speed of your broadband connection I think many people who use these “social websites” should bear in mind that the Internet, in my view the greatest invention since radio, is in fact a world wide open door purveying freedom of speech to an international community. As such opinions of many colours will permeate this medium thank goodness.
Today on Facebook I tried to ‘Put the record straight’, but why I should defend myself or the views I hold is quite beyond me!
I have had a few private and one wall message from Facebook friends regarding my stance on the British unelected Head of State and the show ‘the family firm’ sometimes put on. I am glad the world enjoys the spectacle we Brits put on every now and then. But I wish this family could put as much effort into showing the world exactly their real status and place in modern day Great Britain and their internal drive for reform and modernisation.
The fact that the globe gets a kick out of watching an old fashioned, out of date, former colonial power pretending that we are living a kind of pre-1948 lifestyle is up to them. Equally the fact our Head of State is unelected runs deep here in Britain.
Whilst many nations clambered, fought and died to have republic status seems strangely in my view to be neither here nor there for some blinded by sceptical and bling. Quite a few countries formerly under British rule couldn’t wait to see the end of colonialism – and quite rightly too. Many nations enjoy their fully democratic life (in some lucky nations) whilst we in Britain live in and allegedly for the past.
My gripe is not with these Windsors as a family (I never met them personally).
We have a system that is neither free nor democratic especially when the British government bangs on and interferes endlessly with nations that are seemingly undemocratic. That is ironic, hypocritical and for sure calling the ‘kettle black’.
