Defending The Press Embargo
Despite my nearly impossibly high levels of what scholars would call “privilege”, I have an innate, visceral aversion to markers of class or hierarchy. Maybe it’s the Jewish-Socialist in me or something, but few things piss me off more than a hereditary royalty, who by sole virtue of their birth get a whole bunch of shit that not even their parents, grandparents or great grandparents earned. The fact that so many royals turn out to be rather average folks, rather than endear me to them, just makes them look pathetic.
There is one saving grace, however, particular to the British monarchy. That’s the strong tradition of royals who are one-off from the royal line serving in the military. Although it would be nice to see Prince William on the front lines a la Prince Hal in Henry IV and Henry V, I am actually quite happy that the current Prince Harry managed to serve in Afghanistan for ten weeks like a normal soldier. This shows that even within an institutions as hysterically unjust and anachronistic as the monarchy, they are aware that they essentially suck off the fat of the land and should “give something back.” Sure, I oppose the mandatory military or community service of regular 18 year olds, but royal ones should be in the shit as much as possible. And so I must say that the British press did something truly patriotic by not reporting on Harry’s service for ten whole weeks. This allowed him to serve without endangering his fellow soldiers. It’s not like there’s some compelling reason why the public has to know that Prince Harry is serving while he’s still doing it. And since the info is out now, we can get all the pictures and interviews we want.
It sure looks dangerous, from a liberal, freedom of the press angle, to see journalistic organizations deliberating not reporting something because the government wants them to. But this Prince Harry situation isn’t going to push us down the slippery slope, and if it does, we’re already too far down it anyway. So, bravo British press!
