For the past few weeks I've been considering doing a post satirizing the media frenzy over the former Kate Middleton's prolonged absence from the public eye. In particular when she took a brief break from that absence and released a photo of herself and her children that we now know to have been digitally altered, but then I thought to myself, suppose it's something serious? Well, it's turned out it is something serious, so I'm glad I didn't give in to my satirical impulse. Not that I regret having that impulse in the first place. I'm a great believer in satire, and a media frenzy is always fair game. Also, satire speaks truth to power, and power, historically at least, has been pretty much the point of monarchy. However, this media frenzy is over somebody who may not be feeling all that powerful at the moment. Long live the Princess, and anyone else in similar straits.
I had a post of satirical memes and LOLs about the Princess Kate conspiracy theories all ready to go, but I deleted it once this news came out. So I understand your reasoning on this.
ReplyDeleteGlad I'm not the only one, Debra.
DeleteHello Kirk, Since I know less than nothing about royal families, I had to look up Kate and what was wrong with her. What a terrible diagnosis, and I hope she fully recovers. Still, in this day, releasing a doctored photo to explain an absence was not the canniest move for her or her team.
ReplyDelete--Jim
I agree, Jim. It just made people more suspicious.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of "whoops" being said in news rooms today.
ReplyDeleteMike, I generally don't feel sorry for famous people when it comes to media intrusiveness. They wanted the attention, they got it. But that doesn't mean they have any obligation to share every medical diagnosis with us as soon as it comes out of the doctor's mouth. We'll see to what extent Kate is allowed to deal with her health issues in private. My guess is it won't be all that much but I hope I'm wrong.
DeleteI too thought of a similar post. The conjecture has been quite amusing. Hurtful? Yes, so WTF didn't The Palace advise, or allow, her to be truthful at the beginning, and if she was not able to do so, William?
ReplyDeleteAndrew, as I told Mike I don't think Kate necessarily had to share the diagnosis with the whole world the moment she got it. It's the lying in the form of a doctored photo that seems so stupid. A simple "no comment" regarding her health would have been 100 times better that that.
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