Today, some footage has emerged of a young Queen Elizabeth performing a nazi salute. For those of you who might have missed the boat; nazis are bad. Next to investment bankers and Alan Titchmarsh, nazis are probably the worst human beings ever.
You might expect a bitter, angry republican arsehole like me to be all over that.
However, I'd hesitate before condemning the Queen for something she did seventy years ago. Firstly, she was only a child when those pictures were taken, and children are idiots who can barely think for themselves. Blame her parents if you're going to blame anybody.
Secondly, Elizabeth Windsor was a child of unimaginable wealth and privilege. She and her family are so coddled and seperated from the rest of us that they probably classify as another species. You can't apply human morality to creatures that don't actually count as human. That's like telling off a dog for not being able to speak English. They aren't like us and it's unrealistic and unfair to expect them to be.
That doesn't excuse the royals at all. I just think we should lay the blame at the institution that is actually responsible instead of at the individuals. We should dismantle the royal family itself, stop giving them money and start punishing them when they step out of line. Treat them as people, with all the advantages and disadvantages that brings. So long as they're showered with our wealth and treated as if they're above the law, they're going to keep showing up to costume parties in nazi uniforms, hanging out with convicted pedophiles and dropping casually racist remarks in public.
Introduce them to consequences and strip of them their privilege and they'll start acting like humans. Either that or they'll starve to death or suffocate themselves the first time they try to get dressed by themselves. Whatever happens, it's sure to be entertaining and a little bit more tasteful than a nazi salute.
Oh yeah, and the title of this blog entry comes from a Mower song. Definitely check them out, they were an awesome band that never got the recognition or fame that they deserved.