You may have read this excerpt on social media of a story about the Queen and someone at the Platinum Jubilee parade.
“Well,” said the Queen to the homeless man at the edge of the parade, “Where do you go from here?”
“I am not sure, your majesty,” the man answered with a tear. “You see I lost my job and my children have all grown up and gone on their separate ways.”
The man continued, “I am now homeless as I have nowhere else to stay.”
“Well, my friend,” the Queen replied to him, “This will never do at all!”
“I too am all alone. You can move into my palace. I’m sure we will have a ball.”
The man looked up and asked, “Will there be something to eat, dear Queen?”
"Of course," she replied, “The biggest spread of sandwiches you’ve ever seen.”
“And cups of tea and crockery that you can drop and I will never never mind.”
The man replied “Your majesty, I accept your offer. You are very, very kind.”
Hmm, you say. Really? The Queen invited a homeless man to come live in her palace?
Actually, no, cuz that's not the story that circulated.
Here's the actual story that was on social media:
"AFTER THE PARTY ~
“Well,” said the Queen to the little bear “where do you go from here?”
“I am not sure your majesty,” Paddington Bear answered with a tear.
“You see the Browns have all grown up and gone on their separate way”
Paddington continued “I am now homeless as I have nowhere else to stay”
“Well, my little friend” the Queen replied to him, “this will never do at all”
“I too am all alone you can move into my palace I’m sure we will have a ball”
The little bear looked up and asked, “Will there be marmalade, dear Queen?”
"Of course", she replied, “the biggest spread of sandwiches you’ve ever seen.”
“And cups of tea and crockery that you can drop and I will never, never mind”
The little bear replied “your majesty I accept your offer you are very, very kind.”
By John Sullivan"
This story was on someone's Facebook page, and most of the comments were along the lines of "how cute," "that's beautiful", etc.
And it is kind of a cute story. I mean, who can resist a teddy bear? But that's not what this is about...
I share these two versions partly to compare our reactions --
How did you feel when reading each story? What did you expect? Did they make sense to you or not?
I also share these two stories to make the point that stories like the one about the Queen and Paddington reinforce a certain narrative about people in high places. The story reinforces a certain view of who she is:
The Queen is kindly and compassionate -- look, Paddington needed a home and she let him come live with her. He mattered more to her than her dishes! Isn't she so wonderful? Isn't she the sweetest - so benevolent?
The story deflects from and obscures the reality that the Queen (and many others) have millions or billions of assets which they did not get by working hard themselves but rather from the hard work of others, including people they had enslaved, and that despite their wealth, the closest they would ever come to either of the above stories is if one of their charitable foundations happened to provide funding for a homeless shelter.
The likelihood of the Queen actually inviting someone who is unhoused to live with her is less than winning the lottery, wouldn't you say? Would a homeless man even be allowed to be at the edge of the parade, so close to the queen's motorcade?
Yet we ooh and aah over her stylish outfits, we follow the royals in the tabloids, we and the entire culture hold these pictures and stories of them that nicely hide the reality of colonialism and white supremacy...
Where else do we believe, go along with and build up such false narratives? When it comes to political leaders? Celebrities? What about at our churches? What narratives do we build up about our churches and their leaders which hide the reality of how far away from Jesus we are? And don't get me started on how we present ourselves to create and maintain positive narratives ...
p.s. I promise this is the last post this month to mention the queen...
No comments:
Post a Comment