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7 dead 16 wounded at attack on Dutch queensday.
polaris:
--- Quote from: shmokes on May 07, 2009, 10:49:37 pm ---
--- Quote from: patrickl on May 07, 2009, 10:28:17 pm ---
Well he should do what royals do . . .
--- End quote ---
Okay . . . what are royals?
--- End quote ---
people born into a job they don't necessarily want, with immense pressure on them to do that job in often unfathomably difficult conditions. The money , annually a tiny amount in comparison to your daily defence expenditure, helps them live the life the majority of their subjects expect them to live, they do have rather big houses to keep. The British royal family head up a government that has every right to abolish them, they have no power and to be honest arent supposed to even express opinion in any debate.
You make the welfare comparison often , they're not on welfare, they work, if the amount is extravagant to you, hmm guess what, everyone thinks lawyers charge too much money, will you work for minimum wage or will you accept that different jobs pay differently when it's a case of you earning more than others do. Because it is a job so they get paid. In a society where so many need help from charity the face of a royal will generate way more revenue than they could ever raise. Foreign contracts are secured by royal visits and tourism brings in way more than they cost. I'm no fan of royalty but many are, i personally dont agree with any tiers in a society but in our current society they're the last of anyones concerns.
To the Dutch guys, was really sorry to read about the incident , I've been to a queens day party that was held in London and could really see what the day meant to you all, I hope you can put the incident behind you and enjoy queens day in the future.
shmokes:
--- Quote from: polaris on May 08, 2009, 04:51:23 pm ---
people born into a job they don't necessarily want, with immense pressure on them to do that job in often unfathomably difficult conditions.
--- End quote ---
Raising my right eyebrow right now. Really really high. Unfathomably difficult conditions? Just what are they doing, having tea with foreign dignitaries and not sure how many lumps to put in? What am I missing here?
As for a job they don't want, what's gonna happen if they reject it? Will they go to jail? And what exactly does their job require of them? For example, I read in one BBC article that Prince Charles' went to Sri Lanka, Australia and Fiji by chartered plane that cost £300,000 ($600k). Was he ordered to make that trip? Or does he unilaterally get to decide what he does and when and how? I'm pretty sure it's the latter.
I'm not saying that some people shouldn't be paid more than others. I'm going to leave law school with $120k worth of debt that I've invested in my brain to prepare me for the practice of law. It would be absurd to suggest that the services I am able to provide are not more valuable than, say, waiting tables. It's also worth noting that if, like the Royals, I'm being paid by tax dollars (district attorney's office, for example) I'm only paid about like school teachers are paid. Like $40k/yr.. But anyway, I fail to see how the Royals have similarly qualified themselves for their positions.
patrickl:
A five day self promotion tour of Bush visiting Africa cost roughly $125 millon and you complain about Prince Charles bringing a diplomatic visit to the Tsunami stricken region where the travel expenses are £300K?
BTW Sarkozy went to China a while ago. In his wake French industries closed economic deals with the Chinese at the tune of tens billions of euros. Obviously the dutch industry doesnt have that much to offer, but still, the queen helps in deals worth billions too. That alone is worth having a royal family. A president could do the same, but the royal family does this a lot cheaper.
polaris:
shmokes
I don't deny they live a life of luxury, but I wouldn't want to swap. Having to comfort the population hours after my mother was killed in a car crash, as a teenager, no thanks, trying to do the decent thing for my country and joining the army as many of the boys do only to have my face and location plastered on papers putting my colleagues at risk in Afghanistan. Many of the royal family work extremely hard , have an extreme sense of honour and duty bred into them and know they would be upsetting the country if they stepped down( I'm sure it wouldn't be as much of an effect as the days when the king abdicated but still) they would still live in the same luxury if they did as they couldnt just move and get a job so it's publicly better for them to carry on being a royal and fading into the background a bit like harry is trying to do with his army career cos he blatantly hates his royalty. They are realistically struggling from being outdated in our society the press exposes the negative too much but hey our whole society Is out of date.
Genuinely I see their lives as ones of great sacrifice that I don't envy, they don't have the freedom I do.
It is prince Charles job to travel the world,to go to dinners and events,and he is very loyal to his subjects and genuinely interested in them, it's ludicrous ,but beyond question or rationalization , his job is to be king and because of that he lives like a king, how else could it be. As far as being ordered to make the trip, yes, most of his life is decided for him.
shmokes:
--- Quote from: polaris on May 08, 2009, 10:07:51 pm ---
his job is to be king and because of that he lives like a king, how else could it be.
--- End quote ---
The answer to that, of course, is to stop having kings. France seems to be managing okay without them. And they even manage a healthy tourism business at Versailles and the Louvre after all these years.
I can see the reason in what you're saying, that not everything about being a royal is great and in many ways the Royals are in a difficult position, but most of that stuff only supports the idea that royalty is outdated and should be done away with entirely -- something that I gather you actually agree with.
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