On Christmas day Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands gave her Christmas speech.
by Baron Bodissey
“Christmas sermon” would be a better description, but that is to be expected. Also a lot of blah-blah talk: peace on earth and people of good will; that sort of thing. Most if not all government leaders feel the urge to say something they absolutely don’t mean in the first place. This forms part of the Christmas decorum.
This year, the queen’s speech didn’t go according to plan, however. All thanks to the Internet and bloggers. The Queen made a mistake. She spoke of “http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=2591” in society who would not be willing to open their minds, and who harden society. She didn’t quite say “certain element with blond hair and family names beginning with a ‘W’ and ending in ‘ilders’,” but close enough.
In the past, not much would be said or done about it. Granted, one can write a letter to a newspaper. That newspaper may or may not publish it. You may talk amongst your friends about an event, and discover you are not alone. But that would be just about it.
Today is different. We have the Internet and we have blogs. Minutes after the queen finished her speech bloggers already started blogging it. And they weren’t happy…The week after the speech many blogs discussed the queen’s speech at length. Newspapers couldn’t ignore it, if only because so many readers posted their remarks on their Internet editions. One of those “certain elements working to harden society”, the one with http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=2792, made a public statement that in his opinion the queen shouldn’t make such politically loaded speeches, and should be removed from the government. Her job should be relegated to cutting ribbons, hosting parties, and opening schools.
The prime minister stood firm behind the queen. And rightly so, as he himself is politically responsible for her acts and actions. In the past, this would close the case. Everybody spoke his mind, end of story. But today is different. We have the Internet…
So, public opinion was polled by newspapers, bloggers and polling bureaus. The result is that the queen’s popularity has dropped massively. A plurality, 46%, agrees completely with that certain element with blond hair (Mr. Wilders), and finds that the queen’s job should be cutting ribbons and not much more. 41% thinks the queen should remain part of the government and 13% doesn’t know.
Now, until very recently, the media reported popularity figures of 95%. The royal family was —supposedly — that popular. That was before the Internet came along. Today we know that this figure could have been written by Mr. Goebbels. Nobody could check it out anyway. But with the Internet we can. And much more important: we do.
The queen really made a very bad political mistake: since 1848 the king or queen of The Netherlands has reigned, but does not rule. The prime minister and the council of ministers do that. If the monarch speaks in public, the responsible minister (usually the PM) should okay this speech. Normally, they do that.
Also, since the monarch does not rule, the unwritten rule is that he or she should refrain from political statements. Most certainly about hotly debated political items. The queen didn’t abide by the rules, and now finds out that saying something in public does have its consequences… even if you are the queen, and even if you are politically invulnerable.
You can fool some people all the time and most people some of the time. But that was before the Internet came along.
http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2008/01/one-reaps-what-one-sows.html#readfurther