The Queen is Dead, Long Live the King
End of an Era
This year, HBO started a new show titled; House of the Dragon, based on some of the happenings in George RR Martins’ book “Fire & Blood”. The series started with the death of King Jaehaerys, “the old king”. Who knew that that scene will be foreshadowing the death of a real-life Monarch?
Queen Elizabeth died on Thursday last week, and her death (like everything else these days) sparked polarizing views online. Some people wished a painful death on the queen, saying that karma is finally catching up to her (which is an “lmao” inducing statement if you think about it. The woman lived as royalty for 96 years, nothing is better than that). Others were sad about her passing and extolled her poise, grace, and duty to her office (I am in this category). I wanted to write about how the British crown isn’t as powerful as we think. But I think we all know that many of us are just looking for where to channel our hate into.
Nevertheless, I will drop a couple of reasons why you shouldn’t hate on the dearly departed queen too much:
1. British Monarchs only have the power to sign off on what the Prime Minister tells them to sign off on in politics. Their Head of State status is decorative. Neither the Queen nor her father made any major political decisions.
2. The British Empire is not the first, and it wasn’t the last (The USA and China have been using varying methods to create theirs). While turning people into second-class citizens in their own land is wrong, it should be noted that that is what is naturally done when you’re stronger (I daresay that Africans would have done the same if we got our act together first. Scratch that, we also did the same to neighbors, raiding villages, taking and trading slaves, increasing empires). In addition to that, the British ruled via indirect means. This means that some of our forefather’s kin were willing pawns at that time.
3. What is good for the goose is good for the gander. If you’re vexing for the Queen, vex for Obama too (and his is more deserved). He suffered the Arabs with his airstrikes and continuous wars.
I would, however, like to use this medium to say that the Queen represented everything I love about the British culture, the poise, the regal air, the conservativeness, the grim, and steadfast adherence to duty and honor. Her death to me was the end of an era. And I know a lot of people will miss her dearly.
Working Hard or Hardly Working?
While the Queen rests in Peace, across the pond in the United States of America, a couple of people are just resting at work. This article speaks about the senior and mid-level talent in big companies like Meta and Google, that have been chilling through their employment, receiving beautiful checks every month while waiting for their stock options to vest. You feel like you’ve heard about this before right? Well, you might have seen its depiction in the comedy series ‘Silicon Valley’. In this newsletter, you’ll see that real life and make-believe are not so far apart.
Apparently, these companies hire/hired sought-after talent and allowed them to coast around without pulling their own weight because they didn’t want the competition to have access to these talents, and they had enough money to spend.
Why is this coming to light now? The same reason why this could never have been possible in Nigeria: reduced cash inflow. markets have become leaner and more competitive, and funding is increasingly difficult, so now, companies have to buckle up and optimize for low-cost efficiency.
The article alludes to the fact that it’s possible that layoffs are close for these companies, and so they are just trying to pre-empt with some justification before time. Anyways, it only seems fair to cut off dead weight, seeing as even staff that pull their weight on this side of the world are being laid off. As Prophet Burna said “All of thee shall feed, as thou art fed at the break of day”
Enough of all this talk of death and gloom, let’s see what I’ve been up to.
What have I been up to?
1. My Jay Z journey was awesome up till The Blueprint 2. I think that’s the worst album he’s put out to date. And it still has hits.
2. Speaking of music, I still believe that while he wasn’t a master wordsmith, Ice Prince could still hold his own beside two of the best rappers in Nigeria. That man spazzes like a beast.
3. As per last week’s list, please check out Chiprent’s Instagram page.
4. If you’re really looking for something to vex about, the headies were held in Atlanta, and it was hilariously embarrassing. A great reminder to always ensure that your export is the most refined product.
Thanks for attending my Ted Talk guys. Please, if you want to argue with, or even fight me, please do! I don’t believe in violence, but will surely welcome the publicity.
The release of the long awaited GOT prequel - House of The Dragon with its first scene showcasing the end of an era and how it coincided with the demise of the longest serving British Monarch in real life was indeed symbolic. Other occurrences such as: the appearance of a double rainbow over Buckingham Palace and cloud resembling the Queen's form in an English town leaves much thoughts to heart.
As regards the polarized views sparked after the death of the Queen, I stand on both ends; the Christian in me has learnt to forgive and look at things in the positive light. However, the African in me keeps flashing back to the History lessons from school.
If I understood the perspective of the writer correctly, the British Monarchy is somewhat been exonerated of all evil to their colonies. The Prime Ministers sure had their roles but the power of the monarchy supersedes. I believe they could alter what was unjust. The ability of Queen Elizabeth II to steer the collapse of the British empire of exploitative colonial rule and birth the Commonwealth is a pointer to the powers of the Monarch. I'm of the opinion that the naivety and selfishness of some of our forefathers is part but not enough justification for British exploitation of Africa. And yes, I blame all other empires with a stake in our woes.
It's quite interesting how some Africans mourned the Queen's death with "asoebi" and other mega celebrations. Some wounds may heal but the scars remain. Rest in peace Lolo Eliza, Long Live Igwe Charlie!
Nice piece by the way!
I too, am somewhat of a monarchist. I loved HM the Queen and her dedication, discipline and devotion. Considering her rather shy personality, she constantly rose to the occasion for 7 decades.
Thanks for explaining to people the manner in which the british monarchy operates, I feel many are angry with her without knowing what her limitations were.
God save the King!