I am commenting again as I just read the BBC article where Harry's spokesman commented that "His message is not in reference to any specific political party or candidate, but is instead a call for decency in how we engage with each other, interact, and consume information - especially online."
I am shocked by how rude this comment is (not the statement from the spokesman, but Harry's), even more so than I found Harry's statement without the clarification. Of course, if Harry was calling for these things in general, that would be one thing, but he is calling for them specifically in the context of another country's election.
I cannot imagine sitting in a pub in the UK with an election upcoming and saying to a local resident, "You know, with the vote around the corner, you all really should be a bit kinder to each other and watch what you say and not spread what I as an outsider think is false information." It would be the height of rudeness and I can imagine being asked to leave.
Not to mention that with what many American citizens feel they have at stake in the current political climate, someone who is not a citizen here and therefore does not have those things at stake coming in and telling people who feel victimized and unheard to "be kind" and "not spread negativity"... it's not on.
You just don't go to other people's countries and comment on how they are conducting themselves in their elections and sensitive political processes, no matter who you are. It's culturally insensitive.
Yes to everything, as someone who lived in a foreign country myself I have rarely felt confident providing my personal political view point of that country political candidates and system (even though more than once I was obviously far more educated on it than the local people I met and befriended), and rarely did I criticize the people for how they commented on the political race (only when someone said something awful, like one guy once commenting the most obvious covert racist thing about the Obamas- I shut that person down asap)
100% about your second to last paragraph. It is hard! and impossible, for someone who has spend their entire life being told to just smile and node, or just let it go- when they are being treated as second class citizen, not only by other people but by their own president, to be "kind" and "not spread negativity"
as a woman whose grandparents were persecuted for their religion, who grew up on stories of their grandparents fearing to even walk down the street for fear of being attacked if recognized as jews (something they could hide, something black people can not do!)
That being said, the pictures I saw of the video scared me a bit for Harry's well being, his body language looked withdrawn, scared, a bit defensive and that this was the last place he wants to be. him all the way to the side, Meghan in the center of the bench. a strong power imbalance imo.
I also think deep down he knows this is wrong, him talking politics is wrong for him as a member of the royal family.
And kudos to the BP for their statement!
Making a strong distinction between working royals and non working royals.
So Harry has no agency; people are back on the scheming American Jezebel again? That was not a hostage video. Do people really think Harry longs to go back to a world where maligning his wife and child is a bloodsport? He and his wife bought a home in the States and entered a deal with Netflix. The fact they rather contend with California wildfires doesn't say much for what was left behind.
I wonder if people would be singing the same tune if Harry was a woman and Meghan a man?
Because for those of us with experience in the matter the signs are painfully obvious.