{"id":10010,"date":"2022-10-28T13:00:23","date_gmt":"2022-10-28T17:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/?p=10010"},"modified":"2026-02-06T14:44:47","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T19:44:47","slug":"queen-elizabeth-dies-critics-rejoice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/2022\/10\/28\/queen-elizabeth-dies-critics-rejoice\/","title":{"rendered":"Queen Elizabeth Dies, Critics Rejoice!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The reign of Queen Elizabeth II ended on Thursday, Sept. 8<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, when she said goodbye to her family and died at the age of 96. Buckingham Palace has long been prepared for the queen\u2019s passing. However, it is likely that the palace was not anticipating the range of reactions of many people around the world to the news of Queen Elizabeth\u2019s passing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">As news of the queen\u2019s failing health became public, Twitter erupted. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/search?q=prayforthequeen&amp;src=typed_query\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Many people<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> were praying for the queen to recover. There were those, however, like Professor Uju Anya, who chose out of animosity to wish the elderly monarch only the worst. Anya, who is a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, tweeted, \u201cI heard the chief monarch of a thieving raping genocidal empire is finally dying. May her pain be excruciating.\u201d&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<div class=\"ose-twitter ose-uid-7f42d20da4cb18a59ef846b780762ec3 ose-embedpress-responsive\" style=\"width:600px; height:550px; max-height:550px; max-width:100%; display:inline-block;\" data-embed-type=\"Twitter\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"600\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Twitter is a cesspit today. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Shhy869glf\">pic.twitter.com\/Shhy869glf<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Chris Rose (@ArchRose90) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ArchRose90\/status\/1567896945779253253?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 8, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">More significant than the Twitter divide over news of the queen\u2019s failing health was the divide in commonwealth countries over the queen\u2019s death. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/6211821\/queen-elizabeth-ii-death-world-reactions\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Many countries<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> including Canada, New Zealand, Australia, India, Pakistan, and others offered kind words about the queen and noted that her passing would be felt in their countries.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some countries, however, had a mixed response to the queen\u2019s passing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">While the South African president<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/royal-family\/2022\/09\/09\/how-world-reacted-death-queen-elizabeth\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> mourned<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> the death of his country\u2019s monarch, the opposition party, the Economic Freedom Fighters, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/EFFSouthAfrica\/status\/1567960426066984961?s=20&amp;t=WZ__LbZBk_ExkFxxDYqLDA\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">issued a heated statement<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. They said that they did not mourn the death of the queen, concluding their message by saying, \u201c<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If there is really life and justice after death, may Elizabeth and her ancestors get what they deserve.<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201d<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">While this is the only negative statement about the death of Queen Elizabeth made by a party in the Commonwealth, it does help illuminate that there are many people who do not think of glamour and glory when they see the British monarchy, but instead remember the abuse and inhumane conditions thrust upon them by the British Empire. Comedian talk show host Trevor Noah, a native-born South African, called these reactions \u201creasonable\u201d on <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Daily Show,<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> adding <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=u7Wja0rdc-U&amp;t=621s\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">that<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">,\u201cYou cannot expect the oppressed to mourn the oppressor.\u201d&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The animosity against the British Crown exists despite the fact that the queen had no personal connection to the policies of the British Empire. The monarch\u2019s position as Head of State is purely ceremonial. On Sept. 15, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Daily Show <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">host acknowledged this, but said that she still should have apologized for what her ancestors had done. Noah added that measures to repent should have been taken, such as returning the Cullinan I Diamond, currently part of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom, back to South Africa.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">There are also those who have more nuanced feelings towards the former head of state. Maya Jasanoff of The New York Times <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/09\/08\/opinion\/queen-empire-decolonization.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">argues <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">that the queen herself was impressive, but the British Monarchy cannot escape its dark past and must morph into a more appropriate role for the 21st century.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Despite the many comments made by various people that the monarchy is outdated and needs to change, change has already occurred. According to the LA Times, in 1992 the queen <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/archives\/la-xpm-1992-11-27-mn-977-story.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">elected<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to pay taxes for the first time for a British monarch. More recently in order to preserve the integrity of the monarchy, the queen <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/edwardsegal\/2022\/01\/13\/queen-seeks-to-protect-brand-by-stripping-prince-andrew-of-royal-and-military-duties-titles\/?sh=283487683b8f#:~:text=In%20an%20apparent%20effort%20to%20help%20protect%20the,sexual%20abuse%20civil%20lawsuit%20against%20him%20could%20proceed.\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">stripped her own son Prince Andrew of royal titles <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">due to his alleged involvement with convicted sex traffiker Jeffery Epstein, something which never would have happened a hundred years ago.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now that His Majesty Charles III has ascended the throne, who knows what other changes await the monarchy. Maybe with Charles on the throne, his family can begin to make amends for their past crimes.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The reign of Queen Elizabeth II ended on Thursday, Sept. 8, when she said goodbye to her family and died at the age of 96. Buckingham Palace has long been prepared for the queen\u2019s passing. However, it is likely that the palace was not anticipating the range of reactions of many people around the world&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":703,"featured_media":10017,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"portfolio_post_id":0,"portfolio_citation":"","portfolio_annotation":"","openlab_post_visibility":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nation-and-world","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/703"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10010"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10653,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10010\/revisions\/10653"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}