zlacker

Snap, I often have to put up with responses like; "So you want us to be like France then, you traitor? The queen makes us British. You are just jealous of her money. Etc, etc, etc."

Unfortunately many British people have the idea of royalty tied up very tightly with their national identity, so any suggestion of getting rid of the monarchy is seen as being treasonous.

>>moocow+(OP)
I sincerely hope you're joking, at least among programmers!

You're right about national identity, though, a concept I would happily burn if it were possible. Worldview[1] is a terrible thing.

[1] http://www.skepticalscience.com/Debunking-Handbook-now-freel...

>>tehwal+42
Those three were all pretty much direct quotes. I don't know if programming would make someone particularly immune to this kind of reasoning though, in my experience it is to do with how much attachment someone has to the trappings of group identity, which can be quite disconnected from how they reason about other subjects.

>>moocow+(OP)
Honest question here from an American who heard about monarchy from the other side:

Isn't a British subject suggesting getting rid of the British monarchy basically treasonous by definition?

>>tehwal+42
Being a programmer has little to do with anything. You can be a good programmer and believe in race superiority, one doesn't exclude the other.

Even in subjects like social insurance you'll find an abyss among Europeans and US. I believe it has to do with how we grew up.

>>moocow+(OP)
This gives the impression that all British are pro-monarchy. While it's try that royalty is tied to national identity, the nation in this situation is England, Ireland, Scotland or Wales. You'll find very different levels of republicanism in each country.

Personally I'm pro-tradition. If I wasn't, worrying about the complicated but small-impact question of the monarchy would come after issues such as the de facto Christianity in our post-disestablishment country.

>>marshr+gT
Umm, no? It might have been when Walsingham was running the secret service in the late 16th Century, but I think we've moved on.

It is an opinion that gets discriminated against a bit more than most (along with Anarchism) simply because the Media and the Police don't take either seriously as ideas.

Example: People planning republican protests during the Royal Wedding were arrested in advance and held during the event, to stop their protest being heard[1]. As far as I know, nobody was actually charged with anything, only arrested on suspicion of "conspiracy to cause a public nuisance" and then released when it was all over.

Nonetheless, writing about the idea is perfectly acceptable, and a protest in a less sensitive area / at a less sensitive time would be "tolerated" (not that this justifies the censorship it gets sometimes.)

[1] http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/may/01/wedding-activists-...

>>atmosx+nc1
I like to think that programmers are better than most at seeing the assumptions behind ideas, and testing them where possible (or taking the ideas less seriously if not.)

Maybe it's rarer than I thought to apply this to ones own social ideas, though. Shame.

>>tehwal+bj1
I like to think that programmers are better than most at seeing the assumptions behind ideas, and testing them where possible (or taking the ideas less seriously if not.)

Did you go out of your way to test the assumptions behind this idea before taking it seriously?

>>lotsof+We1
How does a reply from one British person who doesn't think monarchy is a good idea, to another British person who doesn't think monarchy is a good idea, possibly convey the impression that all British are pro-monarchy?