Monday, June 05, 2006

I agree with you, I just don't care

I have a friend whose father is a member of the Green Party, an environmentally focused member of the Green party. Whenever she tries to bring up poverty, capitalism, or any other issue primarily about people he says "I agree with you, I just don't care", which she finds very frustrating.

But we all have them, issues where we intellectually acknowledge that something is wrong and needs to be changed (or maybe even right, and needs to be defended), but we really can't be bothered.

Today we get a public holiday in honour of one of the issues I just can't care about - the Monarchy. In fact the fact that Queen's Birthday is a public holiday may even be enough to tip me to be pro-monarchy, because I'm passionate pro-public-holidays.

I'll agree with every argument you make against the monarchy (unless it's a stupid argument). I'll acknowledge the ridiculousness and the lack of democracy. But I just don't care.

I'd care if I was in Australia, I think. There it'd be 30 years since they over threw a democratically elected government. That's the sort of thing that I get grumpy about. But here the queen hasn't ever done anything.

As far as I can see the only thing the monarchy is good for is surreal protests that get my friends on the Daily Show and condemning Henry IV on National Radio.

2 comments:

  1. Most New Zealand republicans don't care either. There's no hurry to push for a republic; instead they're happy to give it time to emerge naturally. It's not as if we're suffering under a murderous monarch like the thug in Nepal, after all...

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  2. Also our constitutional arrangements have been left in the 'too hard' basket. I don't think many people want to deal with the ramifications that it would have for the relationship a new state would have Maori and are happy to let sleeping dogs lie.

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