Back in the day…
I need to re-post this.
It will soon be the new year, and here in the UK that means the queen’s New Year honours list, handing out awards to the ‘Great and the Good’.
In theory, there’s nothing wrong with this, except that lots of the recipients get these things because they are either rich, sycophantic, or some sort of useless preening celebrity. And there is already considerable controversy over at least one of the undeserving b*stards who is getting one.
But I digress.
The particular problem that I have is with the OBE and MBE. Just to remind everyone, OBE stands for the Order of the BRITISH EMPIRE and MBE stands for Member of the BRITISH EMPIRE.
The time to scrap these highly insulting and redundant ‘honours’ is long overdue!
Mick Canning 
Now, I must admit that I was looking for Fred Flinstone’s feet beneath that vintage car! I must also admit that the “Presidential Medal of Freedom” here is likely akin to your “Honours List” that is apparently just as corrupt. Both, I think, have been whittled down to a political favour of one sort or another. Just as Trump gave the Presidential Medal to Miriam Adelson, who’s only claim to fame was that she and her husband had donated millions to Trump’s campaign. Sigh. The saddest part is that it cheapens the award for those who truly deserved it for their courage, activism, bravery, etc.
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Yes, there are always a fistful of party donors included in those lists. We need another system, and one that doesn’t try to perpetuate the idea of the ‘British Empire’.
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I’m beginning to think that all the industrialized nations are in need of a make-over.
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You’re probably right.
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Is it something that is a leftover from the colonial period? It sounds like one!
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Yes, it has been going for a long time and no one seems willing to change the name of the damned things. I am amazed there is never an outcry whenever the things are mentioned – to still award someone the ‘order of the British Empire’ feels to me deeply insulting, at best, to countless millions of people who suffered under it.
On the other hand there are, sadly, really people in this country who think that Brexit means we are going to have an empire again. Seriously, there is no limit to people’s stupidity.
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Mick, I think the way people have been choosing governments it shows that people are tired and are willing to give other people a chance. This is why we have so many controversial personas in power across the world. Probably, they feel that it is going to make a big “positive” change. It won’t be long when they will be disappointed.
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Indeed. I think a lot of them are already disappointed.
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I quite like the whole awards process, especially when ordinary people get recognised for extra-special achievements but the whole British Empire thing is so wrong. Can’t we re-badge them as something more meaningful and less colonial. I think the truth may be that the majority of people don’t actually know what CBE, OBE and MBE stands for.
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i like it when ‘ordinary people’ get recognised, yes. But the whole thing of rewarding someone for giving out money to a political party, or doing a well-paid job, is wrong. And as for the British Empire thing, I just can’t believe people don’t understand what it means. Every year, I expect a huge surge of anger about it, but it never happens. I am just surprised at that.
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I didn’t know these titles still exist!
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Sadly, they do. High time they were renamed.
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After Brexit, British are no longer part of the EU. How can they still using the Empire title?
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The British Empire predates the EU by a long time. It dates back to when we had colonies, and the thought of still celebrating that in the names of these ‘honours’ is awful.
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When Ian Duncan Smith gets one it sums how corrupt the system is. If he gets it then surely thousands of people earning an awful less money like nurses should be on the list to.
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Absolutely. If he gets it then everyone must be eligible to get it.
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Hmm… It does indeed sound due for a change.
Also, if I am nit wrong, is your national anthem ” God Save the Queen”?
If so, has there been any controversy surrounding that? Oh and also, when Britain has a king, what will happen to the anthem?
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Well, if there’s a king it changes to that. There’s not really any controversy around that as such, it tends to get drowned out in the other controversies around being a monarchy.
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Okay. Thanks for the info. On a lighter note, the anthem seems to have worked. 😉
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