Royal guard video kicking child in the way

[DickMabutt73962]

I wasn't born and raised in the UK and am not into the culture of 'tradition' but I don't understand the majority of reactions to this video blaming the parent and saying of the guards 'it's their job'.

Can anyone more enlightened explain to me why this was necessary? As far as I can see the guard is marching, not saving London from attack. I don't see why a side-step wouldn't work. And if this is a register thing then maybe future control of how close members of the public are able to get in their path

www.indy100.com/viral/queen-royal-guard-trampled-kid-tiktok-video-b1983965

Would you seriously expect your child to have the foggiest idea what was going on and what was expected of him in the split second he had to 'moike woi'? First day in England, possibly on a plane all night, possibly not speaking English, possibly stunned at the harsh roar he heard?

Poor baby, should have held mommy's hand.

real soldiers who are on duty with loaded weapons

The guns aren't loaded and tbh this role is pretty much just decorative, police are there to deal with a threat.

My husband was impressed with the guard because he managed to stay in step 😂

@WorraLiberty

The kid wasn't kicked at all.

And if you slow the video down, you can see the guard tried hard to side step when he noticed the child at the very last second, but it was too late.

This is what I see too.

He watches the child, flinches to his left when it looks like the child is going to duck right. Then the child slightly changes direction and so he flinches to his left - but which time they have collided.

Having done so, he then has to keep going.

@mathanxiety. You've said all of the following things that are not true. For some reason you are lying about what happened and have got your knickers in a right twist. In fact, are you ok hun?

deliberately trample on a kid - child was not trampled on.

Pure thuggery - there was no thuggery.

He was roared at by the soldiers - no, he was shouted at. And rightly so.

@mathanxiety

When they shout “make way” bloody well move then incidents like this won’t happen.

Take a look at the video and time the interval between the roared command and the impact.

www.trendsmap.com/twitter/tweet/1476195393235001348

Would you seriously expect your child to have the foggiest idea what was going on and what was expected of him in the split second he had to 'moike woi'? First day in England, possibly on a plane all night, possibly not speaking English, possibly stunned at the harsh roar he heard?

Of course you would, because this is MN.

My child wouldn’t have been in their way in the first place because I’m fully aware of the role of the Queen’s Guard.

I don’t give a monkey’s if it’s their first day in the U.K., how they got here, tired or not, or any other excuse you want to pull out of the bag. When I go away and want to visit somewhere I do research. It’s stupid not to. Had the child’s parents done so this wouldn’t have happened. It’s absolutely not the fault of the soldiers.

Yes. Theses are highly decorated soldiers

It’s always been known.

You should see the guys who guys the tomb of the unknown solider in the US!

What a load of absolute fuss over nothing. Children of that age (old enough to know better), in fact ANYONE, simply should not put themselves in the way of anyone very clearly marching towards them on parade like that. The kid wasn't just oblivious of what was coming towards him. All the kids I know are pretty light on their feet and would run away or jump to the side. Although the fact is that none of them should have been anywhere near the path of the soldiers anyway, I can't abide this "ooh let's see what they'll do, and we'll video it" crap.

What SHOULD have happened was the parents should have ensured that boy was standing with them watching events. If this had been my child I would have felt guilty that I hadn't been keeping a proper eye on my child making sure they behaved themselves, I would have then told them it was their own fault for getting in the way when they should have been at the side watching, and would have shouted an apology after them. I'm sure that kid won't do anything like that again.

I can't believe all those people saying otherwise. Someone at the top of the thread posted a video of a tourist clearly standing deliberately the other side of a rope barrier and getting barged into by an oncoming solider. If you watch that a few times, she's clearly being an arsehole and standing there to see what they'd do. I have no sympathy for such rude, thoughtless idiots.

Sadly it seems there are more and more people who just thinks the world revolves around them. Even when I'm clearly in the middle of a reversing parking manoeuvre coming out of a space in a supermarket car park having made sure it was safe to do so, and my car is nearly out of the space you still get idiots, appearing suddenly out of nowhere from between parked cars walking at speed, walking right behind my car. Of course, most people WILL stop, as they have the manners to recognise that you were doing your thing first, and so they should wait until you have finished your manoeuvre and THEN walk across.

But then I've said this before on here, and been horrified at some of the responses who just trawl out "always give way to pedestrians, no matter what". Which of course, I do because it's not like I'm going to continue reversing when a thoughtless idiot walks directly behind my reversing car, but honestly, it's like common sense and decency have just gone out the window sometimes these days.

Ah "idiot parent".
"Fuckwit of a parent".
"Bad parenting"...

All because of an unforeseen accident.

But we mustn't call our men "buffoons" and our Prince Andrew had nothing attached to his name in one of these post, I noticed.

I'd like to see some of these posters' perfect stepford-like children who've never put a foot wrong because if they have, that would make you an idiot parent, a fuckwit of a parent and a bad parent.

You'd also be an idiot, a fuckwit and a terrible parent if you've ever lost sight of them for 5 seconds; if you've ever not managed to keep them by your side the whole entire time they needed to; if they ever suddenly made a move you weren't able to predict; if one of your little perfect angels never shoved your other perfect angel because they thought it would be funny.

If not, well done. We need lessons on how to be exceptional parents like you.

In Dh experience no soldier would have been disciplined for miss stepping to avoid the child. The chain of command would rather that than a video like this which PR wise doesn't look good and most people wouldn't want to collide with a kid anyway.

@HereForThis

Ah "idiot parent". "Fuckwit of a parent". "Bad parenting"...

All because of an unforeseen accident.

But we mustn't call our men "buffoons" and our Prince Andrew had nothing attached to his name in one of these post, I noticed.

I'd like to see some of these posters' perfect stepford-like children who've never put a foot wrong because if they have, that would make you an idiot parent, a fuckwit of a parent and a bad parent.

You'd also be an idiot, a fuckwit and a terrible parent if you've ever lost sight of them for 5 seconds; if you've ever not managed to keep them by your side the whole entire time they needed to; if they ever suddenly made a move you weren't able to predict; if one of your little perfect angels never shoved your other perfect angel because they thought it would be funny.

If not, well done. We need lessons on how to be exceptional parents like you.

All that is true. But I wouldn't be blaming someone else if my child got in the way and knocked over. That's the difference.

Tourists regularly try and jump in front of the Queen's Guard, it's seen as a big thing to try and make them laugh, disrupt them etc. They get short shrift from the soldiers and I have seen tourists asked to leave the Tower of London.
It's very disrespectful to someone trying to do their job.

Not what happened in this case, but they are working soldiers on duty and that should be respected.

OP you are utterly unreasonable to criticise the working practices of these soldiers from what you acknowledge is a position of zero knowledge.

I think a lot of people here are being really obtuse and completely missing the point about the impact of this brutal scene on people who are not conditioned to be as much in awe of the Coldstream Guards and the rest of the British armed forces as they are, and who are able to see soldiers marching about in ridiculous uniforms for what they are - panto, theatre, not part of a serious attempt at security. People all over the world are the child who points out that the emperor has no clothes.

There was a post upthread where a hypothetical court scene was played out in excruciating detail, ending with the witness reduced to weeping and gnashing her teeth under cross by the defense.

There are people who honestly can't seem to understand how the image of a young black child being trampled on by a white soldier could be problematic.

That's not how impressions of a country and its culture and ethos work.

The excuses for the callous disregard for the welfare of the young child - the smugness, the coldness, the viciousness - are equally dreadful to behold. The fact that apparently nobody gave serious thought to restricting public access to areas where soldiers are obliged to march in straight lines and never stop or deviate from their route speaks very poorly of British ability to anticipate problems.

The visuals here are dreadful.

brutal scene At least they didi't have to fear some trigger happy US cop?

I hope this family are in fact American, and I hope they lawyer up.

Why would you wish that on them, @mathanxiety? If they establish liability (which is a massive if), damages in the English courts (which would have jurisdiction) would struggle to reach three figures at most, given that the boy got up immediately afterwards with no sign of any injury and there would be a hefty element of contributory negligence. There'd be a substantial danger that they would end up paying the other side's costs as well as their own.

@Alittlepotofrosie

having watched the video numerous times yourself, I am sure, are you willing to accept that the child was neither kicked nor trampled, but merely knocked over then stepped over

Merely knocked over? It was completely and totally avoidable. It's really not ok for grown men to merely knock over children, even if they have got a uniform on. They could have stopped, deviated their course by a few inches to go around him, given the boy more warning. Anything. Merely knocking him over is not ok, any more than trampling him would have been. So getting bogged down in semantics is pointless. He still had no cause to merely knock over a child. Wearing a uniform doesn't mean you can do whatever you want.

I already said that people can continue to argue that it was totally avoidable if they want to. That's not what I am asking.

I want to know how the people who have used phrases like 'kicked out of the way' and 'trampled on' can do so, knowing damned well that they've scrutinised the video the same as I have, and neither of those things actually happened.

It's not 'semantics' to say the child was 'brutally kicked out of the way' when we can all see very clearly that he wasn't kicked at all.

It's not semantics to say he was 'trampled on' when we can all see that he was not trampled on, but in fact stepped right over. It's a lie. An outright lie designed to fan the flames of tension.

He was knocked over. Yes. Rightly or wrongly, avoidably or not, he was knocked over. And stepped over. That's all you need to say. Anything else is just a plain old lie.

@mathanxiety

OP you are utterly unreasonable to criticise the working practices of these soldiers from what you acknowledge is a position of zero knowledge.

I think a lot of people here are being really obtuse and completely missing the point about the impact of this brutal scene on people who are not conditioned to be as much in awe of the Coldstream Guards and the rest of the British armed forces as they are, and who are able to see soldiers marching about in ridiculous uniforms for what they are - panto, theatre, not part of a serious attempt at security. People all over the world are the child who points out that the emperor has no clothes.

There was a post upthread where a hypothetical court scene was played out in excruciating detail, ending with the witness reduced to weeping and gnashing her teeth under cross by the defense.

There are people who honestly can't seem to understand how the image of a young black child being trampled on by a white soldier could be problematic.

That's not how impressions of a country and its culture and ethos work.

The excuses for the callous disregard for the welfare of the young child - the smugness, the coldness, the viciousness - are equally dreadful to behold. The fact that apparently nobody gave serious thought to restricting public access to areas where soldiers are obliged to march in straight lines and never stop or deviate from their route speaks very poorly of British ability to anticipate problems.

The visuals here are dreadful.

You need a breather

I watched this expecting to see a toddler! I don't see how they could have avoiding banging into him as he just wanders in the way. If they'd stopped they might all have bumped into each other and caused much more of am accident. Particularly with weapons involved.

We saw something similar at Windsor Castle where an American tourist stepped into their path to take a photo and they shouted and him as they continued marching. He leapt out of the way pretty quickly.

The family don't need to be 'lawyered up'. There are clear shouted warnings that the soldiers are approaching and it's up to parents to keep their children safe.

I grew up in London and remember being taught from quite young that you don’t get in their way and you don’t try to distract them. We did a few school trips into London, including the Tower of London when I was at junior school.

If I were shouted at by a soldier in a language I didn't necessarily understand, odds would be 50/50 he was telling me to freeze, so I might well stand still and expect them to march round me.

Here’s the post on Reddit from one of the queens guard.

I expected this to be a toddler, but it's an ~8yr old child who should know better (and who jumped up immediately!). Still, never let the truth get in the way of a good story eh??

I'd say that a terrorist could easily do harm to them mid-march if they aren't allowed to respond off-script to unforeseen circumstances, so much so that they weren't able to see the boy in front of them till it was too late. With that hat halfway down their eyes, they aren't exactly equipped for a quick reaction to threats.

Someone could easily get behind them or in front of them, or even shoot them from the side before they'd notice, since they're basically like blinkered horses focused on their path, one step at a time.

@mathanxiety

When they shout “make way” bloody well move then incidents like this won’t happen.

Take a look at the video and time the interval between the roared command and the impact.

www.trendsmap.com/twitter/tweet/1476195393235001348

Would you seriously expect your child to have the foggiest idea what was going on and what was expected of him in the split second he had to 'moike woi'? First day in England, possibly on a plane all night, possibly not speaking English, possibly stunned at the harsh roar he heard?

Of course you would, because this is MN.

But they regularly shout "Make way for the Queen's Guard", that wouldn't have been the first shout.

If the child was that disoriented and confused, all the more reason for the parents to keep a very close eye on him.

Math

You live in the states. Would you have said the same thing about someone getting in the way of the guards at Arlington?