AIBU?
To find the Paddington memes so irritating and borderline offensive?
BarbaraVineFan · 12/09/2022 19:29
Getting lots of Paddington memes on my Facebook feed related to the Queen's death. Even saw a disgustingly twee one today with an image of Paddington and the Queen walking off into the distance hand in hand, with a caption something like 'I'm very tired now Paddington, will you take me to Philip now?' 🙄
Now I know the Paddington sketch from the Jubilee was mildly amusing, I enjoyed it at the time, but for some reason this mawkish and ridiculous association of a child's toy with the death of a respected leader is really pissing me off. Is it just me or does anyone else feel the same?
Am I being unreasonable?
AIBUYou have one vote. All votes are anonymous.
MrsToothyBitch · 12/09/2022 19:38
YANBU I can't quite put my finger on it but I don't like the Paddington art- and I have no issue with either Paddington or the Queen otherwise. I have enjoyed some of the other art that has come out (I even don't mind the HRH x Freddie pic, it's quite funny) but Paddington and the endless icky poems are too far for me.
TeenDivided · 12/09/2022 19:39
The Paddington stuff doesn't bother me at all. Paddington is more than a 'children's toy', and if he was good enough for The Queen to agree to do a sketch with earlier this year which is so fresh in memories, then I can see why people are linking to Paddington now.
Generally I think a lot of MN posters have got very self righteous over this, telling us how to mourn, or not to mourn at all or whatever. How about a bit more tolerance and accepting that The Queen meant different things to different people and that people will have different ways of wanting to deal with their emotions? (Including at one end ignoring it completely and at the other camping out in London for the next week).
BlueThingie · 12/09/2022 19:39
I don’t understand the Paddington thing either. She did a 90 second sketch with him. It wasn’t really a big part of her life or something she was associated with until 5 minutes ago. May as well say she did a sketch with James Bond and share memes about her shagging, drinking martinis and blowing things up.
Antarcticant · 12/09/2022 19:41
It's just something that people have latched onto. A bit like the 'Queen of Hearts' pictures that were everywhere when Diana died - obviously the internet in 1997 was very different, but had there been social media and memes, you can bet that Diana 'playing cards' would have been everywhere.
The loss of an iconic figure is difficult - even if you are not a particular royalist, the Queen no longer being there, the national anthem changing and so on is a seismic shift. Some people cope by clinging to this sort of stuff. I don't personally like the Paddington stuff - I agree, it's mawkish and some of the poems are so bad that one wonders if they are parodies - but ultimately, humans are behaving like humans.
In six months' time, or possibly even six week's time, Paddington will be back from his secondment as the Angel of Death and be once more the children's character we know and love.
Buttons294749 · 12/09/2022 19:42
BlueThingie · 12/09/2022 19:39
I don’t understand the Paddington thing either. She did a 90 second sketch with him. It wasn’t really a big part of her life or something she was associated with until 5 minutes ago. May as well say she did a sketch with James Bond and share memes about her shagging, drinking martinis and blowing things up.
I know, i thought thay too
Although i would happily spend the afterlife shagging daniel craig!
MrsToothyBitch · 12/09/2022 19:43
Tbh given the ending of No Time To Die, James Bond waiting for her makes more sense. Daniel Craig ever after is far more my idea of heaven than eternal Paddington!
I like the picture of the corgi just looking sadly at the crown. That just sums it up I think.
ILiveInAmphibia · 12/09/2022 19:43
It's just bizarre, all of it. I saw a headline that read 'people asked to stop leaving Paddington bears and sandwiches outside Buckingham Palace'. All the photos of clouds that people think look like the queen?! This is the problem with social media - you realise who society is made up of and it makes me want to move to mars.
saraclara · 12/09/2022 19:45
I've got a great one for you poetry haters, shared on my local Facebook page:
Paddington sat down sadly
On a green and quiet glade
And pulled a sandwich from his little hat
Made With the nicest marmalade
He had heard sad news this very day
That the Queen's life had come to an end
He cried because that day they met
She had become his bestest friend
They had shared some tea
That very day when to the Palace he had been invited
He remembered he could hardly speak
He was so very very excited
He offered her his sandwich
Made with such love and care
She smiled at him and with a grin
She showed that little bear
That inside of her handbag
There was something she had made
And that She too kept a special sandwich
Made of the finest marmalade
Although he was just a little bear
And she a regal queen
Watching her take that sandwich out her bag
Was the best thing he had seen
He wondered if any body else would miss her
Now that she had gone
And his heart was filled up to the brim
When he turned his little phone on
He saw that Facebook had been flooded
With her pictures old and new
And that he himself that little bear
Was also in them too
Although today he is the saddest
That he has ever been
He will always lovingly remember
The day he had tea with the Queen
CampRedLeaf · 12/09/2022 19:45
A580Hojas · 12/09/2022 19:42
Yanbu. I don't find it offensive but it really makes me question the people who are creating and sharing this guff.
Children probably.
My kids have little to no understanding of what the Queen actually did day to day. But they do recognise and remember her being on the telly with Paddington.
To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.