Is the UK suffering from mass hysteria?

[User135644]

The Queen's passing is sad and seismic and the funeral will be a special occasion.

However, people genuinely seem to have gone mad.

@CurbsideProphet but the thing is millions of people including children don’t consider her ‘a stranger’ . especially after the Jubilee this summer where children took part in lots of royal related activities etc. Lots of schools have pictures of the Queen in, village halls as well, she’s on tea towels and mugs in peoples cupboards and even if you are not a monarchist her face is universally recognised worldwide. It might seem odd but millions still watch the Queen’s Xmas message and if you read the tabloids there is a constant diet of Royal soap opera

I think some of this is the need to actively ‘take part’ rather than observe life. We have had two years of not participating in things, people are now jumping at the opportunity to actually engage physically with something. There is also anxiety about change generally; we have had 4 PMs in 6 years, we have had the referendum , two elections , Brexit, Covid and energy costs and inflation and now the Queen who for many people provided a constant ( a bit like the Test Card on the TV ),something reliably the same, has gone too. It’s like a security blanket.

I suspect William will be the last monarch and he will manage the transition to something else, I doubt he wants his son to be saddled with this burden. It’s a guilded cage.

It’s utterly batshit and I have hugely eye rolled at people I thought to be quite sane, who have shown themselves to be not quite who I thought they were, by posting idiotic Paddington memes and going on about the queen like she was their bleedin’ nan 🙄

Especially batshit when none of these people have ever professed any interest in the queen whatsoever. Bandwagon and jumping. V tedious.

I haven’t really seen any madness or hysteria. I am sad at the Queen’s death as she was the queen and I’ve never know her not to be the queen but I’ve been taking the kids to school and going to work etc. and nearly everyone in my life has done the same. I do know two people who went to London to see the ceremony of everything but one was military and has served the queen for over a decade and met her personally twice before and the other is currently between jobs (her DH works she just usually works PT too to bring in a bit extra) and since she is off work thought why not go see a bit of history in motion. I don’t know anyone who has taken time off of work/school etc to go and queue up.

and that’s the thing, this reaction isn’t all about the queen dying. It’s being able to say that they’ve seen the pageantry and ceremony of it all. It is a historical event and people will be able to say well I remember when queen Elizabeth II died and I went and did this.

It's funny how people complain about the "thread after thread" which question the current situation regarding the queen's death. Yet they seem to think it perfectly acceptable for there to be blanket coverage,for days on end and in every part of the media, on the same subject.

Imo. The media marketing of the 'event'. Along with photos and videos on social media whipping up FOMO on the experience/feelings.

Media and palace PR hysteria whipping up of the masses. I've basically avoided the whole media circus, for 10 days, but I had to laugh at a couple of those in the queue.

They said the queue had become a "destination event", and they weren't really bothered about getting into the hall - they just wanted to be in the queue and be known to have been in the queue..😬

Next time in silently swearing at being in a supermarket queue, I must try to tell myself I'm at a destination event lol

I don’t see people being hysterical at all. People are calmly paying their respect to our long reigning Queen. And that’s what it’s all about…respect.

Agreed, @Tallulah1972

Waiting 12+ hours outside (and encouraging children to do so) to pay respects to an elderly woman you've never met and who had never even heard of you is hysterical, regardless of how "composed" and "patient" the crowd is.

Closing shops, schools, doctor's surgeries, crematoriums, holiday destinations, entertainment venues, and cancelling planned treatments and operations over the death of one person is hysterical.

24-hour Breaking News coverage of the death of a 96-year-old (including the shipping of her coffin, the status of her grandchildren holding hands with their spouses, and ogling the bereaved family) is hysterical.

Admittedly, I am not a royalist, nor am I British, though I have lived in the UK for 8 years. That said, I genuinely do not understand how people are grieving and crying over a lovely, but privileged woman who they never so much as crossed paths with. I see that as hysterical.

I go out and about my business and I see no hysteria of any kind. I hear more people talking about holidays, school lessons and garden birds than I do about the Queen's death and funeral.

I can go into a range of shops and buy cornflakes, scollops and shower gel at any time from 6am to midnight.

I was at an establishment dinner two nights ago and not one mention about the Queen.

On Monday the shops will be shut for a few hours to enable staff to watch the funeral if they wish.

As is common with most things, the hysteria is on social media (behind anonymity and not real life) and the tabloid press.

i dont think it is hysterical
no hysteria that i can see
no weeping and wailing - no elton john
it is a huge event
a state funeral for a monarch who reigned for 70 years
94% of the global population have never known another monarch.
plenty of us are unlikely to have a queen again.

She might not be in that coffin

@MooseBreath possibly because as I said to a huge number of people in this country she is not a stranger , she is someone who has been part of their lives for all of their lives ( I agree this seems odd and I think the time has come for change) but the British have a strange and complex relationship with their Royal family and more specifically The Queen. She was the most well known face in the country , people might have no idea about politics or church leaders or other national figures but everyone knew who the Queen was.

I think there’s perhaps an unexpressed need for grieving, which is more personal than people’s feelings about the actual Queen, but which this event is acting as an enabler for. I’m thinking of the woman who brought her Mim’s ashes, for instance, to the queue.

it’s certainly being whipped up for various more or less grubby reasons, but people feel what they feel.

She might not be in that coffin

indeed 🙄

I've got the Live Stream on from Westminster Hall.

Shrieking, wailing, people prostrating themselves.

Oh hang on.

Off to empty the dishwasher.

The hysteria has been embedded for a while-think Covid and the Col crisis.
Now that's hysteria.

A bit bonkers? Yes, but we are fairly bonkers as a nation, it's why we have a royal family.

Compared to Diana's death this is cool, calm reflection.

2 weeks down the line this will seem like a distant memory.

I was very sympathetic when she died. (Mostly for the rest of the royal family). Although I am not a royalist I do belong to organisations that pledge to serve the royal family and do their "duty".
I am shocked at the queues to see a coffin (yes coffin, you dont know shes in there), the remarks online and the parades in the streets. I am shocked I can't find any DECENT news articles about what's actually going on in the funking world other than the monarch of the UK has died. I really don't care if Prince Harry wears his uniform or not. (That seems to be all people are harping on about....)
News flash: they aren't your family. King Charles won't be paying inheritance tax on his massive inheritance, while we face one of the hardest winters ever thanks to the cost of living crisis and our government is still doing fuck all about it while Liz truss pats herself on the back (but atleast she's not Boris eh?)

So I don't get why everyone is in favour of shutting everything for a woman who was clearly all about duty and service. I don't get all the crying and "oh my goodness I can't believe she's gone" - we will be lucky to reach 96!

Yep, absolutely.

Where though? Show me the hysteria because I cannot see it.

have not RTFT, sorry.
I just read elsewhere that perhaps a lot of it is the grieving for the people who have died since March 2020 where up to now people have tended not to be able to grieve properly. And it has all rolled into this.

Agree - Out of all of it I’ll take a good natured queue than the whipping up over those

I am shocked at the queues to see a coffin (yes coffin, you dont know shes in there

Thinking about you at a funeral "are they REALLY in there, show me the proof?" 😁

I suppose any coffin, any where, might have been weighted , It's just a chance you have to take @NoMoneyHun

Jesus wept.

Well most people seem to agree with you, but It’s not like Diana at all, which was mass hysteria, dominating all conversation IRL and people’s mood. That isn’t happening now in my experience (thankfully because it was horrendous and very self indulgent beyond her family and friends).
This level of media attention and in state viewing is to be expected during this official mourning period. It’s easy to switch off the TV.
Other people queuing is of no consequence to me.
I don’t agree with leaving flowers etc as consider it wasteful and all has to be cleared up. Better to light a candle and reflect.