A positive and non-bashing thread about Meghan and Harry

[MrsMaxDeWinter]

I have rejoined Mumsnet after leaving a few times. The first time I left was because I was concerned about the coverage and uncomfortable undertone of the commentary on Meghan Markle after the engagement was announced, before she had said a word, and before she had married into the Royal Family.

I came back around the time she and Harry left the UK, to be stunned by the pages and pages upon pages of virulent threads. At that time Mumsnet actually banned all threads about Meghan, it had become so toxic.

They have now made their lives in Montecito, but still the virulence continues. Yes, she speaks in a mix of therapy plus corporate gobbledegook, yes, she is occasionally vapid and irritating.

But who is she actually harming that she deserves all this virulence?

Yesterday, when the new UK Prime Minister was elected, the coverage in the Super Tory Daily Mail was all about a seven minute speech to a bunch of young people. Article after article after article. Body language experts. Counting the number of times she said "I" in a speech in which she sought to inspire young people by attempting to relate to them. Before that, 18 articles were devoted to the first podcast by the Daily Mail alone. 18!

Same with her podcasts. The series is about HER and HER take on labels, and she discusses HER take with HER guests.

It's all very anodyne, even vanilla. It does not deserve any of the vitriol sent her way.

SO:

As the next twelve weeks are going to be wall to wall Meghan, and the Meghan haters and detractors have several threads here that fill up rapidly with bile, scorn and mockery, I have started this thread, reminiscent of previous " positive" threads, to talk about what some of us like, enjoy, find amusing and even (gasp) admire, in the next few Meghan rich weeks.

If you don't have anything positive to say, that's okay, you can keep to the existing threads.

Looking forward to a bile-free discussion of everything Meghan!

Hi Meghan. Welcome to Mumsnet.

I don’t think virulence means what you think it means.

Well probably people don’t like the never ending pot shots at a frail and probably dying lady? Or the petulant nonsensical behaviour of Harry a lot of the time?

I think that’s enough to get some folk riled 🤷‍♀️

@BananaBender No I am not Meghan. I imagine she is rather busy right now, and I doubt very much that she knows Mumsnet, important as it may be to its users.

@balabears I do know what "virulence" means thank you, it means a bitter or rancorous kind of hostility, which is what you get in every Meghan thread here. If this thread is not for you, you can ignore it and post on others that are more your thing. Thanks.

But who is she actually harming that she deserves all this virulence?

Igniring the misuse of “virulence” how can you say “who is she harming?” She’s constantly attacking her husbands family. The latest “oh I found a journal I had forgotten about” and “I’m silent until I’m not” are veiled threats to individuals she spent very little time with and probably knows very little about.

I’ll leave the thread now so you can continure with your “positivity”. Even if it’s based on untruths.

I am not particularly interested in Harry and Meghan as I am a republican but I really am uncomfortable when anyone (not just Meghan - it was Emily Maitlis a week or so ago) is subjected to harsh and seemingly endless criticism in the right wing press. I don't know much about her articles or podcasts as I haven't read or listened to them but I think something is very wrong when one person is singled out for constant criticism which is out of proportion to their activities. Especially when that person is (a,) female and (b) mixed race. There is a tipping point which at a certain moment swings from fair and reasonable comment to bullying and that point has already been reached imho.

If you think she talks in a mix of therapy speak and corporate gobbledegook, that her speech was anodyne and that she can be vapid and irritating.. why do you want a We ❤️ Megan thread?

I don’t have anything against her personally, other than agreeing with your describers above, but for people who care about the RF she has been a intentionally destructive force. She got a rough ride in some quarters and some of that was racist, for sure, but that doesn’t negate that core fact.

Your comments about the Daily Mail aren’t surprising. It’s a tabloid, an errant Princess is a lot better tabloid fodder and distraction than a C list PM drifting hopelessly into the giant mess that is our lives.

@WeAreThePigs

What "potshots" has Meghan actually taken at the Queen.

Genuinely interested?

In the Oprah interview, she said an unnamed member of the RF had commented negatively on her son's skin colour. Oprah W then clarified that the Royal was not the Queen or Phillip.

If you believe Tom Bower, he says it was Camilla who commented on the baby's hair?

In the same interview with OW Meghan spoke very warmly of the Queen and a trip they made together where he Q shared a blanket. And Harry has never said a single negative thing about the Q?

In the Cut interview Meghan does not mention the Queen at all.

So what potshots has she actually taken at a "frail and probably dying lady"?

Why twelve weeks? I thought the Sussexes were over for about a week then back to the US.

This exactly, thank you! The reaction is extremely disproportionate to anything she has ever done or said.

Almost as though she and her husband are being punished for, I don't know, daring to take on the right wing tabloids ... ad winning, More than once.

I see what you’ve done in this post - demonstrated a good example of the meaning of virulence.

I am not asking for "we love Meghan" posts, Just for a bit of proportion to counter the bile.

The Royal Family has withstood having

1. a former king with Nazi connections
2. a future king and future head of the Church of England who admitted to committing adultery
3. three divorces of the children of the current Head of the Church of England, all of whom are in the line of succession
4. a pay-off for criminal sexual behaviour of a member of the family in the line of succession.
5. A book about Charles in which he was extremely critical of his mother the Queen and her parenting of him

The institution is strong enough to withstand Meghan. If you don't agree that it is, please explain how anything she has said is much more destructive than any of the above.

I also think the negativity towards them is unjustified, but I don’t think this thread is going to go the way you want it to OP…

also, the Daily Fail is constantly quoted on here - it should be stayed well away from imo.

Do you really think people dislike her because she’s ‘female and mixed race’? Do you think everyone who dislikes her is right wing? Maybe everyday regular people who are NOT racist misogynistic right wing voters just dislike the facade she wears.

Meghan has 12 podcasts over 12 weeks, so you can expect 12 weeks of each podcast being analysed with the kind of gravity reserved for a State of the Nation address.

She suits red.

Next few Meghan rich weeks.

😂😆

Isn't MN a place for active debate and conversation? You can't demand a thread is only made up of sycophantic sound bites and ban anyone with a different opinion to yours from contributing can you?

MNHQ is this really what it's come to?

The thread is going exactly how I expected it to go to be honest. 😀😀

A friend who reads these threads said to me that Meghan is to Mumsnetters what red meat is to a pack of hungry dogs.

I am now seeing why!!

Harry and meghan bore the arse iff me but i liked her red get up yesterday

I think she's ghastly. So is he.i don't want to be told to like them. I think they are cult like but don't realise its only themselves they are fooling. Her speech yesterday made her look like a total loon. At least Diana had class. She is just a phony parasite

I have made a thread, with particular slant. I have not "banned" anyone from posting, I don't have that power.

Just thought it would be great to create a space with a bit more light in it than all the heat in all the other threads, which are still there, actively, for anyone to post.

I was inspired by previous positive threads which sought to give a more balanced take on the couple, that's all.

She is constantly comparing herself to people trying to be someone she is not instead of just being herself I struggle feeling embarrassed for her and him who does thr same thing

Good luck with this thread OP. When it comes to M&H these threads often sound like a lot of bitter ex's who can't let go.

She’s more destructive than divorces (because the church has much relaxed on that, and not before time) other than that, no one has a good word to say about Andrew / the D of W, and few people have an interest in Charles whining, M on the other hand, gets a lot of press. She also exists at a moment that the RF is less and less relevant to most people, and could easily start a process of wind down after the Q’s death.

As for potshots at the Queen, anytime she takes a pot shot at the RF, it’s at the Queen. So, in some recent IV she was complaining that she and H hadn’t been allowed to work and be working members of the RF, which she said wasn’t fair because other members do do this. That’s a pot shot at the Queen. It’s also untrue, other than a brief and unsuccessful experiment w Edward and Sophie.

I’d be perfectly happy to call time on the RF when the Queen dies. I don’t think they do the county any good. But if you are a Royal Supporter, Meghan is Bad News.