What exactly is "the Sussex Squad"?

[Prydddan]

I don't know whether this is too controversial a topic for such a thread to be allowed to stand. But I post in good faith on a topic I believe has a lot of social and political relevance.

Does the "Sussex Squad" actually exist? If so, how do you join? If not, do people ever identify as belonging to it?

If it exists, was it hijacked by SarahData and Bouzy or was it their creation? And, if so, to what extent?

Thanks in advance.

This guy is at UCLA (University of California - Los Angeles), not UVA (University of Virginia). Two excellent, but very different, schools.

@CC49 Alice Olive is talking about this man when he was a student at UVA, where he made the false complaint about racial profiling by campus police that I mentioned above. He graduated despite this, and at some point became the diversity head for UCLA.

We are having a lot of issues cropping up in the academic world in the US.

Mymilkshakebringsallthepapstomycar · Yesterday 14:36

Just to say - my post got deleted for some bizarre reason. It was totally innocuous - but I was basically agreeing with you!

(I hate the way it looks as if you've been obnoxious when it was clearly some kind of MN technicality I transgressed. Oh well, their rules are strange. Some of the posts that are apparently OK make my eyes water, and then my mild musings get deleted...)

BemusedAmerican · Today 00:36
We are having a lot of issues cropping up in the academic world in the US.

And in the UK, too.

But I remember that horrible woman (US academic) who said she was glad the Queen had died because she (QE2) had oppressed her Nigerian ancestors.

Colonialism was horrible but, fgs, it was hardly the fault of the late Queen! It was such a hard, cruel and vicious remark and she absolutely refused to rescind or soften it. She stayed in her job and I remember her whole demeanour was 'I'm unassailable, so suck it up!'

It does scare me and it's hugely the result of social media. It gives the freedom for anyone to put their stupid and venomous thoughts out there. In particular this new breed of academics tend to be arrogant and fearless.

That's such a stupid and ignorant thing to say, isn't it, @CoffeeCantata ?
Maybe that woman's Nigerian ancestors oppressed other people, who knows. We cannot be held responsible for what others did in the past, even if they are connected to us. All we can do is try to make the present better.

My post was deleted too. Yes, another moderation mystery. If I posted gleefully with some utterly vile things that William had (in an oh so certain tone) definitely done to Catherine to render her in need of surgery, that would be fine and dandy with the moderators. @PinkTonic pretty much covered the point I was making and you were agreeing with anyway.

What did you post, @Mymilkshakebringsallthepapstomycar and @CoffeeCantata ?
As you say, some awful things have been allowed to stand, but I do think it depends if they get reported.

I can't remember the exact content now, @IsoldeWagner , but Pink Tonic's post on 7/4 at 3.15 pretty much covers what I said, just more succinctly.

Edited to correct the date cited.

IsoldeWagner · Today 09:36
That's such a stupid and ignorant thing to say, isn't it, @CoffeeCantata ?
Maybe that woman's Nigerian ancestors oppressed other people, who knows. We cannot be held responsible for what others did in the past, even if they are connected to us. All we can do is try to make the present better.

And I've just remembered that she said she hoped the Q has suffered pain at the end! Unbe-bloody-lievable - that she kept her job, I mean!

I'm sure the inventors of social media never foresaw the kind of things which would be put out there. I expect they imagined people would behave with decency and restraint...ha ha.

What a horrible mindset. Just cruel.

What I am seeing on Twitter from the US who align themselves with the Sussex Squad is the vitriol that anything British is being spoken about. Harry himself seems to keep up to date so I do wonder how he feels seeing the country he served and took allegiance to spoken about as trash by people who do so in his name, especially the Queen.

@Vespanest I genuinely don't know how Harry can do that. This is a man who served in the forces and took an oath of allegiance.
I do wonder at Americans' justification of criticism of the UK. They're not exactly absolved on the whole colonialism/racism front.
Manifest Destiny.

I wonder if he reads it though? He probably doesn’t

Vespanest · Today 11:51

Yes, the way it has all caused/fed into anti-British sentiment in the States is really worrying. I honestly don't think Harry even gets it - he does seem very historically naive and probably knows nothing about the history of British/US relations.

I say this because, although I'm a mild monarchist, I absolutely respect the history of the US breaking away in 1776 and establishing itself on strictly republican principles - it's absolutely essential to its identity. They don't have aristos or royalty and yet H & M think it's OK to go an live there and constantly promote themselves as royalty. I've always found that utterly, utterly tone-deaf and...let's be blunt...thick and stupid.

So when the anti-monarchist, anti-British stuff comes out, I bet it goes straight over Harry's head because he'll just be unaware of political ideas and the events of history.

Look at what happened when he demanded that paparazzi return photographs of the 'car chase'. I can't remember what organisation it was (a press group?) but he got an incredibly sarcastic response, telling him that in the US they don't kowtow to monarchs and basically to go and do one. All of which was totally deserved, but it shows his ignorance and tone-deafness.

The anti-British stuff is weird, given that most of these 'squaddies' had no idea who Meghan was before she got with a British prince. He in turn would be nobody had he not been born into the British royal family.

As for his feelings about all this, I think he is too shallow and self-centred to care about anyone other than himself.

I'm pretty sure the anti British stuff is very much tied in with BLM and their calls for slavery reparations. The blame for the current day ramifications of slavery is always laid 100% at the feet of the British and the RF. Never mind that post 1776, the founding fathers chose not to abolish slavery; nor did the US give out free parcels of land to freed slaves as they did to incoming white immigrants, a move which would have made a huge difference to the prosperity of black people.

That's because they don't actually understand the complexity of the history of colonialism. It's just a superficial good countries/bad countries in their eyes.
They're not people apparently capable of nuanced debate. Or opening a history book.

II think any who post in that vein and who refer to themselves as "squaddies" are indeed US posters - because of the absolutely entrenched British usage for a low-ranking soldier (came in around the time of WW1)

Seperately, I find that US posters do not tend to have the same grasp of British history or constitutional arrangements, and that does sometimes stick out a bit on a UK site (or is that just me?)

They do stick out, @EdithWeston - they're usually completely ignorant about the role of Councillors of State, the Royal Assent and the Sovereignty of Parliament. Meghan was clearly similarly ignorant. You'd think marrying into the system would make you check it out? Anyway.
I had an argument on there about lines of succession and abdication and some people think that Tudor rules still apply 🙄

I agree.

America has been an imperial power in all but name for the past several decades, . Modern communications have made direct rule and other features of 'traditional' empires redundant. There are more efficient ways of exercising control over client states these days, and America has certainly used them, even if American power is now waning.

It's also interesting how Britain, and specifically the British royal family, is still seen as so connected to its former empire. I would say the European country most nostalgic for its colonial 'days of glory' is not Britain but France, which of course is not a monarchy at all.

I’d venture to say many of those people hate America also. Also hate capitalism. That’s a popular thing with younger people. Often eschewing traditional jobs. Why should I have to work hard mentality.

I went to Vietnam years ago. I was always struck by one of our guides saying that, whilst the USA may have lost the war, the US corporates colonised their economy instead.

And I absolutely agree with you about France. Funny how race relations in the UK have been branded as the worst, especially post Brexit, but I know as a woc where I would rather be living, and it’s not France.