Okay, so it looks like I have to be the bad guy...again. On Friday, Prince William and and Kate Middleton will get married in an extremely lavish ceremony. Extremely lavish. Some reports indicate that the wedding will cost over $30 Million dollars for the ceremony and security alone.
I have tried diligently to avoid watching coverage of the royal nuptials as I am not particularly interested in following the lives of the royal family. I, however, harbor no ill will toward them. Here in the United States, the media as a collective, will dedicate almost 40 percent of its ink, broadcast or bandwidth covering the royal wedding.
Yes, the media in the United States is largely reactionary--they generally only cover stories that they believe will either increase or pacify their audience. So, it shouldn't come as any surprise that the U.S. media is spending so much time covering the royal wedding.
But really, some of the stories regarding the royal wedding have really pushed some journalistic outlets to to the outer limits of credibility. I have read or seen reports of Kate's hometown, how Kate was a victim of childhood bullying, what the people from her hometown think of the wedding, the wedding dress (okay that's pretty important), how Kate went shopping or for a drive one day, how Prince William was getting a case of the jitters, and, and, and, a report speculating how drunk Prince Harry would be the night before the wedding and further speculation on what he would ask the chef to make in the morning after his drinking binge. Really.
Now, I get that U.S. media outlets feel that the royal wedding is a story that they should be covering from every angle. And I'm not even going to chastise them about the percentage of time and money they are spending on the royal wedding as opposed to the numerous disasters and conflicts that have occurred in the last 12 months. Bloggers and tweeters have covered that angle well.
But, what I haven't heard, what U.S. media outlets have not spent any time on is this: One in four adults in the United Kingdom live in poverty; one in three children live in squalor. That means 13 million people and 4 million little people can't find adequate housing or food, clothing, work, medical care or comfort.
So the question becomes, with all of the people living in poverty in the United Kingdom, why is the royal family entertaining a wedding that costs $30 million anything? How much sound medical care, how much food and clothing and shelter could that buy for those living in poverty in the United Kingdom? How many, as my good friend points out, fresh starts could that give to young children who don't know where there next meal is coming from? It strikes me that it displays a breaktaking audacity to have a wedding as costly as William and Kate's, while the citizens are starving.
So the next time the Today Show does a story on Kate's hair or socks or her favorite candy as a child, we should ask ourselves why haven't they done a story about the millions living in poverty in the United Kingdom who need coverage more than William or Kate.
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