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Monday 23 January 2017

Charlie and the Fruitcake Factory



As has been widely reported, Prince Charles has co-authored a Ladybird book promoting the climate catastrophe narrative. What should we make of it? After all, the guy is heir to the throne and ought to have easy access to good advice on any subject he cares to explore.

A natural and obvious reaction is to ridicule his lack of insight, but as the digital world evolves there is more to add. Charles is a man of his times and his weird political position. He is just as limited as the rest of us and just as likely to go astray whenever he is unwise enough to have a bash at thinking. Not only that, but he has probably been trained from birth to take advice from official sources.

A fascinating feature of our evolving digital world is how the limitations of human nature have become too obvious for mystique to survive. Yet the veils still fall and Charles' Ladybird book misadventure is one such veil. Yet again the guy is exposed as well-meaning but hopelessly shallow. Not his fault - we are all shallow but the shallowness of human nature has become more obvious and more obviously universal. Hierarchies are losing their mystique and Charles never had a strong grip on it in the first place.

We may be shallow but we also have the capacity to be creative and this seemed to be the core of our supposed intelligence. Yet in a cohesive and complex society not everyone has to be creative which implies that not everyone has to be creatively intelligent. In his position Charles is not required to be particularly intelligent at all and does not come across as sufficiently creative to breach that barrier. We all retain the potential but are not necessarily required to use it. That is what holds Charles down.

However the digital world seems to be breaching some of the barriers by enhancing our ability to be creatively intelligent. Thinking beyond the mystique has become easier and more widespread and not reserved for leaders. It is probably too late for Charles and the monarchy, but we’ll see.

6 comments:

James Higham said...

Well, we needed a bit of a chuckle.

Sam Vega said...

I checked out the co-authors, Juniper and Shuckburgh. Apparently they are a former Director of Friends of the Earth, and a Cambridge climate academic. In addition, the book has been "extensively reviewed" by other like-minded experts.

To me, this looks like Charles was targeted by a sales team. A bit like agreeing to issue a Royal Warrant of Appointment ("By appointment to Her Majesty the Queen...") but for some vague ideas rather than for material products like biscuits or garden tools. And for the same reason: there's money in it, isn't there?

wiggiatlarge said...

Charles for years has championed the "green" causes whilst traveling in Aston Martins and helicopters, and talking to trees, a strange paradox, and basically we shrug and ignore.

Where he does have a malign influence is with his totally discredited homeopathic line, simply because people who take that route on his advice are in genuine danger of harming themselves by ignoring proven medical practice.

Demetrius said...

Janet and John go for a swim on Kinder Scout?

Anonymous said...

I feel (faintly) sorry for him. Should have married a dusky maiden and cleared off to farm some ex colonial island until mum popped her clogs. Instead he allowed himself to be cowed by mum and the Fitztightlys - the result - co-authoring a Ladybird book, how sad.

A K Haart said...

James - and Chuck provides.

Sam - I agree, he was probably targeted by a sales team and being the man he is he fell for it.

Wiggia - maybe he has an ingrained dislike of what works. Apart from flogging overpriced Duchy Originals I suppose.

Demetrius - in winter.

Roger - I think mum was also cowed by the whole thing. She has never done anything useful apart from exhibiting her remarkable stamina and dedication to the job.