Has Victimhood Reached Its Zenith?

Prince Harry and Ursula von der Leyen  are the latest to remark on their pain and suffering

By Ricky Browne

Its got to the point where people must start to wonder if nothing but victims exist in this world.

The latest two to remark upon their pain and suffering is Prince Harry and  Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, who the handful of non-victims left in this world must really view with some level of pity.

PRINCE HARRY

On his latest interview, Prince Harry promoted his new Apple TV+ series called The Me You Can’t See, which launches with Oprah Winfrey next week.

“If I’ve experienced pain and suffering because of the pain and suffering that my parents have suffered

 “If I’ve experienced some form of pain or suffering because of the pain or suffering that perhaps my father or my parents had suffered, I’m going to make sure I break that cycle so that I don’t pass it on, basically,” the Prince said.

“It’s a lot of genetic pain and suffering that gets passed on anyway so we as parents should be doing the most we can to try and say: ‘You know what, that happened to me, I’m going to make sure that doesn’t happen to you.’”

In fact, Harry had to leave the UK to break this cycle of pain, he said.

“And well here I am, I moved my whole family to the US, that wasn’t the plan but sometimes you’ve got make decisions and put your family first and put your mental health first.”

While the Prince may spare his children the pain and suffering he has had to deal with, what alternate pain and suffering his children may feel, remains to be seen. Their future pain and suffering could be caused by being denied a relationship with their grandfather, the future King of the United Kingdom of Great Britian and Northern Ireland – as well as the King of Jamaica, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and a bunch of other places.

It seems they will also not know their other grandfather, and may only get to know their maternal grandmother. It also looks like there is a good chance they won’t get to know their royal cousins either — one of whom, George, is destined to himself become King one day. Will the Mountbatten-Windsor children feel later in life that they too were victims, and had to face unfair pain and suffering at the hands of their parents?

Life for Prince Harry in the Royal family was akin to a cross between living in The Truman Show and living in the zoo. It must have been horrid. And that no doubt explains why now that he has separated himself from the Royals that he now voluntarily thrusts himself into the media limelight every chance he gets.

Prince Harry lives in a US$14 million dollar mansion in California with his TV-star wife, son Archie and new baby on the way. Not to mention several chickens. At the age of 36 he was cut off from family finances, and had to try to find his own way on the combined millions he has with himself and his wife.

His wife too has had an awful time, let’s not forget – where the media said mean things about her, and members of her husband’s family may have had a discussion on the possible colour of her baby. Plus numerous other outrages, none of which should be mnimised.

It’s really too awful to bear, and efforts should really be made now by people everywhere that these people should now have a much easier life.

But so far, the UK press seems not have embraced these new accusations by the Prince against his family — with headlines being variations of The Daily Mail’s “Just How Low can Harry Go?”

URSULA VON DER LEYEN

Meanwhile, Ursula von der Leyen  goes to a meeting in Turkey, where there was not chair for her to sit. This resulted in the ‘Sofagate’ affair, where Turkish President Recep Erdogan and EU Council President Charles Michel sat in two arm chairs, in contrast to von der Leyen who was sidelined with a place on a  nearby sofa.

The argument was made that Turkey had followed the protocol agreed upon by the EU, where the EU is exceptional by having two de facto leaders instead of one. There is also an argument that the two leaders are not equal, and that the President of the EU Council ranks higher than the President of the European Commission.

But for a meeting which was supposed to at least partially be about women’s rights, it really wasn’t a good look.

Michel himself seemed to have little problem with it, until it became a big deal. At the time, von der Leyen made a point of saying ‘erm’ and gesticulating with her hand, as if to say – “excuse me, but why don’t I also have a chair” before sitting down on the pink sofa.

This is the kind of situation that can really make a person wonder about their self-worth. Was it because she was a woman? Was it because she is a German? Was it because she is a mother? All women must sympathize with xx for facing this horror.

“I am the first woman to be President of the European Commission. I am the President of the European Commission. And this is how I expected to be treated when visiting Turkey two weeks ago, like a Commission President, but I was not,” Mrs von der Leyen told EU lawmakers.

“I cannot find any justification for the way I was treated in the European Treaties. So, I have to conclude, it happened because I am a woman. Would this have happened if I had worn a suit and a tie? In the pictures of previous meetings, I did not see any shortage of chairs. But then again, I did not see any woman in these pictures, either.”

She said she t she felt “hurt and left alone”, as “a woman and as a European”.

“Because this is not about seating arrangements or protocol. This goes to the core of who we are. This goes to the values ​​our Union stands for. And this shows how far we still have to go before women are treated as equals,” von der Leyen said.

In a tweet, she blamed Turkey, and not her own fellow EU head, for the treatment she received.

“My visit to Turkey showed how far we still have to go before women are treated as equals. Always. Everywhere. My story made headlines. But there are so many stories of women, most of them far more serious, that go unobserved. We have to make sure these stories are also told!,” she tweeted.

FORTUNATE SOULS

Over in Israel and Palestine, people are being killed in their own homes by attacks from the opposite side. In India and across the world people whether poor or rich are dying in their thousands, unable to even get into a hospital, as the Covid-19 vaccine cuts swathes throught the world population.

In China, people who belong to the Uyghur ethnic group of people are being brainwashed in the 21^st century equivalent of concentration camps.

In Myanmar, the army is in control and is killing its own citizens

Over in Colombia, people are protesting the government and are dying for their efforts.

All over Africa and other parts of the world young girls have their clitorises removed as a part of their culture. But really, in the bigger scheme of things, what do they have to complain about?

Slavery still exists, with millions of people working in enforced servitude around the world – even in a state like Haiti, which was established more than 200 years ago in an uprising to end slavery.

Millions of people live in homes that are threatened by hurricane, earthquake, volcano – with entire countries under threat of disappearing under the sea. But they have it lucky compared to some of the victims at the top of the pile.

Across the world millions of people, men, women and children, from all parts of society have been raped. Some are being raped right now as you read these words.

Billions of people earn barely enough to keep themselves and their families alive. But they should count themselves lucky, when compared to millionaires who may have had a parent that couldn’t be demonstrative enough with their love and affection or wasn’t in touch enough with their own feelings.

And then you have these people at the pinnacle of the human pyramid, who note that there are other people up there with them who may have had an easier life than they did.

Historically there are many other victims, who for some reason haven’t received much sympathy. Poor King Henry VIII who had to marry his wife’s widow. Poor Napoleon, Emperor of France, whose wife may have had multiple affairs. Poor Adolf Hitler who’s attempt at becoming an artist was thwarted because few saw any worth in his works.

What about poor Bill Gates and poor Jeff Bezos — two of the richest men in the world — who were both stuck in loveless marriages, only recently divorced. Now their poor ex-wives must deal with being two of the richest women in the world in their own right.

Where are the people who can’t look within and see that they too are victims, and that the world is not level? Where are the people who have no health problems, no relationship problems, no money worries, no fear of being treated unjustly by the powers around them – whether those powers be legal or illegal?

Everyone has their cross to bear – but those who are lugging around pine crosses at least have the advantage of not trying to lug around a heavy cross made of gold and encrusted with jewels.