Americans need to focus more on issues at home
Over the past few days the American news cycle has become fixated yet again with the British royalty. This time our neighbors across the pond no longer have to wait for the highly anticipated birth of the son of Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton. Reporters camped outside of the hospital to get word on whether or not the baby was born and people across the country waited with anticipation. This happens every now and then and though the media frenzy did not reach the absurd level of 2011’s royal wedding, I am still left with the question, why is America so fascinated with the lives of these figures?
It is true that America was once merely an English colony, and at that point it would have made sense for us to be enthralled with the lives of our own monarchs. But after the Revolutionary War we became completely independent of Great Britain. And while we are still allies, we hold no allegiance to their throne and crown. The Declaration of Independence clearly states this, we have been absolved of any ties to their royalty. So while the birth of their new prince might be noteworthy in the international section of a newspaper, there is absolutely no reason for it to dominate the U.S. news cycle.
Even more importantly the amount of power that the royal family holds in the U.K. has dwindled politically. While the monarch is still vested with powers such as picking the prime minister and approving foreign treaties, her actions must be guided by convention and she is not able exert direct influence over every day rule. So in actuality, the royals don’t matter that much even in the U.K. besides their cultural role and historical significance.
Finally there is other more relevant news that needs to be addressed instead of the arrival of a new foreign figurehead. For example, our military has been given clearance to begin selling weapons to Syrian rebels in the fight against the regime of Bashar Al-Assad; a move that will likely heighten tensions in the already unstable Middle East.
Along the same lines nine people were killed protesting in Egypt Monday night and the country has descended into general turmoil as former President Mohammed Morsi has been arrested by the military. Meanwhile domestically the city of Chicago has seen 226 murders this year and Baltimore is not far behind with 132 murders of its own. Though crime has dropped nationwide these numbers are still alarmingly high.
I wish William, Kate and their new son all the best but they just don’t belong on the front page of U.S. newspapers and they definitely shouldn’t be the top story on our news casts. There are plenty of important and relevant topics that should dominate our news for us to focus on glorified celebrities that are essentially inconsequential in their own country.