Harry and Meghan Appreciation Thread
- Thread starter djuna1
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When I first started as a saleswoman, my boss engrained in me the importance of never “selling past the close”. Meaning, if someone has decided they are going to buy - STOP the pitch and immediately move onto the next subject. Not doing so risks upsetting the customer, and possibly causing them to change their mind.
Overall, I think the documentary was a net positive for Meghan and Harry’s image - providing they STOP there. I think they successfully defended themselves, and more importantly put a negative spotlight on the press and how ruthlessly unfair they are. Those that hate them will continue to hate them even more for speaking out, but those who were indifferent or on the fence will see them at least more favorably than not, which should be their ONLY goal. However, if their goal was to use this series and the book to press TRF into giving them a public acknowledgement or apology, then I am afraid they will NEVER get that and repeated attempts at vengeance will make them high risk of even their empathizers turning on them. KCIII divorced Harry’s mother, married his mistress and will be crowing her Queen right alongside him. The man does what he wants to do and gets what he wants. The fact that KCIII felt the Ms. Fulani situation deserved more of a public acknowledgement and action from KP than his son’s documentary, speaks to how much he does not give a f-ck about what Harry or Meghan has to say. KCIII knows Harry better than anyone else, he cares about his individual legacy, and he still expects his son and daughter-in-law to show up to the coronation in spite of, to support him and the monarchy (which they will).
If I were advising Meg, I would say this is a critical time to highlight more of your cause driven work from Archwell while you have the majority of the world’s sympathy. Do not continue to talk about TRF or the media publicly - anything said now should have been said in the documentary/book and you risk trying to 're-convince' people of your suffering who've already been convinced to the point where they get annoyed and will start giving more credence to the negative opinions. You will also need to find a way to show your kids more to the public, in ways that are meaningful to you. You showed them in the documentary so “considering their privacy” at this point will be seen as you attempting to profit off their exposure. Both you and Harry are in a great position to really leverage your image and make the change you want - but you both are also much MUCH more vulnerable now and exposed to forces (inside and outside TRF) who will manipulate your weakness and emotionality against your interests. You have to be SMART and FORWARD-THINKING to win the PR war that is coming, because KP is certainly playing chess. I really look forward to the book and seeing what is coming next.
Overall, I think the documentary was a net positive for Meghan and Harry’s image - providing they STOP there. I think they successfully defended themselves, and more importantly put a negative spotlight on the press and how ruthlessly unfair they are. Those that hate them will continue to hate them even more for speaking out, but those who were indifferent or on the fence will see them at least more favorably than not, which should be their ONLY goal. However, if their goal was to use this series and the book to press TRF into giving them a public acknowledgement or apology, then I am afraid they will NEVER get that and repeated attempts at vengeance will make them high risk of even their empathizers turning on them. KCIII divorced Harry’s mother, married his mistress and will be crowing her Queen right alongside him. The man does what he wants to do and gets what he wants. The fact that KCIII felt the Ms. Fulani situation deserved more of a public acknowledgement and action from KP than his son’s documentary, speaks to how much he does not give a f-ck about what Harry or Meghan has to say. KCIII knows Harry better than anyone else, he cares about his individual legacy, and he still expects his son and daughter-in-law to show up to the coronation in spite of, to support him and the monarchy (which they will).
If I were advising Meg, I would say this is a critical time to highlight more of your cause driven work from Archwell while you have the majority of the world’s sympathy. Do not continue to talk about TRF or the media publicly - anything said now should have been said in the documentary/book and you risk trying to 're-convince' people of your suffering who've already been convinced to the point where they get annoyed and will start giving more credence to the negative opinions. You will also need to find a way to show your kids more to the public, in ways that are meaningful to you. You showed them in the documentary so “considering their privacy” at this point will be seen as you attempting to profit off their exposure. Both you and Harry are in a great position to really leverage your image and make the change you want - but you both are also much MUCH more vulnerable now and exposed to forces (inside and outside TRF) who will manipulate your weakness and emotionality against your interests. You have to be SMART and FORWARD-THINKING to win the PR war that is coming, because KP is certainly playing chess. I really look forward to the book and seeing what is coming next.
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Well with the other thread suggesting she be paraded through the streets naked, I may hang out here for a while.
I wonder when the nastiness there will be too much for TPF? That feels like a new low.
I wonder when the nastiness there will be too much for TPF? That feels like a new low.
To be fair that was not the members’ idea, it was that creep journalist.
Opinion: Yes, Harry and Meghan aired grievances. But there's another takeaway from their docuseries
Updated 9:52 AM EST December 17, 2022
Let's just stipulate that racism probably played a role in the scurrilous press coverage and barely-disguised slights — including from some within the royal family — that Meghan Markle has been subjected to in Britain.
Even one of the organizations governing media in the United Kingdom conceded last year that "there is a lot of work to be done" when covering issues related to race. That statement was issued amid an outcry from journalists of color over the unflattering coverage that Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, received in the aftermath of their famous sit down with Oprah Winfrey. The current firestorm over their new Netflix docuseries suggests to me that the media's work in confronting this bias remains unfinished.
But the decidedly chilly reception that the Duchess of Sussex received as a "mixed-race" American divorcee -- one of the major through lines of the six-part series in which she and Harry bare their souls -- wasn't really the main point of the project.
Ultimately, this series is about freeing oneself from family dysfunction, healing and moving forward.
Harry and Meghan's Netflix documentary series debuted last week with three initial installments. The last three episodes, which debuted this week, offered a powerful reminder that sometimes the best thing we can do is walk away from our family members in hopelessly toxic situations, even though we still love them. Sometimes you have to choose yourself over those relatives, even if they are part of a powerful and exalted institution.
It's a vivid lesson in how to look after oneself when the people around you not only don't seem to care if you survive, but also seem to be secretly, actively making sure you don't thrive. And it provides an in-depth window into surviving familial conflict, navigating outsize personalities and cavernous gulfs dividing close relatives. That can be especially hard when you're struggling to maintain your sense of autonomy and your own integrity while trapped in a system that affords you very little of either.
At least, that's the plot line that resonates most for me, because I have lived aspects of their story, although on a much more modest scale. In fact, my guess is that many of the millions of people who have watched the series can relate. We've had to learn over the years that no matter how much you may want to heal broken relationships, you have to know ultimately when to walk away and how to take care of yourself.
I "get" Harry and Meghan. I've experienced some of the very same lessons in my own sometimes tumultuous, dysfunctional family, which is why I wrote my latest book, "Be the One You Need: 21 Life Lessons I Learned Taking Care of Everyone but Me." What I find fascinating is how clueless many people seem to be about family estrangement and break-ups, rife as they are in these modern times.
The Sussexes both experienced unhappiness in childhood because of divorce. Meghan describes a lonely childhood shuttling between her mother's home in California and her dad's.
Harry's story is not just sad, but tragic: The second son born to Diana, who died in a car crash in 1997, he marched solemnly behind her coffin, showing Britain that even as a 12-year old, he was already a perfect, stoic member of the royal family. That's a lot to ask of any child.
I'm surprised at how shocked some people seem to be that as members of a millennial generation famous for sharing and sometimes oversharing, Meghan and Harry did not hold back when it came to airing their dirty laundry about the dysfunction within the royal fold.
Theirs is a generation that does not want to be hamstrung by the strictures of tradition, even if it comes adorned with a tiara and conveyed in a golden carriage. When millennials spill the tea, they do so publicly -- in videos and on social media.
Now these most famous members of their generation have bared their souls in Netflix's most-viewed documentary in the first week of its debut. And in the parlance of today -- language not apparently familiar to their royal betters -- the Sussexes are speaking their truth.
Under the watchful eye of Harry's grandmother Elizabeth II, beloved as she was, Britain's royal family was never known for being open and forthcoming. By contrast, Meghan, very much a child of her generation, explains in the the documentary that "a big part of life is connecting and communicating." A culture clash if ever there was one.
She was remarking on an interview a few years back in which a reporter had simply asked her, "Are you OK?" Her response, as tears welled in her eyes, made world headlines: "Thank you for asking, because not many people have asked if I'm OK."
Those comments went viral, because they gave us insights into the toll of being a new Duchess. They were also eerily reminiscent of remarks made by a young Princess Diana, who in a now infamous BBC interview described how she too had been hung out to dry in a family that does not always warmly welcome outsiders who marry into their ranks.
We've all read the headlines about how Meghan recounted even considering taking her own life as she unsuccessfully tried to navigate what Harry called a "drip feed of constant attack." He also described what he called "institutional gaslighting" that he and his wife endured. And in one of the most quoted lines from the Netflix series, Meghan described feeling that she had been not just "thrown to the wolves -- I was being fed to the wolves." Buckingham Palace has declined to respond to the allegations made in the series.
At various points in the documentary series, Harry describes ways in which Meghan reminds him of his mother, a woman known for being open, caring and empathic. He seems to suggest that in casting his lot with Diana and Meghan, he understands that he has sealed his fate as an outsider to his royal kin.
What Harry and Meghan are doing is telling their own story, not repeating the royal family talking points as they were required to do while living within its purview. Yes, they are "outing" the royals for their flaws and failings, its secret machinations and disingenuousness.
Harry is also exposing the monarchy's longstanding tradition of courting the media and blaming it at the same time. But he is also saying, in so many words: History will not repeat itself. I will protect my wife, my children and my own emotional and mental wellbeing -- even if it means breaking with the only family I have ever known.
One irony raised by various subjects during the series, is that the royals had a golden opportunity to truly embrace and protect both Harry and Meghan -- and use their unique love story, their star power and their readiness to confront outdated traditions to modernize the 1,000-year-old institution.
Meghan might have been the very addition to the family who could have helped build a bridge to the next generation of Britons -- and to the overwhelmingly Black and brown inhabitants of Britain's Commonwealth nations. It's an opportunity that has been squandered.
And here's another unpleasant truth that the series makes plain -- one that will be hard for some to stomach: The British royal family seems unlikely to survive as an institution in its current form. Its survival is in doubt because -- as we saw confirmed in this documentary -- it is dusty, creaky and out-of-step with the times. It can also be cruel, unkind, and hopelessly unwilling to adapt or embrace the new views about human connection and diversity that is the source of vitality in many countries around the world.
The series showed the footage and the images don't lie. Even the young royals, Kate and William, received a chilly reception in majority-Black Jamaica this year, as the island contemplates exiting the Commonwealth. It also showed William's father King Charles III -- at the time still Prince of Wales -- sitting stony-faced in Barbados, as that Caribbean island ended its membership in the body.
In short, Harry and Meghan are not villains, nor are they trying to tear down the royal family. In the language of today, they are speaking their truth, as unpleasant as it might be, judging from the reaction of some critics.
Looking for freedom from his family's longstanding and very public dysfunction, Harry has found it with his American wife Meghan and their two children. In the end, the Sussexes have claimed their independence in the most unroyal way imaginable.
apple.news
Updated 9:52 AM EST December 17, 2022
Let's just stipulate that racism probably played a role in the scurrilous press coverage and barely-disguised slights — including from some within the royal family — that Meghan Markle has been subjected to in Britain.
Even one of the organizations governing media in the United Kingdom conceded last year that "there is a lot of work to be done" when covering issues related to race. That statement was issued amid an outcry from journalists of color over the unflattering coverage that Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, received in the aftermath of their famous sit down with Oprah Winfrey. The current firestorm over their new Netflix docuseries suggests to me that the media's work in confronting this bias remains unfinished.
But the decidedly chilly reception that the Duchess of Sussex received as a "mixed-race" American divorcee -- one of the major through lines of the six-part series in which she and Harry bare their souls -- wasn't really the main point of the project.
Ultimately, this series is about freeing oneself from family dysfunction, healing and moving forward.
Harry and Meghan's Netflix documentary series debuted last week with three initial installments. The last three episodes, which debuted this week, offered a powerful reminder that sometimes the best thing we can do is walk away from our family members in hopelessly toxic situations, even though we still love them. Sometimes you have to choose yourself over those relatives, even if they are part of a powerful and exalted institution.
It's a vivid lesson in how to look after oneself when the people around you not only don't seem to care if you survive, but also seem to be secretly, actively making sure you don't thrive. And it provides an in-depth window into surviving familial conflict, navigating outsize personalities and cavernous gulfs dividing close relatives. That can be especially hard when you're struggling to maintain your sense of autonomy and your own integrity while trapped in a system that affords you very little of either.
At least, that's the plot line that resonates most for me, because I have lived aspects of their story, although on a much more modest scale. In fact, my guess is that many of the millions of people who have watched the series can relate. We've had to learn over the years that no matter how much you may want to heal broken relationships, you have to know ultimately when to walk away and how to take care of yourself.
I "get" Harry and Meghan. I've experienced some of the very same lessons in my own sometimes tumultuous, dysfunctional family, which is why I wrote my latest book, "Be the One You Need: 21 Life Lessons I Learned Taking Care of Everyone but Me." What I find fascinating is how clueless many people seem to be about family estrangement and break-ups, rife as they are in these modern times.
The Sussexes both experienced unhappiness in childhood because of divorce. Meghan describes a lonely childhood shuttling between her mother's home in California and her dad's.
Harry's story is not just sad, but tragic: The second son born to Diana, who died in a car crash in 1997, he marched solemnly behind her coffin, showing Britain that even as a 12-year old, he was already a perfect, stoic member of the royal family. That's a lot to ask of any child.
I'm surprised at how shocked some people seem to be that as members of a millennial generation famous for sharing and sometimes oversharing, Meghan and Harry did not hold back when it came to airing their dirty laundry about the dysfunction within the royal fold.
Theirs is a generation that does not want to be hamstrung by the strictures of tradition, even if it comes adorned with a tiara and conveyed in a golden carriage. When millennials spill the tea, they do so publicly -- in videos and on social media.
Now these most famous members of their generation have bared their souls in Netflix's most-viewed documentary in the first week of its debut. And in the parlance of today -- language not apparently familiar to their royal betters -- the Sussexes are speaking their truth.
Under the watchful eye of Harry's grandmother Elizabeth II, beloved as she was, Britain's royal family was never known for being open and forthcoming. By contrast, Meghan, very much a child of her generation, explains in the the documentary that "a big part of life is connecting and communicating." A culture clash if ever there was one.
She was remarking on an interview a few years back in which a reporter had simply asked her, "Are you OK?" Her response, as tears welled in her eyes, made world headlines: "Thank you for asking, because not many people have asked if I'm OK."
Those comments went viral, because they gave us insights into the toll of being a new Duchess. They were also eerily reminiscent of remarks made by a young Princess Diana, who in a now infamous BBC interview described how she too had been hung out to dry in a family that does not always warmly welcome outsiders who marry into their ranks.
We've all read the headlines about how Meghan recounted even considering taking her own life as she unsuccessfully tried to navigate what Harry called a "drip feed of constant attack." He also described what he called "institutional gaslighting" that he and his wife endured. And in one of the most quoted lines from the Netflix series, Meghan described feeling that she had been not just "thrown to the wolves -- I was being fed to the wolves." Buckingham Palace has declined to respond to the allegations made in the series.
At various points in the documentary series, Harry describes ways in which Meghan reminds him of his mother, a woman known for being open, caring and empathic. He seems to suggest that in casting his lot with Diana and Meghan, he understands that he has sealed his fate as an outsider to his royal kin.
What Harry and Meghan are doing is telling their own story, not repeating the royal family talking points as they were required to do while living within its purview. Yes, they are "outing" the royals for their flaws and failings, its secret machinations and disingenuousness.
Harry is also exposing the monarchy's longstanding tradition of courting the media and blaming it at the same time. But he is also saying, in so many words: History will not repeat itself. I will protect my wife, my children and my own emotional and mental wellbeing -- even if it means breaking with the only family I have ever known.
One irony raised by various subjects during the series, is that the royals had a golden opportunity to truly embrace and protect both Harry and Meghan -- and use their unique love story, their star power and their readiness to confront outdated traditions to modernize the 1,000-year-old institution.
Meghan might have been the very addition to the family who could have helped build a bridge to the next generation of Britons -- and to the overwhelmingly Black and brown inhabitants of Britain's Commonwealth nations. It's an opportunity that has been squandered.
And here's another unpleasant truth that the series makes plain -- one that will be hard for some to stomach: The British royal family seems unlikely to survive as an institution in its current form. Its survival is in doubt because -- as we saw confirmed in this documentary -- it is dusty, creaky and out-of-step with the times. It can also be cruel, unkind, and hopelessly unwilling to adapt or embrace the new views about human connection and diversity that is the source of vitality in many countries around the world.
The series showed the footage and the images don't lie. Even the young royals, Kate and William, received a chilly reception in majority-Black Jamaica this year, as the island contemplates exiting the Commonwealth. It also showed William's father King Charles III -- at the time still Prince of Wales -- sitting stony-faced in Barbados, as that Caribbean island ended its membership in the body.
In short, Harry and Meghan are not villains, nor are they trying to tear down the royal family. In the language of today, they are speaking their truth, as unpleasant as it might be, judging from the reaction of some critics.
Looking for freedom from his family's longstanding and very public dysfunction, Harry has found it with his American wife Meghan and their two children. In the end, the Sussexes have claimed their independence in the most unroyal way imaginable.
Opinion: Yes, Harry and Meghan aired grievances. But there's another takeaway from their docuseries — CNN
Harry and Meghan are not villains, nor are they trying to tear down the royal family. In the language of today, they are speaking their truth, as unpleasant as it might be for some to hear, writes Sophia A. Nelson.
Someone on Reddit said MM ruined her whole holiday season.
I said she probably needed to talk to someone in a professional capacity.
Appreciating Meghan and Harry is the topic, please refrain from veering into a protracted discussion of the Other Thread.
Thanks!
Thanks!
And yep, my comment which was not anywhere near vitriolic querying one of the owners has magically disappeared.
I feel bad for Harry and Meghan and I do think they do need some appreciation.
I feel bad for Harry and Meghan and I do think they do need some appreciation.
Off topic drama between members or questions about moderation are deleted, as has always been the case here. If you have any questions please drop a note to a mod or @Vlad.
Also sometimes posts get missed in a cleanup, other posts may be deleted because they quoted material from a deleted post.
Of course TPF does not condone parading people naked through the streets but it did come up as a discussion as it was a quote from a journalist. Just as it came up in the GOT thread years ago.
We are doing our best to tamp down the drama in these threads and seek your understanding.
Please get back to appreciating Harry and Meghan.
Also sometimes posts get missed in a cleanup, other posts may be deleted because they quoted material from a deleted post.
Of course TPF does not condone parading people naked through the streets but it did come up as a discussion as it was a quote from a journalist. Just as it came up in the GOT thread years ago.
We are doing our best to tamp down the drama in these threads and seek your understanding.
Please get back to appreciating Harry and Meghan.
But the posts about how funny it would be to see her paraded naked and pelted with excrement are still up.
Tells me all I need to know.
@CobaltBlu I get it...I am sure this thread is a nightmare to moderate...but I think the deleted posts were on topic...it seems at least a few of us are not super fans but the extreme vitriol and hatred has actually ironically made us appreciate the duo...?
I hear you but to be honest, the amount of moderating that these two threads require means that we simply need to be pretty vigilant about staying on topic.
While Off Topic, I am responding because it’s often a grey area for me when I do a cleanup, but after years of doing this on PF we know that a clean sweep is sometimes what’s needed.
And normally we just don’t dialog in the threads about moderation, and posts along these lines are deleted. But, it was a big cleanup on a hot topic and we never wish to leave members wondering what happened.
Thanks for understanding.
Further posts about moderation will be deleted by a mod.
Thanks!
I have no thoughts on MM in particular, but that passage by Clarkson referencing GoT's Cersei shaming in King's Landing had me chuckle. I've been following Jezza for 2 decades as a prominent car journalist, and he's definitely got a way with words. Not the first time he's said things that caused controversy.