Mr. Baldwin gets in on the action:
I'm torn between both of your associated sides to this pretty pointless story. To begin, I read this story as power posturing. The Prince comes in and attempts to assert and perpetuate the notion of his power by making inappropriate passes to this woman. His sense of power is then nullified when he is asked to leave, and transferred to Paul when he gets the guy a cab at the end. There is something so satisfying to common-folk about watching the rich and powerful fall. I read this as someone feeling satisfied that he had been a part of reducing a member of a monarch down to the same level as everyone else because now throughout their life of privilege they have no authority over a commoner.
However, Middle Easterners are often perceived (and some cases rightly so) as having diminutive attitudes with respect to women's rights. There does seem to be a little bit of anti-Middle Eastern sentiment with these people, however, many of the individuals in these societies show a complete lack of regard for females: consider if you will, the prevalence of “honor killings,” or “honor suicides.” These are both terrible with respect to both women’s rights, and human rights, and prevalent throughout the world. Not all individuals participate in such a practice, but some countries have such “rights” protected by law – and are specific to females. Consider the killing of the Saudi Arabian Princess Misha'al, ordered to death by her own grandfather. This is the sort of thing that the American people hear about Middle Easterners. What they do not hear is that those that are ignorant of Islam enact the killings.
With that being the typical (American) perception of Middle Easterners in mind, it is not surprising that they acted so negatively towards the prince. They did everything that they could to please this dick, and then he turns around and treats one of the employees like a commoner, as if she does not deserve the respect that a regular person is entitled. This almighty prince thinks that he can treat US Citizens like surfs, so they treated him like one and threw him out. There was a little hatred of the Middle East in their attitudes I believe, but I do not think that they would have treated a Prince of England much better if he had done the same thing… keep in mind that they are New Yorkers. I think that more so than race, it was a hatred of those in power.
As far as the patriotism goes, I think that that has to do with a perception of an anti-democratic type of government (monarchy), and standing up to that government. I would feel patriotic if I threw any autocrat out of my restaurant and onto his ass – even if that person is the Prince of England or a Saudi. And that is what I believe that they were rallying behind, not a hate for Middle Easterners, more a hate for those that misuse their power.
Well, kinda... but it’s not about Americans or New Yorkers versus Middle Easterners or Saudis or Brits. It’s not even about monarchy versus democracy. And it's not pointless, ya bastid.
This story is about privilege confronted by reason. There are some kinds of ressentiment that are completely justified – straightening out errant royalty isn’t just a right, it’s a duty.
4 comments:
As the guy who was actually there ...
This has been fascinating to watch, but I think I can clarify a few things:
1.) Paul had no problem tossing pretty much anyone out of the joint. Saudi or Brit, the line basically drew at "asshole/not an asshole".
2.) My family's from Roscommon in County Roscommon, and my Dad scrubbed toilets at Holy Cross to pay for state college. So, I can assure you, a British Royal would have been infinitely more delicious.
2.) Personally, the pleasure I took from the moment was that it was also one of the only times I felt patriotic in my life -- in the sense I understand patriotism. That is, pride at being part of a nation where a certain set of ideals hold sway.
That "set of ideals" being the one where people with mythical special blood don't get to act like assholes and get away with it.
I also hold Canadian citizienship (took the test and everything), and am equally patriotic if not more so about my membership in that culture. That probably cancels out the "jingoism" argument, as we , er, jingos don't tend to hold dual citizenships with social democracies.
I think some of the issues here may be that you're assuming you know what I mean when I say "patriotism." The point of the story is that this was an exception to my usual feelings about nationalism and my part in American culture, not a reinforcement.
I hope that clarifies things.
Hey, I am the guy who has been arguing with Chris here, and what bugged me, and still bugs me, is not the story in context. It's the story out of context, as posted on Chris' facebook account. I'm not trying to say anything about you, your background, or Chris or how Chris saw it, I am trying to make the point that when Chris posted this excerpt alone, it came across as one of those chain mail, anti-middle east, pro war, "look how bad the bad guys are, and look how we told him to shut up and how it made me love being an American" stories that just encourages people to be prejudiced and hate cultures that already have enough reason to hate us back.
valid. I think you also lose a little something if you don't know Paul was an immigrant.
But I did want to clear up the context.
Wait, I am a little amazed that you found this discussion for one, but for two that you helped write both the new Transformers movie, and the Core. With respect to the Core, I remember that the original plot changed in between the first trailers and the finished product, why was that? Also, thank you for bringing perspective to that story it abruptly brought an end to the debate. How did you find this post though?
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