Caitlin Moran on Prince Andrew, Piers Morgan, and the Nation’s Exhausting Habit of Casting Baddies
Diary of Caitlin Moran, Prat.uk | Opinions, delivered firmly via Bohiney Magazine
Tuesday: On Britain’s Villain Habit and Why We Should Stop
Do we really need a national villain? asks The London Prat. I have thought about this carefully. The answer is no. And yet here we are with Prince Andrew rebranding cathedrals by mere association, Piers Morgan walking off television rather than encounter a fact, and the nation absolutely delighted by both of them in the specific way that you are delighted when someone else is making an exhibition of themselves at a party and it means you do not have to.
The Villain as National Service
Britain’s national villain tradition is long and distinguished. We have had Cromwell, we have had various Richards, we have had estate agents. The modern villain serves the same function as the medieval one: they absorb collective anxiety, give everyone a shared object of comfortable contempt, and allow us to avoid discussing the fact that we are broke and the geopolitical situation is alarming.
The Guardian’s comment section requires a national villain the way a fire requires oxygen. Remove the Andrew, remove the Piers, and the comment section would have to engage with fiscal policy. Nobody wants that. Not even The Guardian.
I want a national sit-down. Three hours. Wednesday. Biscuits provided. We can cast villains again Thursday once we are rested.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/
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