Credit;PA
If you hate Meghan Markle but you’re not sure why, there is probably one very good reason…
Following the airing of Harry and Meghan’s now infamous Oprah interview last weekend, my WhatsApp feed became alive with memes, clips and jokes at the Royal couple’s expense. Some were lighthearted, others were a little mean spirited, and a few were quite shocking. What astonished me was the sheer volume, not to mention the bizarre outpouring of hatred towards the Duchess of Sussex.
One 45 year old male friend who works for the Civil Service exclaimed ‘I actually just hate Meghan Markle. Raging’.
Another friend, a 42 year old GP remarked ‘Also hate Meghan Markle. Absolute bi**h. Family wrecker’.
The two individuals mentioned above are just two examples of normally light-hearted individuals with little interest in Royal affairs (at least as far as I know), who have suddenly become emotionally involved.
I understand why they may have come in for a little bit of criticism, but from what I can tell, the Prince and Duchess are not bad people. As far as I’m aware, Meghan hasn’t killed or hurt anybody. She hasn’t defrauded thousands of their pension savings. There is no evidence of her torturing animals or beating children. So, where does this hatred stem from and what has provoked such a strong reaction from the public?
To be honest, I had a hunch that it could be something to do with the continual drip-drip of negative Meghan Markle coverage in the UK tabloid newspapers. As a result, I took to the office archives to look through past coverage of the Duchess. What I discovered was actually quite depressing, if not a little sinister.
First of all, I struggled to find much, if any, positive coverage of Meghan whatsoever. What I did find was swathes of either negative, damning, or subversive content. Nearly all reporting of the Duchess seems to have a snide or sniping undertone – even within the most mundane or featureless coverage. The other element of reporting apparent was the continual negative comparison to Kate Middleton.
To give you an idea, here’s a selection of negative Meghan Markle headlines compared to similar headlines about Kate Middleton. Some of these headlines were highlighted in Buzzfeed and Boredpanda this week, and they make stark reading.
What is astonishing is the scale of negative coverage when searching through the archives. This seems to be achieved without any solid or convincing evidence that Meghan is in any way a bad person. She’s a human-being, so is of course prone to gaffes or poor decision making. Show me someone who isn’t.
Even Prince Harry’s former girlfriend Chelsy Davy appears to have become a minor celebrity, attracting more positive headlines than Meghan, with tabloids often describing her as ‘the one that got away’. These articles can often be found side-by-side to a damning article about Meghan.
It is no secret that Harry is very mistrusting of the tabloid media. It’s completely understandable too. Subsequently it is noticeable that as Meghan and Harry complained about the ‘behaviour’ of the tabloids towards them, and withdrew from UK public life, the scathing attacks from the press only appeared to intensify.
Whether or not you agree with the way Harry and Megan have removed themselves from the glare of the UK media, or the way they’ve handled themselves subsequently, surely we cannot blame them for giving a big up-yours to the UK tabloid press.
It seems absurd to pick on a young lady for no apparent reason, when you consider the amount of actual arseholes residing in the seats of power. However, The Society of Editors rebuffed claims that the UK media is bigoted and has targeted the pair via a statement released on Monday. They said, ‘The UK media is not bigoted and will not be swayed from its vital role holding the rich and powerful to account following the attack on the press by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.’
Is ‘holding the powerful to account’ really enough to justify the headlines written above?
Even this week the whole affair has blown up even further thanks to Piers Morgan’s GMB walkout. The former tabloid editor and morning host of Good Morning Britain came under fire from co-hosts for stating that he ‘Didn’t believe a word that came out of her [Megan Markle’s] mouth’, before walking out on the show.
Could it be that we, ‘the sheeple’, have been brainwashed into disliking Meghan for no apparent reason whatsoever? This is a question we all need to ask our own conscious – and we need to be honest with ourselves too.
I wonder, is the hatred for Meghan the same reason that ‘a friend’s’ mother in law [ahem], an avid Daily Mail reader, refuses to buy Walker’s crisps after being turned against Gary Lineker for, quote, ‘having opinions’.
I wonder if it is also the same reason, for example, that many people decry socialism as ‘ridiculous’ whilst pleading for financial assistance resulting from Covid, and clapping for the NHS on their doorsteps every week. They don’t see the irony thanks to decades of anti-socialist rhetoric from our right-wing rags.
Is it the same reason that so many middle-aged-men go pink in the face with anger when talking about a young teenage girl, Greta Thunburg, campaigning to make the planet cleaner? I mean, what if climate change is the biggest and most elaborate multi-continental conspiracy ever concocted, and she’s campaigning to make the world a cleaner, more sustainable and better place for nothing? Just look at tabloid coverage about her and you’ll understand why.
Dare I say it, but is it the same reason, as we discovered during the Brexit referendum, that many UK residents absolutely ‘hate’ the EU, despite enjoying many of the benefits that membership of the trading bloc brought us? The decades of (usually false) anti-EU headlines from some of our best selling newspapers is well documented.
Could it be that the UK tabloid press has slowly brainwashed us, the UK public, to hate Meghan Markle for no reason, through a decade of negative information?
Or, is there actually a hidden reason the tabloids have convinced us she’s a ‘bad egg’ – and if so, should we be asking ourselves more serious questions about the UK tabloids motives?
