I questioned posting this when Prince Harry released his book SPARE, last month.
The media onslaught against him has been astounding. But does he deserve it?
“You Either Die A Hero, Or You Live Long Enough To See Yourself Become The Villain.”
— Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight (2008)
There’s something philosophically quite interesting about watching Prince Harry’s rise and fall after his exit from the Royal Family.
Firstly, the media backlash against his initial backlash of the media. Mostly for invading his privacy.
These stories are now shared with you, through irony, on other forms of media. It’s very interesting to observe.
But that’s not the bit that struck me. Following the revelations in his book, his character was picked apart. How he seemed petty for arguing with his brother for breaking his necklace. How he seemed uncouth for revealing his Taliban kill count.
He started to lose support. All the while, the palace stayed quiet.
It seemed like, if your alleged aggressor stays silent long enough, it makes YOU look like the aggressor.
There can be a full circle to victimhood, where you complain about it so much publicly, and reveal newer and increasingly trivial details of your disputes, that people think of you as less of a victim.
It made me think about how I’ve been wronged in the past—and how many f*cking times I’ve told friends those stories, and retrospectively, I’ve now bored myself. Because I’m starting to question if I even sounded sincere, or if I sounded petty, while my nemesis stayed silent.
Punching into a void may just be perceived the same as punching down.