Mitzi just finished a re-watch of The Crown. I've never watched the whole thing. I've seen parts of episodes, and overheard much of it (too much). She likes that sort of thing. Big Downton Abbey fan.

I have no affinity with the aristocracy.

We don't have titled nobility here in the good ol' US of A. But we do have billionaires. Instead of kings, we have CEOs. Instead of dukes, we have venture capitalists. We don't have a pope or bishops, we have politicians. I'll leave it to others to figure out which are the Catholics and which are the Protestants. We don't worship God, we worship money.

The battles aren't fought over land. They're fought over marketshare. Indulgences aren't sought, tax breaks are.

We're so much more sophisticated than the Europeans.

Maybe knights are celebrities. I heard a report about the economic impact of Taylor Swift on Kansas City. Something like $200M. When you're a celebrity, you can do anything.

I don't know. It's probably wise not to think about this too much, and I've been thinking about it a lot since yesterday.

The royal family must hate The Crown. I know I got sick of various incarnations of Prince Phillip lecturing Diana, and various actors portraying Charles whining and complaining and skulking around with his hands in his pockets. Horrible people, all of them.

We are social creatures that form social organisms, and the various roles within the organism form a "natural" hierarchy. And we do love a hierarchy. That's how you can tell who's "up" and who's "down," and where we are. Where we fit in, or where we want to fit in.

Nothing changes.