#bbc18

Prince William gave a powerful, honest, and bold speech today at the BBC on the topic of the cyberbullying task force he convened a year ago.  Instead of the typical praises, thanks, and platitudes that are often synonymous with royal speeches, The Duke of Cambridge delivered a powerful and polarizing analysis of his contributions and lack thereof to the task force, including both successes and failures.  Instead of proclaiming various successes on behalf of his task force, he admitted its faults, admitted its failures, admitted his own wrongdoings and biases.  He vowed to use this as a learning experience so he could use his incredible platform to help victims of cyberbullying, and to  - someday - eliminate it altogether.

This analysis came with a plea.  Not directed towards the public, but directed towards social media developers.  The plea was more of a subtle demand - a demand for social media developers to consider cyberbullying when further advancing technology for use in their platforms.  His message became clearer and more powerful as he added a personal touch - he brought up the perils of raising three young children in a world of cyberbullying after having seen firsthand as an air ambulance pilot the effect words can have on vulnerable populations.

He held accountable the developers of social media platforms who are often reluctant to make changes that do not result in a direct profit.  He commended these people for the undeniable impression they have made on the history of mankind, one that will last forever.  But, he put the power in their hands - it is up to the developers to expand the safety and filtering features available on social media platforms to protect users.  

He made it clear that it is not up to victims or the common population.  These people should not be forced to scroll through their own feeds and they should not be responsible for reporting cyberbullying comments.  In a perfect world, these comments should never reach anyone’s feeds.  This world is not perfect and nobody is claiming it is.  However, cutting off the availably of a platform for cyberbullying will eliminate or vastly decrease the number of comments made.  That, as Prince William made clear today, is up to the developers and the developers alone.

My impression of this plea was that it was a place to start.  Ultimately, the goal is to eliminate cyberbullying altogether.  This is a tall order, one that is complex and not easily fulfilled.  You cannot systematically change the minds of millions of people overnight.  One must start with baby steps, and that starts with the people at the top.  If developers admit their own accountability, vow to initiate programs and technological advancements that are for the good of mankind (if not for a direct profit), and initiate change in this way, it could trickle down to the masses.  If there is no platform for hate speech and cyberbullying due to advancing technologies, then the effect of such hurtful words is minimized.  Over time, this type of speech may even vanish.

This type of change cannot happen person-by-person.  It has to happen within the technology of social media platform development.  Prince William made that very clear in his speech today.

It is a noble endeavor supported by The Duke of Cambridge.  It is even more noble that he admitted his approach was faulty at first, and that he vowed to learn from his mistakes and alter his approach to continue to combat cyberbullying in a more effective and efficient manner.

When I read the full transcript of the speech, I was stunned.  And then I read it again, and I was proud.  We have seen more so than ever this year that Prince William has a certain kind of skill that prioritizes diplomacy, intelligence, and the ability to speak about polarizing and often political subjects without leaning even a centimeter to either side.  He is developing phenomenally as an heir, as the future Prince of Wales and as the future King.

It did not take long for people to condemn his words.

Reading the comments on the Kensington Palace Instagram page or Twitter feed is an exercise in restraint to Wales, Cambridge, and Sussex fans.  For every positive comment, there are at least three negative - calling The Duchess of Cornwall a home-wrecker/”Not Diana”, calling the Duchess of Cambridge a slut/mattress, and repeatedly insisting that The Duchess of Sussex does not belong in the British Royal Family for reasons that many of them refuse to write out in words.

Everyone knows why they say that about Meghan, though.  It may have a tiny bit to do with her being an American (xenophobia), it may have a tiny bit to do with her career prior to her marriage (classism/general judgment), and it may have a tiny bit to do with her being divorced (sexism).

The real reason, though, is that they’re racists.  Plain and simple.  They see the (relatively speaking) pure-white history of the British Royal Family, and they see that their beloved Prince Harry married a biracial divorced American actress, and they settle on the fact that she doesn’t “fit in.”  That she doesn’t look like William, Catherine, or Harry.  That she doesn’t have blonde hair or blue/green eyes or porcelain skin, that she doesn’t “match.”  That she “sticks out.”  It’s sickeningly racist.  It’s horrific.  It’s inexcusable and unforgivable and nauseating and cruel and disrespectful and I could go on and on and on with adjectives to describe just how terrible it all is.  Yes, these are all things that I have read with my own two eyes about poor Meghan, who just happens to be biracial, who has a big heart and such compassion and empathy and sweetness and strength and who just happened to fall in love with and marry someone who just happens to be a British Prince.

Reading it with my own two eyes makes my skin crawl, makes my heart ache for this woman who I have grown to adore and for her husband who I have loved for several years.

And it’s horrible, and it’s infuriating.  Whenever I scroll through, I often find myself seeing red not three comments down.  Chris Jackson has had to disable comments on his photos of The Duchess of Sussex (and, to my knowledge, only The Duchess of Sussex).  That’s not due to anything other than her being biracial.  If it was about divorce, Chris Jackson would have had to disable comments on photos of The Duchess of Cornwall.  If It was about sexism or classicism, Chris Jackson would have had to disable comments on The Duchess of Cambridge.

It’s about racism.  Period.  Maybe a tiny bit of xenophobia, but the real dominating reason for this is about racism.

People who have condemned Prince William’s speech today believe that he is being a hypocrite for speaking out against cyberbullying - especially so frankly and bluntly - because he does nothing to control the comment stream on the Kensington Palace Instagram and Twitter feeds.  “He is in charge,” they say.  “He doesn’t monitor the comment threads and therefore he is complicit in the racism that Meghan faces every day.”

Prince William has a job, and that job is to be The Duke of Cambridge, soon to be The Prince of Wales, the heir to the heir to the throne.  A father, and a husband, and a son, and a brother.  A Prince and a future King.  His job is not monitoring the Instagram and Twitter comment threads to which I can almost guarantee he has no access.  He does not control the Kensington Palace feeds or comments or replies.  I would argue that he likely does not even have access to these accounts.  Prince William - and his wife, and his brother, and now his sister-in-law - learned a long, long time ago to avoid the comments made about them and their family.  Nobody in the world knows better than William and Harry how damaging the media and the general population can be when they’re greedy and unkind.

Kensington Palace has a staff of people whose entire jobs are dedicated to monitoring the social media presence of the Cambridge and Sussex households.  Theoretically, these people could disable comments on all posts, and eliminate the platform altogether.  Maybe that’s a conversation that has already been had, one that we are not privy to.  Maybe it’s a conversation that they need to have.

But, in my opinion, what about the positive comments?  What about the comments that recognize these four remarkable individuals as instruments for good?  What about the citizens of the United Kingdom and of the Commonwealth who have a right to at least some access to the most relatable generation of the Royal Family?  What about well-wishers from across the globe who want to wish love, happiness, success, and prosperity on the young British royals?

Is the Kensington Palace staff really going to penalize the positive and supportive commentators for the actions of the racists and bigots?  How is that fair?  Are they going to really further limited already-limited access to the Cambridges and Sussexes?  

Eliminating the comments section on the Kensington Palace feeds does not teach people anything.  It just allows them to be cruel somewhere else, directed at someone else.  What does that accomplish?  That’s not in line with Prince William’s message at all.

A huge part of the success of the monarchy is in public relations.  If you take away yet another point of access to an already private group of young royals, people will only grow more and more aggravated.  Charles’ popularity suffered for years and years and years.  Even now, the polls (which should be taken with a grain of salt) indicated that the four younger royals hold significantly more popularity than the next King?  The monarchy does not need the most popular generation of British royalty - arguably ever - to take any massive hits in popularity.  

They could shut off the comment sections, sure.  But really, what would it solve?

Who is accountable for the racist remarks made against Meghan?  Easy - the commentators.  The racists and the bigots.  But, as Prince William made very clear in his speech today, it is immensely difficult to change the minds and perceptions of millions and millions of people all at once.  I would argue that it’s pretty near impossible to do so.

Prince William’s charge was clear - the social media developers need to analyze their platforms and brainstorm better ways to monitor what is being said in comment threads and posts.  These technologies will trickle down to the masses.  If the ability to cyberbully is physically restricted by developing technology that prevents horrible comments and phrases from being published, then cyberbullying will diminish.  Significantly.

Surely there are technological advancements that are within arm’s reach that could monitor for certain words and phrases.  A simple code can scan letters, numbers, and symbols for a combination that forms a sentence/phrase/word, which can then be automatically flagged for review.  Low-level staffers - employed by the social media platforms - can then review the automatic flags and make the judgment call on whether they’re considered cyberbullying or not.  Users can report comments as well to bring the platform’s attention.  They remove the comment if it meets the criteria of being hate speech in any way, and the staffers are held accountable in the workplace if they don’t.  It isn’t seen by the public, nor is it seen by the target/victim.  In the meantime, these staffers can peruse the replies and comments for anything not caught by the system.  Cyberbullies lose their platform, lose their ability to garner attention through likes, comments, and reactions.  Eventually?  They’ll give up.  It will take some time, effort, financial investment, and study.  Trial and error.  But theoretically?  It can stop.  Once the technology is developed and universally agreed upon by social media developers to utilize in their platforms, theoretically, hate speech on the Internet can cease to exist.

Is it Prince William’s job to come up with this?  Absolutely not.  His job, as I said before, is to be the heir to the heir, The Duke of Cambridge.  It’s up to the developers at Instagram and Twitter and other major platforms.  His job is to use his popularity, reputation, status, and platform bring attention to the matter, so more and more people begin to demand these improvements from the social media developers.

What did his speech today accomplish?  Exactly that.

He, a high-profile royal in direct line to the throne, made a speech, charging the social media developers to come up with solutions such as these to protect vulnerable populations.  He did exactly his job as father, husband, son, brother, former air ambulance pilot, Prince, Duke, and future King.

If these changes are made, they’ll also protect Meghan.  If the social media giants invest in technology that can scan for and flag phrases such as “does not belong” or “not a real royal” or “too dark” or “messy hair” or any of the other dozens and hundreds of disgusting, racist phrases used to insult people of color, these advancements will not only protect regular people.  They will protect Meghan.

If we broaden those phrases to include words such as “slut,” “home-wrecker,” etc., they’ll protect Catherine and Camilla.  They’ll protect millions of women, children, and people of color all over the world who are subject to cruelty at the hands of the Internet every single day.

We know that William and Meghan have a warm and supportive relationship.  We know that William is fiercely protective when it comes to his family - scarily so, if I may say so myself.  Everything we have on the record about William and his interactions with Meghan indicates that he would be the first one to swing if anyone came after her.  Maybe only second to Harry, but that’s because he’s just like his brother - passionate, fiercely loyal, even more fiercely protective.  I have no doubt in my mind that William would never stand idly by as his sister-in-law is subject to such cruel commentary.  And he hasn’t - as we have seen in the speech today.  

Prince William is not a hypocrite.  He does not stand by complicity while cyberbullying happens around him, while racism happens around him.  He gave an entire speech today demonstrating just that.  If anything, he is inciting exactly the change you all are looking for in the Kensington Palace comments section, albeit via a different method that you may have thought best.