Hilary Mantel is EVIL! Well at least that's the way The Daily mail seem to want portray her. Their recent 'story' that one person had said something about another person (whatever happened to the concept of global or national news stories having depth and meaning?) has generated a lot of publicity and a lot of Internet 'buzz'. If Twitter is the currently accepted adjudicator of these things then this was one of the most popular stories of its day and a reasonably divisive one at that.
In case you've been living the hermit lifestyle (doubtful as you're reading an online article which would be hard to access from a dank lichen filled cave in the middle of nowhere) then the basics are this, - Hilary mantel wrote apiece for the London Review of Books entitled Royal Bodies. in it she refers to Kate Windsor (Nee Middleton) as a plastic princess and a clothes horse. Hardly the most damaging or scathing attack a royal has faced. Yet the Mail chose to portray this as an attack of the worst kind, painting Mantel as the stereotypical middle aged sour-puss figure overrun with her own internal jealousies of the glamorous princess.
What they failed to do was put any of this into context. If anything the article is both balanced and fair. it even ends with a plea for the royals, Kate particularly, to be left alone, so they could perchance escape their 'gilded cage'. Remarkably sympathetic.
Unfortunately people don't seem to be capable of looking past the few brief headlines and making their judgement. Including, worryingly enough our own PM. Cameron has weighed in on the subject to defend the Princess. Not only do I believe he should have more to concern him but it betrays a worrying lack of depth in his world perceptions. If he only deals n headlines without analysing the context this is a disturbing reflection of a growing national behaviour.
Stop just absorbing headlines and going from there. Read the whole thing then make decisions. We can only have informed adult debate if all sides involved are genuinely informed and not just spitting back twitter-esque headlines and surface story lines.
Why not read the original article for yourself and make your own mind up?
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n04/hilary-mantel/royal-bodies
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