This New England

There are several ironies in Edward M. Kennedy being awarded an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II.

One is that the Massachusetts Democrat is a son of Joseph P. Kennedy, who as U.S. ambassador to Britain in 1938-40 was notable for his support of appeasing Hitler and was a reviled figure in Britain when he left.

Another is that the whole idea of knighthood seems inappropriate for an American, though it has been granted before. But then, the American press keeps calling the likes of the Kennedys, the Bushes and so on "aristocrats'' and members of "dynasties.''

It's as if we long for the old European social structures to reduce the anxiety of living in our anomie-soaked society. It also helpfully formalizes celebrity.

In any case, Prime Minister Gordon Brown (a Scotsman -- not one of those hated Englishmen!) brought up some very good things for which to praise Mr. Kennedy in announcing the honor: helping bring peace to Northern Ireland, expanding health care and improving access to education. But the mountainous, daily piling on of honors, many of them richly deserved, has also sometimes taken on a macabre cast as the senator fights brain cancer.

For information on Harvard's fiscal disaster, see:

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/03/harvard-private-equity-and-the-education-bubble/?emc=eta1

 Tags  Edward Kennedy Harvard fiscal disaster knighthood

Comments

Auggie said:

Teddy is practically dead. Who cares? Wait till Jesus kicks his but.... Remember Mary Jo, his Nazi loving dad and his drugged out moron son who is a RI Congressman. Proud family.

Link | March 4, 2009 5:38 PM
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Terrence McCarthy said:

I think Auggie might have taken a wrong turn somewhere south of Boston. He must have been thinking: This is the " Topix " exit.

Not the kind of comment I like to see on a fine blog such as this. But it's free country, and it's useful, I guess, to see where people like " Auggie " are coming from.

Link | March 5, 2009 10:34 AM
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jeff b. said:

The gags are muted here, but not so much over there, where the bile might be flowing even more virulently if the honor had been that one notch above, which would have meant Sir, which it wasn't, a telling slight indeed.

Link | March 6, 2009 9:56 AM
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