[testify]

WDYT of Prince Phillip? A bumbling idiot? A lovable crazy grandad? Senile?


http://www.smh.com.au/world/gaffeprone-pri...0221-2esm2.html

[Dinosaurus]

I laugh (usually) but always AT him and because he is so out of touch with reality it's like he's trying to bring down the monarchy single-handedly.

Hang on a minute - I might have stumbled onto the worlds greatest ruse!

[Bel Rowley]

Prince Philip is a bumbling old racist idiot.

[I'm Batman]

I'm not the right person to ask. I love bad taste jokes.

I think the media reaction is a little hysterical, the same way Ricky Gervis p*ssing off really rich people at the Oscars was hysterically transmitted across the globe.

If a Filipino made that joke, people would just chuckle...its harmless enough, hes not saying anything IMO that shames her culture or her country. I'm sure people immigrate because they want a better life. I know, I can't quite grasp what its like to be of two cultures, its enriching, amazing. Heaps of mixed emotions.

But yeah, its hilarious and facepalm material all in one go. I get the feeling its just how he is. Awkward, I don't write off a whole person because they are socially ill at ease. He is also a nice break from all the pomp that comes with being in the queens entourage. He is really human. You meet him after you meet the queen so he says awkward things to make you laugh maybe. He really does have a knack for saying the exact worse thing, maybe hes a bit, um, old fashioned.

Overall. Yes, I like.

This post has been edited by I'm Batman: 21/02/2013, 02:27 PM

[Old Grey Mare]

He is an old man raised in a completely different world to the one he now lives in. I think there are many more things we should be getting offended about than this.

[I'm Batman]

He reminds me of politically incorrect redneck memes.

You are right about him being in a totally different world to the one he was raised him.

I mean the joke he makes are pthyon like, or faulty towers, where he embarrassed the germans. Totally wrong but hilarious as a throw back.

It must be hard finding things to say to strangers all the time.

[BadCat]

I think he has a wicked sense of humour.

Politically incorrect? No doubt. But he's an old man raised in a different time.

[Eight.years]

"The Philippines must be half-empty – you're all here running the NHS."

That doesn't seem that gaffe-tastic to me, in the scheme of his stuff ups. I've heard similar things said by high ranked NHS staff at conferences - stuff along the lines of "If we sent all the Australian health workers home, the NHS would collapse".

[Sassy Girl]

I think he has a wicked sense of humour.

Politically incorrect? No doubt. But he's an old man raised in a different time.

I agree with this. I think his sense of humour goes over many people's heads as he has an above average intelligence. Most people find humour offensive if they don't understand it

[countrymel]

I don't think that was 'racist'... I think he was making conversation with yet another stranger and made a joke born of observation.

Anecdote warning:

When I lived in the UK I had an operation and was waking up in recovery when the surgeon came in and gave me a serve for being a bloody foreigner 'exploiting the NHS'...

I lay there in stunned silence and when he left my lovely nurse (Pilipino) saw my distress and asked me what I did.. "I'm a high school teacher." I whimpered.

"Yeah! That'd be right, doing yet another job that the English can't be bothered to do themselves! Honestly if we all packed up and left their country would stop! They won't teach their own children, they won't nurse their own sick!"

NHS hospitals ARE filled with foreign nurses and many, very many of them are from the Phillipines... it wasn't a 'shocking' thing to say.

Cut old 'Phil the Greek' some slack in his 10th decade.

As you might tell I am a Phillip apologist - and will remain so!





*10th decade not 9th

This post has been edited by countrymel: 21/02/2013, 03:26 PM