Anyone who has read through my blog before, or who knows me in real life, will know that I am a long time fan of Meghan Markle (now the Duchess of Sussex). I loved Meghan on suits, I followed her adventures on instagram and read The Tig religously almost every day. As a fan of her prior to her marriage to Prince Harry, I am grateful that I knew of her beforehand. Whether you are a fan of hers or not, I would hope most people with common sense, would see her treatment by the British media, has been absolutely disgusting. And yet, from the comments I see online everyday, there are so many who not only dislike her, but actively hate her and wish her harm. These people, along with many in the media, have painted Meghan as a manipulative gold digger, liar and controlling.
I usually block people when I see the vile comments they make, rather than feed into what they want, which is engagement and likes. However, lately I have felt truly concerned and uncomfortable in how people talk about the Duke and Duchess, especially how they talk about Meghan in particular. After their recent statement regarding the paparazzi following them in New York, I saw an influx of hate directed at the couple. People were calling them liars, saying things like they wish they had crashed, other hateful media figures laughing about the incident; truly horrific reactions. Seeing this hate really opened my eyes further, at how the media campaign against them, has truly become ingrained in so many people’s minds.
My anger at the reaction of some people isn’t the fact that they dislike Meghan and Harry, (though many can’t often give a good reason for this). It’s that people are going out of their way to actively leave vile comments about two people they have never met, and truly wish them harm. It’s baffling to me that if they hate these people (as they claim to), why they give them such attention? There are many people I am not a fan of and if I see an article about them, I just keep scrolling. I don’t leave horrible comments on their social media or hope they are hurt somehow. So why do the haters feel the need to hate on anything and everything to do with Meghan and Harry? If they win an award, the haters say it’s been bought, ahead of the coronation they were demanding that Meghan not attend- then she says she won’t and they hate her for not going! They are in an endless lose-lose situation. The main culprit for this, I believe is the media.
Since the beginning of their relationship, the media have printed article after article about Meghan and Harry, from discussing who Meghan is, speculating how they met and then everything in between is an understatement. Once the media realised just how much money they could make from these endless articles, that was it! No matter who it is, if you see multiple articles a day about the same person, even if you are a fan; you begin to tire of it and get sick of seeing that person. I believe that’s part of where the hate comes from. But more so due to how the media twists things and word these articles in a way to tell the readers how they should feel. Their headlines are particularly insidious, knowing that many people will take the headline as fact and not even read the article. So much of the British media paint Meghan a certain way and of course once they learned Harry was not going to play the game, as other royals do, the media put down their pencils and sharpened their pitch forks instead.
I am not trying to convince anyone they have to be a fan of Meghan and Harry, nor do I think they have to like them. But we should all care about how our media manipulates people in how they should think. This goes beyond just Meghan and Harry. We in the UK experienced this during our general election, as well as Brexit. The media control the narrative of the nation. If you don’t play the game and comply with the media when they come knocking, then they will turn on you in a heartbeat. We often see many people built up, just to tear them down, but I truly think seeing this played out with Meghan, it’s taken it to an extreme level. The main reason for this is the profit the media are making. So I say to the haters, if you truly want to see Meghan and Harry disappear from newspapers. All you have to do is stop engaging with it. The media don’t care if all the comments are hateful or positive, they only see clicks and engagement, and as long as they have that, they will keep pushing more of the same content.
Photograph is not my own: Photo courtesy of: Image ID: RA2D97 PA Images
After the recent incident in New York, I felt compelled to point out just a some of the ways the media has been and continues to be biased towards Meghan and Harry, as well as others. Honestly, if in year 2023 you still take everything in newspapers and magazines as complete fact or truth, I think you need to step out of that mindset and look a little further.
You may think, well aren’t you yourself biased as a fan of Meghan’s? And yes, maybe I am in some ways, but quite frankly, us Meghan fans almost have to be because the vitriol from the other-side is so strong. As a fan however, I do not blindly worship Meghan and Harry or believe they can do no wrong. I am a fan of who they are and what they do, but if they said or did something I do not agree with, I would be happy to say that. The difference in the haters, is that they will find fault no matter what. Whether Meghan and Harry volunteer, or they donate money, it doesn’t matter, the haters will vilify them. They often flood the comments of charities that associate with the couple with horrible comments, they make rumours that their children are not real, yet in the same breathe say Meghan used a surrogate. Turning their hate towards their children and charities is beyond too far.
Even recently, a local bike shop in California, gifted Prince Archie a bike as a birthday gift. A lovely gesture, which was reciprocated by Meghan and Harry sending a thank you letter. Yet, the haters of the couple flocked to the social media accounts of the bike shop and flooded them with hateful, resentful comments and even death threats! I can’t believe I even have to write that. Death threats to a shop owner for sending a gift to a 4 year old child. It is disgraceful. Yet this is what I believe the media campaign against them has produced. Anyone who shows public support to the couple is met with hate.
I can’t just passively watch so much hate directed at them and only block those people. Therefore, you will see posts from me regarding the bias I observe whether past articles or in the future. Will this change the world? No. But if even just one person, who claims to hate them has second thoughts, or people in general understand the level of hate stacked against them, then that to me is worth it.
Love
