 
Reuters photo, left; AFP photo, right
Britain's Prince Harry (left) was a naughty, naughty boy for wearing a Nazi costume at a party (right), but dogpiling on him doesn't absolve us of our own sins.
Leave the kid alone
Britain's Prince Harry fucked up. No doubt about it. Wearing a Nazi get-up at a costume party was incredibly insensitive and was in incredibly poor taste.
But why is the entire fucking world dogpiling on the poor kid?
He's 20 years old. College-age males do really stupid things. But the vast majority of them don't have their foolish escapades displayed in the worldwide media.
Harry has apologized. "I am sorry if I cause any offence or embarrassment to anyone," he said in a written statement, adding, "It was a poor choice of costume and I apologise."
But that wasn't enough. Reports AFP:
The terse apology failed to stem a wave of condemnation.
"With Holocaust Memorial Day coming up very shortly, a written apology is not enough," said Dicky Arbiter, a former Buckingham Palace spokesman.
"If he now wants to be considered an adult, he has got to behave like an adult," he said, "and he has got to apologise in person, through radio and television."
Michael Howard, leader of the main opposition Conservative Party, added to calls for a public apology. "I think it might be appropriate for him to tell us himself just how contrite he now is," Howard, who is Jewish and had family members perish at Auschwitz, told BBC radio.
The US-based Simon Wiesenthal Centre, one of the world's leading Jewish human rights organisations, called Harry's behaviour "a shameful act" and offensive to both Holocaust victims and soldiers who died fighting Hitler's armies.
Its founder Rabbi Marvin Hier said Harry ought to go to Auschwitz with his uncle Prince Edward, head of the British delegation, for the 60th anniversary commemorations.
The Jewish Chronicle, Britain's leading Jewish newspaper, attacked Harry's action as "mind-boggling".
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said it could not merely be written off as a mere show of poor judgment.
...But some, including Sarah Ferguson, former wife to Harry's uncle Prince Andrew, and the Lord Chancellor, Lord Charles Falconer, defended Harry, saying he had already apologised and deserved a break.
The photograph [of Harry in Nazi garb], two weeks before the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Hitler's most notorious death camp in Poland in which a million Jews perished, prompted questions about Harry's plans to attend the elite Sandhurst military academy, which he is due to enter in May to train as a British Army officer.
"I don't think this young man is suitable for Sandhurst," said Doug Henderson, a former armed forces minister. "If it was anyone else, the application wouldn't be considered. It should be withdrawn immediately."
The Ministry of Defence, however, said the furore would not affect his place at Sandhurst -- even though he will be subject to military discipline once he arrives....
Jesus fucking Christ. We can't even get George W. Bush to acknowledge a single fucking mistake, much more apologize publicly, yet people are stopping just short of calling for Harry's head.
The anti-Harry hysteria has gotten to the point that Harry's father, Prince Charles, has ordered him to visit Auschwitz for his crime. OK; probably everyone should see Auschwitz to be reminded of the evil that human beings are capable of perpetrating on other human beings. (Most of us can't go to Auschwitz, but we can look at Abu Ghraib prison photos and learn roughly the same lesson.)
While we're forcing Prince Harry to go to Auschwitz, how about we force "President" Bush to go to Fallujah and other war-torn cities in Iraq? (Bush's partner in [war] crime, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, can go with him.) Harry isn't responsible for what happened at Auschwitz, but Bush is responsible for what has happened in Iraq. At the very least, how about we force Bush to go to the funeral of just one of the hundreds of U.S. soldiers who are being unnecessarily slaughtered in Iraq (along with thousands of Iraqis)?
You know, to learn his lesson like Harry is supposed to learn his.
Prince Harry showed insensitivity and poor taste, but "President" Bush lied to Americans and to the world about Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction. Harry hasn't caused anyone's death. Bush's lies have resulted in the unnecessary deaths of thousands of innocent people.
Yet Harry is beaten up worldwide -- he can't apologize enough -- and Bush gets off scot-free.
I'm sure that Harry is quite sorry for what he did. I doubt that Bush is or ever will be sorry for what he has done. He'll never publicly admit a significant mistake and he'll never publicly apologize for a significant mistake.
That we pillory a 20-year-old for poor judgment but give tremendously evil and dangerous people like "President" Bush a free fucking pass says a helluva lot more about us than it does about Harry.
8:44:26 PM 
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