Today is Saturday, September 10, 2022. A great divide in mourning for the supposedly beloved Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom has arisen, as evidenced by a front-page article in today’s New York Times that highlights this divide among young and older British citizens. Also an insane online article in Vice on my smartphone exposes the insanity behind one distinctly American conspiracy movement called QAnon where its adherents are publicly cheering the death of the 96-year-old monarch. Remember, this is the group that a former fake president admitted there were people who loved him among its supporters, so why should he condemn this organization for wanting to murder Democrats to satisfy their hallucinogenic delusions.

The more sober article appearing in today’s Times is written by Emma Bubola, Isabella Kwai, and Saskia Solomon and it is called “In London, Mourning for Queen Exposes a Generational Divide.”

The article initially cites the remembrances of a 78-year-old retired entrepreneur, Gertrude Dudley, who recalls sitting on her grandfather’s shoulders in 1953 at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, a ruler she came to know as “the fabric of Britain.”

On Friday, Ms. Dudley was mourning the death of the queen along with a friend at a London cafe. Dudley states, “This country is in such terrible state, she was the one stability.” She added, “Now she, too, has gone.”

Contrast Ms. Dudley’s reaction to the death of the queen with that of Chrissy Mash, who is only 29 and was spotted buying groceries in London’s Islington borough, and who had a much different reaction to what occurred on Thursday, September 8. Mash proffered, “I am surprised by how unaffected I am.” She continued, saying, “The monarchy does not serve any purpose, and if it does, it is superseded by the damage of colonialism.” She ended her ambivalent thoughts about the death of the queen, with this, “I don’t buy into the fanfare anymore, it’s an excruciating display of a violent past.”

Signs of mourning for the queen were on display in Britain’s capital on Friday, as residents woke up for the first time in 70 years in a country in which Queen Elizabeth was no longer the monarch. “Billboards and cinemas in the city’s main thoroughfares displayed tribute, events were canceled, and small talk about the queen kicked off first dates and business meetings.”

While the death of Elizabeth for all intents and purposes seemed like a unifying force for many, “conversations with Londoners also revealed signs of a generational divide in which many younger people expressed indifference, if not hostility, to the complicated institution the queen represented.”

“According to a YouGov poll taken in May, 74 percent of respondents 65 and older believe the monarchy is good for Britain, compared with 24 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds.” To me, this represents a major divide between the young and old of the country. People who grew up with Queen Elizabeth expressed a more positive impression of her, while those who were born in the 90s did not share the same sentiment.

Those younger Brits expressed fatigue not only over this latest crisis moment, feeling that the recent twin crises of the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine have added to the overwhelming sense of disruption felt in the last few years.

“Many people from older generations could be seen wearing black as a sign of mourning, or rushing to buy newspapers dominated by the monarch’s picture, and some recalled memories of a queen who has been for so long part of their lives.”

Retired fashion journalist Angela Kennedy, 71, said she struggled with coping with the death of the queen, whom she had met and long admired. She admitted, “It’s very hard to take it in. It’s truly the end of an era,” she sadly confessed.

Kennedy recalled how the queen had visited the media organization she worked for in the late 70s. Even though the equestrian-leaning monarch seemed more interested in magazines like Horse and Hound, she still gave the staff her undivided time, looking “immaculate” for the visit.

The retired fashion journalist stated, “She represented a figurehead that was truly British.” Kennedy said she felt fortunate to live in a country with a monarchy like Britain’s. “I have just grown up with it, it’s just part of my life.”

This particular sentiment about the deceased queen was expressed by older folks throughout the country, while a more younger Brit, Felix Clark, 31, a manager at a coworking space in central London, took a decidedly different tone. He said that while every death is sad, he saw the royal family as an institution “founded on a colonial and racist past.”

Another representative of the younger generation, Raf Raiyan, 29, who works in banking, felt the queen’s death was more like the passing of a celebrity, and while he had nothing against the royals individually, he said, “I just don’t think they’re relevant.” Raiyan said his grandparents had lived in what is today Bangladesh when it was still part of the British Empire, and that the monarchy, for him, represented that colonial legacy. Conceding that the royal family is presently not involved in that negative activity anymore, he still said, “But that is ingrained in their roots.”

Another interviewee, Jordan John, also 29, a coffee shop barista, opined, “You wonder what’s next?” His colleague, Erin Williamson, 24, agreed with his assessment. She said, “There’s been so much change,” reflecting on the changes wrought by the coronavirus pandemic and the continuing war in Ukraine, admitting, “I’m sick of change.” I think this is some unusual sentiment coming from a 24-year-old, don’t you agree?

One last young person, Tilly Casey, 22, who was watching a giant screen in Piccadilly Circus bearing the image of the queen’s face, said she was worried about the future. “It’s the sense of security that she brought. Change is the most triggering for anxiety,” she said.

So there you have it: the reporting of a deep divide between those older representatives of the queen’s own generation versus those not living so long on the planet who had a far different opinion about the queen’s passing.

I can now personally relay my WhatsApp chat with my new-found cousin in London over the announcement of the queen’s death on Thursday. “Gordon” represents the older generation who would be mourning the queen’s death and he is not any different from those depicted in the Times article. He said to me after I wrote him that it was “a very sad day in London.” He then admitted that he had met her on four occasions and even went to one of her garden parties at Buckingham Palace. I wasn’t surprised over this revelation since he had admitted to such a familiarity with the late queen because of his charity work during our previous conversations. I responded to him soon afterward, but I’m still awaiting his reply.

The second article is more loony in that the writer, David Gilbert, reports on the reaction of people in QAnon over the queen’s death. The article is titled “QAnon is Losing It Over the Queen’s Death” and it appears online in Vice.

In the first paragraph, Gilbert writes that those in QAnon are openly celebrating the news of Queen Elizabeth’s death – but not for reasons expressed by those interviewed for the Times piece.

One QAnon account on Telegram wrote after moments after the queen’s death was announced, “May she burn in hell for eternity.” Another writes, “So happy! The evil witch is dead.”

The inexplicable reason for these people’s joy over the death of a grandmotherly monarch at the age of 96 relates to the genesis of this kooky conspiracy theory in which the queen represented a cast of elites who followers believe are operating a child sex trafficking ring that traverses the globe.

In the hours before her death, some referenced wild QAnon conspiracies about the queen participating in satanic rituals and drinking the blood of children. Have these people read too many Stephen King novels or what? One demented follower wrote, “They’re preparing the black mass and baby buffet as we sit here.” She added with no actual proof, “I think you’ll find she’s already gone.”

Another QAnon adherent echoed the same sentiment – that the queen has been dead for a while, as she/he writes, “She’s been dead, they had to find the right time to break the news.”

While this theory about the queen dying much sooner than September 8 is fantastical enough, others have pushed an even more irrational claim that the queen was merely a computer-generated mirage, a conspiracy that QAnon has also pushed about President Joe Biden since he took office last year.

Believe it or not, with this peculiarly American conspiracy movement, the queen has been a central figure in QAnon conspiracies from the very beginning. On November 5, 2017 (another date that will go down in infamy), a week after the first Q drop was posted, on 4chan, the anonymous author referenced the monarch. The writer of this post wrote: “Who is the Queen of England? How long in power? With power comes corruption [just look at their Golden Idol, Donald J. Trump, who is being investigated for many innumerable corrupt schemes while in office] What happened to Diana?”

The queen next surfaced within the QAnon world in 2019. Then, members of the conspiracy movement wildly claimed that Queen Elizabeth was executed following a military tribunal because she had Princess Diana murdered after she learned of a blackmail scheme involving convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. If this isn’t as screwball a theory as they come, I don’t know what is. I’d rather believe in the existence of Santa Claus than any of these theories.

There is another older conspiracy theory which is even more screwy that it’s not even worth repeating here. Just accept the fact that it involves reptiles that have controlled humankind since ancient times. And that some of them include real persons like George W. Bush, Henry Kissinger, former President Bill Clinton, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Bob Hope (?), and Queen Elizabeth, of course.

Another even more insane theory involves the death of the queen as being a trigger for the coming “storm” that will bring about the return of Donald Trump to power and see global elites being brought to justice. That could be partially true in that Dumpf could be brought to justice real soon. That could be the storm they’re predicting, and this time, it’s a fabulous one! Will they be disappointed in this turn of events – if they ever become reality!

To say that these people need some form of mental rehabilitation is too easy. They are a dangerous fringe element in our society that needs to be rebuked at every turn before their numbers increase and infect the minds of others. I cannot begin to propose how this can be effectuated. There are candidates running for office as I write this that support this cockamamie conspiracy theory. That’s truly frightening!

That’s it for me. Tomorrow marks the anniversary of 9/11, as I have mentioned.

Stay safe and be well.