Post AXd48UpKxwdeN89zLU by DiegoBeghin@masto.bike
(DIR) More posts by DiegoBeghin@masto.bike
(DIR) Post #AXd1qVNdyCtiy2V4W8 by DiegoBeghin@masto.bike
2023-07-12T19:39:08Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
So we still have this old tradition of the King holding court, hearing petitioners and deciding to help them or not?The Belgian TV news yesterday mentioned that the King gets thousands of letters every day from people asking for help or for advice. Apparently the King's office often gives financial help to the petitioners and the typical amount is 200 euros.Between this and Russian mobiks recording appeals to Putin, I'm feeling closer than ever to the Middle Ages.
(DIR) Post #AXd1qWJQVN7PrFXDaC by pony@blovice.bahnhof.cz
2023-07-12T19:56:18.786473Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@DiegoBeghin reminds me of reading my friends' distant relative court file from 1920's (he murdered a prison warden where he was for a violent robbery) which has some conversation relating to the guy asking president to commute his death sentence to "just" life (the "custom" back then seemed to be murder would usually get death penalty but the president would always reduce the sentence unless it was like super violent and the public demanded blood) and also murderer's wife (still at that point) asking the president for some financial support, being awarded like 150 crowns (would be 6 euros now, but it actually could have been close to like 200 euros today) from president's special support fund, both seemingly about as arbitrary (it was, the president acted upon customs, but could do whatever he wanted)
(DIR) Post #AXd1qXKAk5JEzqtKNs by DiegoBeghin@masto.bike
2023-07-12T19:43:08Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
I mean this is a hilariously paternalistic and corrupt institution. Social welfare claims should be handled by the normal channels, and if they're inadequate they should be improved, nobody should be relying on the ad hoc generosity of a King.
(DIR) Post #AXd38perPthN1Yr8ka by DiegoBeghin@masto.bike
2023-07-12T20:09:03Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@pony The pardon power is definitely the most Kingly aspect of presidents. But never heard of any president's office granting ad hoc financial help lol
(DIR) Post #AXd38qh1ZL1WEYsNlI by pony@blovice.bahnhof.cz
2023-07-12T20:10:47.328576Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@DiegoBeghin well, now you heard about the president of czechoslovakia doing it in the 1920's, so it's probably not uniquely belgian thing
(DIR) Post #AXd3HiPfirwZA0zI4e by pony@blovice.bahnhof.cz
2023-07-12T20:12:23.411118Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@DiegoBeghin (then, frankly, having a president was purely an aesthetical choice in 1918, the office was always designed to be basically an occasionally elected constitutional monarch anyway, so maybe they just copied it entirely from belgium)
(DIR) Post #AXd3gKDMpSp7Lky0ky by DiegoBeghin@masto.bike
2023-07-12T20:13:53Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@pony I'm always fascinated by these moments when we realise we're not that different from the past. Some people still want a big daddy King to take care of them. Gulf state economies are oddly similar to the colonial Caribbean. etc.
(DIR) Post #AXd3gKrmPD9LN5sHkO by pony@blovice.bahnhof.cz
2023-07-12T20:16:52.640461Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@DiegoBeghin yeah the first cs president masaryk is often called "tatíček masaryk", as in "daddy", not father (like founding fathers or something), but the familiar intimate "daddy"
(DIR) Post #AXd3hXlJwdXxemQgam by DiegoBeghin@masto.bike
2023-07-12T20:17:00Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@pony The Belgian thing isn't completely a holdover from ancient tradition, apparently it was Baudoin in the 1980s who drastically scaled up the operation and hired enough staff to make sure each letter would get some kind of reply
(DIR) Post #AXd3m3EirlqIQlKbei by pony@blovice.bahnhof.cz
2023-07-12T20:17:58.646683Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@DiegoBeghin i mean in a way, it seems most presidents have at some point established semi-private charity funds for various things, so in practice, a lot of them would have this power, but it would be their private initiative
(DIR) Post #AXd48UpKxwdeN89zLU by DiegoBeghin@masto.bike
2023-07-12T20:19:04Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@pony oh that's also a good one, the way the US founding fathers are revered like some polytheistic pantheon, complete with weird mythology on their personal lives (something about Washington and a cherry tree?)
(DIR) Post #AXd6jHXHXqbLlzNpkO by instereo256@realworldsunny.name
2023-07-12T20:29:30.777Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@pony@blovice.bahnhof.cz @DiegoBeghin@masto.bike isn't he also called "otec národa" ("father of the nation")
(DIR) Post #AXd6jI9vEBVfhpSgyW by DiegoBeghin@masto.bike
2023-07-12T20:49:26Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@instereo256 @pony I have to say Pater Patria sounds better in latin