British tabloids and their readers wasted no time lashing out at the rogue royal couple, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, for using a private jet to return to their home in California after a grand tour to New York.
The two were caught by a paparazzo after touching down on Saturday night at a private airport in Santa Barbara, California to reunite with their children. They spent the previous three days in New York, attending several public events and meeting important people. The photos were first printed by The Daily Mail, with other tabloids soon catching on to the story.
The duke and duchess of Sussex are vocal advocates of reducing human impact on the climate, so their greenhouse-gas-pumping air-travel habits have long been a matter of controversy.
Nudged by the latest coverage of the power couple’s lifestyle, a lot of people were upset about what they perceived as the sheer hypocrisy of the preachy elites, who stick to their private jets and other privileges while telling the masses to take personal responsibility for climate change.
Others jumped to defend the woke celebrities, explaining how they are totally justified by offsetting their trips (i.e. paying extra money for them) or pointing out that other wealthy people were worse polluters. Some argued that private jets don’t deserve their bad rep, based on how highballers flying them are better for local economies than regular tourists.
There was also a lot of shoulder-shrugging, especially from readers outside of the UK, who seem to be less invested in following the drama surrounding the marriage and Harry’s alienation from the British royal family.
The need to mitigate the damage caused by climate change has been propped up to the top of Western political discourse with the Biden administration making it a top priority. There is, however, a lot of scepticism about the efficiency and public acceptance of proposed solutions. Many less-fortunate people don’t feel like switching to bug proteins and turning down home heating during winter while millionaires ride space planes to personally confirm that the Earth is round.
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