Uneventful weekend: Prince Harry edition

The weekends are a dark time for us here at Hairy Alpaca.

It's not that we don't enjoy the weekend -- we do. It's simply that nothing is ever happening in the world that seems outrageous enough to skewer. And by that I mean we try to stay as far away from the news as possible for those few precious days when we can forget, temporarily, that the world is sliding into chaos.

Thus, even if the blog angels poured cringe-worthy news upon me from the heavens, I undoubtedly would either be sleeping or wandering around the earth searching for deeper meaning to the purpose of life (pizza).

I was thinking a bit today, however, about this whole Prince Harry situation. If you're not familiar with the plot, it goes something like this: The British have this weird theory that when a nation's leaders send the nation's children to a foreign country to fight a war and die, maybe it's not a great idea for the leaders' own offspring to sit in a palace and eat grapes delivered on a gold tray by super models. So they sent Prince Harry to the front lines in Afghanistan, and the media agreed not to say anything about the high-profile deployment, lest the terrorists get any ideas in their head about holding the nation ransom. Not surprisingly, it took just 10 weeks for the Drudge Report to throw that deal right out the window, and the Web site reported on his presence in the rapidly deteriorating nation last week.

You can look at the revelation two ways. One would be to shake your head and realize that it's a sad, sad day in American journalism when a U.S. news outlet trumps the entire British media establishment on Prince Harry gossip. Another would be to hail Matt Drudge as a hero for throwing that whole "media blackout" deal straight off a cliff and standing up for the people's right to know. Our savior!

Personally, I'm a bit surprised that EVERY rag in Britain agreed to keep the secret. Ethically, I think the harm principle applies, in which editors had to make the decision of whether the public had an overwhelming interest to know Prince Harry was going to Afghanistan, and whether that need outweighed the clear danger to British troops -- and the prince himself -- if the news got out. Apparently they picked the safe road, which worked flawlessly until Drudge caught wind -- never a good thing if your aim is to keep secrets.

On a side note, I think American leaders should take note of the British. As the theory goes, politicians are less likely to start ridiculous, pointless wars if it means sacrificing their own family members. Then again, when you're dealing with people like Dick Cheney and George W. Bush who only have daughters -- and given this nation's absurd notion to disallow females from the front lines -- I'd say the whole point is moot.

Now, back to slacking.