Thomas Paine Was History’s Greatest Hater of the British Crown
The American Revolution was inspired by ruthless criticism of the British monarchy. Why stop now?
English-born American philosopher and writer Thomas Paine’s Common Sense savaged British royalty. (Hulton Archive / Getty Images)
Since news broke of Elizabeth II’s death at age ninety-six, US social media has been awash with tributes, memes, and merciless dunks on the deceased queen — the latter of which have ruffled some feathers.
Jeff Bezos, the Amazon CEO who helped modernize empire for the age of the corporation, took offense to linguistics professor Uju Anya describing the late queen as the monarch of a “thieving raping genocidal empire.”
“This is someone supposedly working to make the world better? I don’t think so. Wow,” Bezos tweeted in response. Twitter appeared to agree; its moderators deleted Anya’s post.
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