Prince Harry's Slur and the War in Gaza

The Top Stories tab is a great feature. I don't have the time to follow every piece of news, but if it's important for me to know, it will be in the Top Stories section of my favorite news site. Today's features: the war in Gaza, Obama's stimulus package, Hillary's confirmation hearings, the Somali pirates, and Prince Harry's racial slur.

Prince Harry's racial slur? What's that about? What could a 21 year old cadet – the incident occurred in 2006 – have said that was so inappropriate and offensive that it should draw headlines like "British PM Condemns Offensive Slur"?

So here it is. He referred to a fellow cadet of Pakistani descent as a "Paki."

(His other reference to a "raghead" was apparently mocking the insurgents in Afghanistan, so it isn't being held against him.)

Nobody is suggesting that Israel react "proportionately"—i.e. that they randomly shoot rockets into civilian neighborhoods...While the online dictionaries vary on whether the use is just slang, or also disparaging, I'd think that this infraction is relatively slight. I have no doubt that the vernacular in the British military is abundant with unsavory words and assorted expletives, and I'm sure that nicknames – including racially disparaging ones – are pretty common too.

But the UK is in an uproar; they hold him to a higher standard. "We expect better from our Royal Family," the editorials postulate.

This might explain something else I've recently noticed in the news.

While many are calling Israel's efforts in Gaza disproportionate, nobody is suggesting that they reply "proportionately"—i.e. that they randomly shoot rockets and missiles into civilian neighborhoods in Gaza. And 39 people dying in a school in Gaza gets much more media attention than 40 people killed by a suicide bomber in a mosque in Iraq.

Because the world holds the Jewish state to a higher standard. Everyone expects better from the "chosen nation."

On a similar vein:

I'll admit, at times I have a hard time with all the rules. The Torah's rulebook doesn't stop: what to wear and what and when to eat, how to treat your own body and how to speak to others, when to work and when to rest.

True, Jewish philosophers throughout the ages have written countless pages explaining how the Torah's code of conduct ensures that a holy nation adheres to the highest moral standard. It is a code meant to develop the self-respect and moral integrity of a nation that will serve as the "light upon the nations." But sometimes I just want to live my own life. "Can't I be allowed to fail here and there—just like all the others," my instinct says.

But the world expects better from the Royal Family. I have to step up to the plate. The eyes of 6.7 billion people are on me.