This whole knighting business is a bit dubious if you ask me, however if anyone deserves it, I think Jonathan is one of them. He's really achieved so much and inspired millions of people, whether that inspiration came directly or indirectly.
I can't speak for the grandparent, but one obvious thing is of course that being knighted seems to bring with it "more" respect from people, automatically (being addressed as Sir, for instance).
This is not very compatible with the idea that all humans have equal value, it's rather the opposite. It's very much a "class society" thing, at least in some respects.
Note: I'm not saying I oppose, I'm trying to explain what could be dubious about the concept.
That's because they don't. Pretending all humans have equal value is insane, and stupid.
This is why we have pass rates of 97%+ in school exams. Because of loonies who refuse to acknowledge that people are different, and have different strengths and weaknesses.
The title is no different to becoming a Doctor after getting a PhD. Here, you become a Sir after getting a knighthood.
It could be said that the PhD title is equally dubious as it also automatically commands more respect. The only difference is they both come before the name and not after (as with MBEs, OBEs, academic qualifications like BSc (Hons), etc.)
I think the dubiousness comes from the history - it's a way of granting commoners a part in the aristocracy, somewhere below the rank of the existing nobility and clergy.
Given that knighthoods are usually handed out based on merit I think that's pretty much the opposite of the UK class system (which is not based primarily on wealth and therefore doesn't have an implicit link to merit).
I guess my comment (note the "mostly") was based on the assumption that more of the bog standard knighthoods are handed out rather than the fancy ones.
That's the problem - it's mostly a "jobs for the boys"
Almost all the civil service above a certain rank get knighted same with the armed forces and retired politicians.
They throw in a few show biz celebs and the occasional worker.
It would probably better if the system was a sort of "living blue plaque". There are people who have genuinely made the country a better place, either in business, arts, science etc - they should get recognition above those who simply became a permanent secretary.
On the other hand, nobody is enforcing you to address knights as "Sir", so no freedom is taken away from you. I know many doctors but rarely address them as "Dr"..
I find the "Sir" part to be the most interesting... you get a hint of how subserviently someone views the world by their use of "Sir" when describing a knight.
That said, I like the tradition. It's good to reward people for hard work, especially for the non-celebrities who rarely see the limelight.
This titling/tradition thing is really what distinguishes the old world (England) from the new world (America); we got rid of that baggage when we got off the Mayflower. But Ives deserved this if anyone did, congrats to him! In America, all we can offer him is some hero worship.
