December 2015

S M T W T F S
  12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
27282930 31  

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Monday, April 8th, 2013 05:22 pm
Died this morning of a stroke. She was kind of a big deal in UK politics - first (and thus far only) women Prime Minister, hated right-wing figure by the left - so people have a lot of opinions on her being dead, unsurprisingly.

For the record though: if you're posting that you're glad she's dead, or that you're having a party to celebrate, or that you've signed a petition for her not to have a state funeral (all of which I've seen this afternoon) - can you unfriend me until you're done with that please? (Not saying that any of you would, but then I wouldn't have said that some of the people on my facebook wall would either - consider this a universal 'you')

I'm not saying everyone has to like her, or like her policies, or think they were a good idea. I don't. But she was a person, and she was a powerful woman, and it wouldn't hurt to treat her death with a little respect and a little less glee. She hasn't been in power for decades, she's not controlling politics now, and she wasn't kicking babies and puppies when she was. I'm not saying she was doing good and not hurting anyone, but she's being compared to Mussolini and Hitler who, you know, actually had hundreds of people killed.

I'm a little hesitant to say it's because she was a woman in power, specifically, and not because of her policies, but I can't help thinking that's part of it - that somehow what she did was worse because she was a woman and should have been softer or warmer or fuzzier or whatever.

As a woman leader in the 80s. Good luck with that.

You don't have to like her, but enough with the glee already. I can't stand David Cameron. I hate what he's doing to welfare rights, I hate his cuts, I hate his attitude and his face, I hate his man of the people what private school? speeches, and I hate that his coalition gets such good press. He's actually still in power and actually still having a negative impact on people. I still wouldn't wish him dead and yes I'd like him out of power, but through an election defeat, not through his death, and I wouldn't be happy if he was dead.

Margaret Thatcher, for whatever she did wrong, was someone I knew about when I was a kid. I knew that she was a woman who'd run my country and that meant something when I was a little girl. That was *rare* when I was a little girl, and is still rare know, and that she achieved that was worth something and still should be. Whatever she achieved once she got there.

In case it's not obvious: please can we keep the glee at her death out of the comments; criticism of her and her policies is fine, but no dancing on her not-yet-existing grave please.