Amazed at the reaction by a few to the Witch's death . . .

[TomClash]

. . . I culled a few choice Baroness quotes from memory and brainyquote:

Protesters in general were "moaning minnies" and leftists (or anyone who disagreed with her) were "the enemy within."

For you pacifists she chimed, "I seemed to smell the stench of appeasement in the air."

Leftist economics? "Curing the British disease with socialism was like curing leukemia with leeches."

Community? Forget it, brothers and sisters. "There is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families."

To all you feminists out there hear this from the grocer's daughter: "I owe nothing to Women's Lib."

She lived among us far too long.

[TimberValley]

1. That's not quite the point.

I think that any culture that would cheer over someone's death is a culture that leaves a lot to be desired.


Are we not better than this?


I'm disappointed in a lot of my fellow DU'ers today.

[lunatica]

3. No. We're honest. And sincere.

[11 Bravo]

74. If you are sincere about celebrating the death of a woman ...

who had been rendered pretty much senseless by a series of strokes, regardless of how abhorent you (and I) found her policies; well ... good for you.
I don't particularly mourn her passing, but I refuse to celebrate it.
If you believe that the world is somehow richer for the passing of an incontinent, non-communicative, old woman ... well, drink up.

[lunatica]

90. Her final years did nothing to mitigate her earlier actions

nor have they helped those she destroyed. So you can feel all sad and sorry for her if you prefer.

And I'm not celebrating her death though I see nothing wrong in that others do. She certainly made her mark and it will continue to destroy lives long after her death.

Honesty isn't a shameful thing though you seem to think so. That's your prerogative.

[datasuspect]

4. we're better than her

.

[1ProudAtheist]

43. Party At My House

When The Village Idiot or The National Dick take a dirt nap.

Sorry, I have zero sympathy for mass murderers, sociopaths, war criminals, or treasonous political leaders. Actions: They do have consequences.

[marions ghost]

96. Ditto

I'm sorry, but just because she got old and frail and died--we should give her a break?

We must judge these kinds of people or we will be ruled by them. I judge her life, the effects of which still stand. That is fair.

I don't wish her to burn in hell (don't believe in hell anyway)--if she is in spirit, may her spirit go forth and come to an understanding of what she did.

[Cleita]

5. Maggie Thatcher was a public figure with blood on her hands.

She does not deserve reverence or praise anymore than Stalin or Mao.

[dipsydoodle]

9. But not nearly as much as Blair.

.

[Cleita]

10. Blair will not get any praise or sympathy from me either when his time comes.n/t

[Occulus]

14. I think the Old Bat did far more damage, actually.

Blair's dead are dead. Just that. Dead.

They don't have to live their lives suffering under the incredibly long-lived malfeasance of the Old Bat's policies, and worse, the poisonous staying power of hers and Reagan's "ideas".

[jerseyjack]

81. -- that's because she couldn't come up with a better enemy than Bloody Tony.

[TimberValley]

23. Technically, don't many US presidents or other foreign prime ministers have 'blood on their hands?'

If you're referring to the Falklands War, then technically hasn't just about every US President in recent history - liberal or conservative - ordered some military operation of some sort that has lead to death of some sort?

[Cleita]

24. I'm referring what she did to the Irish. Read about it.

There was no passive "I have to make hard choices" in what she did but plain malfeasance. My late husband was Irish so I have more than a passing knowledge about her cold blooded policies.

[Raine]

64. I have the same words for her she had for Bobby Sands when he died she "was a criminal". nt

[RedstDem]

60. President Carter, last good man to lead the USA

Aside from the failed hostage rescue, where brave men died, can't think of any thing else.
Am I forgetting anything?

[jerseyjack]

82. --- not Jimmy Carter.

[BlueJazz]

6. I think your point may be acceptable to me, if the person is young. However, a person who is old ..

...and has nothing but contempt for the average person will not get many tears from bluejazz.

Quick story. Bette Davis and Joan Crawford hated each other. When Joan died Bette said:

"My parents always taught me to speak good of the dead. Joan Crawford died..Good"

[radicalliberal]

65. Oooooo . . . that burns!

I shouldn't laugh , but I can't help myself.

[img][/img]

[msanthrope]

92. so stealing that pic. Welcome to DU! nt

[enlightenment]

8. It's human nature.

Thatcher did a lot of damage - lasting damage. The memories and the effects still linger. People grave-dance because they know that tomorrow she will still be dead and the damage will still be there. It gives them a moment's solace, I suppose.

It's nothing new.

I find it distasteful, but others do not, and I don't think it can be considered a clear condemnation of human culture - just human nature.

[OldDem2012]

11. We have personal opinions here on DU, and we express them....

....My personal opinion is that had Thatcher been an American, she would have fit in very well with today's GOP Tea-Nazis.

[FunkyLeprechaun]

91. No, she wouldn't have fit in

She would be too far left of the Dems.

[OldDem2012]

94. Wow. You ARE confused, aren't you? nt.

[sabrina 1]

13. She caused great harm to many, many people during her lifetime. I won't shed any tears for her

or for Cheney and their friends, Pinochet and all the other dictators they loved. Sometimes even decent people have to express their emotions in the face of great evil. The deaths of people who cause so much harm to others seem to do that. She was not held accountable during her lifetime, had she been, people might be celebrating this way, justice would have been done.

What I hope is that our war and economic criminals see that even though they got away with their crimes, they cannot control their legacies.

Bring back the rule of law and we won't see much of this imo.

[Cirque du So-What]

17. Well...

BYE!

[Warren Stupidity]

18. She was fucking reviled by her own people, why should we pretend she was a fucking saint?

[sibelian]

20. Well, I think you're silly and self-absorbed.

Not to put too fine a point on it...

What's it to you what other people think of her death? What's so noble about lying?

"I think that any culture that would cheer over someone's death is a culture that leaves a lot to be desired."

Middlebrow crud.

What exactly do you think is important? That she pretty much destroyed a nation's ideology and consequently the future of its inhabitants or that we've got be to extra super nice about her on the Internet?

I strongly suspect that people like you swanning about with an air of "oh, the humanity" when anybody with strong opinions regarding a revoltingly destructive figure of power (typically with very good reasons for those strong opinions) expresses them following the death of said revoltingly destructive figure of power do so largely because you're too wrapped up in yourselves to go to the effort of forming any useful opinions of your own regarding said figure.

In short, I really don't think you give a fuck about Thatcher one way or another and are spending our attention on yourself.

There. Stick THAT in your pipe and smoke it.

[HangOnKids]

42. Yes!! n/t

[Jamastiene]

75. Beautifully written.

I just wanted to say that this is a beautifully written reply.

Let them sit there and nag and ignore them. Their brow-beating, nagging posts are about worshiping themselves and patting themselves on the back at the expense of our right to speak. Fuck that. Why should someone else's sense of "morality" take away our right to speak too? It should not.

That is why I wish your post was an OP so I could Rec it.

[TomClash]

89. Wow

If you don't consider yourself a writer, please reconsider.

"Middlebrow crud." I love it.

[rhett o rick]

31. Yes cheering is probably too much. But we are a culture that puts people to death for

less then what she is responsible for.

[Moses2SandyKoufax]

33. Your "fellow DU'ers"?

You've been here for like five fucking weeks...

[RainDog]

36. Margaret Thatcher supported Pinochet and Apartheid

fuck her for her horrid life.

she harmed many people.

I'm glad when such scum is gone from this earth.

[nachosgrande]

45. Exactly. Grave dancing is disgusting, imo.

Goes against what it means to be a good human being.

[backscatter712]

51. +1,000,000

People need to understand the difference between human beings and psychopaths.

[frylock]

58. i don't know that you're qualified to determine who is or is not a "good human being."

not if you're defending scum like thatcher.

[RainDog]

70. This is about HISTORY

This is calling a fascist a fascist and not pretending she had anything other than utter contempt for large portions of humanity.

If someone engages in this sort of behavior, IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY of those who know about it to tell others, rather than pretend her life was something worth celebrating.

Politics is a fight to the death.

She was a one-woman death squad.

[October]

50. I don't think stating the facts is "cheering" one's death...

It makes me feel ill to see the ridiculous press and praise of a VERY controversial public figure. We do not have to cheer her passing - but nor do we have to praise her iron rule.

[Apophis]

52. I don't lie about how I feel.

At least I'm honest.

She was a vile human being.

[frylock]

54. i'm better FOR this

[Dragonfli]

55. I imagine a few cheered over the death of that guy Adolf in that bunker.

Your judgement I am sure has shamed them deeply....

[RainDog]

71. Italian partisans killed and strung up Mussolini and his mistress

and people celebrated in the square.

American troops who were in the area marched around the corpses and spit on them.

But they were not being good human beings, to vent their hatred of this figurehead of fascism. obviously.

[zentrum]

84. Oh for God Sakes

She really harmed a lot of people. This sentimentality about the dead is misplaced--what matters are the living and Thatcherism/Reaganism continues to
move huge amounts of money out of the middle class up to the richest few and is causing great suffering.

When I die, I hope at my wake, people who knew me will honor me by telling the truth about me instead of mouthing a lot of empty platitudes because I'm dead.

[tabasco]

85. Death doesn't make a bad person good.

When a bad person dies, it's good news.

Deal with it in your own special way.

[Cleita]

2. What George Galloway tweeted:

'Thatcher described Nelson Mandela as a "terrorist". I was there. I saw her lips move. May she burn in the hellfires.'

[rhett o rick]

34. To the Elite 1% anyone that dares to go against them is a terrorist.

[forestpath]

7. I hated her. There's one less face of evil in the world.

[russspeakeasy]

12. It is no loss.

[davidn3600]

15. Amazing how quickly a site that claims to respect women start dishing out misigynistic slurs

Yet if people on the right calls Hillary these names, we jump down their throats and call them misogynists.

What would politics be without hypocrisy, right?

[TimberValley]

19. I think a lot of DU'ers don't stop to think how they would react to someone acting the same way.

Also, grave dancing by some people = doesn't get much more classless than that.

[HangOnKids]

21. Now you are the arbiter of what is classy?

Really? I'm sure your opinion is really resonating with folks today .

[backscatter712]

29. He's terribly concerned, isn't he? n/t

[HangOnKids]

32. Indeed He/She Is

DU is behaving badly I guess

[sibelian]

25. Oh, don't even. At least learn how to spell it, if nothing else...

[HangOnKids]

35. Zing!

[rhett o rick]

40. Could you point out some examples? nm

[2ndAmForComputers]

46. Her gender is irrelevant to the excoriating she so richly deserves.

And you know that. Now put down that Gender Card. Nobody's buying.

[Warpy]

57. Your concern is noted and given the consideration it deserves.

Meanwhile, try reading http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/08/margaret-thatcher-death-etiquette

[rhett o rick]

103. Can you give us some examples? Or are you just trying to stir up shit???? nm

[Knightraven]

16. You know, I really don't know that much about her.

MY Mom and I was way to busy trying to survive Ragan to watch what was going on in England. But I do remember someone say she gave Ragan the idea on busting Unions. Hear say of course, not really sure.

[progressoid]

22. The world had a cancer and now it's gone.

Seems like something to be happy about.

[treestar]

27. She did owe "women's lib"

She would not have been prime minister had she come along a generation earlier.

[MotherPetrie]

28. K&R

[iandhr]

30. Maybe some people don't like the idea of...

... grave dancing.

[HangOnKids]

39. Some People.....

[sibelian]

59. Well they can do what THEY want to do.

Me, I'm cracking open the Prosecco.

[Occulus]

67. Most of us are glad when the cancer is cut out of the body n/t

[Solly Mack]

38. Indeed. Far, far too long.

[kelliekat44]

44. Maggie was tghe queen of Apertheid...she hated Mandella. She hated Catholics...she was a true

conservative.

[nineteen50]

47. All I can say is

peace on her.

[socialist_n_TN]

48. This is all I'll say about Maggie Thatcher...

I'm sure her family will miss her. Well, maybe. It depends on whether she treated them like she treated the working class. If there's a Hell, I'm sure she's there. Unfortunately, I don't believe in Hell, other than the one that she made for her constituents.

[LanternWaste]

53. I'm certainly not amazed at all...

I'm certainly not amazed at all... we try 11, 12 and 13 year olds in court as adults, we often wish and hope that many prisoners are sexually abused in prison, and by the time an average student finishes elementary school, they've seen 8,000 dramatized murders on television entertainment.

So why would we be surprised if someone illustrates a wee bit of grace and decorum in the face of overwhelming desensitized vulgarity... oh, wait-- that certainly didn't work. Oops.

[mokawanis]

56. I didn't laugh out loud

when I heard she'd died, but I did smile.

[Dawson Leery]

61. Apartheid Maggie was of the greatest advocates for privileged white Northern European.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014448362

She was a Tory in the purest form.

[PolitFreak]

62. Being as Christian as Republicans

[backscatter712]

63. Hey, at least I'm honest about it!

See my sig.

[PolitFreak]

78. http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022638433

[PolitFreak]

79. http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022638433

[Mnemosyne]

93. If you want anyone to go to this link, put it in the message, not the subject line.

And I shed no tears at the death of a cruel, evil woman.

[HangOnKids]

99. He bought it too

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=profile&uid=301997

[840high]

68. Rest in Peace Maggie.

[backscatter712]

72. She's worm food now.

If I believed in Hell, I'd be wishing she was roasting in it.

[olddots]

69. I didn't know she was still alive then they said she died

she was the turd maggot's turd maggot .

[TheKentuckian]

73. Fuck Maggie Thatcher, Raygun with a vagina.

She planted much evil and misery in this world.

[chillfactor]

76. what a horrible, digusting OP.....

no one shoud celebrate a person's death.....it makes no difference if you disagreed with her politiics....the post is unconscionable....as are many others here...good god..is this the kind of people we have become in this country?

[truebluegreen]

77. Like others here,

your concern is noted.

I hope Maggie Thatcher burns in hell, if there is one.

[Janecita]

80. I'm just glad that Elvis Costello is alive and able to enjoy her passing!!

I guess that he finally became "a good boy"
But it sucks that she outlived the sailors of the General Belgrano for 30 years!

[tabasco]

83. She was and is a piece of shit

who belongs on the garbage heap of history.

[samaben1]

86. fuck her and the evil she spawned

Feel not pity for her nor the Reagan, just ask South Africa and and the thousands and thousands of real humans that have been lost because of her and him, fuck them both and shed not a tear they sold there souls now they have to pay

[JDPriestly]

87. I think I met her husband once.

I was a secretary in London -- low wages, bed-sitter (one room for two people). My boss let me go to a very important conference mostly because he wasn't interested in the topic of the day.

I think the only other woman there was the wife of an extremely wealthy, extremely prominent, extremely famous man. (Not Margaret Thatcher. I did not talk to her.)

I was standing at a break with a cup of coffee in my hand, wearing a suit (which was itself a major event) trying to be inconspicuous.

This guy walks up to me. He was well dressed and acted friendly and sort of casual. He said something that I don't remember and then said something like his wife was very prominent or very outstanding, something like that. He ended his sentence with "too."

Hearing that "too" which I think was intended to place me, a lowly secretary, in the class of this man's prominent or outstanding wife completely threw me out of kelter. Upon which, I dropped my cup of coffee all over my new suit. I will never forget it.

Either my boss put him up to it (they knew each other) to test my poise (if so I flunked) or he saw me as an imposter and was curious (wouldn't surprise me because of my cheap suit) or he was trying to be kind and thought he could put me at ease or -- he was flirting. I will never know.

Strange duck he was. But I was even stranger I suppose. I was young.

[Dawson Leery]

88. Reagan and Thatcher set up the macro-conditions for the 2008 economic crisis.

Allowing the big business and billionaires to run the economy for their own advantage was a relic of the past after the Great Depression.
Ronnie and Maggie brought that back from the dead.

[Prophet 451]

95. She was an evil monster

You didn't live through her reign of terror, I did. And that gives me every right to be pleased when a monster like that no longer stalks our fair land.

I despised her, so did most of the working class. She came to power amid a national crisis and then proceded to use that crisis to justify diabolical policies. She decimated the mining and manufacturing industries and then told us to hate the poor bastards who ended up on welfare as a result, all purely to break the unions. She stopped the free milk that had been given to pre-schoolers to aid their bone growth. She deliberately under-funded the NHS, resulting in mass shortages that we haven't fully recovered from even today. She forbid teachers to refer to homosexuality as even an abstract concept. She denied there was any such thing as society. Some will tell you she lifted everyone into the middle class, this is a lie. She simply pretended the working class didn't exist. She stopped students from claiming housing benefit, a massive effective cut to their finances. She told poor people to choose between voting and eating and then described the resulting riots as "wickedness". Her cuts to the NHS led to the deaths of both my in-laws. She defunded the mental health institutions in favour of "Care in the community" where the mentally ill were abandoned. Like Reagan, she ushered in a culture of ruthless selfishness, pretended it was good and used that to demonise the poor as undeserving of help. She used the Falklands, a war that any British PM would have fought, to prop up rampant militarism. She pushed unemployment to 10% and didn't give a toss. She supported Pinochet, the Khmer Rouge and apartheid. She wanted to put AIDS victims into camps. She intiiated the housing crisis by insturcting social housing to sell their houses off. She wanted to nuke Argentina and ordered the Belgrano to be sunk even when it was retreating. She ran her Cabinet like a dictator.

As a person (I've read her autobiographies), she was petty, incurious, vindictive, uninterested in anyone else's viewpoint and surprisingly small-minded.

I despised her. I don't use the word "evil" much because I think it's overused to the point of being meaningless but Thatcher was evil. She is far more admired abroad than she is here, largely because those abroad didn't have to live through her reign of terror.

[HiPointDem]

97. Thatcher laid the ground for the destruction of NHS & the housing bubble, just like reagan did.

It was a coordinated effort.

(I mean reagan laid the ground for destruction of public health in the us)

[Prophet 451]

98. Indeed

Thatcher's determination to sell off all social housing removed the price restraints and led to teh massive inflation of house prices. And she deliberately underfunded the NHS which led directly to teh current government's privatisation of it.

[HiPointDem]

101. exactly. and it was deliberate and coordinated.

[BeyondGeography]

102. She did give us The Clash and I will be forever grateful for that