USA vs UK reactions to Margaret Thatcher's death

[MrScorpio]

USA:


UK:


Get your shit together, America.

[socialist_n_TN]

1. Not sure it's the difference between Americans and Britishers as much as it's.......

the difference between the capitalist ruling class and it toadies and the working class. Not that I'm that up on British pols and PTBs, but I recognized all of the American names, but one, as part of the bourgeois ruling class or it's apologists. The British tweets seemed to be regular people.

[tularetom]

2. It's even worse than the tweets you posted

Because they were from wingnut/republican tweeters.

But the mainstream media was every bit as disgusting. Yesterday I listened to Chris Matthews, Andrea Greenspan and some other douche having orgasms over how "tough" and yet "human" she was and how she "saved" the UK. It went on for 15 minutes and it was enough to make you puke.

On the plus side, an hour or later, Chris Hayes and some panelists pretty much ripped the hide off her rotting carcass. Guess you just have to pick the right Chris to watch on NBC.

[malaise]

27. Chris Matthews was pathetic because

he is a barrel of contradictions. How can you correctly attach ReTHUGs for taking away voting rights from Americans while praising the author of the poll tax (which led to her being removed as party leader) in Britain.

There is not one consistent bone in Tweety's body.

[fascisthunter]

3. america is run by economic fascists

and their bootlicking brown-nose wannabes.
"money, power... give me my precious! Pretty please!

[raging moderate]

4. Lawrence O'Donnell was very correct in his assertions about Thatcher.

Lawrence O'Donnell's analysis was very insightful. He pointed out that Margaret Thatcher was actually well to the left of today's US centrists. I was also glad to hear him point out that Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher DID NOT cause the collapse of the Soviet Union! The signs of increasing decay and impending collapse were obvious long before they came to office. I have a book entitled "Will the Soviet Union Survive Until 1984?" by Andrei Amalrik, originally written in Russian, published in 1970 by Harper & Row and the Alexander Herzen Foundation.

[raging moderate]

5. Well, anyway, Well to the left in her accomplishments.

She left their National Health Service intact, and she did not try to privatize their postal service, and she actually set out to increase the percentage of mortgage holders. Of course, she and St. Ronnie were devoted followers of Milton Friedman's Chicago school of economics, which basically believed the ancient idea that might equals right, and wealth is the proof of moral superiority. Thatcher and Reagan of course started trends which are being carried to greater extremes today. Their monetary policies have led more and more to motivating rich people through rewards and poor people through punishments.

[HiPointDem]

8. she initiated privatization of nhs and initiated the destruction of public housing in the uk & the

subsequent mortgage bubble.

she was every bit as bad as today's bunch and was part & parcel with them.

when you set out to knock over a building, you don't do it all at once or the neighbors might complain. thatcher and reagan were phase one; we are now in phase three.

that doesn't mean the phase one players were 'better' or 'different' or 'more left'. it just means they were operating under different conditions.

[Safetykitten]

6. Well, she was Reagan in drag. So there you go.

[TimberValley]

7. Isn't this cherry-picking?

It seems like you picked quotes by American public figures or relatively well-known individuals, but from the British side you're not sampling equally well-known British figures, but rather, private citizens?

[octothorpe]

9. I thought the same thing... For this to be fair, the British one should have

quotes from people in similar positions (or whatever)

[fishwax]

12. I don't see much concern about how thatcher is portrayed in that post

[fishwax]

29. So? n/t

[fishwax]

31. because it interested me

Both his sentiment (which I felt as well, given that the image in the OP cherry picks tweets that, in my opinion, could hardly be said to represent Britain's view or America's view--Ralph Reed, Eric Cantor and so on certainly don't speak for America as far as I'm concerned) as well as your response.

[datasuspect]

23. gor blimey!

har har!

[MrScorpio]

13. Liam Kelly, Marc Almond, Frankie Boyle and Louis Sampins are all celebs IN BRITAIN

Google their names, if you don't believe me.

Just because YOU don't know who these people are, why is that MY problem?

[fishwax]

14. ftr, at least some on the british side are public figures

Not right-wing politicians/activists, as with the American side, but rather performing artists. Frankie Boyle is a comedian and Marc Almond is a musician. Patrick Curley is a musician, though not as well known as Marc Almond. (Also, Curley is actually from the United States--don't know how he wound up on the British side.)

[MrScorpio]

16. Yeah, I was just going to point out Curley

But most of these people are far from nobodies.

[fishwax]

18. indeed -- I confess I'm not really familiar with Boyle's work, though

I've heard of him. Almond, of course, I know because of Tainted Love

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

11. Marc Almond... Soft Cell

Of course anyone who worships at the shrine of Reagan will eulogize Thatcher. Remember how great those years were? They sure don't.

[fishwax]

15. for the record, I think Patrick Curley is from the U.S.

"longtime CNY musician" (Central New York)

[MrScorpio]

17. Whoever put this graphic together screwed that one up

But at least their heart is in the right place

[KennedyBrothers]

19. All I know is that Meryl Streep ...

...did a great job in the movie.

Here's what she had to say on Thatcher's passing:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/apr/09/meryl-streep-margaret-thatcher-figure-awe

[MrScorpio]

20. I commend Ms. Streep on her work…

And CONDEMN Thatcher for hers.

[LeftishBrit]

24. Agreed on both fronts!

[LeftishBrit]

22. The reaction in the UK is very divided

The Sun and Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph, and many of the politicians, are full of stuff like your American examples. Poor people especially in the north, and those who represent them, are more likely to expresse the second type of reaction!

[RZM]

25. So, conservative pundits reacted differently than liberal entertainers

I don't think we needed a graphic to learn that. Comparing such different groups says absolutely nothing about Britain vs. the US.

[truebrit71]

26. Further proof that Michelle Malkin has absolutely no fucking clue what she's talking about...

[Nye Bevan]

28. And Morrissey had a very different reaction from President Obama.

Absolutely baffling.

[Yavin4]

32. "Finally, I get to wear my black suit and tap shoes together"

I'm so stealing that line.