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grantcart

(53,061 posts)
Thu Apr 11, 2013, 11:28 AM Apr 2013

Russell Brand on Margaret Thatcher

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/apr/09/russell-brand-margaret-thatcher

I just thought he was a hair brained actor, never really watched his stuff.

Who knew he was so smart and articulate?

Best thing on Thatcher I read anywhere.



Perhaps, though, Thatcher "the monster" didn't die yesterday from a stroke, perhaps that Thatcher died as she sobbed self-pitying tears as she was driven, defeated, from Downing Street, ousted by her own party. By then, 1990, I was 15, adolescent and instinctively anti-establishment enough to regard her disdainfully. I'd unthinkingly imbibed enough doctrine to know that, troubled as I was, there was little point looking elsewhere for support. I was on my own. We are all on our own. Norman Tebbit, one of Thatcher's acolytes and fellow "Munsters evacuee", said when the National Union of Mineworkers eventually succumbed to the military onslaught and starvation over which she presided: "We didn't just break the strike, we broke the spell." The spell he was referring to is the unseen bond that connects us all and prevents us from being subjugated by tyranny. The spell of community.

. . .

Is that what made her so formidable, her ability to ignore the suffering of others? Given the nature of her legacy "survival of the fittest" – a phrase that Darwin himself only used twice in On the Origin of Species, compared to hundreds of references to altruism, love and cooperation, it isn't surprising that there are parties tonight in Liverpool, Glasgow and Brixton – from where are they to have learned compassion and forgiveness?

The blunt, pathetic reality today is that a little old lady has died, who in the winter of her life had to water roses alone under police supervision. If you behave like there's no such thing as society, in the end there isn't. Her death must be sad for the handful of people she was nice to and the rich people who got richer under her stewardship. It isn't sad for anyone else. There are pangs of nostalgia, yes, because for me she's all tied up with Hi-De-Hi and Speak and Spell and Blockbusters and "follow the bear". What is more troubling is my inability to ascertain where my own selfishness ends and her neo-liberal inculcation begins. All of us that grew up under Thatcher were taught that it is good to be selfish, that other people's pain is not your problem, that pain is in fact a weakness and suffering is deserved and shameful. Perhaps there is resentment because the clemency and respect that are being mawkishly displayed now by some and haughtily demanded of the rest of us at the impending, solemn ceremonial funeral, are values that her government and policies sought to annihilate.

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Russell Brand on Margaret Thatcher (Original Post) grantcart Apr 2013 OP
Brand is a really great writer supernova Apr 2013 #1
OK, all is forgiven for "Arthur." Gidney N Cloyd Apr 2013 #2
The last paragraph or so sounds like he is talking about Romney. n/t patricia92243 Apr 2013 #3
I absolutely understand what he means about breaking the spell of community. Baitball Blogger Apr 2013 #4
+1 Blue_Tires Apr 2013 #5
Making assumptions can delay joy. Bluenorthwest Apr 2013 #6

supernova

(39,345 posts)
1. Brand is a really great writer
Thu Apr 11, 2013, 11:38 AM
Apr 2013

He's a very eccentric duck, and a really good writer.

He captures what was so wrong, wrong, wrong about that era perfectly.

Baitball Blogger

(46,570 posts)
4. I absolutely understand what he means about breaking the spell of community.
Thu Apr 11, 2013, 12:03 PM
Apr 2013

Russell Brand deserves some award for putting it so eloquently:

"she presided: "We didn't just break the strike, we broke the spell." The spell he was referring to is the unseen bond that connects us all and prevents us from being subjugated by tyranny. The spell of community."

 

Bluenorthwest

(45,319 posts)
6. Making assumptions can delay joy.
Thu Apr 11, 2013, 12:22 PM
Apr 2013

Brand is worth seeking out in his own work. From his TV show 'Russell Brand's Got Issues'"

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