Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher dies, aged 87.

[Timmey]

You know, she probably died thinking she was right. So I don't know about celebrating...

But yeah, she sucked! The weirdest thing to come out of this news is seeing people defend her policies and say the shit she did benefited the country, that we now have a growing, prosperous country. I shit you not, people are saying that. They say it like it's fact.

Actually, she died in a haze of confusion and terror with no regard to her past actions, most likely. Alzheimer's is basically hell on earth.

OT: I'm not from the UK and I increasingly hate politics (and everyone who talks about them), so I'll just remember that no one is anywhere near as good or bad as people say, and will take my hat off for Thatcher, the first female prime minister of the UK. It's a shame she died in such a bad state.

Also, you're getting much too easy to predict, Escapist.

Yes aren't we bad celebrating the passing of a women who ruined, literally, thousands of peoples lives. Just because she was a women doesn't make what she did any better. The only thing worse than people sticking up for Thatcher, is those who do so with no knowledge of what she did.

Can you do anything other than attack people who don't even attack your stance when Margaret Thatcher is brought up? If you're projecting my intense judgmental wrath towards you into a simple farewell post, you need to calm the hell down, regardless of what you've read she did.

Remember, there are intelligent people who liked her and what she stood for, and she got elected twice. See if you can find out why.

(And I generally despise people with the passion of a billion universes when they cheer about the death and suffering of people with Alzheimer's, the absolute worst disease in existence that still gives me nightmares, so you should be happy I'm willing to give people the benefit of the doubt on this one.)

Case in point Thatcher was, of course, elected three times, not twice.

There are also a lot of intelligent people who dislike her, perhaps take a look and try see why?

I have. There's this thread.

Now I know about all the bad stuff she did. But I'm forced to believe that she did a hell of a lot of good, and the thing that drives me to believe that is the double re-election.

I'm now perfectly interested in reading up on Thatcher and her policies. I'll do it in a library, though, in a book from the mid-nineties, preferably. I know better than to look up political things on the internet.

Fair enough, but if people hated her when she was alive, I see no reason they have to stop hating her simply because she is dead.

As for the 'good' she did, when you're reading about it, be sure to bear in mind the cost it had on the Welsh, Scottish, and North of England. Some things are not worth the price you pay.

 

[Timmey]

From reddit http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1bwuzd/official_eli5_margaret_thatcher_thread/
Read it if you want to learn about Thatcher and the bad she did, of course reddit probably wont show you the supposed good she did, but it gives a good account of why people are happy she is gone.

 

[sb666]

My understanding is: she was the British version of Ronald Reagan, and just like Reagan she ruined many lives.

 

[mokes310]

Same as when Ronald Reagan died: GOOD RIDDANCE!

 

[Olas]

I don't know enough about the woman to have a strong opinion, but I see nothing wrong with celebrating someone's death if you really detest them. People who think it's in bad taste either don't know, or have forgotten what it's like to have someone you truly, utterly, loathe. When you truly loathe someone there's no death on earth that seems painful enough for them. You'd happily push them into the sarlacc pit, but only after personally beating the crap out of them.

If it helps, think of it not as a celebration that they're dead, but that the world is now rid of them. I'll probably do something when Dick Cheney and Bernie Madoff die.

 

[nathan-dts]

So the devil finally came to collect then.

Yeah it probably does not reflect well on me not having any sympathy for the death of a frail old lady but that frail old lady nearly cost my parents their home, so I'd rather have sympathy for the people who's lives she did manage to ruin.

Anyway since I've heard the news, it has been nothing but sunny here in the north, and I half expect the entire of Scotland has broken out into spontaneous parade.

On the funeral side of things, any chance we can bury Cameron and Osbourne along with her?

Cameron isn't actually a bad guy. He's liberal with pretty much all of his policies and he was the only one safeguarding press freedom, recently. Osbourne, though... I'd be enthralled if they buried him alive with that *****.

 

[CMDDarkblade]

It's remarkably odd that two divisive, conservative leaders, Reagan and Thatcher, who governed their respective countries around roughly the same time BOTH got dementia/alzheimer's after leaving office. Because of these diseases they forgot most of what they even did during their time as leaders of government, and people hated and still hate them for things they could't even remember doing. I wonder if their memory loss would be considered a sufficient punishment to those that hated their policies, or if that means they were effectively removed from any (if at all) guilt for taking such actions.

In any case, they certainly weren't able to fondly look back on the "golden days" and bask in their achievements.

 

[LetalisK]

I didn't like her, but celebrating her death is a bit of an ugly thing to do isn't it?

I guess that depends. To me she just appears to be par for the course when comparing to my own politicians, so that is why I don't understand the celebration of her death. But speaking about the greater issue of whether it should be acceptable or not to celebrate someone's death, I think it can be. Usually the backlash against such a thing is ultimately borne out of the notion that every life is of value, thus the lose of any life is a negative thing and we shouldn't celebrate negative things. I've never accepted this, though. I believe the more someone destroys the lives around them, the more they devalue their own worth. Eventually they may even get to the point where they're in the hole and the world would be better without them. Once they have dug themselves significantly into that hole, I don't think it'd be inappropriate to celebrate the fact that they can no longer inflict pain on the world, ie their death. In the case of someone like Margret Thatcher, if we accept that she was deeply in the hole, where the damage was already done and she wasn't going to be able to cause any more, I'd say the worst it would be is neutral.

That's just my opinion, though.

 

[Luke3184]

Well this descended into an 'R & P' thread rather quickly. Yes she's controversial, but let's not get the bad laundry dragged out in 'Off Topic'. Although this might be due to a misplacing of the thread in general.... Ah well, for those who have studied the history of Thatcher, please bear in mind that The Escapist is a Left orientated website and therefore will express more than a little bias.

OT: She's dead, she died at a reasonably old age after having rather decisively split the countries opinion.... There's not really much more to say other than that.

 

[m1garand23]

As a Welshman i did raise a glass in celebration to her passing. I am lucky to live in south wales not far from one of the last bastions of heavy industry in the country even the Port Talbot steel works and many like them were once owned by the state but is now just another badly administrated mess owned by an Indian steel tycoon.
Her policies ruined the country, selling of the industry for a quick buck to benefit the Tory aspect of England leaving the rest of the country in tatters some places actual anarchy.
She openly stated that and man over the age of 25 was a failure. She was also rather fond of the Apartheid regime in South Africa, opposing UN sanctions and considering Mandela a Commie terrorist, I find it insulting that there are people compare her to a damn good man. Even if there are people who admire her for sticking to her guns and policies, just think about who she aimed those guns at. Her entire ideology was to line the pockets of the rich

Rot in Peace

 

[nathan-dts]

Huh... I knew she was disliked over there in Britain, but this amount of vitriol is actually quite surprising. People are acting like this is Hitler who just died. I'm American, so I really don't get it.

Of course, maybe I just don't like the thought of people celebrating someone's death. I didn't even celebrate when Bin Laden was killed. Relieved, maybe, but not out on the streets celebrating.

I don't hold with celebrating someone's death. I didn't with Bin Laden and I don't now.

That said, I am not going to be too judgemental of those who are less than sad over the news. At least the ones who were actually alive during her term in office.

Why does someone have to have been alive during her years in office to be happy? The damage she did to the north of the country hasn't been repaired and our loved ones suffered at the hands of her policies prior to my birth.

 

[Lethos]

And this isn't the "predictable" Escapist thing where everyone jumps on board with hate. This is a country full of people living with the consequences of her decisions even now, venting.

I'm pretty sure he meant predictable escapist in that the escapist community is known for predominantly associating with the left. So this thread is full of people who associate themselves with the left venting.

Edit: Removed the slightly passive aggressive part. Shouldn't post this late, and I preemptively apologise.

 

[octafish]

When your bestie is a psychotic fascist mass murderer you are probably not a good person. See also Reagan.

It's remarkably odd that two divisive, conservative leaders, Reagan and Thatcher, who governed their respective countries around roughly the same time BOTH got dementia/alzheimer's after leaving office. snip

AFTER leaving office???????

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

I mean, it's a good thing she's gone (as far as someone dying can be a good thing), but is someone with Alzheimers and dementia really that much worse than someone who is dead?

 

[Evil Smurf]

Why do people celebrate the death of others? Thatcher may have been a ***** the ruined lives but is that a reason to celebrate her death?

 

[Terramax]

I think a lot of people seem to make out she was a lot worse than she actually was. From what I gather from people that lived in that era, they were afraid of the changes she made for the country. Also, she was a very stern PM, who took sh*t from no-one. I wish Cameron, and many PMs after here, had been more stern, particularly against American presidents.

Not saying she's perfect, but we've had a LOT worse. She's a flippin' saint compared to Tony Blair. At least she didn't get into politics to make herself a celebrity.

And, yeah, I'm not going to sit here and make fun of her death either.

 

[locoartero]

Yeah, it might not exactly be classy, but we here up in Scotland weren't exactly her biggest fans in the world.

Neither were we down here in Argentina...
You beat me to the video

 

[ShadeImpulse]

Why do people celebrate the death of others? Thatcher may have been a ***** the ruined lives but is that a reason to celebrate her death?

I think you answered your own question.