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Post by The Curmudgeon on Apr 10, 2013 10:52:22 GMT 2
Don't know if it was big news in the States, but over in the UK the biggest news, perhaps of 2013, is that Margaret Thatcher has died. The media refer to her as a "polarizing figure", others will remember her as one of the most hated figures of the last century. Without getting too political, Maggie Thatcher was indeed loathed and despised by a large percentage of the UK, more than any other political figure with the exception of Hitler. Maybe. So even though she was no longer in power, the news that she was dead resulted in street parties, celebrations and all kinds of bad-taste humour. Hey, we're British. It's what we do. So how DO we celebrate the passing of one of our most iconic figureheads? By buying music, of course. And not just any music, but one song that now sits currently at number 2 on the iTunes chart, a song that pretty much sums up how the British public is feeling at this difficult time... www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHQLQ1Rc_JsOh, British public.. you ARE awful. |
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Post by trashcanman on Apr 10, 2013 20:17:10 GMT 2
Dude. I am fucking psychic because I swear that song entered my head a second before I clicked that link. Yeah, Thatcher is well known here (largely as Reagan's homegirl) and the news is large. She's actually more revered here than anything here in America. Liberals either loather her or don't are, but the conservative media always shouts the loudest in this day and age and Thatcher is seen as a female Reagan and the cult surrounding that particular Hollywood actor is kind of scarier than Rosemary's Baby which is to say that people revere her without being able to name one thing of value they've done (and no, "winning the Cold War" doesn't really count). Personally, I was too young to give a fuck when the "Iron Lady" was in power and haven't felt the need to explore her beyond the vapid knee-jerk reactions I've seen in the media. So why, specifically, is she so utterly despised in her home country? She's kind of portrayed as Britain's savior on this end.  |
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Post by Ben on Apr 11, 2013 0:13:04 GMT 2
I'm no Thatcher expert, but I've seen quite a bit of uproar online about this. One guy compared her to Osama bin Laden. Somehow I feel like that's an exaggeration...
The gist of the criticism I'm seeing is "Poll Tax blows" and "Thatcher shit on the working class." The rebuttals I've seen are "She was a fucking badass" and "the industries she shit on were failing anyway, so not her fault."
And then there's this guy, Ben, who doesn't give a fuck.
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Post by The Curmudgeon on Apr 11, 2013 18:54:09 GMT 2
Well, Hell, she reigned in the UK for almost 10 years so she must have had some support. And it seems now we're being hit with the "disrespectful" gag if we mention the fact she was hated. OK, some people are going overboard with the celebrations (legit street parties in Scotland, for example) but here's a quick quote because I suck at politics;
Through policies such as anti-union legislation, poll tax, selling council houses, privatisation of national industry and massive deconstruction of Britain's social wealth (e.g. NHS, public transport), she deliberately annihilated any area of British life that was built around community, responsibility to others, collaboration, shared destiny.
Two quotes from her sum it up:
"There's no such thing as society"
"Economics are the method; the object is to change the heart and soul."
The fragmented culture Britain suffers today (Cameron's 'broken Britain') - the anti social behaviour, the selfishness and greed, the lack of cohesion and responsibility - is a direct result of her obsession with uncontrolled competition and the way she gave it to the country. She has done Britain enormous damage, knowingly and without compassion, to support her ideal of a ruthless, dog-eat-dog world.
She also supported Pol Pot, General Pinochet and to a lesser extent the Apartheid regime of S Africa.
A truly poisonous enemy of Britain, whose damage we are still trying to repair - and will be for a long time.
Yeah - that. And we used to get free milk in schools. Every day we'd get a free carton of milk. She soon put a stop to that shit.
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Post by trashcanman on Apr 12, 2013 2:05:31 GMT 2
Yeah, so the British Ayn Rand then. Pretty much what I figured. Thanks, guys. Charging people to vote is INSANE. That alone would put any politician on my permanent shit list. Then again, just being a politician tends to do that nowadays. Im so very sick of it all. Hence why I've avoided the surely ridiculous discussions of Thatcher going on around the web now.
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Post by Ben on Apr 12, 2013 10:09:22 GMT 2
I mean, I've seen boths sides of the argument online (therefore I feel like I know less than I did before Thatcher died) and neither has convinced me of their all-knowing righteousness. If it's not even American...
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