But I was shocked and disgusted by the scenes on television and in this morning's paper, of Britons cheering, holding up horrible signs and toasting her death with Champagne!
I was reminded of last week's tribute to Ralph Klein when some of his most adamant and vocal opponents attended his memorial, and spoke of him kindly as a great Albertan and Canadian.
I truly believe that we must always strive to object without being objectionable.
I hope that the Thatcher family can focus on the tributes coming in from leaders all over the world, and are able to tune out the callous actions of those few thugs!
Ray,
ReplyDeleteWhen God passed out brains these protestors thought he said trains and they missed theirs.
The UK is historically not so kind to their politicians, especially divisive ones like Thatcher who have left a mixed legacy. The UK is also the home of "Punch" magazine in the 1840s, which widely satirized, belittled and lampooned public figures in a way not seen before -- and in a way that makes our own Rick Mercer or This Hour has 22 Minutes look very tame, by comparison.
ReplyDeleteBut the celebrants drinking champagne and singing songs appear isolated. The photo carried in the Calgary Herald, originally from the Daily Mail, were part of a series which showed a grand total of five people in a square in Brixton. Brixton is a burough of London noted for its left-wing politics and strong blue-collar labour roots.
Of course, not so isolated are the people who have voted with their wallets and sent "Ding Dong (The Witch is Dead)," from the Wizard of Oz, into the top 10 charts for iTunes downloads in the UK this week. As I said, the country isn't kind to politicians.