Whose funeral? Margaret Thatcher's or the Milk Snatcher's?

so, as i'm sure you can tell, i've rather avoided the "Thatcher conundrum" thus far because i am, for once ("anonymous"- my pal from my previous posts- will be glad to here this), not sure about what i think.

*ERMAHGERDDD. what is this unfamiliar feeling? it must be the pangs of uncertainty and mixed feelings.*

But as the funeral's tomorrow... I should probably tell you some of the thoughts i have had on the topic:

Here we go....

You see, I know a few things. I know that i hate what Thatcher and Thatcherism stood for and stand for today. I know i hate that Thatcher is celebrated and damned for being a woman (what are these mysterious creatures?) rather than just for her policies. I know i hate what her policies meant and continue to mean to our society. AND i hate that i can't just hate her.

I was not a child of Thatcher. I did not have my milk snatched from me in front of my eyes (even though i probably would have been gagging over the prospect of having to drink it anyway). I don't feel like I have suffered directly at the hands of Thatcher and her regime.

But- and it's one hell of a big "but"- I know that a woman who told us that "there is no such thing as society" and that the poor, the unemployed, the homeless, the working class were all forcing their problems on society and the government should not have a state funeral- because, call it what you will, that is what it is. And it's not a cheap one- there have been a lot of reports/rumours (depending on your point of view) of a figure close to £10 million coming out of tax payers pockets. She did not unify or support the whole country. She did not help women get into power- she got in but that does not, nor ever will, mean that she was a feminist revolutionary helping other women get up the ranks and defeat the patriarchy. She solved some problems but she caused plenty as well. And we (by which i mean some individuals who have not taken into account the thoughts and feelings of the people) are going to silence Big Ben for her? hmm.

I don't feel a huge sense of elation at her death, nor would i join a party to celebrate it, but i can understand why someone would. I can understand and i can condone someone celebrating her demise because i can understand and condone someone's hate for her and because i can understand why someone would not view Margaret Thatcher as someone deserving of their grief. I am certainly not mourning her. A lot of people are saying that at this time we have to view and treat her as what she fundamentally was- a human being. But how can the average veteran of Thatcher's britain see her as a just a normal human when she is being given a state funeral, destroyed their lives and (even from a distance and indirectly) has continued to have an influence over our country?

We see her influence everywhere. It's in the fact that she is what people think of when someone says "a woman as prime minister" no matter the context. It's in the fact that her death has had such huge media coverage. It's in the fact that her death has provided a distraction from what our current tory government is doing. Even in death Thatcher is doing what she always did- providing a face for people to shout at, scream about, blame, look to, distract from when the government does something disgusting. She has always been a famous- or infamous- personality. She will always be that. She is immortal. And that is why it's so hard to think of her as a human. Because, though Margaret has died, Thatcher lives on in the memories of the people and the society that she affected. Margaret may no longer exist but Maggie Thatcher, the milk snatcher definitely does. Maybe she exists, and has existed for a long time, as more of an idea and a personality than as a person? Maybe that is what she has always been and maybe, this is just an idea, that is what people are celebrating the end of, even if it isn't really the end? We must not think of them as monsters celebrating an 87 year old woman's death but as people celebrating the Iron Lady's death- a somewhat tyrannical figure who attempted to destroy the welfare state.Who can blame those people?

So i suppose i do know what i think. I suppose what i think is just neither "WOOHOOO SHE IS DEAD!" nor  "oh dear- i shall miss her terribly" but more of a "hmmm". And, if one thing's for certain, i'm not going to stop listening to my Wizard of Oz sound track because it's morbid- be happy that at least our crumpled society has enough unity and determination to get a political track into the charts after everything it's been through!

Tip: hmmm tough one. i reckon we should all just be a bit more tolerant and sensitive to other people's views because there is such a thing as society. This is it. Welcome.