REspect yes mind you life also demands respect for the individual.

But too often (as has happened with both Thatcher and Ralph Klien in the last couple weeks) it has moved from respect into treating them as if they were saints.  When that happens you get a counter-reaction.

Hi crazyheart,

If their being alive doesn't why should their being dead change anything?

Grace and peace to you.

John

Unfortunately they had no sex appeal so people are actually remembering who they were and their contributions as politicians.

waterfall, I have been spelling politicians wrong all day.

I had to go back and look because I hadn't noticed.....no big deal. I usually just blame it on my fingers going faster than my brain.

A feew months ago I attended a funeral gathering for a fellow bowler's wife.  Smill crowd.  Besides the mandatory family members, there were a couple of other bowlers and one couple from the apartment building where they had lived for several years.  We were there to support the widower, not to pay respects.  As we milled about, signing the guest book, admiring the two bouquets of flowers, several times I had to bite my tongue and try to find something good (or neutral) to say about the deceased.  I don't think I was the only one.

Respect for the dead????    Whether they be national or world figures, or simply neighbours?   I think it depends upon whether I respected, or even liked, them during their lives.  However there is as time and a place for everything.  At a time of death you tell those grieving 'I'm sorry for your loss.'   And you refrain from opening criticizing someone who can no longer defend themself.

Public figures like Thatcher, regrettably, have plenty of sycophants to speak for them when they die, Seeler.

I see nothing wrong with those on whom the actions of the deceased inflicted pain and injustice seeking to balance the narrative with a bit of raw truth and public objection, even if it's expressed in "impolite" terms..

Maggie Thatcher was toxic.

Her policies smashed countless marginal communities and the results are there to see in places like central Scotland to this day.

No effort was made to contain the damage her rushed, ideology-led policies wrought on people with few options in life as it was. And sinking the Belgrano — her call — was  totally unnecessary and grossly obscene — but she was good at kicking the weak.

She has been hailed as a courageous economic visionary — fine, if you say so. She also exemplified the cruel, self-absorbed arrogance of the English public school bully and thrived on tthe adulation and company of his nouveau riche parents.

The REAL Margaret Thetcher was probably, like most people, herself a victim of circumstance, who needed to find herself, as we all do.

But she reached out and fell for for the allure of fame, power and acclaim rather than responding to the sorts of values and morality that always encourage us to decline such temptations. I personally think she was a victim as much as a victor in that complicated, corrupt and class-bound English political structure. But she did make that choice.

When she died, there was no "Margaret" any more… just the political echoes and that was all the loud noises you heard.

"Cheers will rise as the right-living watch Him settle the score, their feet washed in the blood after the onslaught of the wicked. And it will be heard, “Those who seek justice will be rewarded. Indeed, there is a God who brings justice to the earth!” -- Psalm 58: 10-11 (VOICE)

It seems there is reason for rejoicing when some people die. I don't personally think of Mrs. Thatcher as having been one of "the wicked." I'm just saying.

None of this matters a damn to the dead.

What I mean by that is that I would prefer to honoured while living, preferably with expensive electronics, holiday trips, even cheques.

My door is always open.

I can grieve with and for the family/survivors - they may have known other side to the person not evident to others, or they might have suffered the most from the person's darkness.
I can meditate on the idea that a death can be instructive - what will my own legacy be when I am gone?
I can know the departed was once an adorable & innocent baby.

In the case of Margaret Thatcher, I imagine she truly believed she was doing the right thing. She had power to do what many of her generation would have done, given the chance. Hard right conservatism often seems to express itself as a simplistic, overly-strict, demanding parent who grinds the freedom of thought and compassion from a person.
Gotta wonder what causes that.

I recommend seeing the movie "The Iron Lady". Meryl Streep is amazing.

Another thought about respect. Some think it must be given by virtue of a person's position - others think it's earned.
Some think that caring is all about stability - financial, social, moral. If it was good enough for previous generations, it must be always right. Some regard this as a duty, and are perplexed and angered when others rebel against that. These people then surround themselves with the like-minded and are strengthened by them.

Add lots of power and stir.

I think respect is neither automatically extended to the powerful, nor can it be demanded. Respect is earned. And, more often than not, it is mutual.

Thatcher has shown callous disregard and thus disrespect for a large part of the British population. We can't blame them for not respecting her.

On the other hand, how can we love each other if we don't respect and admire each other? Everyone is a unique edition of God, and for that reason alone worthy of love, respect, and admiration.

But it is diffcult to love, respect and admire those who don't love, respect and admire us, eh? How about "Love thy enemy?"

I would feel more respect the dead Thatcher more if she had shown respect for the living when she was prime minister. it was Thatcher and Reagan who led the way to the economic crisis we're in. She wasn't an iron lady. She was simply a bully who attacked the most vulnerable.

man, those AIDS concentration camps would've been a sight...

It's odd how it becomes mandatory to grieve for a Margaret Thatcher - or to express sympathy for her family's sake. In the same way, we were expected to feel the same for the death of Ronald Reagan - the man (along with Thatcher) who opened the way to the widespread suffering that the western world is going through today; and that we will be expected some day to feel for Bush who lied the US into two wars, killing well over a million innocent people.

But if it were a foreign leader we had been taught to hate like Castro or Chavez, public parties would be quite acceptable.

That's a pretty selective morality.