Glenn Greenwald makes an important point:
Margaret Thatcher and misapplied death etiquette
Glenn Greenwald / GuardianThe dictate that one ‘not speak ill of the dead’ is (at best) appropriate for private individuals, not influential public figures — News of Margaret Thatcher’s death this morning instantly and predictably gave rise to righteous sermons on the evils of speaking ill of her.
Which is to say, all those photos of her with Ronnie Ray-Gun oughtn’t give the mindless warm and fuzzies.
But it goes a little deeper than that:
The fact that Thatcher (allegedly) had a clitoris ought NOT be a reason for any woman to mindlessly praise her. Please take a moment to digest this before praising THAT [emphasis added]:
Why Margaret Thatcher Is No Feminist Icon
by Jenny Anderson
huffingtonpost ukEvery time I hear Margaret Thatcher called a feminist, a little bit of feminism inside of me dies. Margaret Thatcher detested feminism. I know this because she told us, “The feminists hate me, don’t they? And I don’t blame them. For I hate feminism. It is poison.” How can you possibly be credited as being a part of and moreover a role model for something that you so publically hate? You aren’t a feminist by default; it’s a mindset, a way of thinking. Thatcher was incredibly successful in what is still a predominantly male world but just because she is a woman and achieved great things in her career does not make her a feminist. During her 11 years in office Margaret Thatcher had just ONE woman in her cabinet, Baroness Young. She ignored the plight of women in politics and society as a whole. Of course according to Thatcher, “There is no such thing as society.”
[…]
This is important, since so many seemingly good-thinking feminists seem to have fallen into the “anatomy = politics” idiocy that would promote an enemy of our very principles purely based on the presence of lady parts.
Good grief.
Margaret Thatcher was to feminism as Clarence Thomas is to civil rights.
Once said she was more proud of being the first scientist
to be prime minister than the first woman.
(Or “I got mine, Jack!”)
Margaret Thatcher and Annette Funicello died today. One was a role model to millions, a decent and responsible spokesperson for good causes everywhere. And the other one was Margaret Thatcher.
Courage.
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A writer, published author, novelist, literary critic and political observer for a quarter of a quarter-century more than a quarter-century, Hart Williams has lived in the American West for his entire life. Having grown up in Wyoming, Kansas and New Mexico, a survivor of Texas and a veteran of Hollywood, Mr. Williams currently lives in Oregon, along with an astonishing amount of pollen. He has a lively blog His Vorpal Sword. This is cross-posted from his blog
A writer, published author, novelist, literary critic and political observer for a quarter of a quarter-century more than a quarter-century, Hart Williams has lived in the American West for his entire life. Having grown up in Wyoming, Kansas and New Mexico, a survivor of Texas and a veteran of Hollywood, Mr. Williams currently lives in Oregon, along with an astonishing amount of pollen. He has a lively blog, His Vorpal Sword (no spaces) dot com.