Glenda Jackson's Thatcher "Eulogy"

This is a response to a comment left in the comment is free section of the Guardian. The commentator hailed Ms. Jackson's remarks on Lady Thatcher as "Dignified".

These are my thoughts in response, in my reply to him.

"As a liberal, Jackson's speech may have been truthful - As one of "Thatcher's Children", and growing up in a family directly hit by the effects of the miner's dispute, then later affected by Clause 28 as young gay man, I have no truck with Thatcherism.

But Glenda Jackson's shabby homily was, perhaps unsurprisingly, unadulterated staginess and second rate amateur dramatics. Now I understand why she switched professions.

With respect, your usage of the word "dignified" is conceivably misplaced:

Definition of Dignified:

To invest with honour
To exalt
To lend an air of dignity to (as in dignify with the name of)

Ms. Jackson's PR stunt was contained no elements of Dignity. What it revealed was the stark truth that she had no sense of understanding, unlike many of her brethren in the political agenda of all colours and stripes, that regardless of one's own feelings regarding another politician's policies or agendas, they are human beings, with families, thoughts, emotions, faults, follies and qualities. The moment Ms. Jackson broadcasted this tacky wheeze, she immediately disposed of her humanity.

I have a serious illness which sees me fighting against ATOS for ESA and DLA, and for which I also fiercely advocate against. I have no issue with protest, indeed it is essentially the only way small voices are heard. But the death of Lady Thatcher has become a conduit through which people are venting misappropriated frustration, and a dead woman strung up on high has become the focal point of the anger many feel towards this car crash coalition in the manner in which it has dismantled the Welfare State and left the most vulnerable to be hung out to dry. I feel this anger too, but I think I know where it should be directed.

Collective hate and childish revelling witnessed at the likes of a song from a kid's film getting to number one, about a witch is not only misogynistic, it is simply mindless spite - again the immediate dispensing of humanity in a fast switch for a puerile, foolish titter at the death of an old woman who ceased to be relevant politically 23 years since.

No, there was nothing "Dignified", or come to that humane, about Glenda Jackson's naff, pompous yet ultimately throwaway little "broadcast". It was simply tacit encouragement for others to engage in the kind of actions, devoid of critical thought, reasoned analysis or humane reflection - replaced instead with sheep mentality and venomous invective. Hysterical hatred is the poor relative to a reasoned debate and protest with peace as it's intent - even if anger is it's motivator, unless one wants to simply tip their humane sensibilities down the plug hole."