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Thatcher


Jaggernaut
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Pol Pot? You can't be serious!

Actually, the British government under Mrs Thatcher opposed the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia, which led to the removal of the Pol Pot regime. As per the norm for British foreign policy this had more to do with slavishly following the US's anti Soviet line as the Vietnamese were at that time allied to the Soviets, whereas Cambodia was supported by Peking: than it did any great love for Pol Pot or his cronies. Nevertheless, it was yet another chapter of shame in the history of British foreign policy.
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Why do people continually harp on about Freedom of speech, and then believe this freedom extends to being offensive, inappropriate and on some occasions, inhumane. Am I free to call my neighbour all them names under the sun? No, because it is not what freedom of speech is there for. Freedom of speech was protected by our forefathers to allow us to air our views and beliefs without fear of reprisal or punishment and we shouldn't embarrass ourselves by trying to now extend this to cover all things. I totally disagreed with most Thatcher policies but in my freedom of speech world, I could talk about that openly with everyone and then vote against her and those policies. THAT is freedom of speech. But revelling in her death and jumping on her grave? That's NOT freedom of speech. That's sad, repulsive, and only idiots would do such a thing. And it's due those idiots that we need moderators on these forums.

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She was only capable of creating that and gaining such power because of what the labour government had put up with before as the old style unions did what ever they pleased with no comeback. She gave the unions enough rope to hang themselves especially the miners, and for all her faults she was one clever bitch.

 

'Clever' is the kindest word you could use. Some TUs probably did need putting in their place, but there is a difference between putting something in its place and destroying it altogether. Some of Thatcher's actions - such as deliberately rattling the NUM's cage in the summer when industrial action would have less of an impact - smacked of someone attempting to win a 'war', rather than someone simply trying to get people to see sense.

 

There were more people than just a few bolshy (in both senses of the word!) TU leaders to consider as well. There were people's liveliehoods, families and communities to take into consideration. Chinning some TU leader is defensible, up to a point, but destroying the very industry that he has been elected to represent - regardless of how he does it - is not. However, in many cases that is what happened.

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I don't get it. Would you mind explaining it...? Thanks.

 

At the time of the IRA hunger strikes, fans of our neighbours south of the river liked to sing 'could you go a chicken supper Bobby Sands?'

 

I never thought I'd hear Jags fans making reference to it.

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At the time of the IRA hunger strikes, fans of our neighbours south of the river liked to sing 'could you go a chicken supper Bobby Sands?'

 

I never thought I'd hear Jags fans making reference to it.

 

Agree totally. As was mentioned in another thread, the forum tends to be self-policing.

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And yet not one person hit the report button???

 

Good point, Will. Must admit that I've never hit the report button at any time before, and not something I've thought about. Nevertheless, I suppose that's what it's there for.

 

I still think it was quite a shocker of a post, tbh.

Edited by Blackpool Jags
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Well thats precisely why i don't think being quick to report is a good thing, since at times when emotive issues are being expressed that people may exercise poor judgement as to what counts as an infringement of something inviolable as is most definately the case in reference to Siege Siege. At least in a more open discursive approach to self policing it is much easier to intervene if there is unjustified moral panic going on, through the delivery of a post shedding the bright light of reason (lol) onto the matter thus ensuring erroneous decisions such as what happened with Siege do not happen. It is only when such a discursive framework breaks down that an intervention from an authority becomes a need imo

Edited by mrD
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The report button is this forum's means of allowing it to be self-policing. If you don't press report then moderators will presume that although you don't like the post, you don't consider it improper or offensive. Also, moderators don't necessarily see every post, though they do try and read as many as possible, and it's more difficult at the moment as the forum is so busy.

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. . . . and very very disappointing to see on a Partick Thistle fans' forum.

I'm no fan of Maggie Thatcher and I'm certainly not pro-IRA (having served 6 years as a regular soldier in H.M. Forces, including a tour of NI) but it seems to be the exact same level of inapropriateness as the "dancing on Thatcher's grave" stuff, and referring to her as "it"...
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I'm no fan of Maggie Thatcher and I'm certainly not pro-IRA (having served 6 years as a regular soldier in H.M. Forces, including a tour of NI) but it seems to be the exact same level of inapropriateness as the "dancing on Thatcher's grave" stuff, and referring to her as "it"...

 

I'm really surprised that you could see bare UDA / UVF catholic-baiting in the same light as descriptions of a sworn enemy of the working class and a friend of fascists.

 

I learn something new every day and all that . . .

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I'm no fan of Maggie Thatcher and I'm certainly not pro-IRA (having served 6 years as a regular soldier in H.M. Forces, including a tour of NI) but it seems to be the exact same level of inapropriateness as the "dancing on Thatcher's grave" stuff, and referring to her as "it"...

 

Putting my Devil's Advocate hat on for a minute, what you have highlightled there could have been the point Cumbernauld Jags was trying to make. It is highly debatable whether it is a valid comparison though.

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I'm no fan of Maggie Thatcher and I'm certainly not pro-IRA (having served 6 years as a regular soldier in H.M. Forces, including a tour of NI) but it seems to be the exact same level of inapropriateness as the "dancing on Thatcher's grave" stuff, and referring to her as "it"...

 

I think the main issue was the fact that this was / is quite a well known sectarian chant so more appropriate to another Glasgow team. I guess there would have been a similar reaction had reference been made to the Brighton bombing. If the person who made the post is a Thatcher fan then so be it; his business. But why not confirm support by providing some hard facts on what she did that was good for the country? This thread afforded such an opportunity and was left open for everyone to comment. But from what you've read you'll be aware that many of us weren't fans and emotions have been running high.

 

In my opinion Admin' made a brave decision to allow this thread to remain open and I guess there was always a risk that it could ignite. However, most posts have simply tried to challenge any notion of a proud legacy by trying to suggest otherwise. No dancing on graves or gloating over the death of a senile old woman. With the onset of her degenerative illness, she had arguably been moribund for years. All subjective and all a matter of opinion.

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