Is it acceptable to rejoice at the death of a human being, however evil they may have

[ComradeYoldas]

I've seen a lot of posts on the internet that are about how happy people are now that Margaret Thatcher is dead. I did not like what she did, but does that justify enjoying her death?

[ind_com]

It does.

[Comrade #138672]

Justified how? In a bourgeois moralist way? We don't concern ourselves with bourgeois morality. Although I'm sure that the bourgeoisie rejoiced when Chavez died.

[GoddessCleoLover]

Thatcher is dead, but Thatcherism is alive and well in the UK.

[Conscript]

None of 'our' figures get anything but such treatment. If anything there should be more than just partying.

[DarkPast]

I'll only rejoice when the capitalist order is overthrown. The death of a particular bourgeois politician means nothing when taken on its own; the system lives on. Further, in Thatcher's case, she no longer had anything in the way of real political power and she died peacefully, and will thus never answer for her crimes. I see no particular reason to rejoice at her death. However, I do realize I'd probably feel different had I lived in Britain during her mandate.

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

"Evil", it seems to me, is something that should not concern us. Neither are questions about whether something is "morally right". Obviously Thatcher's death has not advanced the cause of the proletariat one bit, and obviously those that had suffered under her esteemed premiership will probably express a certain animus towards her. Personally, none of her policies have affected me directly, but I abhor everything she has come to stand for, and I nearly puked out my lungs today upon seeing her praised in the local yellow press (and in Croatia, the yellow press is the only mainstream press).

Ding dong, Thatcher's dead.

[Old Bolshie]

Thatcher is dead, but Thatcherism is alive and well in the UK.

Unfortunately not only in UK but in all Europe.

[Brutus]

Grab some tinnies and be at mine for 5.
That's my answer. Don't forget the music!

[TheIrrationalist]

Justified how? In a bourgeois moralist way? We don't concern ourselves with bourgeois morality. Although I'm sure that the bourgeoisie rejoiced when Chavez died.

There is no "bourgeois" or "proletarian" moralism. Moralism and morality are not same thing. I've seen many times so called Marxist reject morality on the grounds that it's "bourgeois" or "moralist". As humans I don't think we should reject morality as bourgeois.

To answer to the question raised in the thread, I would say that it should be ones own business to determine if it's acceptable or unacceptable. Myself I don't see it as problem to rejoice death of "evil" people, or any people, "evil" or "good".

[#FF0000]

don't care cry more

[Domela Nieuwenhuis]

It's actually something i was pondering on today.

Am i glad she is gone? I can not be glad at the death of a human being.
Am i sad she died? No, not really.
Do i wish death to anyone? No.

I'm not happy about Thatcher dying, but i'm not sad about it either. She had lost all political power (on a personal level, not on heritage) anyways.
Is the world better off without her at this particular point in history? I don't really think so. She was barely politically active anyway.

[Questionable]

I will try to tackle this from a Marxist perspective.

The massive rejoicing at Thatcher's death is the expression of the class which suffered so much under her rule. Although Thatcherism and its other neoliberal cousins live on, the fact that a symbol of class oppression is dead now causes celebration among the people that were hit the hardest by her policies.

One need only look at the images of working-class British citizens celebrating in the streets to see who is happy to hear about this.

So I can't answer for bourgeois moralists, but as a Marxist (Or what I feel is a somewhat accurate view on the situation from a Marxist perspective) I recognize that the cries of joy stem from the British working class seeing the removal of a symbol of oppression.

[Crixus]

I've seen a lot of posts on the internet that are about how happy people are now that Margaret Thatcher is dead. I did not like what she did, but does that justify enjoying her death?

I'm not morally against celebrating a politicians death I'm just weary it exposes a sort of illusion that no longer in any way shape or form (economically) rings true. That there's a difference between 'conservative' or 'liberal' economic and war policies. I think we would also need to celebrate the death of Clinton, Obama, Carter etc but no one will because too many of us have bought into the trap of an idea that 'left' bourgeois politicians are somehow operating with the interests of labor in mind. They simply don't use the same language but push most of the same policies.

Right now in America we have a black male Thatcher pushing war, privatization and cutting social programs to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars and we're all thanking him for it. It's actually being called "communism" by millions of brain dead Americans. The mind fuckery going on here is beyond depressing. This entire economic crisis has been lain at the feet of the working class while the capitalists have been bailed out. We've just begun to pay for it, the foundations for the major attacks have been set by Obama for a 'conservative' administration to come in and play bad cop in the same manner Obama came in to play good cop after so much dissent under Bush (when in reality Obama expanded on everything Bush was doing).

I wish people would understand how our system works. Thatcher was a pawn. It's like celebrating the death of a soldier.

[Tenka]

I don't see what's the harm... besides it making moralists uncomfortable.
But that's a plus.

Not to say I actually celebrated, but I'm glad she's dead and the news got a sigh of "finally" out of me.

[Crixus]

I don't see what's the harm... besides it making moralists uncomfortable.
But that's a plus.

Not to say I actually celebrated, but I'm glad she's dead and the news got a sigh of "finally" out of me.
Will you say the same thing when Obama passes away?

[Tenka]

Will you say the same thing when Obama passes away?

No. Nor when Bush does. Maybe Reagan. It's all about charisma, earnestness, and lasting impression. As great and broad is the lamentation of the bourgeois media over her death, so great and broad should be the sighs and chortles and whatever else of satisfaction among the class-conscious working class.

EDIT: Ohshit Reagan is dead. I wasn't paying attention when that happened.

[AConfusedSocialDemocrat]

I don't care, I am, and having a splendid time. Been on the piss (cheap Russian champagne seems fitting) since yesterday evening.

[rednordman]

I'm only rejoicing because it winds the right-wing up to death. They really cannot believe we have the audacity to celebrated the death of their 'special one'. But they are all being total hypercritical as usual though.

[Crixus]

No. Nor when Bush does. Maybe Reagan. It's all about charisma, earnestness, and lasting impression. As great and broad is the lamentation of the bourgeois media over her death, so great and broad should be the sighs and chortles and whatever else of satisfaction among the class-conscious working class.

EDIT: Ohshit Reagan is dead. I wasn't paying attention when that happened.

Reagan's dead. I wonder when his acting career actually ended? Reading lines from a script for a film. Reading lines from a speech some capitalists wrote...."smile for the camera Ronald. Smile. That's it...there ya go. Now give'm a good wave".

[Tenka]

Reagan's dead. I wonder when his acting career actually ended? Reading lines from a script for a film. Reading lines from a speech some capitalists wrote...."smile for the camera Ronald. Smile. That's it...there ya go. Now give'm a good wave".

And he liked Star Wars just like you or me. Just like you or me.

[Domela Nieuwenhuis]

And he liked Star Wars just like you or me. Just like you or me.

Hitler liked Charlie Chaplin, just like me. Doesn't mean i'm upset about him being dead.

[goalkeeper]

yeah but it often makes for shitty politics, especially if the person in question dies after 20+ years out of office and from natural causes.

If your political opponent is killed in the midst of a political struggle (particularly an armed one), of course you are going to rejoice. However, I do think that is different to this the celebrations of Thatchers death; she's been out of office for over two decades. The moral outrage from the British right wing at people gloating over Thatcher's death is ridiculous but so is this pantomime "the wicked witch is dead" sentiment from the British left.

[Jesus Saves Gretzky Scores]

I'm cool with it.

[Althusser]

I love it when bourgeois politicians die, especially if the causes are not natural.

[cyu]

I would rather see someone live but have their ideas and actions debunked, disavowed, humiliated, and mocked - than have that person die but their ideas live on in the form of neo-Nazism or pro-capitalist "libertarianism".

http://www.alternet.org/economy/there-no-nobel-prize-economics?paging=off

Before he won the award, it looked like Hayek was washed up. He was considered a quack and fraud by contemporary economists, he had spent the 50s and 60s in academic obscurity, preaching the gospel of economic darwinism while on the payroll of ultra-rightwing American billionaires. Hayek had powerful backers, but was out on the fringes of academic credibility.

that all changed as soon as he won the prize in 1974. All of a sudden his ideas were being talked about. Hayek was a celebrity. newspapers treated his mumblings about the need to have high unemployment as if they were divine revelations. Margret Thatcher was waving around his books in public, saying “this is what we believe.”

Billionaire Charles Koch brought Hayek out for an extended victory tour of the United States, tapping Hayek’s mainstream cred to set up and underwrite Cato Institute in 1974 (it was called the Charles Koch Foundation until 1977).

After getting the prize in 1976, Friedman got his own 10-part PBS series and became President Ronald Reagan’s economic advisor, where he had a chance to put the society-crushing policies he developed in Chile under Pinochet. Chilean economist Orlando Letelier published an article outing Friedman as the “intellectual architect and unofficial adviser for the team of economists now running the Chilean economy” on behalf of foreign corporations. A month later Letelier was assassinated in D.C. by Chilean secret police using a car bomb.

[Comrade Nasser]

I do what I want.

[Crixus]

READ ME

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/04/08/pers-a08.html

Obama’s second term: a new stage in the social counterrevolution

[DROSL]

Her and Pierre Elliott Trudeau fu**ed Canada for good with their stupid constitution. She's a conservative for god's sakes, she's a woman who lived in the past, troubled she must have been.