… such as when I wrote that previous
post about Thatcher. I obsessing over every petty little detail,
going over it in my head on the bus home. I had to find a scrap of
paper and scribble bits down, repeating sentiments and sentences, in
order to purge my mind. I have been meaning to bring this blog back
more regularly, not daily like before, but once or twice a week would
be nice. It's good to keep a historical record of one's thoughts and
about the wider world. With that in mind I wanted to write something
about the old divisions this Thatcher thing has brought back to the
surface.
The 1980s I was born into was one which
despised Thatcher. Hating Thatcher is the nearest thing I have to a
religion. I was raised with it. Early memories of anti-Poll Tax
marches, my Ghostbuster-themed Poll Tax Buster t-shirt, chants of
“Maggie, Maggie, Maggie, Out, Out, Out.” During the inevitable
divided Facebook discussions someone pointed out “It as a long time
ago, get over it,” which infuriated me (but I don't think I
responded to). At the time the person wrote that I was about to have
my tea, I was hungry and thus grumpy. I ate then happily clicked to
unfollow the discussion.
And now I'm not hungry I can see the
truth behind the point. It was a long time ago and I should get over
it. Other people were more, much more, effected by Thatcher's
unsympathetic destructive tendencies. Should they get over it too?
Yes, eventually. Maybe not now, but as soon as possible. Does the
country need to get over her legacy? God, yes. The sooner the better.
But being unable to get over past wrongs is the cause of so much hate
and continued destruction. My wife is from Northern Ireland and she,
along with myself and plenty of other people too, wishes that the
people from back home who have wronged and been wronged by their
neighbours could just try to get over it. To eventually forgive and
forget, the sooner the better. Simple to say; so much less simple to actually do, and understandably so.
The more people force themselves to
remember the longer these things go on. The problem is when there are
reminders all around you: murals and bombings there; Thatcherism,
rampant greed, Tory cunts and New Labour here. Ooops, I dropped the
c-word. Maybe I am getting a little hungry. I better go and eat
something, or I would if Thatcher hadn't taken all my milk (and
cheese), yeah right on!
Earlier
I said that hating Thatcher was the nearest thing I had to religion.
That seems like a bad thing to me. It's an intellectual effort to get
over childhood indoctrination, but one worth doing. It's important to
get over accidentally or intentionally imposed prejudices and
hatreds. Prejudice is never justified, but sometimes hatred can be.
Still it's important not to let single view-points entomb you. That's
surely an enemy of growth and progress. Now if I can get over past
injustices I can concentrate of building a future, and by that I mean
I can calm down a bit, have a cuppa and crack on with a bit of
creative writing.
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