Hysterical Hatred and the Halls of History

Hysterical Hatred and the Halls of History | Michael Coren | Catholic World Report

Both are plain to see and ever with us, but only one has
lessons worth learning.

I write this column while looking out onto Westminster
Bridge, Britain’s Houses of Parliament, and a London still pulsating with news
of the death of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Pulsating indeed,
because she changed the beat, the rhythm, and the pace of this country, and
fundamentally and irreversibly transformed the nature and style of the United
Kingdom. As such, she is revered as well as reviled, and that polarization
extends to the Catholic reaction to her passing. There are Catholics here in
Britain who believe she was one of the last political leaders to properly
appreciate the link between Europe, democracy, and Christianity. Others,
especially in Ulster and northern England, can barely contain their anger at a
woman they believe destroyed their way of life.

The truth about Margaret Thatcher reflects a greater truth
about how the world approaches history, facts, and downright hysteria and
propaganda, and reflects directly to the Church and how it is treated in the
popular imagination

Much, if not most, of what Mrs. Thatcher has been accused of
is pure fantasy, and the reaction to that campaign of disinformation has been
downright obscene: street parties celebrating her death; the singing of “Ding
dong the witch is dead” (with “b” replacing “w”); the public announcement that
people will urinate on her grave. Many of these malicious idiots weren’t even
born when she was in office, and those who were have little to complain about,
if truth be told. But it is the extent and excess that is so repugnant. There
are numerous politicians whom I loathe, but not one whose death would lead me
to rejoice.

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