The day that Thatcher died

Margaret Thatcher: 1925 - 2013

I didn't write anything yesterday about the passing of the arguably very important political figure of the post-war 20th century (I'm sure there's people who'll be willing to put this in more precise words for me). The only thing I noted yesterday was that one of the first links to appear on facebook carried as a thumbnail the picture of two kids staring at the skull of a Tyrannosaurus-Rex in a museum.

I didn't comment on her passing because I didn't think it was right for me to say anything. Somebody died. It's a human tragedy whenever it happens. Let the mourners mourn their death. not only that, but I was born in 1979, in a different country. What I know of Margaret Thatcher I know in passing from media snippets and conversations with friends. It makes for a very incomplete knowledge and to be honest I've stopped listening to it because there's only so many times you can change your opinion about something before you realise that there's a lot of "shit slinging" going on either side of the fence. At some point I'll have to make a point of finding out just exactly what she did and didn't do. 

But anyway, I thought yesterday's events were noteworthy after all. They were noteworthy because of the series of events everyone easily had access to from the comfort of their own home. They happened, as many things do nowadays, on Facebook (Sorry, Margaret, you're no exception!). So here's a loose timeline of what transpired yesterday and the thoughts I have about it now. Note that items 2 to 4 are in no particular order.

1. The first media items appear telling us of the death of one of the "greats" of our time. The wildfire starts spreading.
2. The gouvernment issues a statement "officially" mourning her passing and lauding her (political) lifetime achievements. 'The nation must be upset, for we have truly lost someone great'.
3. Facebook statuses by those who supported and admired her started appearing
4. Facebook statuses by those who hated her started appearing
5. People started arguing '/enter the shit storm'
6. People started arguing over the appropriateness of arguing about somebody's life immediately after their passing
7. The media caught up with this and jumped on the band wagon

Here's what I find interesting:
If you follow the official media coverage She will appear to the uninformed outsider like the single greatest and best thing this country has seen since the invention of sliced bread, and that regardless of some of her flaws that she might have had!
If you look on Facebook there are a lot of people who don't like her. Yes, there are supporters but there are a lot of people screaming bloody murder, so surely she must have done something wrong in order to warrant such loathing?!

The media tell us how wrong it is to "throw the first stone" after someone's died and that we should show more piety and let the mourners mourn.
What I would like to know is when are we going to be allowed to criticise someone after their death? I mean, call me cynical, but I expect a BBC documentary obituary full of praise, but surely a critical view of someone's achievements and deeds would be more useful?

I mean if "officialdom" is just going to trumpet the "let the mourners mourn" and "oh how we lost a great person" until it slowly fizzles out this has a lot of similarities with the mass shootings in the US and the way "nobody's allowed to talk about gun laws out of respect for the mourners".