Must we speak well of the dead?

The question came up earlier this year after Margaret Thatcher died. She was “the most dominant and the most divisive force in British politics in the second half of the 20th century,” according to her obituary in The Guardian.

It’s her divisiveness that many remembered when she died. In addition to whatever else she did for the U.K, Thatcher broke unions, stigmatized the poor, deregulated markets and privatized public services, leaving a lot of damaged lives in her wake.

So it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that her millions of opponents were in no mood to speak well of her when she died.

In fact, an online campaign began immediately to encourage Britons to buy copies of the song Ding Dong, The Witch is Dead—and thus to move it up to the top of the pop charts for the week of her funeral.

Judy Garland’s 51-second song from the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz made it to the Number 2 spot that week.

“Let’s not forget you also have a family that is grieving for a loved one who is yet to be buried,” the BBC’s controller said after the radio outlet played only a five-second clip in their weekly round-up of the pop charts. “I think there’s a large part of the population that finds it disrespectful but then on the other hand you have a part of society which has decided to demonstrate in this way.”

From this side of the Atlantic, how did you react to the Ding Dong controversy?

Must we speak well of the dead?

Who comes to your mind?

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