Well how about this for a turnaround? After Steerpike highlighted the somewhat dubious ‘girl power’ Geri Halliwell, who praised Thatcher and the subsequently deleted her tribute, the Spice Girl has seen the error of her ways:
‘I was 7 years old when my father told me about the greengrocer’s daughter who had become the first female Prime Minister in our history. I was enchanted by this… my father who was always hiding behind the broadsheets spoke about her my whole childhood. Fast forward to 1996… It was widely covered in the media, when I casually mentioned that I admired Margaret Thatcher in an interview for a political magazine.
Monday 8th April 2013 – Margaret Thatcher had died… I felt compelled to tweet my thoughts for a female leader, in a world governed by men. I was so confused and overwhelmed by some of the feedback I received that I took my tweet down and for that I was called spineless. I questioned myself? Did I really mean what I said?
Can I stand tall? Do I even know what I was talking about? I realised the best thing to do was to shut up and really get honest with myself. What I hated the most was that I took a tweet down. I had wavered and was full of self-doubt. I so I asked myself over the last 3 days – why did I do it? Why did I take that tweet down?
These are my conclusions… I. I was so afraid of upsetting people, and not being liked for saying something that was not to everyone’s taste. 2. Also, I suddenly thought given the adverse reaction, did I even really know enough about Margaret Thatcher? Was I just trying to be relevant? She had obviously upset a lot of people. 3. But now I realise that I do admire a woman, whether she is right or wrong, regardless of her opinions. She had the courage to stand by her convictions. Not like me. I look at my behavior, which exposed how weak I was under fire, not like Margaret Thatcher. Rest in peace.’
Well said.
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