No need, I already learned more than I ever cared to know about the bottomless depths of their seething hatred from their reaction to Thatcher's death.
As much as I didn't like Thatcher there was practically zero point to celebrating her [physical death] as she'd had dementia for long enough that the person that people didn't like was long gone. She was described in her last days [or weeks, I can't remember what was mentioned] that she spent her time asking for her husband despite the fact he'd died years before.
Under these circumstances the only thing you can tell someone like this is "They will be here later" as telling them the truth will not only hurt them severely in that moment but they won't remember having that conversation and will ask again at some point. Rather than repeatedly subject them to a hurtful truth they will never be able to accept you have to permit them a degree or falsehoods as the alternative will never be anything but pain for them and those they know if they see the consequences.
As may be obvious by that previous statement, I've seen what dementia can do to people. I've seen how the person they used to be disintegrates and you are left with a few different results:
Someone from their earlier life, as was the case with Thatcher and the person I knew, asking for things that may have been decades ago as they don't/can't realize that isn't now. This can result in someone who doesn't remember the closest living relatives they may have by this point despite how significant they may have been to them.
Someone with a complete lack of lucidity to everything around them, unable to recognize anyone meaning they are surrounded by "strangers" and never know where they are. The fear this can instill is pervasive and everlasting as they will never improve.
So to return to my original opening sentence, "as much as I didn't like Thatcher", I wouldn't wish how her final days were on anyone, regardless of what I thought of them. How she was treated after her death was crass and of the many different ways people could have responded to it very few chose a dignified option.
No need, I already learned more than I ever cared to know about the bottomless depths of their seething hatred from their reaction to Thatcher's death.
As much as I didn't like Thatcher there was practically zero point to celebrating her [physical death] as she'd had dementia for long enough that the person that people didn't like was long gone. She was described in her last days [or weeks, I can't remember what was mentioned] that she spent her time asking for her husband despite the fact he'd died years before.
Under these circumstances the only thing you can tell someone like this is "They will be here later" as telling them the truth will not only hurt them severely in that moment but they won't remember having that conversation and will ask again at some point. Rather than repeatedly subject them to a hurtful truth they will never be able to accept you have to permit them a degree or falsehoods as the alternative will never be anything but pain for them and those they know if they see the consequences.
As may be obvious by that previous statement, I've seen what dementia can do to people. I've seen how the person they used to be disintegrates and you are left with a few different results:
Someone from their earlier life, as was the case with Thatcher and the person I knew, asking for things that may have been decades ago as they don't/can't realize that isn't now. This can result in someone who doesn't remember the closest living relatives they may have by this point despite how significant they may have been to them.
Someone with a complete lack of lucidity to everything around them, unable to recognize anyone meaning they are surrounded by "strangers" and never know where they are. The fear this can instill is pervasive and everlasting as they will never improve.
So to return to my original opening sentence, "as much as I didn't like Thatcher", I wouldn't wish how her final days were on anyone, regardless of what I thought of them. How she was treated after her death was crass and of the many different ways people could have responded to it very few chose a dignified option.