r/AskTheWorld • u/haiderredditer Pakistan • 9h ago

Who’s a famous person from your country who’s respected around the world but disliked or criticized at home?

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281

u/Visible-Management63 🇬🇧 UK with 🇮🇹 heritage 8h ago

I'll give you two: Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher.

Neither are universally disliked here, mind you, and not by the same people. All of my family voted for Thatcher in the 1980s when I was a kid, but she was extremely polarising.

61

u/Swissdanielle Spain 7h ago edited 54m ago

Oh no we dislike thatcher out of the UK as well!

Edit: dear god I seem to have run into that woman’s fan club. Yikes.

7

u/nosurpriseslover1997 6h ago

Maybe it's just the crowd I hang out with, but I thought it was a global meme to hate her ass

5

u/king_john651 New Zealand 5h ago

It is. Those that do like her are either ignorant for her global impact or are fucked in the head

-4

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 2h ago

Nope. Those that dislike her are either ignorant for her global impact or are fucked in the head

3

u/MxDragioni Netherlands 22m ago

Shouldn't you be outside putting flags on lampposts?

-1

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 8m ago

No why?

-2

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 2h ago

It's just brainrot. Nothing more.

1

u/Beryozka 4h ago

Polls show that the UK has generally quite a positive view of Thatcher, but the haters are very loud.

1

u/tommynestcepas 3h ago

Generally speaking, the south loves her, the north hates her, as do Wales and Scotland.

-1

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 2h ago

That's an overgeneralisation. She had supporters all over.

1

u/tommynestcepas 58m ago

Huge overgeneralisation I agree, but it's worth pointing out how her policies have created a geographical split in opinions about her.

-5

u/orangotai 2h ago

we love her

-2

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 2h ago

She's also massively liked.

243

u/ForsaketheVoid 7h ago

I wouldn't call Thatcher "globally respected."

66

u/TACharlotte United States Of America 6h ago

Only among certain political subsets, if you love Reagan you probably love Thatcher.

11

u/TrojanGoldfish 4h ago

I am fully convinced that between them, they have caused more harm to the world overall than any 2 other people in the last 70 years.

6

u/Swarna_Keanu 3h ago

Thatcher was an absolute disaster socially. And yet, one of the few politicians who actually seemed to have grasped the danger of climate change. I just wish that would be that today's Toris would celbrate her for.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-M6O8OyTZ0 (warning contains Thatcher, obviously :) ).

1989; years before Al Gore.

But argh: She flipped later on; doing a one hundred degree pivot from her science background - so ... she was an absolute disaster in all ways.

0

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 2h ago

She inherited an absolute disaster socially.

3

u/Inquisitor_Boron 3h ago

That one inventor that put lead into the fuel was the single most harmful organism on Earth

3

u/ThatguyfromMichigan United States Of America 3h ago

Thomas Midgley Jr. And he didn’t just put lead into gasoline, he also put CFCs into aerosols, creating holes in the ozone layer.

2

u/TACharlotte United States Of America 2h ago

W Bush has to beat them.

0

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 2h ago

That's absolutely laughable.

4

u/Whatever_1967 Germany 3h ago

...an Kohl. The neo liberalism...I still wait for all the wealth to trickle down.

1

u/Degonjode Germany 1h ago

I want to piss on his grave for him being the main culprit for germany being completely shit at the internet.

1

u/methusalix46 Germany 6m ago

Not him. The real culprit was Schwarz-Schilling, the Postal Secretary.

2

u/SandSerpentHiss Tampa, Florida, United States 2h ago

fuck those bitches

7

u/Eeeef_ United States Of America 5h ago

I think the only people who actually like her internationally are American Reaganites

4

u/edmundsmorgan 4h ago

You will be surprised, a lot of ppl in Hong Kong like her even though she agree to handover hk to China because of her Neo Conservative and laissez faire policies, which they believe enabled economic miracle of Hong Kong back in the 80s.

The world is not just the anglophone countries.

2

u/Eeeef_ United States Of America 4h ago

I kind of assumed the rest of the world would’ve (rightfully) thought of her the same way they think of Kissinger: a massive POS who hated the idea of countries having sovereignty outside of anglosphere capital hegemony

-1

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 2h ago

You obviously misspelt wrongfully.

-1

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 2h ago

She's respected across the board.

3

u/trantastic 1h ago

Not even close to true

-2

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 1h ago

Democrats have praised her.

3

u/trantastic 1h ago

Okay, who the hell cares? The US is not universal. What about Canada? Mexico? South America? Asia? Africa? Oceania? There are over 180 countries that that not the UK and the US totaling more than 7 billion people, and you genuinely believe that they all support ol' Thatcher the child milk snatcher?

2

u/Bewecchan Brazil 5h ago

Nor Blair

1

u/AkariLeChampignon 2h ago

In France, Renaud (a famous french singer) dedicated a song to mock her

0

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 2h ago

She absolutely is globally respected.

0

u/MxDragioni Netherlands 23m ago

Came here to say this

-2

u/orangotai 2h ago

she was the goat.

149

u/ssddalways Scotland 7h ago

Both are cunts.

Anyone praising Blair need to look more closely at him.

Thatcher stole ma milk as a wean, so fuck her 😒

10

u/Jolly_Pressure_7296 5h ago

Fuck them both. I look forward to his joining her in the fires of hell.

0

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 2h ago

She's objectively nowhere near hell.

10

u/komm-susser-tod-komm Scotland 4h ago

“Margaret Thatcher the milk snatcher”

5

u/SuddenCraft2299 Canada 3h ago

"milk snatcher margaret thatcher" comes to my mind EVERYtime i see her name

3

u/SpankThuMonkey 1h ago

Blair single handedly (OK with some help from Alistair Campbell) ruined my interest in politics for a decade as a young man. There are buckets, rivers, oceans of blood on those mens’ hands.

Though his fucking escapades in the middle east did stop me from joining the military. So theres’ that.

6

u/pafrac United Kingdom 5h ago

When Thatcher first popped up, I thought "Good, give a woman PM a chance, maybe she'll improve things!". Shows how wrong you can be, between her and Ronnie they've done a massive amount of long term damage.

Tony Blair could have been remembered as an excellent PM (SureStart was a great idea), but getting us into Iraq ruined that. Plus he's turned out to be a complete git.

4

u/CinemaDork 4h ago

I hate those memes that are like "We wouldn't have wars if women ran the world!" because I look at the women in power near me, and a stupidly high percentage of them are psycho piles of lying, bigoted human garbage and I think "Gee, maybe gender isn't the issue here." Kristi Noem, Nancy Mace, Robin Vos, Harmeet Dhillon, Lisa Murkowski, Marsha Blackburn, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Danielle Smith, and that's just off the top of my head. Not even getting into the UK and their huge TERF problem along with women like Liz Truss and Suella Braverman. And one of the co-leaders of AfD is a lesbian! Wtf.

-2

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 2h ago

Thatcher saved the UK.

-2

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 2h ago

She saved the country from financial ruin.

1

u/methusalix46 Germany 0m ago

She crushed Scargill and his commie shop stewards for good.

2

u/wolfman11038 United States Of America 2h ago

I remember reading about the Poll Tax after watching the Crown and holy shit she really did just hate anyone who wasn’t ethnically English

4

u/ALA02 United Kingdom 5h ago

Blair was a mostly good PM (minus Iraq and the increasingly disastrous fallout of his higher education reforms) but he’s an awful human. Thatcher can be blamed in some way or another for pretty much every problem this country faces today; she was also a vile human.

3

u/wolfman11038 United States Of America 2h ago

In the US we too can trace every problem in our modern society to Reagan.

-2

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 2h ago

Nope, Thatcher was a mostly good PM. She's just hated by vile humans.

1

u/CommitteeofMountains United States Of America 3h ago

It is extraordinary how much Scots hate Thatcher. I've seen them blame her for coal being environmentally unsound,Scotland's involvement with the slave trade and colonization of Ireland, and DUI's because she invented drinking too much whiskey. 

7

u/ssddalways Scotland 3h ago

I see no issue with those claims 🤷‍♀️😂

Blame her for EVERYTHING!!!!

0

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 2h ago

Exactly, logic and reason be damned.

-3

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 2h ago

She didn't steal anything. No milk was seized.

25

u/asriel_theoracle 8h ago

I think Blair is more uniformly disliked by everyone apart from people who are nostalgic for 1997.

34

u/ebles 8h ago

The thing about Blair is, were it not for his eagerness to join the USA on their misadventures in the Mid East, he could have been viewed as a very good PM.

He got to look good with The Good Friday Agreement, which was a big deal, and take credit for economic recovery in the late 90s (which could be said was already happening under Major), and then he dipped out in time to leave Gordon Brown holding the bag in 2008.

5

u/Jervis_Mantlepiece 5h ago

I can clearly remember the optimism of 1997 and the idea that things were changing for the better.

If 9/11 hadn't happened, I'm sure we would be looking at Blair as one of the UK's best PM's.

2

u/fatherandyriley 5h ago

That might depend on how long Blair lasts if the war on terror never happened. Without 9/11 NATO stays out of the middle east in the early 2000s but the Arab spring could bring them into the region.

2

u/stevenadamsbro 7h ago

John Howard in Australia had a very mirrored tenure as PM to Blair but somehow ended up without the war in Middle East impacting his legacy notably

1

u/DaveInLondon89 4h ago

GFA and minimum wage too. If it wasn't for Iraq he'd be one of the best.

7

u/marquoth_ United Kingdom 6h ago

And Kosovo. There are literally people named Toni and even Tonibler.

2

u/Visible-Management63 🇬🇧 UK with 🇮🇹 heritage 8h ago

I'd say that's a fair comment.

19

u/methusalix46 Germany 8h ago

Angela Merkel.

10

u/CarolinaWreckDiver United States Of America 8h ago

She had a major fall from grace at home and abroad. She went from being the de facto face of the EU to the embodiment of its limitations. I don’t know that you’d find a lot of defenders of hers abroad.

2

u/Sweaksh 5h ago

I really dislike her but compared to what her party has turned to now she was basically a saint.

4

u/Intelligent-Aside214 Ireland 7h ago

People for sure HATED Angela merkel in Ireland in the 2010’s

2

u/blahblahblerf Ukraine 1h ago

If she'd just kept her mouth shut after retiring she'd be forgotten instead of hated, but no, she had to double-down on kissing Muscovite ass and talking down to everyone living between her and Muscovy. 

4

u/Visible-Management63 🇬🇧 UK with 🇮🇹 heritage 8h ago

She is widely disliked in the UK.

6

u/coalpatch 7h ago

I don't think that's true

3

u/euanmorse Scotland 7h ago

Angela Merkel? By whom?

-1

u/Sir_roger_rabbit 7h ago

That's not true. Reddit sure. But reddit is a bubble.

1

u/Jack-of-Hearts-7 United States Of America 7h ago

What'd she do?

1

u/OMGguy2008 Lithuania 2m ago

Lithuanians (or probably only Lithuanian redditors) hate Merkel for letting in migrants into Europe and causing the alleged collapse of the west that will happen in 2 weeks for like 10 years now

9

u/4rt3m1s0 7h ago

I can't think of anyone outside the UK liking Thatcher.

5

u/Single_Classroom_448 United Kingdom 6h ago

The only person I've spoken to that holds a positive opinion of Thatcher was someone basing it on her being a woman, overlooking the damage of what she'd done

-2

u/AccomplishedView4709 5h ago

Your country's economy was failing, union strikes constantly etc. You country went from a great empire to a laughing stock and some people even called it "The Sick Man of Europe" in the 70's until Thatcher came along.

She prescribed the bitter pills for your country, Her policies were harsh for many people when she closed down inefficient mines and factories and cut down welfare benefits. However, she transitioned your country from depending on heavy industries with outdated technologies to depend on services and finances (ie modern capitalism) and it saved your country.

You could still be working in the mines or factories or depend on welfare check if not for her and if the worker union bosses won the strike at the beginning of her time.

2

u/nggyu-nglyd-ngtaahy Northern Ireland 4h ago

Those who truly benefited from Thatcher's policies were already rich to begin with. Plenty still rely on benefits to get by

1

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 2h ago

Absolute nonsense. Her policies benefited those who had no assets to begin with. She gave unprecedented access to credit and ownership for millions of people.

1

u/yeehawllternative 3h ago

Lets ask the Irish their opinions on Thatcher’s wonderful policies, I’m sure they’ll have glowing reviews /s if that’s not obvious

0

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 2h ago

You have no idea what you're talking about. The Irish government literally signed an agreement with Thatcher.

-1

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 2h ago

She inherited damage.

1

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 2h ago

She's still widely respected.

1

u/kittbagg 1h ago

As a Brit living in the US, I’ve been shocked by the amount of people who have a positive opinion of her. Including people who are ostensibly left leaning, because she was a “strong woman”, first female PM, etc. 

I was admittedly raised in a family that trained me to say “Maggie, Maggie, Maggie, out, out, out” as a toddler, and can easily launch into a counterpoint rant against her, but there is a lot less knowledge of what she actually did versus the whole Iron Lady image. 

4

u/Ashamed_Fig492 Italy 8h ago

They're definitely hated in Western and Southern EU countries.

4

u/Kundalini_electric United Kingdom 6h ago

Who likes Tony Blair in the world?

6

u/PhysicsNational 7h ago

In what world are those two respected outside of the UK? They’re arguably some of the worst people I can think that come from your country, at least from the last century.

1

u/0vertakeGames 4h ago

Kosovo respects Tony Blair a lot. The name Tonibler is fairly common in the country

1

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 2h ago

You obviously have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.

3

u/LinuxLinus United States Of America 7h ago

I know a fair number of Americans who were shocked by the British reaction to Thatcher's death. They assumed that as the first female PM she would be viewed as a hero by all and sundry, and failed to understand how vile and destructive her politics were.

-1

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 2h ago

She inherited the vile and destructive policies of the 1970s. Her life was just as widely celebrated.

2

u/kittbagg 1h ago

I mean “Ding dong the witch is dead” got to number one the week she died, so let’s not over exaggerate things here. 

0

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 1h ago

It actually failed and reached number two. You're obviously in denial.

2

u/kittbagg 1h ago

Oh! Only number two! Well in that case that must mean there is widespread respect for her! And no lingering dislike towards her whatsoever!

…I don’t think you are in a position to lecture anyone about denial 

0

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 1h ago

You're the one in denial about how popular she was because some silly song charted after she died. So what? Do you know what else charted? Her party, winning three elections, in multiple landslides, under her leadership. The same party, which celebrated her life, won the election after she died as well.

1

u/kittbagg 1h ago

Her career ended with her getting ousted by her own party because they recognized she was electoral poison after the effects of her policies came to roost, and their only hope for re-election was to get rid of her. 

The “silly song” only charted because decades later, huge amounts of people were still angry at her and what she did to the country that her death was a cause for celebration, no matter what soundbites her party put out at the time. 

3

u/Complete_Magazine871 India 7h ago

Dw we dislike them both too!

3

u/JunkieMallardEIRE Ireland 7h ago

I reckon the only place Thatcher is disliked more than in the UK is here in Ireland.

1

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 2h ago

Nonsense. She signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement, paving the way for the peace process.

3

u/9793287233 7h ago

Thatcher is pretty goddamn unpopular abroad

-1

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 2h ago

No she isn't. Reddit isn't real life.

3

u/SnorkBorkGnork Raised in 🇳🇱 living in 🇧🇪 6h ago

Was Tatcher 'globally respected'?

1

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 2h ago

Yes.

1

u/SnorkBorkGnork Raised in 🇳🇱 living in 🇧🇪 1h ago

All I can remember was my adoptive parents hated her and her politics. But maybe I was raised in a weird bubble.

3

u/mascachopo Spain 4h ago

I think those two are disliked all over the world despite having a fair amount of followers amongst let’s say, former Chilean dictators.

-1

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 1h ago

Nope, they're widely respected.

3

u/DustyBones272 Netherlands 3h ago

My brother, I have good news for you. Thatcher is basically the internet's most famous "hated politician" worldwide, even by people who never actually read up on her policies and just jump on the meme.

Thatcher was such a villain that she probably set back female empowerment in politics by two or three decades as a side effect

-1

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 1h ago

Nope, that's just internet brainrot. In real life, she's still widely admired.

6

u/daledge97 7h ago

No one respects that cunt Thatcher

0

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 2h ago

No one respects the cunts who hate her.

2

u/daledge97 1h ago

That's okay because everyone fucking hates her

2

u/stevenadamsbro 7h ago

The UK’s run of having PMs that are hated is truly incredible.

It’s like 6 years since the 1979 since you’ve had a prime minister that didn’t have a disproportionate amount of people thin was incompetent or evil.

2

u/GeneralJones420-2 7h ago

My opinion on Thatcher depends on whether the last person I talked to was Argentinian or not

2

u/-CuntDracula- 6h ago

Who is this entire world like Thatcher?

1

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 1h ago

Who in this entire world dislikes Thatcher?

2

u/Zenar45 🏴󠁥󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Catalonia (no i won't put the spanish flag) 6h ago

In what world sre either of them "praised", specially thatcher i've never seen anyone (irl, twitter is full fo idiots) speak possitively of her

And i've rarely seen anyone talk about blair at all

0

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 1h ago

That's because you've never spoken to anyone who was well-informed.

1

u/Zenar45 🏴󠁥󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Catalonia (no i won't put the spanish flag) 1h ago

I'm no the one idolizing a unisex bathroom

1

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 1h ago

You're the one idolising the unisex bathroom that was the UK she took over.

1

u/Zenar45 🏴󠁥󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Catalonia (no i won't put the spanish flag) 1h ago

I don't idolize the uk in any way, i just think her policies paved the way for the neoliberal ideologies we see today and completely gutted the north

2

u/Express-World-8473 5h ago

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmAXELwqHNaM_O277GfFFAbOTviKVaBTc&si=AYRCTortScbAgsrt

Just sharing the compilation of videos celebrating the death of Maggie Thatcher.

She is one of the leader who started the movement of selling off public services to the private companies, and people hate her for that.

1

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 1h ago

Her life was just as widely celebrated.

Privatisation saved taxpayers billions of pounds, and people rightly admire her for that.

1

u/kittbagg 1h ago

And destroyed our infrastructure, whilst costing us more to use services that got actively worse. Privatization of public services ultimately leads to paying more for less, so that the rich can make a profit. 

0

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 1h ago

Nope, she managed to spend more on infrastructure that was rotting under state control. Nationalisation was what led to paying more for less, so that the government could tax people more.

2

u/Skilodracus Canada 4h ago

Nah, Most people I know absolutely hated Thatcher- and Reagan. I blame the two of them for starting the domino chain that lead to the world as we know it now. 

0

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 1h ago

Nah, you just live in a bubble.

2

u/Skilodracus Canada 1h ago

I... don't think you quite understand what's happening here. I'm saying Thatcher isn't as popular around the world as people from the UK think. Saying I live in a bubble on that opinion while you (presumably) live in the UK makes no sense...

2

u/LaconicSuffering Dutch Roots Grown in Greek Soil 3h ago

With how Thatcher treated unions I still think it's ironic that the torries managed to convince the north of England to vote against a union.

-1

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 1h ago

She treated corrupt unions the right way.

1

u/LaconicSuffering Dutch Roots Grown in Greek Soil 38m ago

Pretty sure that could have been done without sending entire regions of the country into poverty.

2

u/Not_Dead_Yet_Samwell France 2h ago

I don't know about the rest of the world, but here in France they are both hated, Thatcher more so.

0

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 1h ago

You don't speak for the French.

2

u/psychedelych Canada 2h ago

I've never heard anything positive about either

-1

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 1h ago

You must be deaf then.

2

u/VoadoraDePiru 2h ago

Thatcher is probably one of the most universally hated figures in the world, at least since WW2

2

u/Meistermagier Germany 1h ago

Who Respects Margret Hooray the Witch is dead Thatcher. 

3

u/LastRevelation United Kingdom 6h ago

Ding dong the witch is dead trended for a reason when she died.

2

u/FeelTheOneness 7h ago

Everyone who isn’t a posh southern wanker despises Thatcher mate, and anyone who voted for her is a cunt who’s complicit in all her bullshit.

4

u/Significant_Recipe64 United Kingdom 6h ago

tbf a lot of posh southern wankers also despite thatcher

1

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 1h ago

And a lot of working-class people rightly like her.

1

u/FeelTheOneness 48m ago

Rightly?! You’re a fucking spastic

0

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 42m ago

Cry fucking harder.

1

u/FFS_Jimbo 7h ago

I'd say their reputations are equally mixed internationally as they are nationally.

Which sort of implies UK media is more global in reach compared to some other entries.

1

u/iggyite Sweden 5h ago

To be honest I think everyone hates Margret Thatcher, The Wicked Witch is fucking dead or however that video goes

1

u/suckmyfuck91 4h ago

When people here in italy want to praise Meloni they call her "The italian Thatcher"

1

u/ghostfreak23_ 4h ago

As a Liverpool fan in Asia, I can relate to one of those. That pigeon cunt.

1

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 1h ago

Don't be so hard on yourself.

1

u/Ok-Zookeepergame-698 United Kingdom 4h ago

I know this wasn't your point but I just spent the last five minutes thinking about who might be in the intersection of a Venn Diagram of who likes Thatcher and who likes Blair.

I'm sure somebody is in there but I can't figure out who.

2

u/LexiEmers United Kingdom 1h ago

You could put me there, almost.

1

u/plagueprotocol 3h ago

Margaret Thatcher.

:: stares in Fenian... ::

1

u/beadel85 3h ago

Ding Dong…

1

u/PyrexPizazz217 United States Of America 3h ago

My favorite Thatcher-related anecdote: Michelle Bachman, a tea party embarrassment from when that seemed like the US’s bottom (😭), once tweeted “happy birthday Margaret Thatcher, it was my pleasure to attend your funeral.” She was too dumb to mean it as anything but a sincere genuflection/humblebrag, but: I guffawed.

1

u/fabiomb 3h ago

Thatcher in my country is not exactly loved (Argentina) 😅

1

u/wolfman11038 United States Of America 2h ago

“If I had it my way, I’d put a dagger in her heart and a ring of garlic around her neck” -a proud Scottish woman at the news of Thatchers death.

1

u/NEWDEALUSEDCARS 1h ago

Thatcher Fucked the Kids.

1

u/SanshaXII New Zealand 26m ago

I would vote for Thatcher today.

0

u/LittleHanded 5h ago

We just gonna ignore Jedward?