Covid Mutual Support = More toxic than the worst PTA

[FATEdestiny]

Is anyone else a member of a Covid Mutual Support group (where you support people on the street)?

Ours has turned incredibly toxic and I don't know what to do.

The two main admin of the group overseeing my town are on massive power trips. It's got to the point yesterday where one admin split from the other to make a second group for the same town. So volunteers on a street level have to choose which group to be in.

It's horrible. Like the worse kind of PTA (in my experience, I know many great PTAs exist but there are also toxic ones).

Our covid mutual support seems marred with

• Cliques
• Taking sides and ostracizing anyone not on your 'side'
• power struggles over who has rights to make decisions
• no discussion, if opinion differs then members are removed and blocked without discussion (Which has led to the power struggle between admin leaders)

I've just stayed quiet and let all the bitterness happen around me without comment. I've set up a lovely WhatsApp group with the people who live on my street and it's supportive, kind and a pleasure to be part of. But the town group who cover the area our street is in - it's hideous.

In any other circumstances I'd be thanks but no thanks and leave immediately. But I've volunteered to help the isolated people on my street and love doing that, plus they need me.

I don't even know why I'm posting this. It just make a me so sad. Everyone in that group (and there's over 1000) wants to help others. But it's made so hard by the infighting.

Crikey - what on earth are they falling out about?

Doesn't surprise me. Most people in those groups are virtue signalling idiots.
I've given my number to a few elderly/vulnerable people and told them to call me if they need assistance and I won't be joining any sort of group.

I must admit I've been worrying wondering about this!

I think 1,000 people is far too large for a group though. It needs splitting even further. The groups need to be ultra-local and having one group for a whole town doesn't sound like the best idea.

Is it specifucally a Mutual Aid group?

A lot of them (but not all) are run by "woke" types. Queercare guidelines which a lot of them refer to are from an organisation set up by a trans woman called Ada Cable who likes to tweet about punching "TERFs" i.e. feminists. I'm not surprised there's infighting as IME woke facebook groups often end up collapsing because of their hierarchy of oppression nonsense and how many narcissists are attracted to their movement.

Why don't you set up a Facebook group for your ward? Or your town even? With some admins you trust. The mutual aid people have no more authority than you, you don't need to ask permission.

This is one of the main reasons I've come off FB. Our 'support' group became vile for anyone that wasn't toeing the party line.

Leave them to it Op.

My town isn't woke and we have a couple of groups set up by local people, nothing to do with Mutual Aid.There's no infighting (yet) we're just getting on with it.