Lack of range on this forum

[AguNwaanyi]

I am relatively new to posting on here but one thing that's stood out is a complete lack of range when discussing a variety of topics. Not everyone, but enough for it to be noticeable for me.

Take that recent £100k salary one which was littered with accusations of jealousy, laziness and entitlement to their money 😆. There were some reasonable counterpoints about how the salary doesn't stretch how it should and isn't exactly rich - fair enough - but some of the takes were just defensive when people raised wider points on capitalism, nepotism and societal structures impact how we progress. They took it as dismissing any hard work on their part. One person even brought in a great point about desirability politics in the workplace and the barriers/opportunities that stem from that but was basically told they needed to work on their self esteem (mind you, the person who responded this had the nerve to talk about my intelligence 😏).

There was one talking about teenagers skimpy clothing "these" days (already a-historical when you look at the evolution of style and attitudes towards respectability in dressing through the ages; conservative dressing has always been relative) and it went quickly to rape apologist rhetoric, rather than distinguishing between challenging hyper-sexualisation vs empowerment and abuse, which is a different category and nothing to do with how we dress.

I see this lack of nuance when discussing behaviour in children and adults. Given how many parents are on here it's shocking how many appear wilfully ignorant of child development stages (and a completely disregard for children as people generally, but that's a different conversation). Tantrums are seen as a sign of bad parenting or "naughty children". Teenagers with challenging behaviour are brats and other derogatives. When a young person or even adult does something wrong and that wrongdoing can be tied to a previous trauma or environmental circumstance, there is no interest in digging into what wider patterns we see and they believe if you do this you are trying to excuse the behaviour rather than understand it. Basic critical thinking gets eyerolls and called "woke nonsense".

And I am not just talking about people who I don't agree with. It's one thing to have a different take and ideology, and still apply range. And this isn't me thinking I'm smarter than everyone either (although if that's anyone's takeaway I will leave that with them). Not knowing something isn't the same as being stubbornly obtuse.

Anyone else feel this way? Feel free to ask me to clarify anything that isn't clear.

I think if you are relatively new here you will see more range as time goes on.
Make sure you visit the topic boards where replies tend to be more aware than AIBU or Chat.

Bear in mind that not everyone here is a woman, a mother, a stepmother, or here in good faith. Apart from people who are ill informed (or know different facts to you) there are also trolls.
If you look on AIBU you'll see a cohort jump on the OP to leave a negative comment about her instead of offering help with her situation, and the discussion will usually become more nuanced in the later pages.

Well it's certainly not my 'takeaway'.

There are literally millions of Mumsnet users who have all different views, and come from all different walks of life.

But you seem to be concentrating on the replies that suit your biased view of Mumsnet.

Maybe dial down the opinions until you’ve been on Mn longer and read more variously a wide variety of topics? At the moment you’re like the teenage work experience kid who comes in on day two with the lunch their mummy packed for them and bursting with ideas about restructuring a multinational.

The OP's been posting under this name since December.

No idea how they think that makes them relatively new.

I'm confused. You complain about their being a lack of range (of views?) whilst describing a range of views in threads you have been on.

Or when you say ' range' do you actually mean some people have a view and stick to and defend that view rather than coming here to be more discursive and prepared to have their view changed? If so, how can you be surprised that lots of people online are like that? Most people are like that in RL too.

I think you are just surprised that lots of people have views that you strongly disagree with. It is quite striking to come here and move from the relative echo chamber of friends that most people stay in in RL.

MN is actually a rare place where lots of people with a huge variety of views can debate and argue with a large amount of freedom and lack of censorship compared to many other chat forums.

I detest finger wagging threads telling people they are posting incorrectly. But even you describe a range so maybe you need to be the change and post better things yourself? Show everyone else how it is done.

However did we cope before you came along?

Maybe the people with different views haven't seen the threads you are on , maybe they read them but couldn't be bothered to post, maybe the views are what the majority actually think.

Well you’ve been here long enough now to decide whether or not MN is right for you.

Sounds like you’d prefer somewhere else.

<shrugs>

It’s new relative to those of us who have been on MN for a decade (or two!)for sure.

Anyway, I certainly don’t agree with the OP that there’s a ‘lack of range’.

I've been here for about 16 years. So OP is relatively new!

This, pretty much.

Try Feminism: Sex and Gender Discussions and History Club for example, for a chance of encountering posters who know that Harriet Taylor Mill and Claude Lévi-Strauss aren't members of Wet Leg.

You must be VERY new

It’s a chat forum, we’re chatting. Not every conversation is a university level discussion with carefully considered arguments presented by both sides and a helpful summary at the end before we all decide what we think. Sometimes we’re just wittering bollocks.

The amount of bunfights suggests there is quite a range indeed.

I am absolutely NOT surprised I am seeing lots of views I disagree with. This is most people's day-to-day experience. However, you might have a point that this is different to other spaces I have been on and the approach to discussions is very different here. Fair enough on that part.

When I say lack of range I don't mean range of views but lack of critical analysis applied to any one topic, or conflating different takes. Does that clarify?

It's a chat forum not university lectures

Thanks, I haven't really dug into the different sections so perhaps you are right. Will check out the other boards 👌

Ah, so what you're really saying is that you think MN isn’t intellectual enough for you.

Not goady at all then.

Do remember to come back and publish your report.

I haven't really dug into the different sections

How ignorant is that? Criticising lack of range when your own experience of MN - since December - has been so restrictive.

Thank god you’re finally here, we’ve been waiting.

I think you’re looking for something different to most mumsnetters. It’s a chat forum, light entertainment for most.

Part of me wonders if you started this thread as a brag to share how intelligent you are?

I get that but sometimes the topics are deeper and the range is still lacking.