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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To miss how ignorant I was...

22 replies

KoalaFace · 27/05/2014 00:00

...when I was younger?

I never used to think about things like politics and feminism for example. If they came up in conversation I'd make some bolshy, childish comment about it being boring and I wasn't interested. Then I'd carry on preening in the mirror and be totally untroubled by current events.

The more I've learnt and the more engaged I've become the more worried, stressed and outraged I feel! The injustice plays on my mind.

So, while I know I'm a better person for being nore interested in the world I live in, AIBU for missing my blissful ignorance of my teenage years?

OP posts:

EatShitDerek · 27/05/2014 00:01

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

IneedAwittierNickname · 27/05/2014 00:03

Me too Derek I like my little bubble of ignorance, I think!

PairOfTerrors · 27/05/2014 00:03

I have to be completely honest and say people who always took a total lack of interest in politics etc and would say things like "it's so boring why does anyone care" used to really get to me from a young age. Then again anyone is different and I know plenty of adults who still couldn't give a toss.

AlpacaLypse · 27/05/2014 00:05

yanbu to regret your childhood innocence

AlpacaLypse · 27/05/2014 00:07

Sorry, meant to say regret the loss of your childhood innocence.

Being a grown up is hard work, and there's no magic button that says that on the morning of your eighteenth birthday you will be an adult and have adult wisdom. We all take our own time to get there.

BolshierAyraStark · 27/05/2014 00:08

Yep, still on the ignorant side-thank fuck.

Original poster

KoalaFace · 27/05/2014 00:13

Oh Derek and Ineed I'm afraid I've seen enough of you both to know you're not totally ignorant!

Pair you'd have hated me! I must have been a shallow bore to anyone who didn't want to discuss JLo's makeup and whether wedges were sexier than stilettos!

Alpaca Yeah it was just childish innocence in its way I suppose! And you're right, being a grown up is hard work. And having my DC has made me fearful of all the injustice.

OP posts:

Original poster

KoalaFace · 27/05/2014 00:14

I may hop on back to your side Bolshier! Want to debate the best lipglosses?

OP posts:

PassTheCakeitsbeenatough1 · 27/05/2014 00:15

YANBU, I miss the innocence of childhood - but I can't believe how self obsessed and 'right' I was about everything. God I must have been irritating! I really dislike young people who remind me of myself when I was young.

These days I don't know very much at all and spend my time stressing about money and politics. It certainly was easier when I was young.

IneedAwittierNickname · 27/05/2014 00:16

Thanks Koala at least, I think that was a compliment!

In all honesty, I know I'm not completely ignorant! I've had to work hard to teach myself some things, and there re still many many things I don't understand... Like tax, I just don't get it

BolshierAyraStark · 27/05/2014 00:17

Ahhhh now tax I can do...

WorraLiberty · 27/05/2014 00:18

Pair you'd have hated me! I must have been a shallow bore to anyone who didn't want to discuss JLo's makeup and whether wedges were sexier than stilettos!

Yes but MN still has many feminists who are interested in celeb twaddle and style and beauty...so it doesn't have to be either/or.

I do know what you mean though because I can't watch some sitcoms on Gold that I used to love, because I can see the blatant sexism and racism that I didn't use to notice.

But I don't regret my innocence ( I prefer that word to ignorance ), I'm just grateful I see a lot of things differently now, so in turn my children do too.

Original poster

KoalaFace · 27/05/2014 00:25

Don't get me wrong Worra I still love style, beauty, frothy sitcoms, etc but like you say, it is the awareness of some things that stop the simple enjoyment that I used to have.

For example, I just know that 17 year old me would have loved that Blurred Lines song. While at 28 I hated it as soon as I heard it and my hatred has now grown to something so visceral I could almost weep whenever I hear it.

Ineed it was definitely a compliment!

OP posts:

PairOfTerrors · 27/05/2014 00:48

hahaha. I am sure I wouldn't have hated you! Very vacuous, overly "blonde" and deliberately kind of dippy girls used to get to me more so. Not so much the ones that didn't care, but the ones who'd say things like "so do we have a prime minister or a president?" and "so does the queen like...own the prime minister?" ya know..those kind of comments!

Don't get me wrong, I spent a good 45 minutes today gossiping about Eastenders then about the demise of Miley Cyrus. Oh and my excitement over how good my new mascara is.

WorraLiberty · 27/05/2014 00:49

I know what you mean but rather than weep, I'm just happy that I see some things differently...and therefore in turn so do my 3 sons and my DH.

They tut at me if I use ingrained phrases like 'Postman' or if I assume a heart surgeon (for example) is male. They call 'sexist' or 'Mum...talk about sterotyping' and it makes me smile because they're right

I'm also chair of governors at my local very large Primary school and I know I've changed a lot of old fashioned ways of thinking there too.

So rather than regret the past, just look to the future and make tiny changes where you can.

EatShitDerek · 27/05/2014 00:49

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

IneedAwittierNickname · 27/05/2014 00:55

Thanks then Koala

Tbh I don't know if I'm happier about the compliment, or the fact that someone recognised me! I thought I was fairly unknown on here

ChelsyHandy · 27/05/2014 04:58

It depends OP. Ive got a friend who has such an "interest" in politics that she ignorantly rams her dubious left wing views everyone's throats, ignoring the human rights abuses of e.g former Eastern loc countries under left wing governments. Its just another type of ignorance, although im sure "preening in the mirror" isn't the only alternative.

Aspiringhuman · 27/05/2014 07:46

I used to believe that human beings were inherently nice. I wish I could believe that again rather than knowing the majority aren't so it's safer to assume they're bastard until proved otherwise.

FreeSpirit89 · 27/05/2014 07:50

YANBU I wish I coukd go back into my old room and sit and play barbie a in front of my radiator while listening to spice girls.

Life is hard! X

BrokenStar · 27/05/2014 08:06

YANBU. Knowledge is power so they say but having a social conscience can be a burden too.

13Stitches · 27/05/2014 08:29

Reminds me of this: [[http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/nofx/thedecline.html And so we go, on with our lives,
We know the truth, but prefer lies,
Lies are simple, simple is bliss,
Why go against tradition when we can,
Admit defeat, live in decline,
Be the victim of our own design,
The status quo, built on suspect,
Why would anyone stick out their neck?]]

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