To think MN is suddenly full of hard right extremists?

[Manumission]

I can't believe what I'm reading today.

Some of the comments of the bacon/mosque attack sentencing thread and also on the Jack Monroe/ sanction petition thread are just breathtakingly nasty. Other threads too.

What's happened? They aren't all new names. Some are. Is it an influx altering the mood here? Or does it reflect the national shift?

Exactly Estelle; very well described.

Hmm. Re the why didn't "Allah deflect the hail of bacon" comment, I read similar comments about God and Christianity on Mumsnet all the time. Indeed, there was a post on that thread that many Christians would find offensive. I take it you would also take issue with that?

Yes, exactly, it was like the worst kind of 'sky fairy' comment but completely standalone, unfamiliar username, inserted randomly into a discussion about the legal case (albeit a discussion rapidly becoming a bunfight). It looked like the equivalent of a rent-a-mob thug sauntering in.

The target religion is immaterial to me. (It might have some relevance, however, if you consider the DM influx theory)

Yes, it's very disturbing. A lot of very blatant racist and transphobic comments lately.

But Estelle I don't think it is as simple as that. The Brexit vote was driven by many factors not just the usual DM agenda. The road I live on in N London should be a left wing haven, mostly social housing and lots of disability claimants as far as I can see. However in the lead up to the referendum the place became Union Jack central. And thus in a borough that voted 75% to remain. And look at the US - Trump is openly borrowing the lefts clothing to bash the elite. Several commentators in the G are openly anti Clinton and supported Brexit.

So go figure. I'm finding the left right definition increasingly irrelevant. To me it's: do you believe in universal values? Do you support civil rights? Do you understand the need for cooperation and civic discourse? Can you accept compromise? A lot of my liberal mates feel the left has abnegated those principles just as much as the right in favour of a kind of embittered victim hood.

Marmite I think there is much in what you say. The left/right dividing line is indeed becoming blurred. I deserted Labour some time ago, precisely because I am progressive in my views, rather than the opposite.

Re Trump, I think he is one of a number of figures/parties who are borrowing rhetoric from whatever side of the line is convenient, and using it to hoodwink voters to vote against their own interests. As with UKIP/Farage, his supporters just seem to hear the rhetoric and fail to notice that he is, in fact, one of the elite himself.

In a similar way, in the UK there has been a successful strategy to manipulate portions of the powerless to focus their hate on other similarly disadvantaged groups, rather than those who are really causing their problems. So we see the government and much of the media demonising the disabled and the unemployed. Those working their socks off in low wage jobs feel aggrieved at what they see as handouts to the lazy, and focus their ire in that direction, rather than at a system/elites that have ensured their wages are suppressed.

Yes i do think lots of right wing views come across on mumsnet all the time the louis smith thread had me I think people have always thought like that but now they are just saying it.

YANBU, I've noticed this. I blame the Daily Mail and Brexit.

Eh? Have you read any of the Brexit threads? Anyone who doesn't say "Brexit is a total disaster, millions of kittens will die and anyone who voted leave has no brain" is immediately leapt upon and ridiculed - not really very DM.
Threads seem more ill-tempered recently, but not in a particular direction, just generally

The overall audience has changed over recent years OP. It was very middle class and left for a while back there.

Yes, there really should be a warning before posting that anyone less than middle class stick to the other site. I mean, we all know they uneducated bigots right?

they are that should read. Oh no, my working class is showing!

I think there have always been a wide range of views on here, although it's predominantly left-leaning. There are extremes on both sides but I think it's just an inevitable result of the site getting larger. In a way it makes for more interesting discussions if not everyone agrees on everything. I tend to switch off if people start throwing insults around though.

Yet a vocal majority of MN are anti trans in a way that would be unacceptable to be homophones, sexist etc.

I can't talk as I am fed up of the trans debate but you can't start going on about nasty opinions when the prevailing mood on MN is anti trans.

Meh im not Middle class i manage to not be a knob

I suspect it reflects a change in society as well.

People are talking about more extreme policies, the local shop keeper really thought he would be rounded up and sent home.

In 2016. In England.

Extreme right wing people always make a lot of noise and sound like they are a lot more than they are

a fringe minority of loons with nothing to contribute to anything.

Personally, I think this is simply bien pensant middle class liberals suddenly realising that a lot of people don't think like they do and that now those people are willing to disagree with them openly.

varvara - Hmm. Re the why didn't "Allah deflect the hail of bacon" comment, I read similar comments about God and Christianity on Mumsnet all the time.

The language used by some posters on 'woo' threads to describe people who have religious beliefs have become increasingly unpleasant lately i've noticed. Thick, moronic, idiots ect. Nasty to read and unnecessary.

It's free speech though. Which is something i value very highly. So i'm conflicted. It's a fine line.

When you remember that there are a lot of journalists and politicians on here, many with agendas to promote and copy to produce, then perhaps not so surprising after all.

Claudias post says it all. What a prejudiced view!

I've been on the Jack Monroe thread. The left do seem gullible and believe everything that written without considering balanced debate. If you don't agree you receive a barrage of abuse and insults. Someone said they were happy for there to be benefit cheats if it prevented the genuine cases from being missed. I disagreed and was called ignorant.

OutOfBlueComesGreen -I've been on MN for years. I post less & less simply because it's so nasty on here nowadays. But we shouldn't allow (the left)posters to frighten others off, otherwise MN becomes a Left-wing site.

I'm just not prepared to for the Left to feel they are representing me because I'm too scared to challenge or post.

I don't read the DM.

Agreed. Brexit's a whole other tangle that exists on its own plane.

I think both extremes have gained ground unfortunately from UKIP to Momentum.

It's reflecting society as it is now.