To wonder why MN is so left wing/liberal?

[cdvegan2023]

MN hates Brexit, the tories, pink toys, violent video games... you get the idea. But in real life most women don't mind buying gender specific toys/clothes and the election/brexit female vote was about 50/50. So what makes this place 90% lefty/lib when general society is either split or completely reversed?

In my circle of friends I find that those who are most outspoken about politics tend to hold typically left-wing views. I think the same must apply to mumsnet. There also seems to be this thing that if you are not left-wing in your views or if you voted leave in the referendum then you are thick. Yes I vote Tory. Yes I voted leave. Would I admit that to my friends in RL? No.

Even that is laughable, there are many posters who loudly proclaim their RG degree and show no critical thinking skills

I don’t think you understand the statistics. Level of education was a strong predictor of voting behaviour in the referendum. Statistics aren’t expected to apply to every individual in each group, and the existence of a correlation doesn’t explain why the correlation exists (or indeed imply causation, this comes when the correlation can be convincingly explained). You seem to think the explanation should be higher critical thinking skills in the more highly educated population but it could also be linked to different values.

Right so if you vote Tory you part of the 'nasty club'

t used to be that heated debates took place but most people would do so respectfully. People now seem far quicker to make personal attacks on those who express different opinions. It's like fundamentalist religious behaviour which insists no other view has any validity at all and must be condemned.

No it didn't, MN didnt thrive and promote itself on being a nest of vipers for nothing

In academic circles there used to be plenty of both right-wing lecturers and left-wing lecturers who would enjoy challenging one another while still managing to stay friendly. They could completely disagree, but always assume the other had come to their different conclusions with the best of intentions.

Again this is slightly rose tinted, within the academic arguments it wasn't right wing academics as they were generally shot down, but left-wing posting an alternative view within a framed prospective to be easily dismantled.

You're ignoring MN as a collective being a proud left wing site for Mums, and ignoring the absolute meltdown across the whole site in the wake of 2010 GE and the absolute shit show that led up to that GE

Is thecatfromjapan pissed?
Must be. Or high. Commendable effort for a Wednesday evening. I haven’t the stamina these days.

grimeofthecentury - Scotland is normal! There are five million of us!

You seem to think the explanation should be higher critical thinking skills in the more highly educated population but it could also be linked to different values.

Oh, ok, so it's not intelligence, nor critical thinking, it's moved onto the most likely trope of more empathy?

So care to correlate the stats of education levels and how it negates my point of treating politics like a team sport?

Oh I know I've lived in Scotland and itsthe fab, obviously varied cities/country, diff levels of affluence etc like anywhere. I just mean I always see posts where the op says "its snowing here" or "dc are back at school" (diff school holidays), someone questions it and they're always in Scotland, maybe it's not that many but I feel like loads are and I find Scots political views are usually quite distinct esp when it comes to Europe etc so it can colour the general picture on MN

it's moved onto the most likely trope of more empathy?

You keep making random guesses why don’t you? Empathy isn’t a value. It’s more about valuing tolerance above family or security, that sort of thing.

Justanotherlurker I was talking about my own experience IRL over 20 years ago, rather than MN in particular. I know the thread is primarily about MN and should have been clearer.

I guess it depends on your perspective. I don't think it is at all. There's a lot of right of centre views on here imo.

We are all left wing of "Trump" and the Rupert Murdochs of this world. I hope!

The bane of Brexit is that it has irrefutably disrupted the country and caused further divisions. It's like camps have to formed, are you right or are you left 😱 Those divisions if history is proven, often lead to the extreme views crawling through the norm.

As written below, I don't believe mn is heavily towards one side or the other. But thankfully we are not often seeing the extremist views / if that makes it left leaning..... well that is probably representative of most the country m, Labour, lib and Tory voters combined.

Well, believe it or not, I was quite genuine in wondering what underlies the addiction to proclaim a victimised, silenced status - when the fact you can have a conversation with people on MN suggests that really isn't the case.

And I'm interested in that. I don't quite understand the dynamics of it.

I also don't get the whole 'arrogance' thing. I think it seems to be a projection, something that is read into a situation, rather than something based in intent.

I'm finding the animosity towards the statistics interesting, too. I think some posters are misreading noble's comments in an odd way. She very clearly unhitched intelligence and academic achievement - but that seems to have been ignored.

A lot of my more right-wing acquaintance have socially liberal views but right-wing economic views. They're very confident and don't have the sense of fragility I'm picking up here. They go skiing and don't really worry about whether they should or shouldn't voice their opinions. They'll happily explain to anyone why pensions, state education and the NHS should be done away with, and they'll defend their opinions robustly.

So I'm genuinely interested why there is this thing repeated by MN r-wingers that they are oppressed by a Leftie majority. We have a Conservative government. What Leftie majority is this that is silencing people? Where?

MN is pretty mixed these days - and as I keep saying, you can write left or right wing comments (and many shades in between) - though not without an expectation of challenge. And that is the same for any opinion, political or otherwise. So I don't think it's the case that lefties on MN silence the right.

And I can understand that you might have friends of an alternative political persuasion on MN and might want to reign in what you say for fear of rupturing the on-line friendship. But I don't think that's what the posters talking here have in mind.

And the silencing isn't going on in the real world, either (unless you have truly atrocious views that cross legal lines).

So where is this silencing? Why the need to cling to this idea?

I'm honestly baffled.

I think Mumsnet has become more right wing recently and is definitely more so than my immediate social or professional circle [or that they will admit to].
Perhaps some posters of these feel emboldened by the anonymity that MN affords and are actually 'shy Tories' in everyday life?

I’m the only liberal on here! We are an official minority. Leave me alone

I think the majority of posters on here are left wing, because of their very comfortable lives !

They live in a prism where they think everything is so simple and just putting a few 'pence' on income tax would solve every ill !

I am also convinced that many posters believe that if Labour get in , suddenly the United Kingdom will become this great paradise of a land...

I think you can only be left wing if you are either very poor where just a extra £10 a week is enough to swing your vote . Or alternatively comfortably off enough to indulge in virtue signalling !

It feels very socially conservative here at times, between the Hyacinths and the trans-haters (which I'm frankly gobsmacked by).

But then I'm from Scotland where the original Labour Party and its forerunners and splinters included such schoolmasters as John McLean and James Maxton who were ferociously left-wing (McLean being Bolshevik Consul as well as having a USSR street named after him and a portrait stamp issued), and where Thatcher gave the Sermon on the Mound in the face of united opposition to her policies by the national Kirk. Our politics and politicians seem much more socially liberal overall, whatever the party.

In contrast, MN often seems very Little Englander in parts, despite the international membership.

surfer

Another WTF. Where on earth did that come from? Someone smoking dope and watching ?Howard's End? while forgetting it was written 110 years ago? Where apart from Leonard Bast and his wife all was solved by rather of a lot of money?

And explaining this as a reason why middle aged right wing women feel persecuted? I think I lost the thread. Only connect.

And yet and yet..
Scotland comes up as pretty similar to rest of UK on social attitudes surveys.

It's all Russian Trolls trying to stir up anarchy and social unrest. Turn everyone against each other.
I think they were behind both the Trump and Brexit victories.

Yes to controversial trolls.

How much influence they have..I'm not convinced.

BertrandRussell

There are other groups who seem to feel the same- the anti PC "you can't say anything nowadays without offending someone" types, the Christians who think they are being persecuted in the UK, the anti feminists who claim to be silenced.....they all seem to be incredibly vocal and influential for groups being denied a platform!

The only people who don't care about the proliferation of PC are those who never permit a non-PC thought to enter their heads. Mindless automatons, in other words.

Maybe but I don't see it reflected on MN. Nor do I see the wide social diversity expressed in our politicians reflected in English politics. Where are all the gay party leaders, the openness to refugees, the government protection of the NHS, the offsetting of the Bedroom Tax by government subsidy, the MSPs leading the fight for women's pension rights?

I would say the ability to care about other members of society rather than just themselves - however I would say there was quite a high number of ‘new rich’ people on here who think they are a cut above with no substance to back it up.