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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To wonder if AIBU is full of anti labour & anti Lib Dem fake news

91 replies

Timeforachange2018 · 02/04/2018 11:08

Logged into AIBU this morning to find an anti labour- anti Corbyn post and an anti Lib Dem post. As mumsnet is considered quite influencial, is it becoming a hunting ground for fake news and Tory propaganda. I find it all a bit disturbing to be honest - Aibu

OP posts:
MakeItRain · 02/04/2018 13:40

I think what you're saying is interesting. I wasn't really expecting some of the vitriol that began to surface on one of the threads this morning. I find most of the people I talk to in real life have much more balanced and thoughtful views, and their criticism is usually more carefully considered and debated. I find it hard to take people's views seriously anyway when they're interspersed with personal attacks and swearing. I just find it difficult to believe that they'll genuinely be open to debate or willing to listen to others' views. So then you naturally question their motives.

Like another poster said, it's already out there that social media platforms are successfully targeted by groups in order to change voting preferences. So I can imagine it's very possible (though not a given) that posters on here are basically trying to do the same, either as part of a group or alone.

SnowJokeAnymore · 02/04/2018 13:42

Corbyn has split my wider family's voting. The ones who like him will not be told! If you like him you really like him and if you don't you'll switch away from an age old allegiance to Labour. I dont know what to make if his chances tbh.

SnowJokeAnymore · 02/04/2018 13:47

I think genuine Labour party members and voters can feel vitriolic towards momentum etc quite easily without being trolls. It's an emotional situation.p for many.

I had gone off the deep end by the last election so I am more Zen now!

JessicaJonesJacket · 02/04/2018 13:56

violet if you look at Corbyn's core support, and the areas where he increased support for the Labour Party, those demographics are less likely to be on MN. Whereas Blairites and Tories are more likely to be on MN. I think that's why there's a marked difference in support for Corbyn in RL versus support for him on MN.

Violetparis · 02/04/2018 14:04

Thanks Jessica. That's an interesting point, will google to find more detail.

SnowJokeAnymore · 02/04/2018 14:11

In think confusing other (non MN) social media support for real life voting patterns would also be misleading.

People are socialising online and only a noisy minority will espouse a political position and some will simply lie to be in with their family or mates. I think I'd be far more equivocal on Corbyn and co on other social media with family and friends. In fact I'd probably be mostly silent ( we've said it already..) and then go out of my way to find something pleasant to say about some policy or other that I could agree with.

If I was socialising right now in my locality I'd say that I wish the Labour party well. It's true but it doesnt mean I'd vote for them as they are now.

ALittleAubergine · 02/04/2018 14:15

There is definitely a strong anti corbyn sentiment here, which interestingly is also the case in most msm. But I don't think any of the main parties are getting a lot of support at the moment. I'm mostly just tired of the confirmation bias, I think in real life people have to consider the other side of the truth much more than here.

Unfinishedkitchen · 02/04/2018 15:16

I’ve said on other threads that I’m an unashamed Blarite and have zero time for the far left. However, it is clear that Corbyn faces far more criticism than any politician I’ve ever known considering he’s not even in government. For example he’s called anti-Semitic due to sharing platforms with anti-semites but the Tory’s are not facing demos on account of Boris Johnson making actual racist comments and JRM sharing platforms with racists? How does that work?

I think these attacks will back fire as people will vote for him because they will see him as an attacked underdog.

SnowJokeAnymore · 02/04/2018 15:29

I agree that knocking Corbyn never makes anyone look good. It's like kicking a puppy. If that's the Tory's only tactic then they are doomed.

ALittleAubergine · 02/04/2018 19:29

I think I just saw the thread this one is about. The thing to remember is that most people here have long ago made up their minds about labour under corbyn or even corbyn himself and there's very little that anyone can say here to persuade them either way. I personally have stronger views on the current state of UK than I have about a single politician.

I will say though that I do wonder about the constant corbyn stories in msm at the moment. I'm not convinced that they are just a coincidence and a result of fair and unbiased reporting.

hereyougosuckmyassforensics · 02/04/2018 19:47

YABU President Trump

SnowJokeAnymore · 02/04/2018 19:55

I think the traditional right wing media expected the SinnFein / Wolf Tone society stories to put the public off. It did me from the start as I remember it as it happened! But Ireland is not the hot button issue of today. They put it out there and found the electorate weren't that bothered.

The anti semitism stories are from the current Labour Party and of their own making. The Ken Livingstone comments on Hitler etc.(unsolicited iirc!) Ruth Smeeth complaining at a meeting , and Corbyn's cosy looking chat with the guy in the aftermath. It is bad for party but I'm not sure that the general public will take it on board.

caroldecker · 02/04/2018 20:14

Even Momentum have agreed that anti-semitism is 'more widespread than it understood' and 'should not and cannot be dismissed as smears'.
BBC article.

SnowJokeAnymore · 02/04/2018 20:18

Reporting is rarely fair. The press did Andrea Leadsom up like a kipper.

Boris seems to get away with saying odd things by the application of a lot of confidence. (Comparing Putin to Hitler?! If I were Russian I'd be livid in light of WWII history. Maybe that was deliberate?) I don't know anyone who rates him but I see from on here that I'm in a bubble (naturally enough!)
I don't think he is popular north of Watford : I'd love to see polling on that!

MissEliza · 02/04/2018 20:26

Can I clarify Op? You find an anti Labour sentiment on MN disturbing but not the level of vitriol displayed on social media by Corbyn supporters by anyone who thinks differently to them?

MovingAgainOhWhy · 02/04/2018 20:36

They're probably all posts by Russian bots using the interwed to influence voters...

DairyisClosed · 02/04/2018 20:38

This is a mot a news site, it is a discussion forum. Everything on here is taken as a statement of opinion. It's really not news, fake or otherwise. Maybe some people need to learn to stop telling fake news every time someone disagrees with them.

DairyisClosed · 02/04/2018 20:39

*I'm a Russian double agent who works for Cambridge analytica BTW. You can trust me Wink

SnowJokeAnymore · 02/04/2018 20:41

They really need to crackdown on this interwebs!

Slarti · 02/04/2018 20:41

YANBU. As we've seen from Cambridge Analytica, Facebook and the Russians, spamming online communities with propaganda has proven to be effective. Does anyone really believe the "I've always voted Labour but can't anymore until that nasty man Corbyn resigns" copy and paste story that shows up all the time?

ALittleAubergine · 02/04/2018 20:43

Boris's ability to get away with everything is really unbelievable. I think it's something to do with him coming across as a clown, somebody who nobody should take seriously. And yet he is in a very senior position politically. I have no doubt that if he was a woman, the media (right and left) would have had him already and he'd be long gone.

MovingAgainOhWhy · 02/04/2018 20:45

^ see Russian bots everywhere

Grin
Mydoghatesthebath · 02/04/2018 20:53

Oh op you do actually understand that in RL as well as on here not all those who don’t regard the dear leader as faultless are not just tories and the right wing press.

As a labour member, well not now as they are an embaressment led by an anti semetic, mysogynistic allowing, wind bag who is a momentum puppet but clearly doesn’t realise that or doesn’t care and is ruining the country by not having the basic ability to hold this Tory government up to account.

Mydoghatesthebath · 02/04/2018 20:56

Shall I already call myself a Tory troll and a Blairite now to save you the trouble?

There you go back to apologising for anti Semitic vile behaviour and trans mysogyny. Carry on regardless until labour are the laughing stock of the country and may goes ‘on and on and in like Thatcher did

Mydoghatesthebath · 02/04/2018 20:58

Boris is disgraceful. May won’t sack him as she’s too scared he would stab her in the back benches Wink

He’s lost a lot of credibility within the country I feel though so that’s a relief