To think that people who 'want to switch off' from BLM are the ones who have chips on their shoulders?

[Moomin8]

I use a cloth nappy group on FB. A few days ago someone accidentally (I think, I didn't see it) made an offensive remark.

The next day one of the admins, very sensibly set up a thread for people to post educational resources relating to the BLM movement which encourage us all to think about how we can be a part of the solution rather than the problem. The issue of course, is that a lot of people don't even know that they are contributing to systemic racism.

That was fine until someone posted a comment saying this wasn't nappy related and they just wanted a space for nappies etc. After that it turned into a bit of a bun fight and got quite nasty.

There were only a few people who seemed to have this view but it left me wondering, why would someone complain about something positive that we could all learn from. Cloth nappy communities include people from BAME backgrounds (obviously) and why would you not want to take action against something that could hurt other people?

@Moomin8 well a lot of it is just endless reiteration is of the obvious or just plain propaganda. Like I said, if you follow the links you sometimes have good stuff but I just don’t want to waste my time reading things I already know. I’m not interested in half facts and anecdotes from strangers when thinking about political topics. I much prefer reading articles published in reputable journals or other sources from people who understand the issues in a comprehensive way. Spending your time reading BLM stuff trying to get a full picture is the equivalent of going to Donald trumps twitter feed in an attempt to learn why communism is bad.

Jeez if I want to read stuff about BLM I can google it - if I am in a cloth nappy site I want to know about cloth nappies

Your OP asked if people who want to switch off from BLM have chips on their shoulders.

I think a lot of people here have given good reasons why it's ok to switch off from BLM either temporarily or to keep certain spaces of social media as "free from any current affairs".

I think encouraging unmoderated and guided discussion could be more harmful in a lot of cases and just gives a wider audience to harmful opinions.

There are people who will pay £170 for one nappy because it has a 'rare' print. People sell, swap and auction things every day.

I think they are the people who need to "check their privilege" - it's people who waste money like that who are the real problem considering how many others (BAMEs or otherwise) are struggling.

Pulling up the individual who made a racist remark is fine. Or banning them. But a nappy group is not really the place to educate on BLM.

Wanting a place to discuss the topic in hand - ie nappies - is not unreasonable.

Over the last few years, several of my online hobby groups have decided they must take a stand on some issue or another. I haven’t complained, but I have largely withdrawn. If I come to talk about yarn, I want to talk about yarn. If the space isn’t for that any more, that is fine, but it’s not a space I’m going to come to as frequently because I would go there when I’m taking a break. It’s not like I have my head in the sand and am avoiding these issues, it’s that sometimes it’s ok to take a break and decompress a bit and the space no longer serves that purpose.

Moomin8

If I were being "educated" on something in a group that was about something else, I would expect to be able to talk about what I am being educated about.

In many groups it seems that unless you agree with BLM in its entirety or even want to talk about their manifesto then you will be seen as a racist.

I don't think every space should be politicised

Jeez someone always spouts this nonsense.

Sticking up for someone else's human rights is not "politicising" every space. Your rights apparently matter, why shouldn't anyone else's? I bet if someone said something against white mothers you'd have something to say about that.

If I was in a cloth nappy group I'd want the subject matter to be about cloth nappies, in the same vein I would NOT expect racist comments against members to go unchallenged for the sake of "sticking to the subject". Racist comments are NOT the subject matter at hand are they?!

Do members of other ethnic communities not belong in that group then? And don't deserve basic respect?

I think you are the one who needs to be educated.

And all this came about because of an undefined 'racist' comment that the OP didn't actually see so has no way of knowing whether the comment was racist or not. From what the OP has said it sound as if it was inadvertently offensive rather than intentionally. I suspect a very keen virtue signaller saw an opportunity to get some brownie points and possibly revelled in the fact they has the opportunity to 'call someone out'

I wish people would read my OP properly - Again, it was not me who posted the thread - the group creator posted it and I suppose that since it's her group that is her call, right? I was reflecting on how I was fine with seeing that there, interested even but (a few) others were not.

I can take on board what some of you are saying. But I don't think the intention was to suddenly educate people about BLM but more to help group members in minority groups feel that this is a safe space for them too.

Saying that all babies wee and poo is a bit like saying all lives matter (incidentally a buzz phrase initiated by white supremacists).

Moomin8

incidentally a buzz phrase initiated by white supremacists

Is this a provable statement?

I don't think anyone is struggling with the notion that the admin for a cloth nappy facebook group may also turn out to be a 'woke' virtue signalling SJW. I would be far more surprised if they weren't!

I want to switch off from BLM. Fed up to the back teeth with it. Firstly using a world wide pandemic as a platform, with anyone worried about the effects branded a racist. Secondly, the actual movement has some ridiculous ideas, like getting rid of the police!
Thirdly, keep telling white people they have white privilege and they need more education. This really makes white people switch off. Instead of calling out the minority of racist people in this country they have done a good job at alienating a whole lot of people who are not racist. Maybe communication techniques need improving on both sides.

This really makes white people switch off.

Well, that's a sweeping statement.

The problem as I see it is not that there are a group of people who are racist and a group who are not. We are all capable of it. Sometimes unwittingly. Isn't that the issue?

How can you ensure that you are being supportive of members of the group, for whom racism is a daily problem if you don't acknowledge their struggles and ask them for help on what to read etc? How can you make a group inclusive if you have your fingers in your ears and refuse to appear receptive to change?*

Oh FFS. Maybe you should check your own privilege of having a good enough mental health to be able to discuss BLM for 24/7. Some of us need to switch off once in a while or we will hang ourselves. I've struggled on and off with suicidal depression and I need to switch off from the news every once in a while. Doctors orders (actually psychologists orders). You might want to take such issues also serious.

I do get that too. I don't watch the news.

@ShutUpaYourFace the racists in this country are not a minority, as this thread proves.

I’m pretty sure black people are sick to the back teeth of being murdered, but you know, don’t tire out the white people with their campaigns! That would be truly awful

Defunding police doesn’t mean getting rid of either btw

So you don't watch the news because you want to be able to switch off but can't understand why people wouldn't want to be ambushed with political/social matters whilst expecting to talk about nappies. How very odd

Because they don't want to have politics in every space. They want to talk about nappies, so they joined a nappy group. I'm sick of this drive to "educate" everyone.

I can understand why the info may have been added but I dislike the while 'let's use this opportunity to educate'.

1. It is rude to assume everyone in the group wants or needs to be educated
2. In this instance, I doubt the racist was thinking 'oh thank you so much for this. I will think about this going forward'

They're a racist - a telling off/education won't change that (very unlikely anyway)

It's the equivalent a a teacher keeping the whole class back when 1 child was late

Saying that all babies wee and poo is a bit like saying all lives matter (incidentally a buzz phrase initiated by white supremacists)

What are you talking about? In relation to a nappy group, why should race play any role? The person who made the racist comment should be banned and the comment deleted. A pinned post at the top confirming the rules may also be needed if they don't have this already.

It seems like there is a lot of misunderstanding about the concept 'white privilege' and so it does rub people up the wrong way.

At heart, it describes the idea that white people are privileged aka fortunate in that they don't have to deal with racism all the time. They can 'switch off' from it. That is the privilege.

PoC wish they could switch off from racism. They wish they could take a break and go on a forum about cloth nappies and distract themselves for a bit. But, nope, there it is! Someone making a racist comment on a forum about cloth nappies. It's inescapable.

Yeah, the constant hammer of 'educate yourselves' is exhausting to everyone, but if every racist comment was not ignored, but pointed out, explained why it wasn't acceptable, maybe there would be less of it.

loving the irony of someoriginalusername plopping onto the thread to 'educate' us all about white privilege.

Well when white people cant grasp what white privilege means and get their backs up about it, it’s good to have a sensible voice spelling it out simply for people to perhaps understand.

So you don't watch the news because you want to be able to switch off but can't understand why people wouldn't want to be ambushed with political/social matters whilst expecting to talk about nappies. How very odd

You're just twisting my meaning. I don't watch the news because I find all the coronavirus stuff unsettling.

I don't think one, calm non preaching thread about education resources is 'ambushing' personally.