AIBU to Think MNHQ needs to tackle the ageism on this site?

[LastGoldenDaysOfSummer]

The venom and hate aimed at older people on some of the Covid threads is disgusting. If the same was aimed at disabled, TW or BAME people then the posts would be deleted immediately, and rightly so.

But because it's the elderly it's left to stand, even after being reported. This isn't new, MNHQ has always been a hotbed of ageism but it's usually dealt with when reported.

But not any more. Should they be doing more?

And it isn't much fun having a very elderly parent or parents when you are in your teens/20s. I do think people should consider this.

Wow 60 to 70 isn't elderly.

I think you are only looking at the ageism from one direction - directed at older people. It goes both ways OP. I see plenty of threads moaning about younger people being snowflakes or shit parents, or whining about issues like not affording a property because they buy iphones instead, when the evidence out there strongly suggests it's house prices rising, wages stagnating and a lack of house building to keep up with population increases that is the problem.

People are frustrated at a perceived lack of critical thinking and compassion in some generations, or getting hysterical over non-issues because it makes them look good in others. The common denominator in both of these behaviours is ignorance, self centeredness and failing to see a problem.from someone else's perspective. It's nothing to do with age, just manifests differently and all ages are guilty of it.

What's frustrating is we keep blaming each other, rather than the route cause of the issues, which is social inequality, and that has caused a lot of resentment.

Haven't really noticed this and I am late 50s. I would love to give up work to release a job for a younger person but what am I meant to live on since pension is 10 years away and that may change.

Yes, we're old enough to be my DDs' grandma, and I often wish I was ten years younger, but that's just how our lives panned out.

Absolutely, the same here. I wish folk posting about older mums would consider that many of us cane to parenthood through a lot of heartache. I might be one of the older mums at the school gate - I’m still fun, still able to run after my kids, be active with them and I bring a lot of wisdom and experience to my kids. Pointing out the slight increase in potential for disability in older pregnancy is fine, placing value judgements on older mums is not ok.

I'm 50s, DH is in his 60s.
We have always worked FT and feel we have had it easy compared to the young adults of today (house prices!!)
People in their 70s are largely retired and can shield from this virus.
To ruin our economy any further and cause MH issues in an already anxious younger generation is absurd and becoming ridiculous.
The measures we have taken so far have been huge but IMO we have asked the young to give enough.
FWIW, I see a lot more prejudice on here directed at young mothers than anyone else.

@Serin

I'm 50s, DH is in his 60s. We have always worked FT and feel we have had it easy compared to the young adults of today (house prices!!) People in their 70s are largely retired and can shield from this virus. To ruin our economy any further and cause MH issues in an already anxious younger generation is absurd and becoming ridiculous. The measures we have taken so far have been huge but IMO we have asked the young to give enough. FWIW, I see a lot more prejudice on here directed at young mothers than anyone else.

You might want to read a bit further then. Ageism in relation to older people is endemic on MN. I agree with @Facelikearustytractor, it occurs in all age groups but, as some of the posts on this thread show, it’s really only vitriolic from young to old.

For the doubters, this post from yesterday was deleted but someone still thought it was OK to work out how much we saved from older people dying of COVID.

saracorona (2020-10-22 07:28:58 +0100):
I'm not very good with figures, especially when it involves loads of zeros. I was looking at Covid deaths. According to the site 92% of deaths are over 70 years old. Currently there is over 44,000 deaths. Would at least 40 thousand be claiming state pension. So if 40,000 were paid by the state at least a £100 a week that is 4,000,000. Times that by 26 weeks. Is that a saving of at least £208,000,000.

@Kalula

Ugh, sorry about the wall of text, I should have used paragraphs.

Your rant about moderation is pointless - it's MNHQ's site, and their Talk Guidelines have been in place for a very long time.

Unfortunately, if you don't like it, that's tough really!

@LiveintheNow

For the doubters, this post from yesterday was deleted but someone still thought it was OK to work out how much we saved from older people dying of COVID.

saracorona (2020-10-22 07:28:58 +0100):
I'm not very good with figures, especially when it involves loads of zeros. I was looking at Covid deaths. According to the site 92% of deaths are over 70 years old. Currently there is over 44,000 deaths. Would at least 40 thousand be claiming state pension. So if 40,000 were paid by the state at least a £100 a week that is 4,000,000. Times that by 26 weeks. Is that a saving of at least £208,000,000.

That’s absolutely shocking. But I wish it hadn’t been deleted, that poster should have been made to own it.

Her maths is rubbish too, she obviously doesn’t own a calculator.

A few eugenics fans on the thread about ableism/masks.
Too dim to see they lose the moral high ground of decrying ableism when we have all read their eugenics shit on other threads. (false correlation I suppose being that they are forced to wear masks because of those pesky old people who should be dead anyway) Hmm.

@BIWitched Things do get reviewed from time to time, especially if enough people speak up. I didn't know that us members/posters aren't allowed to contribute thoughts or have a say. Wow. How very stepford of you.

[quote Kalula]@BIWitched Things do get reviewed from time to time, especially if enough people speak up. I didn't know that us members/posters aren't allowed to contribute thoughts or have a say. Wow. How very stepford of you. [/quote]
Nice try at an insult!

Unfortunately themz the rulez.

Other sites are available.

‘Your rant about moderation is pointless - it's MNHQ's site, and their Talk Guidelines have been in place for a very long time’

Perhaps their guidelines have become outdated and are no longer applicable today. I’ve been on MN for 15 years. There was nothing on it like there is today. No ageism at all. In the digital arena things change fast and need updating frequently to account for this. Perhaps MN guidelines need updating.

@BIWitched Unless you're a mod I don't get why you are so bent out of shape over posters having their say. They're the rules if no one challenges them.

Happy to help. :)

They do. They’re so vague as to be meaningless. In what world is ageism respectful to other posters?

@TheEmojiFormerlyKnownAsPrince

‘Your rant about moderation is pointless - it's MNHQ's site, and their Talk Guidelines have been in place for a very long time’

Perhaps their guidelines have become outdated and are no longer applicable today. I’ve been on MN for 15 years. There was nothing on it like there is today. No ageism at all. In the digital arena things change fast and need updating frequently to account for this. Perhaps MN guidelines need updating.

Exactly.

So @TheEmojiFormerlyKnownAsPrince would you have them relaxed, as @Kalula seems to want?

Sorry - meant to put a link to them:

Talk Guidelines

No, made more stringent.

Look how the digital age has progressed. It’s caught people unawares, and laws around it are constantly changing.

I agree with you. I don't agree that they should be relaxed though. MN itself has changed considerably (I've been here almost as long as you!) and it's noticeably more angry and sometimes quite nasty - and the trolling is often quite ridiculous, as well as offensive, and much more widespread these days.

Relaxing them, as @Kalula wants to do, and suggesting:

WHO CARES if the OP (not this thread's OP, saying generally) is a troll? Who gives a s-t? It's not that serious, and shouldn't be. This is just a message forum. If you think the OP is a troll, just exit out of the thread. Problem solved. There is no reason to report them, unless they are posting porn or something.

... this is definitely not something I'd support (and I doubt very much that MNHQ would either).

We've got a doozy in Coronavirus this morning. Nobody over the age of 80 should be treated.
Will home ed work second time around thread if anyone fancies reporting. A usual suspect eugenicist plus another.
I only clicked because it was about schools but the ageist poster par excellence is on it spouting her usual eugenics.

@TheSeedsOfADream

We've got a doozy in Coronavirus this morning. Nobody over the age of 80 should be treated. Will home ed work second time around thread if anyone fancies reporting. A usual suspect eugenicist plus another. I only clicked because it was about schools but the ageist poster par excellence is on it spouting her usual eugenics.

According to the Sunday Times this morning that was actually government policy back in April on Chris Whitty’s instigation. Anyone who want to be enraged should buy a copy, it’s a bloody shame it’s behind a firewall.

@TheSeedsOfADream, I haven’t seen that post but fwiw, not treating over 80s was governemnet policy during the first wave.
So that would only be a repeat of what we saw in April.

Not saying that I agree. But in that case, I would direct your anger at the government and BJ

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/revealed-official-guidance-doctors-decide-coronavirus-patients/amp/

This article from March is about the frailty score and how covid patients are triaged. .

And I can't do anything about that. But I can campaign to have eugenicists banned from Mumsnet.