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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To have a whinge about this mob

52 replies

Scattybird · 23/03/2008 20:32

here

OP posts:
nkf · 23/03/2008 20:36

You could join the chorus of disapproval on the Daily Mail website.

fryalot · 23/03/2008 20:37

aaah, the daily mail, that last bastion of reasonableness and liberalism

shoot the feckers, that's what I say!!!!

Original poster
Scattybird · 23/03/2008 20:37

No I couldn't I don't have the energy I just thought it would be fun to put this on here as apparently this site HATES the daily mail

OP posts:
2GIRLS · 23/03/2008 20:44

I'm not sure if it should be obvious, but why do you all hate the daily mail?

fryalot · 23/03/2008 20:45

we don't hate the DM.

Some of us even buy it.

Personally, I think that they write stories aimed at intolerant, wanky twunts; and I don't want to be an intolerant, wanky twunt

MonkeybirdisboredWITHbuns · 23/03/2008 20:47

Is it not obvious 2Girls? If I can be so bold, why do people LIKE the DM?

MaryAnnSingleton · 23/03/2008 20:47

just read the tosh they write and you'll soon see

Bouncingturtle · 23/03/2008 20:48

Because they should it be renamed the Daily Facist.

Bouncingturtle · 23/03/2008 20:49

And I should be renamed illiterate...

Because they should rename it the Daily Facist.

I think all the chocolate I've eaten today has melted my brain...

hecate · 23/03/2008 20:56

ok, forget it's the daily mail - are any of you actually saying that you see nothing wrong with this family?

I am assuming they are reporting what the family actually said of course - if they are just making it up that's a different matter!

But you seriously don't think people who say.....

"I just wanted to be at home and live off other people."
" Even when my kids were older, I didn't go back to work because I didn't want to"
""I don't worry about the example I set to my kids or the fact that two of them don't work. It's up to them "
" I don't think my desire never to work and to live off the state and my husband rubbed off on Steven."
" It's my right to claim benefits. We're all entitled to do what we want in life. "
""I could have trained as a fireman or something, but I didn't want the responsibility. All I've ever wanted is to chill out and have easy money. "
""I don't like the idea of having to be bossed around at work and I don't want to go to college or anything because I like to stay in bed in the morning. In the meantime, it's my right to claim benefits. One day I'd like a council flat."

are ok, do you??

Greyriverside · 23/03/2008 21:00

I thought it was a wind-up. I know people whose underlying attitudes are not much different, but they don't admit it. Not even to themselves.

That sounded like a lot of money too. The people I know on benefits are struggling to buy basic stuff like shoes. Maybe they are doing it wrong.

fryalot · 23/03/2008 21:03

I'm assuming that the DM are paraphrasing their exact quotes there, hecate.

Nobody would actually use those specific words.

ladymariner · 23/03/2008 21:06

Surely its a wind-up???? I do sooo hope it is!!

Original poster
Scattybird · 23/03/2008 21:10

Hecate, of course I think that this 'family' is wrong but you must not say it on this site apparently (victimising, harrassment etc). Like I said, thought it would be fun to see someone like you who doesn't agree with it all get absolutely bashed by the people who think that its alright .

You are very very brave BTW.

OP posts:
fryalot · 23/03/2008 21:10

The DM "outed" a benefit family fairly near here a year or two ago.

the main thing they seemed to focus on was the fact that this woman had never worked and she was happy to claim benefits forever, and she was a lazy cow who should get a job no matter what.

They didn't mention her very elderly and frail mother that she cared for. They didn't mention the fact that she had left school without qualifications so she could look after said mother. They didn't mention that she lived in a teeny tiny village without a bus service, 16 miles away from the nearest town. They also didn't mention that she didn't drive.

So actually, I kind of thought that the benefits that she claimed in order to stay at home and look after her mother were probably saving the economy an absolute fortune in geriatric care.

UniversallyChallenged · 23/03/2008 21:10

agree with Hecate - it's totally wrong for people to live off the state for 3 generations and say things like that. Am not sure the quotes are totally wrong. Even if the words were not direct quotes, they must have said similar things.

The benefits system is a fall back for hard times, not a way of life

Divastrop · 23/03/2008 21:12

i think whoever wrote this article was relying on the fact that poeople on benefits cant afford to sue the arse off the DM so they can 'quote' what the bloody hell they like and get away with it

also,i notice disability benefits were mentioned.if somebody is unable to work due to disability then they arent really the feckless lazy twat they are being made out to be ,are they?

fryalot · 23/03/2008 21:13

scattybird - you can say anything you like on this site (assuming it is not a personal attack) because we have freedom of speech.

The thing about the DM is that they will twist the facts to suit the story they want to tell. If everything that they ever printed was absolutely true (and true in the way they are spinning it) then that would be one thing.

But when you lose faith in their honesty, every story they ever print becomes suspect.

UniversallyChallenged · 23/03/2008 21:15

Divastrop - do you seriously think this family would have to pay themselves to sue the DM?

Divastrop · 23/03/2008 21:17

yes,i dont think legal aid would cover it somehow.

TheAntiFlounce · 23/03/2008 21:18

What has happened is, the sneering reporter has said "Aren't you really angry that your son is on benefits? Don't you hate your child? He's become a drain on society, aren't you angry and furious?"

And the befuddled previous stay at home mum, who is married to a retired plumber, not a 'seasoned dolescrounger' has replied "Um, not really. Um, I don't know really."

And it has been paraphrased as

"I don't worry about the example I set to my kids or the fact that two of them don't work. It's up to them

what they do, it's their life, not mine, so it's not my problem. I don't think my desire never to work and to live off the state and my husband rubbed off on Steven. He makes his own decisions.

"I'm certainly not angry that Steven doesn't have a job. He's got children, that's his job. And I don't worry that he's setting a bad example to his children - that's up to him."

her husband worked - her stay-at-home-status is being touted as unemployed.

Original poster
Scattybird · 23/03/2008 21:18

Sqonk I am not sure that you can say anything on here. Having read tons of threads, it does seem a bit like you can say what you want as long as the other 99.9% agree with you.

OP posts:
fryalot · 23/03/2008 21:21

scatty - in my experience, when 99.9% of posters disagree with that .1% things tend to get a bit messy, and the insults start flying.

Sooner or later, someone calls someone else a fucking cow, a post gets reported and things start getting deleted.

But disagreement in itself is allowed. Of course it is.

Original poster
Scattybird · 23/03/2008 21:23

Lol

OP posts:
ninedragons · 23/03/2008 21:27

I think this article has been made up.

NOBODY would actually say "We get about £2,700 a month in benefits ... Our rent is £40 a week, so our benefits don't go far" or "All I've ever wanted is to chill out and have easy money" or "I'm asking the council for a ten-bedroom home for all of us. We need more space. It's awful sometimes when all the children are squabbling. Still, we do have a big TV with Sky, but we need some relaxation."

It's too pat. It's the Daily Mail's attempt to stir up the Two Minutes' Hate from 1984. I'm only surprised that the people "quoted" in the article aren't travellers or asylum-seekers.