To be sick of propaganda on MN

[Apolitia]

Recently there seems to have been an outbreak of fairly overt political propagandising on MN. Scenarios and views presented as ‘just what I think’ which I strongly suspect are not from your average MN punter.

This, and the weird AI/ reddit-type dilemmas (me 31M, 33F blaaah, aargh) that frequently pop up are putting me right off. And I’ve been here for more than a decade.

Mayve I’m just old and grumpy and it’s a sign to put down my phone and talk to actual people :/

I’m absolutely bewildered too, and I am a labour voter godammit! (at least I was in the July election, never again). There are loads of labour voters furious and posting negatively on KS too - I did not vote for this you greedy, deceitful hypocrite!!

No, we’re not all tories, or bots or shills fgs, we are pissed off voters from both sides who are calling out hypocrisy and greed.

I think we all need to keep calling out what we regard as undemocratic, just because I didn’t vote for Labour (and never will) doesn’t mean I am unable to spot corruption and hypocrisy- to say I don’t is an insult to my and others intelligence. Freedom of speech is a basic human right, Labour (Tory/Brexit) voters wishing to reduce political debates to insults are reducing the capacity for debate. This should be watched very carefully by everyone, I very much doubt bots have anything to do with it. Sad times for UK politics when everyone was ready for a change.

For as long as I have been on Mumsnet (and it's an embarrassingly long time), there have been equal amounts of 'propaganda' from both Labour and Conservative supporters/voters. (other parties are available)

Without doubt there is a genuine mix- some bots, some propagandists, some genuine posters with genuine concerns. But simply disagreeing with the opposite view does not mean that they are bots or propaganda, and to intimate that they are is insulting and short-sighted.

Every government that has ever been in power, or is in opposition, has come under scrutiny and faced backlash. And so it should be- we vote these people in, they work on our behalf, and if there are questionable practices going on within, we have a right, as the electorate, to call them out.

Not sure what I think about the Reddit-style posts though. So far I've just found them vaguely irritating.

Sure you aren't. Just here to stir the pot.

I don’t know. I’m not saying it’s a specific politics problem. I reported a short thread last week (non political) as OP and the thread seemed fishy/ weird.

MN said Op checked out but there were a lot of potential bots on it. That surprised me. So now I’m thinking are they everywhere just parroting combinations of others to ‘practice’ for want of a better word.

I hate threads like this. It is actually quite insulting to people who have genuine opinions on topics.

I am an NHS worker who has always voted for Labour, including this time. I don’t have huge strong feelings about the winter fuel allowance. I am cringing however at the donations issue, the clothes, the penthouse etc. It is not even that I don’t think Prime Minister should accept any donations. If they do a brilliant job as prime minister, I don’t care if they get some free suits. But it is the arrogance of not realising how it looks. It is the hypocrisy of criticising conservative politicians for doing the same and then accepting freebies. It just feels so arrogant that he thought it would not be an issue for him. I am embarrassed for him and the Labour Party.

My views are mine alone. Why on earth would people not comment about a new prime minister? Why does it have to be a bot or the media? Threads like this make me roll my eyes so much.

I was accused of being a Russian bot when I criticised Keir Starmer on here. I assumed the poster was a bit of a conspiracy theorist. Posting negative stuff about the current government isn’t propaganda; it is just commenting on the news. I think the left do tend to be rather idealistic. It makes it much easier to tolerate other people’s political views if you are cynical about all politicians.

That last one.

It’s not every post that criticises Labour that I’m suspicious of. I’m not so stupid as to think everyone agrees with me!

I am just sceptical of some because of the style of writing, for example where they reveal nothing about themselves or their reasons for feeling as they do.

They read as though someone is being paid to post them - could be a journalist or a paid propagandist.

Hmmmmmm. I’ve been called a bot (and a Tory) many times on MN. I am neither. I think it’s just a modern insult to be perfectly honest. Odd that the MN moderators would post using that kind of language- do you mind sharing the message here?

Could be a Labour/Tory party intern?

True enough

I'm true blue tory...but Christ it's getting on my nerves. Yes starmers not started well but the "do you regret voting Labour" seems more common that the "do you regret voting leave" threads. The torys just need to shut up. Labour will do what they do.
same with the anti trump threads 99.9% of posters can't vote in the US election so what's the point

btw glad it's not just me cos I am getting to be a very grumpy old man

I’ve noticed this too op. I’ve been on MN since 2004 (have name changed regularly) and the whole mood of this forum has changed beyond recognition. This is partly a good thing, as in the early years it was a bit of a clique-y echo chamber, but I really don’t like the way it’s changed and so I don’t post often or look to this site as a source of reliable information or support. In fact I don’t think I’d ever post here for support these days; too many vicious responses and not much by way of critical thinking or emotional intelligence it seems. The more recent right-wing bias has also put me right off and I suspect a lot of it is indeed sly propaganda by Tory HQ.

There do seem to be a lot of bots, but the worst to my mind have been the bots coming up to the last two elections. I mean, if you're going to try and change the views of the country, why go for MN in pretty obvious propaganda posts? Hopefully most people here would see straight through them.

But I think the Labour ones were far more prevalent, or maybe more obvious, before the previous election, this one more even. Since the election it's the anti-Labour ones.
So makes me wonder if it isn't people particularly bothered about politics, but more bothered about just stirring and letting people go.

Maybe MNHQ could help by moving anything like that to a politics section although I'm sure the bots'll find something else like buggies on buses, evil MIL/Step mum or maybe the begging threads with 47p and ill twins.

I wonder if it depends how you ‘consume’ MN that helps you see the patterns in these threads?

I only use MN on my phone - I go first to ‘Watched Threads’ and then after catching up there I scan the trending topics - I might refresh trending topics 3-4 times to scroll back through the different titles. Click on one or two interesting looking ones and then I’m done.

What you notice then is the repetitive titles of the ‘propaganda’ type posts OP is referring to. There’s definitely some intern at either a right-wing publication or Tory HQ starting these ‘Do you regret your vote’ and scare tactic stories about Labour and KS.

I’m sure many of the people who comment on the threads are genuine MN posters who are simply interested in politics, but it’s clear to see the patterns of goading threads simply by scanning the headlines each day for the last few months.

You can also spot the patterns when someone is trying to gather data for a news story they are writing where suddenly within a 24 hour period three ‘different’ posters will all start similar sounding threads on air fryers, or holiday insurance, or knife crime
etc etc

This is an eye opening thread.

I’m not a fan of Starmer but I did vote for Labour and would do again because conservatives grew increasingly hateful, incompetent and arrogant over the last 14 years.

However, it never occurred to me that the threads about Starmer were journalists or part of organised propaganda etc.

@wordler, every single word of what you wrote. And my browsing pattern is pretty much identical to yours.

I think the most recent anti Labour ones come from the left. The Tories obviously don’t like Keir but he is doing a good job of making himself unpopular with his own voters and as far as the Tories are concerned, he is better than other options that may be more left wing.

Yes, I'm fed up of seeing them too. There's a definite pattern, I was starting to wonder.. I haven't heard one person in RL say that they regret voting for Labour or that they're doing a bad job. Most people I know accept that dealing with the shitshow that is the Tories' legacy is going to come with a few things that the public may not always find palatable, or beneficial for an indvidiual's situation. And they're prepared to do it, to try to put right the mess.

I mean there’s loads of criticism atm re Labour and Starmer

It’s reflected in the media, polls and commentary. It’s no surprise that it’ll be on a public forum, even mn which has a high number of Labour voters

I think if a site needs to be pro Labour a closed FB site or something would be more able to do that

Absolutely this.

Or right wing.

I think the obvious propaganda ones are easy to spot tbh. I voted Labour and was actually quite excited about the new government.
I don’t regret my vote but I am HUGELY disappointed in Keir Starmer. Not because I give a shit if he gets some perks and free clothes ( I don’t) but because of his obvious failure to think politically about such things and the lack of imagination/ arrogance that is going to jeopardise some of the good that Labour could actually do.
Same with the way the WFA decision was handled. I have a lot of time for Reeves but that policy was not properly thought through. The lot of them need sitting down and given a politics 101 class in how to manage optics… it’s like they think they are righteous and that’s ALL that matters, but it’s not. If they don’t get a second term we are at the mercy of the Tories again and I just don’t think I can handle that.
Starmer needs to start making himself likeable, and quickly.
I think some of the really angry posts are from people like me who feel frustration with the way the current lot have handled themselves.

Just things that to me do not appear to be written by casual commentators and feel disingenuous.

Do an AS on the user name. I have no political affiliations, for all parties there are things I agree with and things I don't. I've been critical of - and have posted about - the freebies and of the level (not the principle) cut off for the WFA. I don't like removing WFA while taking £100,000's of freebies. And that the Tories did it - two wrongs don't make a right.

However do an AS of my username and you'll find out I've been here a long time and without NC.