DH is a Freemason and it makes me cringe

[YerJokin]

He takes it so seriously. He's always gone through hobby phases but he's done this for years now and takes it very seriously. He's currently on the phone discussing 'Bretheryn' and it gives me the major ick, I actually want to cry listening to it.

I've tried to stand by him as he takes it so seriously so i attend events and smile encouragingly but I can't bear it. Never knew when I married him that he wanted to do this. It's not the worst thing he could do of course but it's an old boys club and we're only in our 30s!

He has lots of friends and other hobbies so it's not even his only social outlet, no idea why he needs this in his life and treats it like a second job.

Unfortunately MN is well known for its less than balanced view when it comes to men!

Stunned at how quickly the lodges mobilised their defence 😂

Yes, such a shame really. Misandry is just as pernicious as misogyny but, self-evidently, a popular activity here on MN. It might be time for me to think whether I want to be part of it. 😏

Unfortunately, so much of life is unbalanced, and getting more so. Increasing numbers of people are only happy in their own echo chamber and get very angry when challenged

Why are single sex schools better?

Why are sexes better separated?

Particularly groups of men, who are bound by secrecy, who are not held to account due to lack of transparency around the male dominated group they are in.

Yup it’s hilarious! All repeating the same things.

Indeed - people such as yourself who have been utterly passive aggressive and sniping throughout the thread. Even trying to argue that mumsnet is not a site for women! If you are what a typical FM member is like then it is no wonder the vast majority of people have no interest in joining.

You really are angry about this aren’t you? Why are you so angry (it seems especially with me). What secrets do you think the men are excluding you from, why do you think you need to know. Are you as angry with the female masons?

Is it the FM you have an issue or is it just a convenient target to vent issues you have about men?

Maybe you should look to join a women’s masonry group? That might help you in numerous ways.

Most of the patronising comments and attacks such as calling posts rubbish etc etc etc are not coming from those against Freemasonry
The majority of attacks on MNs posting here are coming from those in support of it.

’youreally are angry about this aren’t you’…’join the woman's FM that might help you in numerous ways’……..so patronising. Why can’t we all talk to each other as adults….

Where have I argued that Mumsnet is not for women? I said it wasn’t just for women or, indeed, just for mums.

As we have already ascertained, I’m not a member of the FM.

I'm sorry if you confuse standing up for truth in a non aggressive manner as being passive aggressive.

Have you considered why you’re so angry about this and why you are so angry about me not agreeing with you?

If you read back over for example your last post prior to this one it is passive aggressive.
It’s really not surprising @Plastictrees reads it as it is

Not to let the facts get in the way of a good bit of mason bashing but...

The report you added (on page 6) only gets close to 80% if you include all the money the MCF spends on its care homes. Given that 75% of that money is paid for in fees by its residents, it seems a bit harsh to call that charity. The pie chart on the second page excludes the care home operation and shows about 51% expenditure on masonic causes vs 33% on non-masonic.

Also, as I said in my previous post, that is only the MCF which is the national freemasons charity. It doesn't account for the fact that all masonic provinces have their own charities and virtually all of that money goes to non-masonic causes. In addition, individual lodges give money directly to non-masonic causes.

It appears that you just want a thread as an echo chamber and want certain untrue views to go unchallenged- that is really rather disturbing. I’m sorry if you find people speaking the truth patronising.

so far on this thread we’ve had accusations of

corruption
cheating charities
paedophillia
sacrifice
sex rituals
satanism
homophobic comments
ridiculing people’s practices

In what world do you think people who know these things are not to be true and risk having their characters tarnished by the bigoted will just let you get in with your witch hunt.

I’m not sure which part of “I’m not a free mason” is not registering with you.

Ive spent quite a lot of time looking at FM from different angles, I’m not angry if someone wants to criticise the FM, I’m not a member. I am bothered though about the lies people are engaging with. Do you have an issue when people point out where lies are being told?

which questions have I inadvertently missed. You have a habit of tagging me in multiple posts so some I’m sure I’ve missed something

True. It seems as though MN is becoming more like Twitter (as was) where reasonable discussion and debate is almost impossible. That's precisely why I left Twitter.

Where have I slagged anyone off?

You’re seem to be surprised at people defending an institution that has been slagged off through this thread. Would you rather people didn’t point out the many lies on here?

Yes, it’s disappointing people can’t have balanced informed debate. The philosophy and religion board is somewhat better

Well this all kicked off a bit, didn't it! Shall we do the WI next? 😂

@Feelingathomenow The thing is, the way you’ve gone about defending FM undermines your points. You don’t need to be passive aggressive in order to get your views across. You have been far too quick to accuse people and use emotive language to attempt to ‘score points’. When you do that, you’ve already lost. It’s a shame you have prevented this from being an open discussion, you seem unable to accept that people hold different opinions to you and you attack when questioned. This means that people are less likely to feel they can comment, as they can see they will be shut down by more accusations from you or questions that deflect from the issue. You come across as very controlling in this ‘discussion’.

Bearing in mind this thread was not even started by you, I see no point in continuing engaging with someone who is so shut down. I’m very glad that other people think critically around organisations such as FM, as no group should be ‘above’ transparency or governance particularly when made up predominantly of men, some of which hold positions of power within society.

My own position is not one of conspiracy theories or ‘man hating’ but of course it is easy to start making these silly accusations about me rather than confronting the issues I raise. You have inadvertently proved my point, in that by questioning the practices of FM, I am of course accused of ‘hating men’. How utterly predictable and tedious.

Hopefully there will be another Freemason thread in future, perhaps an AMA, which is less hostile and defensive and more conducive to productive discussion.

Corrupt as fuck. My mum once made some Jam and entered a competition- the head of the committee passed over my mums top jam in favour of Sandra jones- obviously shop brought. Rumour has it their goldfish shared an uncle so clear favouritism

Ah I see, we’ve moved onto gaslighting now. You really struggle with having an informed debate.

ive asked you to confirm what questions you have raised I haven’t answered so I can answer them, I’m happy to do this despite your repeated personal attacks verging on bullying during the thread. I’m sorry you can’t deal with people pointing out the truth.

im off out now so goodnight