Yasmin Alibhai-Brown in the Independent thinks Mumsnet is shallow and self-interested... what do you think?

[JustineMumsnet]

From today's Independent:

Look at the immensely powerful Mumsnet website and some other copycat ones and there is barely any mention of (or fundraising for) the famines in East Africa where mothers push dry breasts into the limp mouths of babies as they die. Jeremy Clarkson wrote an abominable column last week on these starving children. Where is the famous Mumsnet battalion to slap him down? Not much about domestic violence either, or any serious take on the policies of the Coalition government which are leading to unprecedented numbers of female redundancies. They are low-paid and therefore, I suppose, not part of the cosy circle, a Starbucks for the right kind of mummies. But if you want to know about skiing with babies, its all there, plus very efficient guilt cleaning for working ladies and buckets of advice for SAHMs (stay-at-home mums).

You can see the whole article here

a woman with a broadsheet article at her disposal chooses to chatter away about taking her child to uni, a film she doesn't like and to slag off a load of women.

hmmm.

and it's us who are frivolous and lightweight is it?

twat.

Good response.

And yes, invite her on to MN for a webchat. We promise not to talk about kittens.

Purits - butter wouldn't melt in Justine's mouth, I'm sure

Yawn, yet another half-arsed thread slating MN. YAB has really not done her research. Maybe she's too thick to navigate the site properly & has only stumbled upon the usually light-hearted 'Chat' topic?

Arf. Have just read it. So to paraphrase Yasmin-

"Mothers! It is your fault the film 'I Don't Know How She Does It' starring Sarah Jessica Parker is shit."

oh they're so trivial, they never talk about the big stuff or important things, not like me who has space in a broadsheet newspaper and chooses to write about a film

that's quite irked me!

Yes, great response Justine.

Please invite her on for a web chat but I can't promist I won't be in Starbucks at the time.

Agree with MmeLindor and others - she's got us mixed up with netmums. Either that or her mate Matthew Wright has put her up to this

Some good comments after the article on the Indie website.

What I don't get is why MN gets quoted and referred to so often when all we apparently do it talk about nappies and playgroups? If MN is powerful it didn't get that way by the on-line version of a toddler group meet-up. It got that way by having an opinion and discussing the very issues that she claims never to see on here. I don't think she has ever visited. One look at Active Convos and you can see the diversity of discussions

And why is our responsibility to sort out JC - he writes to get a reaction . Like a naughty toddler misbehaving to get our attention, surely he is best ignored?

Blimey! I come on here for a bit of a rest from that sort of thing. When I've finished being on the board of a national charity, organising care for 100 older people and chairing a professional / trade organisation am I not entitled to a bit of a chat about how my dog is/what boots should I buy.....and Boden and Bumsex ( not in the same thread) for some light relief?

I really liked her - not so much now.

We had a thread a while ago about fundraising for Africa I know that we did, not a plea, but lots of us mentioned we would be donation, plus others who argued reasonably as to why they wouldnt.

As for the Jeremy Clarkson thing, he is a tit, we know he is a tit. So like a child who learns a new swearword, its better to ignore than let them think they are clever.

@swallowedAfly - it really is bollocks!

Good reply.

I find YAB really frustrating! I agree with so much of what she says and she writes with huge compassion and clarity, but then writes a column that I totally disagree with in every way ans makes me tear my hair out with irritation.

but then if I ever agreed 100% with any one columnist I'd need to shoot myself.....

Voidka

Yes, I started that thread about the famine.

Speaking of shallow, if she'd dug a little deeper under the fun and froth, (which is a valuable tonic to many members' who struggle with the day-to-day stress of life) she would have found a lot of good material for a more substantial article.

I'm getting really wound up by this article. The message seem to be 'why should we be caring about the woes of the privileged. Don't you know there's a recession on?' Her definition of "the privileged" includes the SJP character in the film.
Of course SJP's film is about privilege. That's what the film industry does in the bad times - it creates escapism (and we gratefully lap it up, before we go back to gloomy RL). Has she not seen films produced in the 'golden age' of Hollywood in the 1930s depression?
Does this woman know nothing?

"a valuable tonic to many members who struggle with the day-to-day stress of life"

What OP said.

Does she even read here? I'm not convinced.

And nothing Clarkson ever says is worth anyone's breath, or typing stamina.

oh please tell me we dont have to become all worthy and right-on politically correct now? I come here for a laugh after spending the day in mind numbing tedium, not to be lectured to or have my opinions shaped. There are many other places I go to find out about the issues of the day. Mumsnet is light relief.

Good response Justine.
I'm baffled as to why one woman with a column feels the need to blame the entire population of Mumsnet for something Jeremy Clarkson has written about in his column.
I have a personal boycott against all things Rupert Murdoch (and Jeremy Clarkson for that matter) and therefore do not know what he has said. But the implication that MNers couldn't give a toss about domestic violence and famine annoys the hell out of me.

Anyone can write a column and spout crap... A true journalist one would hope would do their research a little better.

Higgle - my sentiments exactly.

I'd be prepared to bet that a sizeable proportion of Mumsnetters are considerably less privileged than Ms Alibhai-Brown. Quite possibly you make a better living writing gossip columns for a big daily paper than from being a fulltime carer for a severely disabled child or working in a lowpaid profession- which is where a lot of Mumnsetters are coming from.

Yes, they are witty, yes they are on balance probably better educated than the population average- this does not equate with being rich.

I used to like YAB, but am increasingly getting the impression that she wants to hog the position of "knowing what it is like to be underprivileged" for herself and is jealous of any competition. She has to imagine that anybody who is not her was born with a silver spoon in their mouth and spends their day stirring a Starbucks- because any other scenario might reveal that YAB is not as unique as she needs to be.

On a positive note, being described as

The immensely powerful mn website

is impressive. I do think that some of the more political threads may be read by people who influence policy making (we are like a free focus group for all comers) and so we do have an additional channel to air our ideas and grievances about education, tax, work life balance, special needs, housing etc.

"Y A-B, YABU!"

A little in joke there.

yeah, the idea that there aren't low paid people on Mumsnet is unbelievably ridiculous.