Should I take it as read that benefits threads always go the same way?

[nkf]

I mean, it's in the news and it's obviously a big change to the benefit system. And I feel I know very little about the system and the changes have made me aware of that. So I click on the threads and, somehow they're all the same. Polarised, jeering and I end up none the wiser. Is the topic in the "can't be discussed" properly?

Very much so.

It always ends up near hysteria.

Ends up? They sometimes start that way!

The subject can't be discussed intelligently on a message board, no. The two dominant views are 'all benefit claimants are lazy, on the fiddle &undeserving of help', 'all benefit claimants are honest, unlucky, & poverty-stricken' and never the twain shall meet. Which is a pity really because, in reality, welfare is a complex issue which affects the make-up of society as a whole & is very easy to get wrong due to the laws of unintended consequences.

That seems to be the way. And the dominant views do just that - dominate. There must be more level headed opinions on MN. I'll just have to have RL conversations about it.