Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
News
Original poster

All mumsnetters are equal, but some mumsnetters are more equal than others!

144 replies

minorityrules · 11/09/2007 21:53

It would appear!

Nice to see bullying wasn't lost in the classroom.

No one has the right to stop conversation and intimidate people into submission

You will never stop people talking about the news, but hey, keep thinking you are so above and better than others (minght help if you went out and got a life)

OP posts:
Original poster
minorityrules · 11/09/2007 23:41

maybe, but maybe many are too, it never leaves you

It still shouldn't be a discussion is stopped because a few don't like it

People want to talk about it and they will, they have that right. You also have the right to ignore or counter what they say (in a reasoned manner)

Shouting people down, calling them names, saying what they have to say isn't valid, actively stoping them speaking IS bullying

OP posts:
KeirHardAitch · 11/09/2007 23:41

i am doiing, mrsm. that's my point. what she has been through may have left her bruised to the point that she is over-reacting on this occasion. that's fair enough, under the circumstances, i think, it sounds like it was awful.

Elizabetth · 11/09/2007 23:41

Hah, first your're told that if you call what's going on here "bullying" then you can't have been bullied MR. Now you say you have been bullied and you're told you're "overreacting".

They aren't going to allow you to win are they?

I'd call the behaviour here tonight bullying and pathetic for good measure.

Blandmum · 11/09/2007 23:44

How is posting amusing threads bullying?

The phase lasted about 30-45 minutes?

And yo didn't have to click on the posts, you could just ignore them. And 'ordinary threads still got onto recent postings.

Or does freedom of experession only count for some people on MN?

KeirHardAitch · 11/09/2007 23:45

will you try to believe me when i say that i personally tried, many times, to be reasonable on this subject? i can see that some people were very affected by it in the beginning, so i stopped getting involved in the threads as a way of not engaging. but this business recently of hanging those poor parents... it's terrible. shameful, really. there haven't been any news stories, just gossip, and it's made me feel sick.
and beleive me, you are not the only person to be have been bullied who posts on this site. it never leaves you. but i also think that posting disgusting things about the McCanns is revolting behaviour and i don't really want to stand by and watch that.

TolpuddlapinMartyr · 11/09/2007 23:47

Actually Elizabeth, my post wasn't aimed at minorityrules. There were plenty of other people shouting "bully!" and we had a thread on the use of the word earlier today.

MR, I'm very sorry for your experiences, but I am very surprised that you would equate a silly and jovial war of attrition with what was obviously a really horrible time for you. Those things you quote - they are vile. But they aren't the same as what has happened here.

Blandmum · 11/09/2007 23:47

I was badly bullied as a child too, and it was horrible.

Posting funny threads is just funny though

KeirHardAitch · 11/09/2007 23:49

oh don't be so stupid, Elizabeth. we're not a gang operating in the background, we're individuals. it's all on the boards to see.
personally i agree with Lapin, i don't think what has happened here is bullying. i think what MR went through definitely is, and to compare the two rather insults her experience in fact. for the record i think i've insulted you, just as you have insulted me, but i'm not bullying anyone.

Lil · 11/09/2007 23:49

OMG another one of THESE threads again.
...since we're all typing what we want anyway and MN towers has sensibly let us do so - what is there to argue about..

GO SIT ON THE NAUGHTY STEP all of you.

mandalena · 11/09/2007 23:52

After what MR posted, to tell her that she is overeacting is patronising and so insensitive.

Original poster
minorityrules · 11/09/2007 23:52

but Aitch, my point is it really was only one or two people

Look at the beginning of the sky news DNA one....one person was outlandish in her views, the others were all disbelieving but still people were saying shut up you weirdos

It was getting interesting learning about DNA (I learnt stuff I didn't know)

Who's to say the mad one's wouldn't have got bored and moved on, and the reasonable people would have said what htey had to say and moved on. It would have moved down the page on it;s own

Now it has been made more of a deal, people are divided and angry and the feel of this place isn't nice tonight

It has felt like being bakc at school, with the popular ones hitting on the smaller/nerdy/not as bright/too pretty ones.

That isn't right anywhere

OP posts:
Blandmum · 11/09/2007 23:53

If you want to know about DNA you could always post and ask for information.

But Pleeese, these threads are not educational, it is titilation

CitizenColditz · 11/09/2007 23:58

Nobody is picking on you! You think people are picking on you because you have a victim mentality! You are doing more picking than anyone else on this thread, but I don't see anyone else crying here!

Original poster
minorityrules · 11/09/2007 23:59

not all of it

As I was told yesterday (i think) threads veer off all the time but they won't have the chance now as people will be scared to ask in case they are accused of talking about "that" again

OP posts:
KeirHardAitch · 11/09/2007 23:59

that was precisely why i started my thread the other day, though, because i didn't want to get involved. but MN towers said the best thign was to argue the case and so it became something else.
i've agreed with you that it's been a few posters causing trouble (and i absolutely think that's what it is) but unfortunately they raised the temperature in here to the point where people were just sick of it. that said, you didn't see me posting any of it, because i didn't feel it appropriate.
but tonight was A Laugh. and it's been good fun, and a way of letting off steam and lowering the temperature. i don't think it will prove to have been a bad thing.
and just to be clear, i don't mean to be insensitive or patronising when asking if you are sensitised to the issue of bullying, but i think you understand that already. it doesn't leave us, and sometimes we do have to question our reactions to things i think. part of the reason i have found it so difficult to read the sniping about the McCann family stems from the same thing for me.

Lil · 12/09/2007 00:00

I am, I'm bashing my head on the screen waiting for the bickerin' to stop.

Original poster
minorityrules · 12/09/2007 00:00

and again thank you CC, I'm not crying, i'm having a reasoned discussion with reasonable people

OP posts:
Lil · 12/09/2007 00:01

damn Colditz, still can't type fast enough.

CitizenColditz · 12/09/2007 00:03

I don't see any of those either.

You started a thread complaining about bullying.

You are still rattling on about bullying.

Yet you have not been bullied here.

It is important to stand up to bullying ... but don't start looking for horseshoes on ants!

CitizenColditz · 12/09/2007 00:04

You could call democracy bullying - that relies on the voice of many drowning the protests of the few too.

nanninurse · 12/09/2007 00:05

Bullying has been going on tonight.

CitizenColditz · 12/09/2007 00:07

Where, nanninurse? I don't read the threads about the missing girl because they are so distasteful, but I haven't seen any on this thread.

Original poster
minorityrules · 12/09/2007 00:11

Not on this thread, on the board in general, over the last few days

But it would seem you just want to be shitty with me

I started this thread thoroughly pissed off by went on tonight, I have mellowed and not been rude to anyone personally.

By admitting I was driven to slitting my wrists at 15 (not something I shout about btw), the discussion became more reasonable but CC why come on and start in that manner

OP posts:
CitizenColditz · 12/09/2007 00:17

Because you have used the fact that you were bullied as a child to make people stop being angry with you. And now you are doing that 'Everyone's picking on me' voice again.

People were angry at being accused of bullying for starting random amusing threads. When they told you how they did not feel they were bullying anyone, and how unfair they felt you were being, you brought up some horrendous incidents from your childhood. Horrendous, yet entirely irrelevant and unrelated to what has been said here tonight.

"By admitting I was driven to slitting my wrists at 15 (not something I shout about btw), the discussion became more reasonable but CC why come on and start in that manner"

I don't like bullying either, but disagreeing is not bullying, and it is very sly to use 'Bullying' as a way of not being disagreed with.

KeirHardAitch · 12/09/2007 00:18

i have been Utterly Reasonable the whole time, MR.