Can we have a proper 'woo' topic?

[IndigoBarbie]

Dear MNHQ, I fully believe in freedom of speech and experiences, and as such I go out of my way to assist those who are asking more angelic/psychic etc questions, since this is my real life in a nutshell. Getting sooooo fed up of threads becoming all about others who don't believe and blatantly attacking those of us on thread who want to actively discuss and share and I think a lovely new topic of 'woo' or something you feel is an appropriate title could be provided for us to have proper sharings and discussions.

What I find incredible is the omniscient person who is everywhere at ones and sees through everyone else's eyes. Therefore they feel qualified to call other people liars.

Quite unbelievable and the unpleasantness astounds me.

Why on earth would anyone care what faceless people on the internet think anyway when it doesn't affect you. People have told me stories in the past which I was not sure if I believed or not but I didn't feel the need to be rude to them about it because I'm not threatened by them!

And I have to say the argument that 'Spiritual beliefs lead to mutilation' comes across as utterly disingenuous.

Do people think it's OK to charge people money for things that categorically do not work? Whatever it is- a car, a second hand washing machine, a homeopathic remedy......anything.

Maryz. You don't have any right to say that someone is lying when you have not seen through their eyes. It is indeed rude and arrogant.

Anyone remember that long thread about a mner having very unpleasant and unexpected things going on in her workplace? She never believed it before and said on that thread that she had had to reassess her position because of it. I don't know what happened in the end.

I think that it's up to the individual how they choose to solve their life difficulties, don't you?

I believe what happened in the end was that it was one of her work colleagues having a laugh.

Where is the evidence it was a troll thread? Did MNHQ say it was?

But FGM isn't a world away. Why were our authorities, here, so reluctant to tackle it? Why does it continue, more or less unabated, worldwide? Because it's part of a belief system.

Going back to the argument that you can't disprove non-existence: I haven't noticed any Mumsnetters, ever, insisting there really is a cloud of compassion fairies flying round my head I've told you I genuinely find them helpful; I know lots of other people find theirs helpful ... isn't this considered proof in woo-land? Even though I don't think they're real, surely they meet many woo criteria for reality? So perhaps I'm the wrong one, and the buggers are actually here?!

I hope they don't want any dinner.

Mary - spirituality discussions rarely have anything to do with claiming to heal terminal illnesses without the use of medicine. I've certainly never seen one.

I find referring to these extreme examples disingenuous as I said. It seems to me that some people just can't stand for not everyone to think the way they do. And so they insult and brow beat til they can do so no more.

I don't think you can have a topic for only some people in OTBT either. It's pretty much the same as the rest of the site in that respect. Whoever wants to can still join it if they feel the need. Although you might get fewer non-woo people if it doesn't pop up in Active convos.

Maryz - where on MN is there a thread in religion and philosophy or anywhere else which has someone claiming to heal terminal illnesses without the use of medicine? On those threads people are usually discussing harmless personal experiences.

Of course people shouldn't be allowed to give dodgy advice but I've never seen that happen. Except for that poster many years ago called Wig and Robe who claimed to be a QC and was giving people fake legal advice.

Cross posted too. I didn't see those threads - did they get deleted?

What did the faith healing one say?

See- if somebody said they were cured by homeopathy, then that wouldn't be true. They aren't lying- but they are believing something that isn't true. They have wasted money and may have been lied to. Or the person who sold them the cure might believe too. And the more people who believe things that aren't true, the greater the chances of somebody being really damaged by believing they can be cured, or can talk to their dead relative or whatever.

I don't think people should be rude. But I think people should be allowed to question, challenge and present evidence. Particularly if people are going to make extraordinary claims (like having found missing children). And I think that if you are belting on behalf of someone else - particularly a child- then you have a responsibility to offer that child alternatives. Not to automatically encourage the "spiritual" explanation. However flattering and exciting it might be be to be the mother of a special child.

Surely the difference in shutting down "Get rich quick" and bad health advice threads is that people might be harmed by them whereas discussing whether a feather came from an angel or a seagull's arse is not likely to cause a major detriment that I can see.

As to the argument that spirituality leads to FGM, well you could make an argument to ban the recipe boards for causing obesity and eating disorders. Both spirituality and recipes can be used in positive ways by most people; it is the overzealous application of an idea in a misguided way that causes problems and we will end up with empty boards if we ban everything that can be extrapolated in that way. We all need to use a little common sense here

I'm not sure that Mumsnet can solve this one because the problem is not with the site but with the aggressive attitudes of some posters who want to stop others discussing and questioning certain topics

I'd love a place to have proper discussions with like minded people, but am another who just doesn't want to deal with the nastiness and insults that often go along with such threads.

I also notice that the OP has not come back to defend her statement that she has used her powers to find lost children for fellow mumsnetters.