MNHQ, I would be interested to hear your views on the level of vitriol & personal abuse that has been posted today (08/05/2015)

[magimedi]

I am amazed that no one from HQ has intervened on any of the (very many) political threads that have descended into name calling & personal abuse.

Selfishcuntydupe has summed up everything I want to say with this post:

"Yes - the hatred, the bile, the vitriol at people who simply put a cross in a different box. And the baby killing nonsensical hyperbole posted across this site. It's hysterical. Utterly, hysterical.

And no,the Tories here can never win because whatever they post, no matter how sane and objective , it will be used against them to accuse them of being a smug rich, bastard or as evidence that they are heartless.

No one predicted the election outcome because good, decent people stayed silent and quietly voted to avoid the bile , the bullying and the abuse they were seeing heaped upon those who did speak up.

MN admin - I would advise you to look very very closely at what some of your members are saying and how they are behaving or it may bite you on the arse too. This is an amazing website but some of the posts today are shameful."


I know that this site is moderated with a very light hand, but I think you have failed by not intervening today.

Not even an from you.

[LadyStark]

Just a quick snapshot of all the the anti-tory threads versus the one positive one which actually turned into a kicking anyway...

Well done Scotland, put us on the road to another referendum and condemn the poor to the Tories
Mumsnetters who voted Tory: did you know Statutory Maternity Pay will be axed?
So what will change now that Cameron owns Britain?
So if child benefit is to be limited to the first two children.....
So the whole point of the election was to get David Cameron out of downing street and he's won !?!?!
If you are gutted about the election result...
AIBU:
To worry I'm going to get seriously depressed as the night goes on
to tell 6 yo DS that Slytherin won the election
To consider divorce because my DH voted Tory?
To think we will have class sizes of over 40 children...
To think that if you voted Conservative you won't admit to it?
To wonder how long it will be before the NHS ceases to exist?
And so it begins...
fuck fuck fuck fuck

I could go on but I am bored now.

[ElectraCute]

There has been plenty of vitriol from the right today. Posters gloating and smirking about the value of their houses, the size of their upcoming bonuses.

It would be crass in any ordinary situation. It is revolting on a day like today, when real people are genuinely worried about their future.

You won. Well done. Try and have a bit of grace about it.

[TondelayoSchwarzkopf]

Why can't the Tory voters enjoy the result and grow a thicker skin?

Why do you want to police how other people react to it?

If something is against guidelines report.

[BishopBrennansArse]

This isn't just something coming from left leaning voters. Right leaning voters are doing exactly the same thing.

Today I was accused of having kids on the basis that I expect the state to support them. When actually in real life I had children closer together so I could support my family more easily and minimise maternity leave but then disabilities emerged in all my children. Both me and DH worked alternate shifts right up until it became impossible to do so due to the nature of our kids' disabilities.

But no. Rather than bothering to have any interest a poster just went on the attack questioning my 'lifestyle choices'.

I am afraid. So far we've lost £57 a week since 2010, with freezes to income support meaning we'll lose further over the course of the next parliament. This is because carers allowance isn't enough to live on and therefore we need top ups. Plus becoming liable for a portion of our council tax bill. Then there's the paying out for therapies that used to be provided by the NHS which has to come out of the kids' DLA. Then there's the continence products that DD would have been entitled to before 2010 that we now have to fund ourselves (and they don't cost the same as regular nappies).

A simple referral which would have been seen within 2 months back in 2010 is now on a 2 year waiting list.

Learning support with kids for special educational needs is through the floor. The new system combining education and health are cuts by the back door, kids are losing provision in the crossover and nobody seems to care. My kids have many challenges in life, one thing I wanted them to do was get an education so that they could have an advantage in life, but nobody in authority seems to want to support this as it's 'expensive'. Yes it is in the short term but long term payment of benefits to them and to us is even more expensive. But no. Not interested.

All I can see is this getting worse, and yes right now, today I want to die. I don't want to be here any more. That's not melodrama, that's the deterioration in my mental health through being an insufficiently supported carer for nearly 6 years. That's what comes of being called scum of the earth because I just want enough money for my family to survive on, and no right now I can't go out there and earn it. I used to be a homeowner, a higher rate taxpayer. But then divorce happened. Then, just as I was on an even keel, disability. It could happen to absolutely anyone (not that some would like to admit that).

I've not called anyone a baby eating murderer. I've expressed my fear and frustration that families like mine are going to have their lives made harder. I've not called anyone names, I've sworn yes but in frustration at my situation, not at another poster. Thing is for me none of this is theoretical, the cuts directly affect my family every single time and it just seems that nobody actually cares about that. They're more worried about the balance sheet.

Why aren't we free to express that we are afraid? That life will get harder for us? Why do people needle, poke and goad us with how glad they are that 'scroungers' will be 'made to pay'?

What the hell have we ever done to you?

Does freedom of speech only apply to the 'winning side'?

[Ubik1]

I think mumsnet should just let people get on with it bar personal attacks.

Nothing wrong with attacking an idea.



I think people who voted conservative should be ashamed. I don't think that's unreasonable

[CuttedUpPear]

Only 23% of the electorate voted Tory.
The rest of us have a right to be angry that they are now our rulers.

[WhyBeHappyWhenYouCouldBeNormal]

Well said Bishop - #Solidarity

[LadyStark]

The people who said that are arseholes, irrespective if how they vote.

I don't disagree that all the things you've outlined are shitty. However, I don't think they're solely the blame of the Conservative party either and I suspect it wouldn't look much different if Labour were in power.

[stubbornstains]

I don't think I can really top bishopbrennan's post, but....

To be honest, I haven't seen any name calling that I consider to be that bad on threads today, and I'm surprised at the offended reaction. But maybe it's that the kind of MNetter who votes Tory isn't the kind that has been liable to have personal vitriol levelled at them in the past?

To everybody who's been upset at being "called names" today, here's a little experiment to try. Start a thread something along the lines of "Pregnant and single- what am I going to do?" Or "Being made homeless with a disabled child- please help". Or "Lone parent and can't find a job", and then wait for the abuse to roll in.

Because believe you me, once you've read a dozen posts telling you that you should never have had children, that you should move hundreds of miles from your support network, that people resent "paying for you", that you're lazy for not getting a job, even though you're sending off 20 applications a week, then you will know what it really feels like to be on the receiving end of Mumsnet vitriol.

[MargoReadbetter]

Bishop

[TondelayoSchwarzkopf]

If MNHQ is going to ban threads that are repetitive, endless and involve a high level of vitriol it's bye bye vaccinations and bye bye Phonics. Phonics threads can get vicious.

[TheOneWiththeNicestSmile]

Is it really that hard to understand that Labour left the country in a terrible economic mess which would leave us unable to afford ANY kind of social services if unchecked, and that the Tories have improved things.

NO THEY DIDN'T!!!

Something I read today mentioned that Labour kind of withdrew for a while after GB resigned & left the Tories free rein to paint their own picture of how things were & would have to be

WHICH WASN'T TRUE!!! The economy was already recovering but their stringent austerity measures set it back years

FFS

[PlentyOfPubeGardens]

It's certainly a bit fraught!

I think political parties and policies, and politicians to a certain extent (short of libel, obviously) are actually fair game for criticism and if people are passionate that's no bad thing.

I have spotted a few personal attacks but they are certainly not one-sided.

I do have a lot of sympathy for the view expressed upthread that if the worst you will suffer from the results of this election is being called a name you have got off very lightly. People are genuinely frightened. In particular, I think continually calling people 'hysterical' when they have already suffered massively under the cuts of the last 5 years and are about to face the impact of a further 12bn cuts from the welfare budget is a bit off.

(didn't vote either Labour or Conservative, FTR)

[oddfodd]

Bishop :(

LadyStark - at least have the courtesy to acknowledge that the disabled have seen real cuts under a Tory government. The same thing would not have happened under Labour.

Food bank use is through the roof while the income of the very richest has grown. It's horribly depressing and I can understand that people are angry with those who've chosen to subject the most vulnerable in our society to more of the same.

I'm just incredibly disappointed at how self-serving so many people are.

[ouryve]

Bishop

[MargoReadbetter]

FOOD BANKS. because the poor are always with us and it allows better off people to donate the food they wouldn't buy for themselves and feel good about it. The poor should keep quiet about it and not be melodramatic. Food banks in Cameron's Great Britain.

[Waltermittythesequel]

One of the only threads I read; first couple of posts in, after people saying how scared/broke/defeated/depressed they were, was some Tory wanker going on about a £500 bet.

I think that sums up the attitude of what I've read on here today.

Enjoy your win but try not to be a fucking arsehole.

[GraysAnalogy]

margo don't you realise food banks are just an invention of the Labour supporters to act melodramatic.

HTH

[PacificDogwood]

Bishop, hear, hear.

I don't actually take issue with people being upset or happy about the election outcome, I do take issue with the nastiness of the debate.

[Mintyy]

And a healthy 600% increase in food bank use in the last 3 years don't forget! Something to be proud of? Something to vote for?

[LadyStark]

I'm pretty sure I did acknowledge that it's really shitty and my second post on this thread also acknowledged that there have been cuts to the poor and vulnerable.

Did you know Labour voted to roll out PIP in Scotland? Losing over £1000 per year for many people with disabilities.

I've never suggested that the cuts aren't real and happening but I have tried to make the point that labour haven't offered a credible alternative. Therefore hating on the conservatives when Labour weren't pledging to do much differently is a little pointless.

[LadyStark]

I posted a fact check link on an earlier thread about food banks... It's not quite as black and white as increase in use equals increase in need. Food banks only really came into existence in 2005 and use has risen steadily since. But you can all google this information if you genuinely want to see it.

[BettyCatKitten]

Bishop, I feel very bad for you

[BishopBrennansArse]

Mintyy David Cameron said himself to Paxo that the increase in food bank use is because the Tories changed the rules and made it so Job Centres could make referrals.

Like it's a good thing.

[PlentyOfPubeGardens]

Bishop