Concerns about racism

[PandoraSocks]

Hi there Mumsnet HQ

Many of us are concerned about the uptick of hatred, xenophobia and racism on the site over the past couple of weeks. Most of the bigotry is focused on asylum seekers. MNHQ will of course delete racism etc. if reported, but this has gone way beyond a few hateful posts.

Links below to three examples of threads which have descended into real nastiness.

Cheers.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/in_the_news/5385273-civil-unrest-whats-really-going-on?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5385914-do-you-believe-there-will-be-a-civil-war?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5386073-to-be-so-fed-up-amd-disheartened-with-all-the-xenophobia?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share

I would also be up for clarification of what constitutes hate speech on here. I haven’t seen any perjorative names or racial profanities being used, I haven’t seen calls for violence, suggestions that certain races are inferior as per Neo Nazi ideology etc.

I have seen concerns about sex crimes committed by asylum seekers and general population rise/overcrowding, which don’t seem unreasonable at all.

I'm so sorry @NautilusLionfish that you have been made to feel like this. I'm tagging @BeckyAMumsnet because MNHQ need to know how the bad the racism on this site has made you feel.

I suggest you ask MNHQ for its working definition of hate speech. Because us telling you what we think constitutes hate speech is completely irrelevant to the running of this site.

It’s horrific. I feel really ashamed of my country @NautilusLionfish. I’m very sorry too.

I can give an example of hate speech. Multiple posters asserting that the majority of Afghani (sic) men are violent to women. Seen repeated many times on here.

I work in immigration so have a good knowledge of the statistics and issues. There are good and bad people, regardless of immigration status. You cannot blame people for wanting to improve their immigration circumstances and nor can you blame others who live with the impact of the lack of cultural cohesion in the UK and the pressure on health and housing services with an expanding population and a growing UK debt burden.

I have not commented on the immigration type threads as I do not think the posters would accept they either had the law wrong or the statistics.

The whole topic of net migration and the benefits to the uk of migration are really too complex for bite size posts and, in my opinion, MNHQ are in a difficult spot. If they ban posts on immigration etc there are then calls to ban posts on benefits and disability as those are also two topics where people also get very upset by people expressing different opinions to their views.

I think, on balance, all threads and posts should be allowed unless they breach guidelines - as otherwise there is no free speech and we end up (where we almost are in the uk ) with the thought police and threads limited to complaints about MILs until they rise up as a group to complain about discrimination.

I will therefore continue to wince at some of the disability posts (as I am disabled ) but I have to accept that people have a right to say what they think even if they are wrong and to use language that although is not illegal is personally upsetting.

why not share the links so we can learn?

I want in as well please if we're handing out recipes, they sound yum!

Because I’m not your secretary. You can type just as well as me. Hell, you could even copy and paste what I’ve told you I searched for.

But you started the thread by asserting you regularly see it and want them to do something about it. So I’m asking for a few examples of what you mean.

Brownie recipe:

225 grams dark chocolate (good quality dark cooking chocolate of your choice is fine. Don't use eating chocolate, it goes grainy when you melt it)
100 grams unsalted butter
225 grams caster sugar
2 whole medium eggs plus the yolk of a third egg
175 grams plain flour
0.5 teaspoon of baking powder

150 grams (shelled weight) of pistachio nuts (not chopped)
150 grams of dried apricot (cut into pistachio nut size pieces with kitchen scissors

Put the butter into a thick bottomed saucepan. Start melting over a very very low heat, breaking the chocolate into it. Stir until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is glossy.

Put the sugar in a mixing bowl, pour in the melted chocolate. A good silicone spatula is your friend. Stir the chocolate and the sugar together until well mixed into a slightly grainy mix. Add the eggs and yolk, stir in until well mixed. Add the flour in two or three dollops, stirring until all incorporated. The mixture should be shiny, quite thick and not too sticky. Add in the apricots and pistachio nuts.

Put the mixture into a square brownie tin lined with baking parchment (this is important because without the paper they will stick). Spread the mixture evenly - it should not stick to the spatula you are using at all.

Bake in an oven preheated to 160C (Fan, you can go 170 for non fan but no more!) for 35 minutes. Top of the brownie should show some light cracks, a skewer should come out mostly clean but there may be a little melted chocolate. Take it out and leave in tin to cool.

This recipe also works very well with 150 g dried cranberries and 150g toasted pine nuts.

Thank you @pointythings. I can’t wait to make those. ❤️

I wouldn't even bother engaging. You could post links all day long and it still wouldn't be enough, or "right."
Not worth it.

I’ve posted links only to be told they’re plainly rubbish as they’re in the Telegraph. Not enough or ‘right’ apparently.

Can you post where somebody has said that please? Verbatim, I mean.

I'm just wondering if the cookies would work without eggs, if anyone has a good replacement they think will work?

You’re asking people what they’ve seen. People can’t always remember where. If you don’t believe people are posting in good faith what’s the point in discussing with you?

That's a very good question. I reckon the brownies would work with chia seed because the egg is there to provide richness, not airiness, but I have never tried them that way.

Bananas maybe? Works in pancakes, you might need a bit of a binder maybe though, I’m no expert!

That’s fine; I get that, but given a few threads are running at the moment which OP seems to be alluding to I thought a quick extract would be easy.

A lot of vegan recipes use aquafaba instead but I’m not sure exactly how.

You can’t really replace eggs in a recipe as they act as a binder.

Why are you so determined to disbelieve that this stuff is posted? All you have to do is look through the threads OP has linked to in this thread. It's honestly all in there, and a lot of worse stuff too.

Again, the threads are 8ndicative. There are so many similar ones it’s impossible to remember where you saw specific things.

Not entirely true - it's the gluten that does most of the binding. You can however use gluten free flour for these and add xanthan gum - I've done this. But as an egg substitute I would try the chia seed first.