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

Yes, it's different. From what I'm aware I think daytime reports are seen to quicker because MN is staffed during the day.
During the night they rely on unpaid volunteers with just the power to hide posts until MN staff can look at them in the morning. This relies on people being up and awake to spot them in the first place that is.
I think that's the case anyway, correct me if I'm wrong

I worked with refugees previously. Their stories were harrowing. But most people don't want to know.

@Zonder it's different in as much as you have to go onto the Night Watch board [below] and start a thread there to report

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/the_night_watch

That's mad then if that was deleted, why on earth would it be?!
Were there any personal attacks in it, or troll hunting?! Otherwise that makes absolutely no sense!
Would like to know the reasoning behind that

I feel like we all need to know. But some will still spout hate.

I don't remember any personal attacks. I quoted it to say thank you and then noted it had gone.

‘Lessons learned’ from the child porn debacle eh? They know fine well that out-of-hours is an unlocked back door. They may as well have a flashing light on it.

If they can’t afford overnight moderators then maybe they need to shut the boards down between 10pm and 9am. Maybe have a single overnight board so the volunteers have something manageable to watch and a clear advisory to lock anything they’re not sure about for a check over by the experts in the morning?

It isn’t ‘hate’ to think our country is desperately overcrowded or that the 40,000 people on the terrorism watch list makes letting in thousands of unvetted men from terrorist states a bad idea.

You can argue the above, but dismissing it as ‘hate’ is nonsense.

I see you @JamesMacGill

Please don’t call it that. The correct term is child sexual abuse images. Children cannot consent to being in ‘porn’, and it makes it sound like light hearted entertainment.

See what you like, I really don’t care.

I agree. It's changing what its like to be around here.

The country isn’t over crowded. We have obscene amounts of empty properties for example.

Economics aside, I’m old enough to remember (and to have experienced) ridiculous assumptions about me for being Catholic and that I therefore must be/know terrorists. My dad was also Catholic, he even looked like Gerry Adams when he was younger. He was a civil servant. Judging all members of a group based on a minority of that group is bigotry. And in the case of asylum seekers they are often fleeing the very regimes you are judging. I worked with an Iranian Maths teacher (now retired) who fled during the cultural revolution. He is Muslim. And not anything of the things many people on here would assume. He was an exceptional maths teacher and head of year though.

It may not be hate but it's also not all true. And it seems to quickly develop into hate. And of course many people seem unable to distinguish between actual asylum seekers with a right to be here and stories about foreigners coming over here to rape our girls and steal our jobs.

Yes only unpaid volunteers overnight still but with access to a proper moderator since the CSA pic debacle - tho' it's a bit uncertain if that was only a temporary measure. The paid moderators do seem to work later into the evening now [?11ish] but also maybe start later in the morning [?9am]

MNHQ are coy about the actual hours - for 'security reasons'

So yeah amateur hour still

Yes it is.

Our population has doubled in 70 years, is rising by a million a year, and we have the highest population density in Europe bar only the Netherlands and Belgium.

We are destroying the environment by concreting over farmland and whittling down our food production meaning everything has to be imported, not to mention raising our flooding risk by making the ground impermeable.

Our empty houses would solve less than 10% of the current housing crisis. We would still need to build yet more millions.

You may be fine with the country turning into a pollution ravaged multi storey car park, I’m not.

PS - I’m also Catholic, doesn’t mean I agree with unvetted immigration from high risk countries.

My dd did some volunteering with young asylum seekers during her gap year. The first two that she got to know had a profound impact on her.

The first was a young woman, about dd's age. She had grown up in poverty and had never had an opportunity to go to school, so she was trying hard to learn to read and write as a young adult. She had witnessed horrific violence in her own country and experienced unimaginable loss. She had also been sexually and economically exploited on her journey to the UK. Her life and my dd's life were so incredibly different, and talking to her really made my dd realise how privileged her own life has been.

The second was a young man who had grown up in a middle class family and gone to a good school. He had been doing well academically and excelling at his chosen hobby. He had lived in a nice house with all of his family, had lots of friends, and had plans and aspirations for the future. And then suddenly, everything changed. It all came crashing down and he had to leave his lovely life and family behind. His parents went into hiding and sent him away with his brother to safety. Sadly, his brother had died on the journey. In many ways, this young man's story was much more disturbing for dd, because she realised that he had been just like her before it all went wrong...it gave her that sudden realisation that there is a world in which this could potentially happen to any of us. But most people don't want to engage with that idea because it's too scary.

Which colour faces can’t be facist?

https://www.actiononemptyhomes.org/

Thank you for posting this. Heartbreaking.

https://england.shelter.org.uk/media/press_release/at_least_354000_people_homeless_in_england_today_

Some figures that show proper management of empty properties would solve more than 10% of the housing crisis.

It's very easy to forget that there are people behind the numbers. Real people who often have traumatic stories to tell. I find it depressing to see how very little compassion people have.

When did the population rise by a million a year?

The amount of land given over to farming including rough grazing (18-19 million hectares) has remained pretty consistent the last 30 years.