Why Justine Roberts should not give in to demanding celebrities

[IwantToRetire]

Please note this post is NOT about the politics of the letter itself but about the ill advised attempt by celebrities to put one woman on the spot in public, and misunderstanding what the power of mumsnet is.

Irrespective of whether anyone does or does not support the letter written by self regarding luvvies https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XJv6qEHsa8XAQHfc_wjzUvNTqI2uCrvU0k45uk8H-UM/edit?pli=1&tab=t.0 they have no right to put one woman in the public spotlight by demanding Justine Roberts works with them.

So this was my first reaction to this situation. It is about as rude and unsisterly as demanding that Starmer's wife joins their campaign. Or like those immature tv presenters who long for a gotcha moment and go on and on asking the same question to try and get some celebrity or politician to make a public statement.

Secondly, with all due respect to Justine Roberts in her skill and willingness to create such an important forum for "mums", what makes mumsnet important is the wide range of contributors who do not look to JR like hive bees do to their queen!

So if these self publicists want mumsnet to get behind them, have the decency to sign up to mumsnet or request a guest post and then be prepared to respond to what will be a wide ranging and no doubt intense debate.

So not only should they not have put JR on the spot in the public domain, if they suceed in getting a "mumsnet" response via MNHQ then it leaves mumsnet open to any number of no doubt sincere campaigners demanding that they to get MN recognition.

So stop the public bullying of JR.

It is not a very nice thing to have done.

(for those who want to discuss the campaign itself there are a number of threads, one on AIBU and one on FWR)

Yes you misunderstood - if they wanted her to just be added as a signatory to the letter they would have emailed her and asked her if she would like to be a signatory to the letter . A private email like that would have been a perfectly reasonable thing to do

What is so unacceptable here is that for some absolutely inexplicable reason they have decided to address the letter to Justine even though she has no personal influence over foreign politics at all

The usual convention is that the addressee of the open letter is somebody who can actually do something about the issues in the letter. Here that would normally be the prime minister or the foreign Secretary.

I don't think I've ever seen an open letter addressed to somebody with no direct influence before and that is what is so utterly bizarre about this

But they haven't asked other women too. That's the point. If it was an open letter addresses to all women that would have been perfectly fine (although really I think all people would have been even better). It just doesn't make any sense why they singled out an individual woman and it's made them look stupid (at best)

Completely agree OP.

They can have their cause and make it public, but it's wrong to call on an individual by name to sign it.

Fair enough. I haven’t.

I don't think they were asking her to sign it? They seem to be saying it was for her to effectively do the campaigning for them. baffling

They’re asking her as the owner of a business that depends on millions of women for its existence and is seen to be influential. Why is this such a problem for some of you? What’s your agenda?

I don't have any "agenda" here but quite clearly the addressee of an open letter should have been the foreign Secretary or prime minister not a business woman with no direct connection to the issue. I am actually deeply sympathetic to the cause but how they have gone about trying to strong arm Justine into getting involved in it is offensive

They should have written to her privately

I agree with the cause, however I feel that the letter writers haven’t really understood Mumsnet. It’s not a hive mind that can be mobilised by getting the founder to endorse a position, it’s a forum where people discuss things, and strongly disagree on some topics!
I think it would be good to have more international guest posts and Q&A as UK mums and other MN users are absolutely interested in global politics and issues, we’re not just here discussing prams. But Justine can’t unilaterally endorse a campaign on behalf of all of us.

So you don’t understand how campaigns work? Politicians can’t influence and gain support in the way that people like this can. If you don’t like it fair enough but the level of criticism being directed at the signatories of this letter is completely disproportionate. Did you object to a journalist being endorsed by MN and helping them to sign up Reform voters? If not, why not?

I couldnt give less of a fuck about how many lines dench memorises 🙄 being good at your job (apparently; i dont find her better than any other actor tbh!?) Doesnt make your opinion more worthy on unrelated matters. Celebrity culture is bollocks. They need a pin stuck in them to deflate their egos.

It's always bloody Gaza isn't it.

Mumsnet weren't asked to endorse Reform, directly or indirectly.

They published the results of a regular poll of politically engaged users which showed that for the first time Labour are no longer the top party of choice (it's very marginal, more respondents 'don't know.) Headline writers spun the headline to 'Mumsnet supports Reform!'

But actually even that supports the point we're making, that it was based on a survey of users. No one is suggesting that Justine herself is personally supporting Reform and that therefore all users of her website are going to vote Reform.

There's a separate thread about the reform thing and I have commented on that expressing my discomfort

If they wanted to harness the power of mumsnet the appropriate way would have been to ask for a q and a or even to just post a thread

But it's absolutely unacceptable to address and open letter to a private individual in this way. I'm hugely sympathetic to the cause but I can't help but think that the more people try and defend the indefensible the more counterproductive it is to the topic in hand

The celebrities need to rewrite the open letter and address it appropriately to the relevant politician. Individually and as a collective they all have a huge amount of personal power so it makes no sense why they felt the need to try and lean on a single individual in this way. They have both the means and the connection to exert influence and get media attention themselves which makes it all the more inexplicable

Did you object to a journalist being endorsed by MN and helping them to sign up Reform voters?

That’s quite shocking for MN to publically and openly endorse one political party over another. It’d be really appreciated @BIossomtoes if you can provide a link to the thread where this happened. I’d like to complain to MNHQ.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/media_requests/5470768-media-request-has-your-political-allegiance-shifted-to-reform?page=1

The celebrities could use their high profile to raise awareness of their cause and ask people to write to their MPs if they feel the UK government can effect change

its completely unreasonable to name JR and ask her to put her business at their disposal for their chosen cause.

They are asking to interview people not to sign them up. Please link to the thread you refer to where they are " signing them up?"

It was addressed to Justine Roberts as the owner of a £ multimillion business, not as a private individual. The letter actually says that - have you even bothered to read it?

I think you’ve completely misunderstood ‘bullying’.

Yes I have. It was addressed to her personally.

In her capacity as MD of a business that has made ££££ from women. It actually refers to the “powerhouse” of MN.

Irrespective it was addressed to her personally and singled her out.

I I think it's unprecedented for an open letter to be used in this way and it's actually really embarrassing that people are still defending it. I am actually really sympathetic to the cause but cringing that we can't all agree that this was absolutely the wrong way to go about garnering support.

Open letters traditionally and correctly are addressed to someone with actual direct influence over a situation.

It’s totally precedented. It’s a standard campaigning approach. Clearly you and @IwantToRetire have an agenda. This is the third thread she’s started on different boards.

I don't have any sort of agenda I'm actually really sympathetic to the cause. But I'm afraid I've never seen an open letter that wasn't addressed to somebody with actual direct ability to influence the situation. Please do you find me some examples if you believe they exist

Its wrong on 2 counts.

1. Its emotional blackmail. Imagine if the open letter was addressed to Judi Dench or any of the other signatories. They got to decide privately whether to sign or not.
2. Its asking her as a representative of millions of women, but shes not, mumsnet is not a pollitical party. Its a random group of mainly women.