Is GN guilty of bias or just ill-informed?

annodomini Well said! It is the intention behind the insult which matters and generally says a lot about the person using the insult.

George Orwell wrote this about fascism:

It will be seen that, as used, the word ‘Fascism’ is almost entirely meaningless. In conversation, of course, it is used even more wildly than in print. I have heard it applied to farmers, shopkeepers, Social Credit, corporal punishment, fox-hunting, bull-fighting, the 1922 Committee, the 1941 Committee, Kipling, Gandhi, Chiang Kai-Shek, homosexuality, Priestley's broadcasts, Youth Hostels, astrology, women, dogs and I do not know what else.

Yet underneath all this mess there does lie a kind of buried meaning. To begin with, it is clear that there are very great differences, some of them easy to point out and not easy to explain away, between the régimes called Fascist and those called democratic. Secondly, if ‘Fascist’ means ‘in sympathy with Hitler’, some of the accusations I have listed above are obviously very much more justified than others. Thirdly, even the people who recklessly fling the word ‘Fascist’ in every direction attach at any rate an emotional significance to it. By ‘Fascism’ they mean, roughly speaking, something cruel, unscrupulous, arrogant, obscurantist, anti-liberal and anti-working-class. Except for the relatively small number of Fascist sympathizers, almost any English person would accept ‘bully’ as a synonym for ‘Fascist’. That is about as near to a definition as this much-abused word has come.

orwell.ru/library/articles/As_I_Please/english/efasc

EllanVannin Modern day Russians and Chinese do own their own property.

Trisher - McCarthyism in the USA - that was at the peak of the Cold War.
My impression of american politics is that one of our 'traditional' Tories, eg Ken Clark, would be regarded as a socialist there. They're so much further to the right than we are

Having just come back to this thread and reread the OP, I am appalled at such a prejudiced and condescending view being expressed.

Talk about bias!

Would you like to explain that kittylesterin which way is the OP prejudiced or condescending. It states facts. I have been called a communist and I have called others fascist. Only one of those posts was deleted. Why?

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Gransnet exists to make the business of being a gran and - yes, getting older - a bit easier all round. Our policy is to keep intervention to a minimum and let the conversation take off. That said, we will remove postings that are obscene, contain personal attacks or break the law. It's often good to get aerated, but do bear in mind that life throws rubbish at you sometimes, and it helps if you have access to some moral support. Don't say anything that you wouldn't say face to face to a person. Think twice before posting. walk away!

Having just come back to this thread and reread the OP, I am appalled at such a prejudiced and condescending view being expressed.

I was reading through the thread, having just seen it for the first time, and was so surprised by the above comment. I found it a genuine and interesting discussion, with the majority taking great care and the explanations showing on what they base what they are saying. Neither the word 'prejudiced' or 'condescending' had occurred to me.

+1

I have been called a communist and I have called others fascist. Only one of those posts was deleted. Why?

Because you didn’t report it. If you or someone else had objected to that particular post it would have been removed.

Thats not always the case,I reported a thread that I had started because it became very personal and extremely nasty. GN replied they couldn't take it down and what they had read didn't appear to be bad ...believe me it was .I left for a few months but came back because I was following someone who was having a troubled time and wanted to check up on her .Otherwise I might have stayed away .

tickingbird if I reported every thread where I have been called a communist or a loony leftie there would be next to nothing remaining on the politics threads.

Anyway GNHQ posts cannot be reported because this error message comes up

HTTP Status 500 - Servlet execution threw an exception

type Exception report

message Servlet execution threw an exception

description The server encountered an internal error that prevented it from fulfilling this request.

exception

javax.servlet.ServletException: Servlet execution threw an exception
org.apache.tomcat.websocket.server.WsFilter.doFilter(WsFilter.java:52)
com.mumsnet.filters.XSSFilter.doFilter(XSSFilter.java:29)
com.mumsnet.filters.SessionNotifierInitialisationFilter.doFilter(SessionNotifierInitialisationFilter.java:28)
com.mumsnet.filters.AdvertisingFilter.doFilter(AdvertisingFilter.java:161)
com.mumsnet.filters.AuthenticationFilter.doFilter(AuthenticationFilter.java:38)
com.mumsnet.filters.ReferralTrackingFilter.doFilter(ReferralTrackingFilter.java:147)
com.mumsnet.filters.RequestFilter.doFilter(RequestFilter.java:120)
root cause

java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: com/sun/mail/util/MailLogger
javax.mail.Session.initLogger(Session.java:259)
javax.mail.Session.<init>(Session.java:244)
javax.mail.Session.getInstance(Session.java:280)
org.apache.commons.mail.Email.getMailSession(Email.java:691)
org.apache.commons.mail.Email.buildMimeMessage(Email.java:1268)
org.apache.commons.mail.MultiPartEmail.buildMimeMessage(MultiPartEmail.java:252)
org.apache.commons.mail.HtmlEmail.buildMimeMessage(HtmlEmail.java:525)
org.apache.commons.mail.Email.send(Email.java:1436)
net.mumsnet.util.HtmlEmailFactory.sendTransactionalEmail(HtmlEmailFactory.java:54)
com.mumsnet.talk.pages.ReportPost.sendHSReportEmail(ReportPost.java:105)
com.mumsnet.talk.pages.ReportPost.saveReport(ReportPost.java:153)
com.mumsnet.talk.pages.ReportPost.loadPublicData(ReportPost.java:282)
com.mumsnet.common.PublicRequestHandlerImpl.loadData(PublicRequestHandlerImpl.java:42)
com.mumsnet.baseservlets.NonAuthServlet.runTheRequestHandler(NonAuthServlet.java:214)
com.mumsnet.baseservlets.NonAuthServlet.loadData(NonAuthServlet.java:146)
com.mumsnet.baseservlets.CommonBaseServlet.doRequestHandling(CommonBaseServlet.java:278)
com.mumsnet.baseservlets.CommonBaseServlet.handleRequest(CommonBaseServlet.java:350)
org.apache.velocity.tools.view.servlet.VelocityViewServlet.doRequest(VelocityViewServlet.java:545)
org.apache.velocity.tools.view.servlet.VelocityViewServlet.doPost(VelocityViewServlet.java:519)
javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:650)
javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:731)
org.apache.tomcat.websocket.server.WsFilter.doFilter(WsFilter.java:52)
com.mumsnet.filters.XSSFilter.doFilter(XSSFilter.java:29)
com.mumsnet.filters.SessionNotifierInitialisationFilter.doFilter(SessionNotifierInitialisationFilter.java:28)
com.mumsnet.filters.AdvertisingFilter.doFilter(AdvertisingFilter.java:161)
com.mumsnet.filters.AuthenticationFilter.doFilter(AuthenticationFilter.java:38)
com.mumsnet.filters.ReferralTrackingFilter.doFilter(ReferralTrackingFilter.java:147)
com.mumsnet.filters.RequestFilter.doFilter(RequestFilter.java:120)
note The full stack trace of the root cause is available in the Apache Tomcat/7.0.68 logs.

Furret

Two points: Firstly, GN posts can be reported and often are. Secondly, was there really any need to copy and paste all that?

Hopefully GN will remove it.

I've felt like you paddyanne on numerous occasions. Since joining GN, I've reported 3 comments which I regarded as cruel and belittling. These weren't aimed at me but I felt strongly that a few on GN can't appear to accept that others have a different opinion than themselves. In particular those who comment a lot on the News and Politics threads.

None of 3 comments I reported were deleted. I would like to hear why GNHQ thought Furret's comment "Get off your high horse" had to be deleted! I've read much worse and don't intend to repeat them here to satisfy someone's curiosity.

And what was the point of your post, tickingbird? Apart from having a little go at Furret, that is?

Never cease to be amazes that posters think they have a duty to tell other posters what to do or how to behave. GNet's like a junior school playground full of bossy little girls sometimes..

Tickingbird. Reporting does not automatically get a post removed. I’ve reported two which gransnet said they wouldn’t remove.

Also furret is correct the reporting facility is currently not operational

I suppose both terms are misused to describe people.

According to some of the short definitions I have read a Communist wants economic equality through the elimination of private property, and the means of production owned communally.

I count myself as pretty left wing but I do not subscribe to these tenets. I have no problem with a "mixed economy" - though I do believe in the nationalisation of certain vital parts of our infrastructure and a fair and proportionate tax system. I do not believe it is possible to achieve absolute economic equality, though I do believe that there should be at least the aim for equal opportunity and a substantial narrowing of the gap between the rich and the poor.

Fascism apparently refers to far right, authoritarian, ultra nationalistic government with the suppression of opposition and strong regimentation of society. I think there are elements of this among right wing people (particularly the nationalistic/regimental aspects) but I believe the vast majority would not subscribe to all these aims.

Having said that, there are many, many references on political threads to "loony lefties", "Marxists", "champagne socialists", "Commies/Communists", "politics of envy", etc., and they sometimes provoke a similarly inaccurate response. Perhaps the golden rule is, if you do not wish to be labelled a "fascist" then don't call other people "Marxists/Communists", etc, etc. - and vice versa.

I couldn't agree more MaizieD.
Playground bossiness and bullying at times.

I do agree with trisher though that deletions should be even-handed.

They remove posts sometimes if they think it might be libellous. I wrote something about Trump ages ago and got a 'your post has been deleted because it possibly contains libellous material'. I'm pretty sure Trump isn't scouring GN to remove rude stuff about himself.

I wouldn't be surprised if he has a little minion doing just that Gagajo - although I'm sure there must be several posts about him on GN which he wouldn't like at all.

Good post, Eloethan

Yes good post Eloethan.
Like you I've always been leftwing, having grown up in a coalmining town. I have a friend from years back who is a member of the Communist party, and another from my working years. Neither could be called a loony left etc. Both women.
I looked into it myself thinking of joining but there were a few principles I didn't agree with 100%.

My point was that posts can and do get reported. Secondly there are such selective memories on here. Often criticising another poster for something you have done yourself. There was no need to copy and paste that long jumbled mass of figures.

As for GN not removing posts you’ve reported it’s obviously because they see no need. They maintain ‘no personal attacks’ so remove them. I don’t know why being branded a communist should be considered a personal attack so maybe GN feel the same. Ask them.