allnurses has Become so Politicized

[adventure_rn]

Has anybody else been pretty shocked by how polarized many of the forums have gotten lately? 'Back in the good ole' days,' people would occasionally have differing view points and get into little spats, but on the whole we were all on the same page and working toward the same common goal (patient and nurse well-being).

These days it feels like at least 1/3 of the trending forums eventually devolve into tirades and personal attacks. Even when the discussions start out fairly civil, they sour pretty quickly.

I realize that highly-polarized, highly-sensationalized news is the nature of our political system these days. I'm also guessing that the polarization is felt more deeply on AN because the two most prominent, polarizing topics right now (covid and 'black lives' protests) are both interrelated with public health. Usually AN members are at least somewhat united on the aims and goals for public health, even if they don't agree with the means. Now, there's just so much bickering.

It's really disheartening. AN is usually my escape from the outside world, where I can commiserate with other nurses on topics that only we understand. Lately, it feels like the lighthearted, feel-good nature of AN has been poisoned by all of this hatred. I hope we get back to the way things were sooner rather than later. ?

[Susie2310]

35 minutes ago, juniper222 said:

It requires self discipline. As another person pointed out, you can't change anyone's minds if they are determined not to listen and all they do is talk. All it amounts to is bickering.

I have better things to do.

Some points are worth making for their own sake regardless of whether it is possible to change the minds of other people on the thread. The threads can be and sometimes are viewed by the general public as well as AN members, not just by the people currently participating.

[Susie2310]

For those who are finding it difficult to have the discussion here that they want to have, I have a suggestion. Think of the points you want to make, take your time and compose a post that is long enough to include everything you want to say, review what you have written, and then submit your reply. That way you will have said what you want to say. Of course, people can say what they want once your post is up, but you will have been able to make the points you want to make.

[pixierose, BSN, RN]

8 hours ago, HiddencatBSN said:

It always cracks me up that the right uses social justice warrior as an insult/dismissal. Like, I get it’s uttered with oozing sarcasm but it still sounds pretty darn cool. I feel like the name should come with a sword or comic book style origin story.

A cape. Rainbow, of course.

[allnurses Admin Team]

Time out.

Closed for a cooling off.