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. ?

[NotMyProblem MSN, ASN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN]

34 minutes ago, toomuchbaloney said:

How do we change a policing system if we must only speak about individuals and not the entire system that protects and perpetuates the unacceptable attitudes and behaviors of the individuals?

I agree that the system as a whole needs to be addressed. I agree that there are sooooo many people with authority who are abusing that authority. But to hold hatred for all policemen is equivalent to those who hold hatred towards a specific race or culture. My former friend was not even wanting to allow me to voice my opinion. He was OK with sending the elderly and children to fight a battle which he himself would not fight. I, for one, could never allow someone weaker than me to stand between me and an aggressor.

[NICU Guy, BSN, RN]

23 minutes ago, toomuchbaloney said:

How do we change a policing system if we must only speak about individuals and not the entire system that protects and perpetuates the unacceptable attitudes and behaviors of the individuals?

99% of cops are good cops. The 1% of bad cops need to be permanently banned (black listed). There are two problems, police unions protecting bad cops and not enough good cops stepping up to force the bad cops out. The culture of "If I say something and the bad cop is not fired, what retaliation can I expect?" I do not agree with tear down a police department and start over. They need better training and leadership that holds all officers accountable for their actions.

The media is also to blame for some of the outrage. Last night a black man was shot in Atlanta by police officers. Every one of the major networks showed only the edited cell phone video of the man running and the sound of gunshots. They don't show the dash cam and body cam footage of the 20 minutes of the officers talking to him and initiating a sobriety test. It wasn't until they started to peaceably handcuff him, that he became violent and started wrestling and punching the officers. He stole one of the officers' Tasers and ran away. It wasn't until he fired the Taser at the officers that they shot him. This guy didn't innocently fall asleep in the drive through and the cops shot him for running away as the media wants to portray.

[HandsOffMySteth]

59 minutes ago, BSNbeDONE said:

I parted ways with a dear friend over this situation as a whole. We are both African-American and our dispute was over the cop/75-year-old situation. I absolutely did not and do not agree with the cops pushing that old man. But I also believe that no elderly person should be out there in this mess. Yes I do agree that there is a time to stand up and fight for what’s right; but given the magnitude of danger that we’re seeing, if one is not as agile as he or she once was, send a representative if you must, but you yourself should stay home! I can and do so appreciate the desired effect; but the actual outcome can prove detrimental, as we have seen. Meet us at the polls instead.

That was my statement and he was furious, calling me a cop lover and any other name he could think of. So I said to him, “why don’t you go out there”? His answer was that he has to work. That led to another debate as I questioned his implication that all of those protesters were unemployed individuals, even those who showed up in scrubs.

The conversation ended when I pointed out that he was more driven by anger at the cops than compassion for the man lying bleeding in the streets. And he, too, is a healthcare worker!! In his words, “ALL cops are bad”. Of course, his Hispanic Cop friend who is a very nice guy is the exception to his rule. But that clearly negates the ALL category, right?

I have family members who are cops and family members who are black, white, and Indian. So I hold accountable the person(s) who are at fault, whether it’s the aggressor or person who knowingly places himself or herself in harms way, or both. History doesn’t always have to repeat itself. I think this all boils down to hypocrisy, an utter lack of self-control, and the inability to accept diversity.

I can't agree more. What I am seeing is a total intolerance for people who have a different opinion. Instead of a mature discussion it turns into insults and personal attacks such as "you are uneducated, a racist, a troll, how can you be a nurse, etc. And I see prejudice here too. Bunching a person into a group because they have assumed things about that person unjustly. Saying things like "your president, your type. you people."

I would think that individuals here have taken some courses in interpersonal or intercultural communication and should be aware that people have different perspectives , and that we should respect their personal beliefs. Instead, we see attacks by people who feel the need to "correct" those people, and not so politely.

[Emergent, RN]

There are a couple people here who are just so repetitively political that I had to put them on ignore. They like to debate endlessly and quote someone constantly in order to get a response from them.

Since I prefer to keep my settings to notify me if someone quotes me, it works out better for me to just totally ignore their posts. Otherwise it felt like talking to me. And, their point of view is so predictable, there was nothing new to be gained by reading anymore post of theirs.

So, if you want to get ignored by me, try to get me into a debate by quoting me.

[toomuchbaloney]

1 hour ago, juniper222 said:

I can't agree more. What I am seeing is a total intolerance for people who have a different opinion. Instead of a mature discussion it turns into insults and personal attacks such as "you are uneducated, a racist, a troll, how can you be a nurse, etc. And I see prejudice here too. Bunching a person into a group because they have assumed things about that person unjustly. Saying things like "your president, your type. you people."

I would think that individuals here have taken some courses in interpersonal or intercultural communication and should be aware that people have different perspectives , and that we should respect their personal beliefs. Instead, we see attacks by people who feel the need to "correct" those people, and not so politely.

On the other hand, if someone posts something that another perceives as based in or representative of bigoted or racist origins are those who notice required to remain silent so as to preserve the feelings of the poster? If asked not to use specific language is that tantamount to silencing an entire group? Is public discussion of those who would "correct" another directly the same as a correction?

[NICU Guy, BSN, RN]

57 minutes ago, Emergent said:

So, if you want to get ignored by me, try to get me into a debate by quoting me.

I'll make sure I only quote positive things of yours. ?

[pixierose, BSN, RN]

1 hour ago, juniper222 said:

I can't agree more. What I am seeing is a total intolerance for people who have a different opinion. Instead of a mature discussion it turns into insults and personal attacks such as "you are uneducated, a racist, a troll, how can you be a nurse, etc. And I see prejudice here too. Bunching a person into a group because they have assumed things about that person unjustly. Saying things like "your president, your type. you people."

I would think that individuals here have taken some courses in interpersonal or intercultural communication and should be aware that people have different perspectives , and that we should respect their personal beliefs. Instead, we see attacks by people who feel the need to "correct" those people, and not so politely.

It goes both ways.

My “liberal” ways, etc have been brought into a discussion (interesting as I am an Independent), when politics *wasn’t* being discussed (I.e., the thread macawake referred to, among so many others; in fact I kept bringing it back to the topic, only for another poster(s) to bring up Obama/Trump/liberal cities the riots are taking place, etc).
If I bring a counterpoint (I tend to use links from sources not affiliated with news channels), it’s deemed an attack on those more conservative ways.

You (general you) can’t deem intolerance against one set of views and deem your own set of partisan views untouchable. Your “interpersonal/intercultural communication” crosses across all perspectives, all partisan views.

[pixierose, BSN, RN]

4 minutes ago, toomuchbaloney said:

On the other hand, if someone posts something that another perceives as based in or representative of bigoted or racist origins are those who notice required to remain silent so as to preserve the feelings of the poster? If asked not to use specific language is that tantamount to silencing an entire group? Is public discussion of those who would "correct" another directly the same as a correction?

If someone says, “hey, your comments really upset me” in real life - I would hope most of us would take a good, hard look at what we said and have that courageous conversation with the individual we may have offended.

Is it because we are anonymous that we can say almost whatever we want without consequence?

I want to be a good person. If I’m using language that makes a person feel uncomfortable, or unwelcome (someone deems has racist overtones) - I hope they would tell me. It’s as simple as that.

[Emergent, RN]

15 minutes ago, NICU Guy said:

I'll make sure I only quote positive things of yours. ?

You don't have any persistent, stalkerish tendencies at all. Most people don't. Occasional quotes of a post one disagrees with is OK. Repetitive behavior like that is obnoxious.

[toomuchbaloney]

2 hours ago, BSNbeDONE said:

I agree that the system as a whole needs to be addressed. I agree that there are sooooo many people with authority who are abusing that authority. But to hold hatred for all policemen is equivalent to those who hold hatred towards a specific race or culture. My former friend was not even wanting to allow me to voice my opinion. He was OK with sending the elderly and children to fight a battle which he himself would not fight. I, for one, could never allow someone weaker than me to stand between me and an aggressor.

I would counter that suggesting that those protesting for change in policing practice and funding hold "hatred for all policemen" is a dangerous generalization.

[guest769224]

Joined in 2013. Site and topics were much more enjoyable back then. Fun contributors and interesting topics galore. Those posters have been driven off now. I avoid most threads here due to many already stated reasons. Wish the old AN would come back. Not likely.

[Susie2310]

43 minutes ago, ICUman said:

Joined in 2013. Site and topics were much more enjoyable back then. Fun contributors and interesting topics galore. Those posters have been driven off now. I avoid most threads here due to many already stated reasons. Wish the old AN would come back. Not likely.

I miss some of the diverse topics. I mostly enjoyed the posters (not all of them) who started threads that were very original; often asking intriguing questions and challenging the status quo.