Tuesday's Most Active Threads

The thread with the highest number of replies and the highest number of views yesterday was posted in the "Political Discussion" forum. Titled, "Russia fires missiles into Poland", the title is likely incorrect based on the latest information about the event. The original poster embedded a tweet saying that two Russian missiles had landed in Poland, killing two people. The original poster concluded that these missiles were fired by Russia, but news reports today suggest the projectiles were fired by Ukraine — who uses Russian-made ground to air defense systems — while attempting to destroy incoming Russian rockets and drones. These days the political forum amounts to little more than posters interpreting every single event through the prism of their pre-existing views. No matter what happens, it simply reinforces what they already believe. This is particularly ironic when posters with completely opposite views both believe the same event proves them correct. So it went with this thread. Those who are convinced we risk nuclear Armageddon at every minute worried that this woud be the trigger. Those who consider Russia the biggest evil in the world added this to their list of evidence. The posters who are convinced that NATO is being sucked into the Ukraine conflict pounded their chests in victory. Posters suggested that the event proved both that we should strengthen our support for Ukraine and that we should begin disengaging. The posters who suggested that maybe we should withhold conclusions until more information is available will be forgotten today as the loudest voices from yesterday will readjust their claims to state that while they were right yesterday, they are even more right today, despite being wrong yesterday.

A thread titled, "I wish I could draw men's attention the way my friend does" and posted in the "Relationship Discussion (non-explicit)" forum was second in number of views yesterday and third in number of replies. The original poster describes her friend as someone who puts little to no effort into her appearance but still manages to attract a considerable amount of male attention. The original poster wishes she could be like that. I am tempted to psychoanalyze the original poster, dissecting why she wants such attention or what need that would be fulfilling? But, alas, that's above my pay grade. Many of those responding don't appear to take the thread very seriously while those who do mostly ask for a better description of the friend. The discussion fairly quickly degenerates into arguments about the type of women men prefer and even a dispute about finger nails. As could be expected, many posts fixate on women's weight. In contrast, several posters belittle attention from males as not something desirable. The most recent posts are busy breaking down Sir Mix-a-Lot lyrics which apparently offer a cogent view into male desires. If the answer to the OP's question is to be found in popular music, a wrench could be thrown into the entire discussion by considering the AC/DC hit, "Whole Lotta Rosie". "Forty-two, thirty-nine, fifty-six. You could say she's got it all."

Another thread from the "Relationship Discussion (non-explicit)" forum was among the most active yesterday. Fourth in both number of views and number of replies, the thread was titled, "Can a parenting marriage last?", and describes the original poster's marriage in which she and her husband have lost both physical and emotional intimacy. The original poster asks whether a marriage like hers can be successful or would it set a bad example for their child. I was previously unfamiliar with the phrase "parenting marriage" but I must admit that it is far better than the "sexless marriage" connotation normally employed on DCUM. Perhaps the DCUM incel battalion shares my lack of understanding of the term because they don't seem to have shown up in the thread. As such, it is largely supportive and on-topic with many posters sharing their experiences of being in similar situations.

The last thread I'll look at today was in the "Religion" forum and titled, "The Jews are Scared. Please be an Ally." This thread was third in number of views yesterday. The thread missed being included in the top ten threads in number of replies, but that was likely due to the fact that I deleted so many posts and eventually locked the thread, preventing additional replies. The original poster describes the current fear that she and many other Jews feel as a result of many recent anti-Semitic incidents. She asks that non-Jews speak up for Jews and against hate. There have been a large number of similar threads recently on DCUM and this is proving to be a very difficult topic to moderate. In every case in which Jews describe their fears, they are countered by posters — including many who say they are Jewish themselves — telling them that they are overreacting. Invariably, someone will attempt to downplay what posters consider to be examples of anti-Semitism, often claiming that incidents weren't anti-Semitic at all. Anti-Semitism, like so many things, is generally in the eye of the beholder. As a result, threads such as this — including this one — quickly divert to debates about Israel, Black Lives Matter, or in the case of this thread, Dave Chappelle. Multiple posts focused on Starbucks gift cards. My choice in such situations is to either allow wide-ranging debate — something that almost always results in posters asking me to lock or delete the thread because it has turned anti-Semitic — or try to restrict discussion and keep it narrowly focused on the original topic. Cognizant that the thread was in the Religion forum, I chose to moderate this thread closely. Not unexpectedly, this provoked complaints that I was not allowing serious discussion. The fact that I remove posts is either used as proof of Jewish power that forced my action, or support for allegations that I am anti-Semitic because I removed posts addressing the supposed root of the problem (Blacks, Muslims, liberals, etc.). Eventually, only posts that I had to remove or complaints about my moderation were the only things being posted. So, I locked the thread rather than waste additional time and energy on it.

I want to make a clear statement that I do understand the fear many Jews feel today. Please report any post that you feel is anti-Semitic. I want DCUM to be a place that you are free from hate. It may not be much, but at least I can do that.

One final note, I have not previously linked to the threads I describe in these posts because past experience has shown that links on the home page attract spammers to the threads. I included links today as an experiment to see how things go. I can't promise that this practice will continue, but we will give it a try.