Last Week's Most Active Threads

Today I'll look at the most active threads during the past week, skipping over any that were already mentioned in the daily posts. Given that this was the week of Thanksgiving, many of the most active threads addressed Thanksgiving-related topics. One, that was second in number of replies for the week and fifth in number of views was titled, "Should so called 'thanksgiving' be a national day of mourning?" and posted in the "Off-Topic" forum. The original poster reported that indigenous groups would be demonstrating at Plymouth Rock and asked if we should consider changing the name of the Thanksgiving holiday. At its root, this is a debate between myth and reality. On one side is the traditional version of Thanksgiving in which early Pilgrims feasted in celebration of their first harvest along with indigenous natives whose assistance had contributed to a successful growing season. On the other is the reality of the genocide committed against the natives by early Americans. Both perspectives are well represented in this thread. This has been an annual debate on DCUM and one evolution that I've noticed is that the revisionist arguments against the traditional view have themselves been countered by a third perspective. This viewpoint acknowledges the devastation wrought on the indigenous communities, but provides three justifications: 1) the same colonial practices have been conducted throughout history and are perfectly normal (i.e. might makes right); 2) the indigenous groups were also violent and conquered each other so they are in no position to complain; and 3) despite any negative aspects, the result is an advanced society based on laudable values (i.e the ends justify the means). This third perspective is partially debated in the thread in relation to proposed changes in Virginia's history curriculum which describe indigenous natives as "America’s first immigrants". In contrast to the posters arguing about history, several posters just want a day on which to express their thankfulness and resent the the day's has become little more than a national day of shopping.

Another Thanksgiving-related thread was fifth in number of views for the week and sixth in number of replies. Titled, "Women expecting other women to be in charge of all holidays/logistics/family dynamics" and posted in the "Family Relationships" forum, the original poster argues that women are helping to perpetuate the unfair workload that falls on women for Thanksgiving. The original poster describes her aunt complaining that the aunt's daughter-in-law had not been organizing Thanksgiving plans. When the original poster asked the aunt why she hadn't called her son about it, the aunt was baffled and clearly did not expect that her son would be involved in arrangements. The original poster questions why women don't expect their husbands, sons, and brothers to be active and full participants in preparing for the holiday. I've only read a few posts in this thread but generally it looks like the original poster is getting a lot of support and encouragement to convince others of this view. Some posters describe how they have successfully involved their husbands or other males. Other posters describe various arrangements in which duties are split, but perhaps not along the lines that the original poster seems to propose. For instance, one poster described a rather traditional Thanksgiving day in which the women cook while the men watch football, but then the men are on childcare duty the following day while the women go shopping. That arrangement was not appealing to any who responded. There are multiple debates about feminism, including what does and does not constitute feminism. At least one poster seems to reject feminism entirely, describing feminists as "emotionally cold".

A third Thanksgiving-related thread also was among the most active topics. Titled, "For fun: Let's be the worst Thanksgiving ever" and posted in the "Off-Topic" forum, this thread was fourth in number of views for the week and tenth in number of replies. The original poster wants posters to reply in the guise of something contributing to a horrible Thanksgiving, in her case saying that she is a mother's third glass of wine that will lead to complaints about the father. Posters mostly go along with the theme, though some turned to posting haikus for some reason. A few posters didn't get the message and just posted about their bad Thanksgiving experiences. And, of course, arguments broke out between posters for whom the intended humor of the thread was totally lost. By the thirteenth page, the thread is pretty much useless unless you are a fan of petty bickering. As one poster wrote, "I am the thread who brought the crazies out, despite my best efforts."

Finally, I'll look at a thread titled, "Mass shooting at lgbt nightclub in Co" and posted in the "Political Discussion" forum. There have been so many recent mass shootings that I wasn't sure if I had written about this one yet. I had to check to make sure I hadn't. This thread was ninth in number of replies for the week and tenth in number of views. As the title suggests, it is about the shooting to death of five people in a LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The initial replies focused on the likelihood that the shooting was a hate crime but with at least one poster rejecting that automatic assumption. There were the usual calls for gun control and then discussion of the fact that the assailant had been charged with a bomb threat last year. Several posters tied the shooting to the heated rhetoric surrounding transgender people and drag shows that has been prominent in right-wing circles, including among some DCUM posters. With the revelation of the heroic actions of Richard Fierro who tackled the gunman and held him until the police arrived, many posters praised his saving of many lives. A bit of a twist occurred when the shooter's lawyer announced that the suspect is nonbinary and prefers "they/them" as pronouns. This led to a brief moment of triumphalism among right-wingers who believed this took the heat off of them. However, other posters suggested that this is probably trolling by the shooter — a view with which I concur. A neighbor of the shooter's who often played video games with him was quoted as saying that the killer had never said anything along those lines and a video from the altercation over the bomb threat showed the suspect describing himself as "your boy". With so many shootings recently, threads involving them have repeatedly been among the most active topics, but they don't stay active for very long and this thread has had very few recent updates.