Monday's Most Active Threads

The most active thread yesterday in both number of replies and number of views was titled, "What do you think : Boomers climbed up the ladder and pulled it up after them." and posted in the "Money and Finances" forum. I've written before that I really dislike generational labels like "boomers" and "millennials" which I consider to be reductive, generally inaccurate, and a clear sign of lazy thinking. So, I had low expectations for this thread and, without reading every post, can only deduce that they were not low enough. The original poster couldn't be bothered to write a substantive post, simply claiming that the title reflects something that has been "posted around". The responses appear to be a collection of cliched and tired arguments and, if there in an insightful post in the bunch, I missed it. Folks, the last few decades have been a pattern of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. What tenuously remains of the middle class is busy arguing about CRT and gender identity while their pockets get picked with increasing regularity. If you believe that this is either the fault of gray-haired fuddy-duddies who refuse to retire or a bunch of young whippersnappers who think they know everything, you are missing the big picture entirely. You are both in the same boat. On a broad basis, it would be nice if some of those who went to college when it could be paid for with a Summer job understood what a similar education costs today and it wouldn't hurt for the youngsters to understand that 65 year olds are not hanging on to their jobs simply because they hate golf and have nothing better to do. But, threads like this never achieve that goal. If anything, both sides of the debate end up giving more credibility to their mutual stereotypes. Frankly, the only acceptable reply to a thread like this is "LOL" or whatever trendy emoji currently reflects that sentiment.

As a website traditionally dominated by moms, Thanksgiving day has often been one of our slowest days of the year. But, we can always expect a lot of threads induced by Thanksgiving stress before and after the holiday. Even so, I had to check my calendar when I saw that the thread with the second highest number of views and third highest number of replies was titled, "I hosted Thanksgiving yesterday and not a single person offered to bring something". Celebrating Thanksgiving on a day other than Thanksgiving is not something with which I am familiar and, for a moment, I thought this might be a thread revived from last year. But, no, the original poster actually did host Thanksgiving on Sunday, inviting several male family members of various ages who, in all but one case, were accompanied by girl friends. None of the guests brought anything for the dinner or helped cleaning up. Posters replied with advice about how the situation could be better handled or advising the original poster not to host again. Some posters tried to explain the behavior by attributing it to cluelessness on the part of the male family members, but others saw that an an unacceptable excuse. The original poster's husband also was the target of considerable criticism for not providing more assistance. Probably the biggest point of contention was over whether the original poster assumed responsibility for the entire dinner when she offered to host or if there was no such implication. Some posters suggested that she could have excused herself from cleaning up and left it to the guests while others considered that completely unacceptable. I suspect that this thread foreshadows what we can expect from many additional threads in coming days.

The thread with second highest number of replies and the sixth number of views was titled, "USA only country in the world where life does not come to a halt when it's soccer team plays in WC" and posted in the "Off-Topic" forum. Strictly speaking, this thread should have been posted in the "Soccer" forum, but I guess I'll make an exception in this instance. The original poster is disappointed that while soccer is the most popular sport in the world and billions of people will be watching World Cup games, most Americans were not even aware that the US had a game yesterday. Responses ranged from those who commiserated with the original poster to those providing explanations for the lack of interest. Some posters criticized the sport entirely while others took issue with this specific World Cup due to the many controversies surrounding its being hosted by Qatar. The thread got diverted into a comparison between soccer and American football with the pros and cons of each being disputed. I'm not sure how, but a French poster managed to insult Americans, one of whom replied at great length to demonstrate offense. But, other Americans came to the defense of the French poster, who took the contretemps in stride in any case. There was very little discussion of the actual game in which the US played, and tied, Wales.

A thread titled, "A complete and total repudiation of all the people who bleat 'calories in, calories out'" and posted in the, "Diet and Exercise" forum was third in number of views yesterday and fifth in number of replies. I think the original poster did a poor job with this thread and may have been trying a bit too hard to push a specific agenda. Quoting a section of an opinion piece in the New York Times (without using quotation marks or otherwise identifying the passage as a quote), the original poster tried to convey that researchers agreed that obesity is not a matter of personal responsibility. As responders were quick to point out, the findings reported in the article did not come close to making the point promoted in the title of the thread. It is perhaps true that the tradition of placing blame for obesity entirely on the individual is wrongheaded, but the original poster seems to want to push the pendulum too far in the other direction and relieve individuals of any responsibility. While the article could be read to have come to a similar conclusion, the analysis included in the article itself belies that determination. A surefire way to ensure engagement with a thread on DCUM is to focus on weight and misstate current research. The original poster did both and the expected results were obtained. The replies are mostly a reiteration of well-shod and well-worn talking points that have been repeated ad nauseam in the forum. The only really new development which gets mentioned in this thread — and is discussed in many other threads — is the new generation of medicines with which a number of individuals are having success in losing weight.