This Weekend's Most Active Threads

Today I'll look at the most active threads over the weekend, skipping any that were previously discussed. The most active thread was titled, "Anyone else with gift disappointment?" and posted in the "Off-Topic" forum. This type of thread is practically an annual tradition on DCUM. While the thread is supposed to be about disappointment with gifts, there are probably more posts scolding those complaining for not being grateful for the good things they have in life. There was not much sympathy expressed for those who were upset. Many posters related that they had bought themselves gifts and were satisfied with that. Others said they and their spouses had agreed on gifts beforehand. Some of the moms complained that they had expended considerable energy trying to get the perfect gifts for others, only to be overlooked themselves. In general, husbands come out looking pretty poorly in this thread, a perception to which a couple of the men posting owned up.

The second most active thread over the weekend was posted in the "Political Discussion" forum and titled, "Abbott dropped busloads of migrants outside Kamala’s home in 18 degree temps on Xmas eve". Texas Governor Greg Abbott has been busing migrants to other cities as a demonstration of his displeasure with President Joe Biden's immigration policies. We can have honest disagreements about immigration, but I would think that dropping destitute people who don't have so much as a coat in a city unknown to them in temperatures that were well below freezing on Christmas Eve would be a political, if not an actual, disaster. Does Greg Abbott have even a passing familiarity with the Christmas story? What could be more tone deaf, let alone inhumane, than dropping refugees in a place where there is no room at the inn (or at least no prearranged accommodations) in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve? Had someone shown up with frankincense and myrrh, it would have been a real life nativity scene. The thread consists mainly of liberals expressing outrage at Abbott's cruelness while conservatives desperately try to change the subject or, in some cases, actually justify the heartlessness. Using humans as political pawns should never be acceptable. Using humans as political pawns in a way that demonstrates the complete hypocrisy of your repeatedly-stated religious beliefs should be career ending for someone like Abbott. But, in today's world where politics is viewed as completely divorced from its impact on actual people, it will likely be seen as a clever strategy.

The third most active thread was titled, "Where does Virginia begin to feel ‘Southern’?" and posted in the "Off-Topic" forum. The original poster perceives almost any part of Virginia that isn't suburbanized or full of transplants from other regions as "Southern" and wonders where others believe Virginia begins to feel like part of the South. Opinions are mixed and generally mostly influenced by where the particular poster has previously lived. Those who have mostly lived in the North, or those who are people of color, tended to declare the entire state to be southern. Those from the deep south didn't seem to think much of the state was actually southern. Many drew lines somewhere south of Alexandria, but that was a bit of a moving target. One perceptive post noted that "The South" is not defined by bright lines but rather it's "a spectrum of cultural, geographic, and historical factors". This poster analyzed Virginia as a blend of Southern and Northern influence with each somewhat stronger in some places than others, but without much in the way of borders between the areas. Other posters criticized the equation of "rural" with "Southern", saying the two are not the same and should not be viewed as such.

The final thread at which I'll look was posted in the "College and University Discussion" forum and titled, "PSA:Have your kid go outside now to see if they really want a cold, northern college". There is a contingent of posters in this forum who strongly favor southern colleges. Thread after thread promoting such schools has been started. With a burst of cold weather hitting the DC area, the original poster of this thread saw it as a chance for prospective applicants to northern schools to experience the weather common in the North. I am not entirely sure that this poster would start a thread on the hottest day of the year and claim that it was similar to what students would experience in the South, but that is neither here nor there. While some posters thought the cold weather could provide a good comparison to weather at northern colleges, they didn't necessarily see it as a negative thing. To the contrary, many responded to express fond feelings of their days on cold campuses. There is considerable discussion of the types and brands of jackets and other clothing that are optimal for cold weather areas. There is always a certain bit of northern snobbery towards Washington's apparent inability to deal well with snow or cold, so there is some of that in the thread as well. And, of course, there is a lot of discussion of particular schools with views of those institutions based on far more than the weather. But, that's the college forum for you.