Friday and Saturday's Most Active Threads

Because I wasn't able to write a blog post yesterday, today I'll cover the most active threads of the last two days. The most active thread of that period was titled, "Memphis Cops Kill Motorist After Traffic Stop" and posted in the "Off-Topic" forum. Obviously this thread is about the death of Tyre Nichols caused by a beating at the hands of Memphis police officers. The thread was actually started back on January 20, but didn't receive a single reply until the 27th when the media began publicizing the imminent release of body worn camera video. In the two days since, the thread has reached 36 pages. I haven't read all of the pages but it looks like much of the thread consists of debates about what exactly the videos show with some posters thinking that the videos document an unprovoked killing and others arguing that Nichols failed to obey police instructions. Just as in the case of much of the media coverage, considerable attention is paid to the possibility of riots with some posters appearing to be nearly salivating at the chance that liberals would burn down cities. Those posters later hyped any incident consisting of more than a raised voice and even invented a few riots about which to complain. One thing I noticed about this thread was how cynical most posters appeared regarding the criminal charges lodged against the police officers who had been involved in the beating. Almost nobody seemed to accept the possibility that the charges reflected the proper application of the law. Most posters suspected an ulterior motive for the charges even if they couldn't agree on what that motive was. Some posters attributed the charges to an effort to head off riots. Some thought the quick filing of charges was due to the officers being black and suggested that white officers would not have been charged so rapidly. As you would expect of a thread of this length, there are numerous disagreements that are keeping the thread going.

The second thread was posted in the "College and University Discussion" forum and titled "UMD EA Today?" Diligent readers of this blog will remember several entries discussing topics related to "ED" or early decision college admissions. We are now on to "EA" or early admission. Both types of college acceptance occur earlier than the date of regular college admission decisions, but are different in that ED requires committing to a college while EA acceptance is not binding. The original poster of this thread — who definitely is not obsessed or anything — wants to know the exact minute of the day that the University of Maryland will release EA decisions. It says a lot about our college forum that nobody even blinks at this question. Rather, there are many helpful responses and follow-up questions. The thread almost immediately turns to discussion of the competitiveness of admissions and UMD and what type of grades and test scores are required to get in. Refreshingly, many of those posting in the thread recognize that they are a bit neurotic in their preoccupation with this topic. That at least neutralizes posters who might normally post only to question the other posters' sanity. Once admission decisions were announced, posters followed-up to report how their students had fared. Triumphal posts rejoiced at admission offers while those less fortunate sought solace in their disappointment. The stats of those accepted and declined were analyzed with all of the precision of the seating order at a Soviet military parade.

The next thread was titled, "Why are people more sympathetic to Lindsay Clancy than Andrea Yates? (Child death mentioned)" and posted in the "Off-Topic" forum. The original poster is familiar with the case of Lindsay Clancy, a Massachusetts mother who killed her three children prior to attempting suicide, and finds that the public reaction to the killings to be more sympathetic than the reaction to Andrea Yates, a mother in Texas who drowned her five children in a bathtub. As you might expect of a thread that has reached 11 pages, there are a range of responses. Some posters claim not to feel sympathy for either, considering the two women to be monsters. In constrast to this, some posters express sympathy for both women who were suffering from postpartum depression and, in these posters' opinion, not capable of understanding their actions. Several posters argue that increased awareness of PPD explains much of the sympathy for Clancy and has led to increased sympathy over time for Yates. There was a slight diversion in the thread as the role that race and class plays in cases of mothers killing their children was discussed. Another diversion was related to the need for the GoFundMe fundraiser set up for the family. Towards the last few pages there are arguments about the validity of comparisons of Clancy and Yates to mass murders such as the shooting of several students at Virginia Tech.

The last thread at which I'll look today was posted in the "Tweens and Teens" forum and titled, "Middle school gay/bi kids". If you are feeling a sense of deja vu or think that you have fallen into a time warp and reappeared several years earlier, you can be forgiven. We have had countless threads such as this one going back almost at least five years. The original poster is curious about what she perceives as a large number of kids at her child's public middle school identifying as bisexual or gay. Threads such as these have a few traditional responses, such as allegations that this phenomenon is the result of social media or peer pressure. Another is that it is a reaction to toxic masculinity or disappointment with society's expectations for women. A related but somewhat new explanation posted in this thread is that a large number of girls identifying as gay or nonbinary is an understandable reaction to middle school boys lagging in development. One poster describes boys of that age as stinky, short, and prepubescent which results in girls finding other girls to be much more appealing. What differentiates this thread from the numerous threads similar to it is the involvement of a vitriolic poster who is convinced that the entire thread is homophobic. While I mostly agree with this poster on the substance, and the poster certainly does appear to have a solid grasp of the facts, the poster's delivery is so caustic as to basically alienate everyone. If you can imagine a flock of sheep being attacked by a wolf, you would have a pretty good understanding of this thread.