Wednesday's Most Active Threads

The three most active threads yesterday were all threads that I have previously discussed. So, the first thread I'll address today was actually the fourth most active yesterday. Titled, "Satanic Temple to offer abortion services in New Mexico", the thread was posted in the "Religion" forum. The Satanic Temple is a "nontheistic religious organization" that "uses Satanic imagery to promote egalitarianism, social justice, and the separation of church and state". The group has "utilized satire, theatrical ploys, humor, and legal action" in order to "highlight religious hypocrisy" (all quotes from Wikipedia). Finally, it should be noted that The Satanic Temple does not believe in a supernatural Satan. The original poster linked to an article about The Satanic Temple's announcement of the "The Samuel Alito’s Mom’s Satanic Abortion Clinic" which will offer abortion services in New Mexico. Clearly taking this all very seriously, the original poster is bothered that in order to receive abortion services, individuals must agree to conduct the Religious Abortion Ritual. The original poster apparently believes that agreeing to this ritual means joining a Satanist organization. In reality, the ritual amounts to little more than reciting two fairly mundane statements ("One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone" and "Beliefs should conform to one's best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one's beliefs" ) and membership does not appear to be a requirement. Many posters respond trying to convince the original poster that The Satanic Temple is not actually a group that worships Satan and pointing out that she is falling victim to their strategy of using satire to draw attention to their agenda. The original poster is not dissuaded and simply transitions into an opposing abortion generally. So, as a result, the thread basically turns into a debate about abortion rights. Ultimately, this thread shows the effectiveness of the The Satanic Temple's strategy. No other abortion clinic in New Mexico, nor indeed anywhere in the US, has been subject of one of DCUM's most active threads.

The next thread that I'll discuss was posted in the "Tweens and Teens" forum and titled, "Swim Excuse Note". The original poster explains that she has a 14 year old 8th grade daughter who does not want to participate in her physical education class's swim unit. The daughter's reticence might be due to either body image issues or particularly curly hair. Regardless, her daughter wants to seek an excuse from a doctor allowing her to skip swimming. The original poster is willing to go along with that, but seems skeptical that a doctor would provide such a note and she wonders what others would do. Responses are split between those who would allow the daughter to skip swimming and those who think it is important for the daughter to learn resiliency and participate in swimming. Fairly quickly the original poster provided an update saying that a doctor had agreed to provide a note excusing her daughter. Most of the thread thereafter is simply a debate about whether body image issues or curly hair are sufficient reasons to skip swimming classes. What was most notable to me about this thread is something that occurred outside of it. I hope that I am not betraying any confidences and apologize in advance if this is received that way, but the original poster contacted me somewhat horrified to say that she had discovered that her daughter had been posting in the thread. The original poster wanted to assure me that this was not her trolling. Frankly, I am unable to tell which posts are from the original poster and which might be from her daughter. Moreover, none of the posts come across as trolling. While I would have preferred that the daughter be more forthright, as it is I can only credit her for effectively and maturely representing herself in this situation. Also, if she survived an entire thread discussing her body image issues without getting her feathers ruffled, she has a lot thicker skin than many of our posters.

Next was a thread titled, "Any tours you went on that totally surprised you in a positive way?" and posted in the "College and University Discussion" forum. The original poster says that she and her son have just started visiting college campuses and she wonders if anyone has visited a campus that exceeded their expectations. I skimmed this thread and was pleased to see that it hasn't devolved to bashing campuses and, instead, has mostly stayed on-topic. Posters name a number of schools that they liked better than they had expected, and there is some positive banter about various campuses. Beyond that, I don't have a lot to say about the thread, but I hope that it continues to stay positive.

The final thread at which I'll look was posted in the "Political Discussion" forum. Titled, "Sarah H Sanders", the original poster expresses a strong dislike for Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders' State of the Union address rebuttal. Most of those responding shared the original poster's feeling that the speech was problematic on many levels. One poster expressed admiration for Sanders', but later admitted the post was sarcasm. Other posters appeared to be serious in their praise of Sanders, but most posters assumed that they were also being sarcastic. The rebuttal was considered so ineffective that posters turned to discussing who might have been able to do a better job. This led to reminisces of earlier rebuttals that had gone horribly wrong such as Marco Rubio continually drinking water. Unfortunately, much of the discussion concentrated on Sanders' weight. Women are unduly criticized for weight issues and I would hope that our allegedly sophisticated userbase would have enough awareness to avoid such attacks. Sadly, no. Other posters did point out that weight issues are not exclusive to women, citing former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as two male politicians who could stand to lose a pound or two. Additional criticism was leveled at Sanders for benefitting from nepotism as the daughter of former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. Moreover, she was also assailed for her service in the Trump administration.