The Most Active Threads Since Friday

Because I didn't write blog posts for a couple of days, today I'll cover the top threads for the past three days. The most active thread during that period was titled, "Man killed in Tyson’s Corner shooting" and posted in the "Off-Topic" forum. Crime in general has been getting a lot of publicity lately and violent incidents in or near the Typson's Corner mall have been popular, if heated at times, topics of discussion on DCUM. As such, this thread fits perfectly with this trend. The thread was first started on March 22 with a post linking to a WTOP article about the police shooting a suspected shoplifter. Very few details beyond that were available and, apparently bereft of anything more important to debate, posters immediately engaged in an argument about whether a strand of trees where the incident occurred could properly be described as "woods", Beyond that, some posters, despite not knowing any important details of the shooting, immediately weighed in to claim that the police had acted correctly. Others questioned why shoplifting, especially if it is only suspected, should result in the use of deadly force. As more information came out, many of the pro-police posters held firm in their conviction that the shooting was completely proper and that, hopefully in their view, it would act as a deterrent to future crimes. Other posters, however, insisted that they support the police but were still uneasy about an unarmed shoplifter being shot while running away. Those who thought the shooting was unjustified presented a variety of arguments to support their case, but most vocally argued that those who thought death was the proper punishment for a property crime should move to Saudi Arabia. Some posters justified the shooting after the fact by pointing to the victim's criminal history, suggesting that he presented a violent threat. Of course, the police officers would not have known that at the time.

The next most active thread was posted in the "Off-Topic" forum and titled, "Drag Queen Story Hours". The original poster asks those who take their children to such events to explain the attraction. Several posters say that they are fun events for children and the drag queens are great performers. Anything that encourages enjoyment of reading is welcome. While the original poster explicitly requested opinions from those who have attended such events and wanted to understand what they enjoyed about them, several posters who have never been to a drag queen story hour and don't like the idea couldn't restrain themselves from offering opinions. They suggested that these events were aimed at "grooming" children and could lead to sexual exploitation. Posters then pointed to incidents of sexual abuse of children involving religious leaders and suggested drag shows were safer. Some parents explained that one reason they bring their children to such events is to demonstrate how people can be different and their goal was to nurture tolerance. Other posters expressed a willingness to attend a show, but said they were dissuaded by protesters and the subsequent police pressence. Well into the thread, a poster argued that drag queens are similar to minstrel performers who used to don blackface for their shows. That is now seen as racist and completely unacceptable. As such, this poster argued, drag queens are just as insulting to women and should be viewed similarly. In response, posters argued that drag queens don't mock women, but rather have admiration and respect for them. Another argument, supported by an excerpt from an opinion article in a newspaper, was that this was an inappropriate comparison because "it cynically reduces the historical crime of blackface to little more than a selfish, opportunistic political strategy". Several posters had an easy solution for the detractors. If you don't like the show, don't go.

Third is a thread titled, "Admin needs to back down" and posted in the "Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)" forum. The original poster is apparently a MCPS teacher who is extremely frustrated with the MCPS administration. She accuses administrators of micromanaging and negatively interfering with teaching. She warns that teachers are very unhappy and many are ready to quit. She asks that administrators stick to strictly administrative duties and let the teachers teach. Other teachers weigh in to offer full agreement. Some of the posts in this thread are pretty horrifying descriptions of what is happening in schools, particularly at the elementary level. Teachers portray classrooms as being constantly interrupted by multiple students with behavioral problems, to the point that students often don't feel safe. When they turn to principals and other administrators for help, these teachers say their pleas are unanswered. The DCUM schools forums have a few constants from which no thread can escape. As such, posters blaming teachers and offering little in the way of sympathy and those who want to re-litigate school closures show up to offer their input. But, the teachers are having none of that and push back strongly. One poster offered a detailed post explaining how things got to this point and what she suggests should be done to get out of it. If this thread truly reflects reality, we should all be very concerned about our schools because what it describes really is an emergency situation. The one glimmer of hope in the thread is reports from some teachers that a handful of MCPS schools have escaped these issues for the most part. But, those appear to be exceptions.

The final thread at which I'll look today was posted in the "Off-Topic" forum. Titled, "Fairfax Murder", the original poster asks if anyone is following the story in which a man shot and killed another man who had allegedly stabbed the first man's wife to death. There are very few details about this incident and what is known is somewhat strange. In the absence of hard facts, posters engage in speculation, such as suggesting the killings involve some sort of love triangle. But, there must be something in the water in Northern Virginia because just as in the Tyson's thread that I first discussed today in which posters fixated on whether a bunch of trees should be described as "woods", in this thread posters are obsessed with the woman's family pictures. Pictures from Facebook and Instagram, which we all know are near perfect representations of real life, were dissected to support all sorts of speculation. As of this writing, nothing more is really known about the incident so anyone expecting to find hard facts in this thread will be very disappointed. If, however, you have stong feelings about whether parents should appear in pictures of their children that are posted on social media, this is the thread for you. One poster who knew the woman who was killed described her in very laudable terms. At the end of the day, this event is a tragedy for many and has left a young child without a mother. Hopefully, posters will keep that in mind and treat this topic with respect rather than simple entertainment for armchair detectives.