Tuesday's Most Active Threads

The most active thread yesterday was titled, "Biden will run again" and posted in the "Political Discussion" forum. The thread follows President Joe Biden's announcement by video that he will run for reelection. This thread exemplifies much of what is wrong with the DCUM political forum and, indeed, the entire US political system. First, the initial post is lazy, simply complaining that the country is incapable of nominating anyone less than 70 years old. Hopefully that poster realizes that an announcement of a candidacy is not a nomination. A nomination is still to come. Moreover, the country has previously nominated a number of candidates younger than 70, so this statement is actually untrue. Finally, this topic could have done with a bit more substance. If the original poster is not happy with the current candidates, who does he propose take their place? Which person younger than 70 does the original poster prefer, and why? Most of those replying share the original poster's concern that Biden is too old and another candidate would be better. However, there a few ideas about who that candidate might be and those that are proposed are also met with criticism. Democratic-leaning posters seem to be frustrated with their inability to identify a perfect candidate who lacks even a single flaw. This is a problem because many posters demonstrate that even the slightest flaw is a dealbreaker. Probably the clearest example of this is a poster who says she would not vote for California Governor Gavin Newsome because his ex-wife is in a relationship with Donald Trump, Jr. Has anyone checked on the relationship status of Marla Maples to see if that would disqualify former President Trump? Biden enter the presidential race last time because he believed defeating Trump was essential and he believed that he had the best chance to do it. Enough Americans agreed with him to put him into the White House. Biden seems to believe the same thing continues to be true. Democrats don't seem happy about it, but few have presented much of a case to show that Biden is wrong. To paraphrase former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, you go into the campaign with the candidate you have, not the candidate that you wished you had. As things stand now, the election appears that it will be little more than a referendum on Trump. Biden's main campaign issue will be Trump and all the dangers he presents. Trump's main campaign issue will also be Trump because nothing else matters to Trump other than Trump.

The second most active thread yesterday was originally posted in the "College and University Discussion" forum. While the thread did related to college admissions, it was really complaining about a MCPS high school so I moved it to the "Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)" forum. Titled, "Dumb ‘W’ school asking kids to wear their newly accepted College Shirts on May 1st", this thread really raises the bar on the level of absurdity involving college acceptance discussions with the original poster complaining that her child's high school has asked students to wear shirts representing colleges to which they have been accepted. The original poster feels that kids who didn't get into their first choice schools, those who have chosen less prestigious options such as community college, or those who can't afford college will be made to feel bad by those who will be able to don the attire of top universities. I am not completely convinced that this was meant to be a serious thread. It may well have been an attempt at humor or simply trolling. Regardless, posters respond as if it was serious, with many explaining that this is an old tradition. Taken at face value — which again, may not be how the the thread was meant to be taken — the original poster admits to buying a home zoned for a good high school with the implication that would increase the opportunity to be admitted to a prestigious college. However, it appears that plan didn't come to fruition, at least in the original poster's estimation, because her child is destined for the University of Maryland, a school upon which the original poster seems to look down. As such, I really feel like this is a crude attempt to troll "W" school parents and UMD fans, both of which are plentiful in the forums. But, if not a troll, there is a certain lack of self-awareness in choosing a school in order to enhance college acceptance opportunties but then being resentful when admissions achievements are honored. Given the competitiveness of UMD admissions, at least at the College Park campus, I am not sure why anyone would be ashamed to wear a UMD shirt, unless they grew up in the Research Triangle and had been hoping for Duke. But, even they will soon realize that they lucked out (full disclosure, I have a son at UMD).

The third most active thread was also college-related. Titled, "HYPSM/Elite School Alums - What has been the downside of your degree?" and posted in the "College and University Discussion" forum, the original poster asks about any negative impact of having a degree from a prestigious university. She cites an example of a colleague who graduated from Princeton but leaves that off her LinkedIn profile because she doesn't like the assumptions made about Princeton grads. Like the previous thread, this one seems like a real stretch to turn a positive into a negative. Even so, the first poster to respond says that when running for political office, a degree from an elite private university can be viewed negatively compared to a degree from a state flagship university. Sadly, that doesn't seem to have been the case for Ted Cruz or Tom Cotton. Most of the other negatives are related to stereotypes that graduates of elite universities are hardworking and ambitious. Some posters say that they avoid hiring those who graduated from top schools because they think such individuals will quickly move to a better position or demand a high salary. Other posters, like the colleague described by the original poster, don't like being stereotyped due to the schools they attended. In general, whatever downsides there are to graduating from a top university don't seem all that bad and definitely seem to be out-weighed by the benefits.

The final thread at which I'll look today was posted in the "Off-Topic" forum and titled, "Feeling friendless and unlovable. I am always the initiator. I feel sad." The original poster explains that she is almost always the initiator in relationships. She is the one that books vacation rentals, arranges birthday parties, and texts friends that she hasn't seen for a while. She generally receives little appreciation for her efforts and, at times, no response at all. She is frustrated by this, but doesn't know what she can do to change things. Quite a few posters respond by saying that they are in the same or similar situations. Others have advice about how the original poster might address things. A number of posters point out that either they or their friends have become more involved in their children's lives and didn't have as much time or energy for their old friends. Along the same lines were a few complaints that some parents only want to spend time attending their kids' events or talking about their kids which either doesn't allow time for posters to get together with those friends or caused them to be bored out of their minds when they did. Most of the responses were either commiserating with the original poster or supportive of her. As a result, the tone of the discussion was generally positive. The only exception was a chain of posts debating whether upper middle class white women are the "dullest demographic in the country". This led to accusations of racism and distracted from the positive posts. As a result, I removed those posts.