The Most Active Threads since Friday

Since I took the weekend off from blogging, today I'll cover the most active threads since Friday. The most active thread during that period was titled, "US Census Bureau: White Women More Likely Than Black Women to Move Up Income Ladder Due to Differences in Partnering" and posted in the "Off-Topic" forum. The original poster linked to a new analysis of census data that shows that white women tend to be partnered more often than non-white woman and that white women are more likely to attain upward mobility through partnerships. The bottom line of the data presented by the original poster is that white women tend to partner more often and when they do, they partner with a higher-earners. This perhaps explains the countless threads that we see in the relationship forum about finding a wealthy husband and so on. Those responding generally don't disagree that this is the reality. As one poster writes, "I'm a black woman. At my first job out of college three white women took me under their wings and made sure I understood how to marry up. It worked." Other posters attempted to offer explanations for this situation or to suggest ways to address it. Unfortunately, as with most threads dealing with race, racists came out of the woodwork to make their tired cliched tropes. As a result, I have had to remove a number of posts. This thread went all over the place as it seemed to give license to posters to demonstrate their personal biases. Somehow immigration, anti-Catholicism, anti-Semitism, and Kanye West all were either demonstrated or discussed. I will probably have to lock this thread soon. Because the value of partnering seems to be generally accepted by most posters, much of the thread is focused on relationship issues. But, personally, I think this misses the main point which is that women tend not to attain upper mobility through their own efforts, but through partnering with a higher-earner. This may well be the reality, but it is an unfortunate one. Rather than focusing on why Black women have difficulty marrying high earners, why not address the need to partner in order to get ahead? Shouldn't any woman, regardless of race, be able to achieve upper mobility through her own hard work and intelligence rather than relying on a partner? To be sure, there are posts that take this view and, as a result, address the structural obstacles to female advancement. Hence, about birth control and abortion.

The next thread I'll cover was posted in the "Relationship Discussion (non-explicit)" forum. Titled, "Asked my husband for some basic things for mothers day - now he'll be spending most of the weekend with his parents", this thread is this year's entry in DCUM's annual Mother's Day gripefest, sort of a long-standing tradition around here. In this case, the original poster says that all she asked from her husband for Mother's Day was a weekend free from cleaning duties, time with the family, a breakfast out, and a home-cooked meal. This meant that her husband would need to do the cleaning. However, after considerable pressure from his father, the original poster's husband has decided to visit his parents on Saturday, taking their child with him. This means the original poster, who wanted to spend the weekend with her family, will be alone almost all of Saturday. Moreover, her husband may not have time for the cleaning. She is very unhappy about this. While the original poster did receive some sympathy from those responding, much of that was more in the nature of advice. Among other things, she was told to pamper herself on Saturday, not to do anything for Father's Day, and to have a serious talk with her husband about his priorities. Several posters fixated on the issue of cleaning the house. Some thinking that it was unfair to leave it all to her husband and others advising that they hire a housekeeper. Several posters thought that it was appropriate for the original poster's husband to visit his own mother and grandmother on Saturday to celebrate Mother's Day. Along those lines, a number of posters were eager to remind the original poster that this was "Mother's Day", not "Wive's Day". Other posters said that they would welcome a day alone and, in the end, the original poster provided an update saying that the day alone had gone pretty well. There is a tangent in which posters discuss the original poster's husband's fishing habits. Some find that a bigger issue than his going to visit his parents on Saturday. As of the time of this writing, we have had no update on the cleaning, breakfast, or home-cooked meal situations.

The next thread was titled, "Single Issue Voter: Controlling The Borders" and posted in the "Political Discussion" forum. This thread was posted way back on February 14 by a poster claiming that he will vote based only on strict control of our borders. Immigration, along with crime, has been hyped by right-wing media for some time. Prior to the last few elections, convoys of immigrants (real or imagined) have received breathless around-the-clock media coverage, only to disappear as soon as the election has ended. The constant focus on immigration has caused posters like the original poster of this thread to decide that immigration is the most important issue to them. The immediate cause of the renewed interest in this thread over the weekend was the expiration of "Title 42", a Trump-era rule that restricted immigration in order to control the spread of COVID. Right-wing politicians and media sources broke out in complete hysteria warning of hordes of immigrants sweeping across our southern border. When real crowds failed to materialize, some right wing Twitter users resorted to passing years-old photos off as proof of new groups at the border. When Title 42 did expire, nothing dramatic happened. The Biden Administration had prepared with a host of new regulations that went into immediate effect. As a result, the Border Patrol experienced a 50% drop in encounters with undocumented immigrants. The disappointment among right-wingers was palpable. One contradiction in the right-wing narrative about immigration that is repeatedly pointed out in this thread is the use of arrest statistics to demonstrate that the "border is open". If vast numbers of migrants are being arrested, detained, or deported, the border is hardly open. The topic of immigration is a constant one in the political forum. While the original poster may have decided it is the single issue that will influence his vote, there are at least a couple of posters who are so obsessed with the issue that it seems to dominate their lives. They post almost canned responses in any thread even slightly related to immigration. In a thread like this, their posts are almost constant. As such, the ususal refrain that Democrats are promoting immigration in order to lower wages and create new Democratic voters are repeated over and over again throughout the thread.

The final thread at which I'll look today was posted in the "Lacrosse" forum, I think marking the first time a thread from that forum has appeared in the most active list. The thread was titled, "VHSL Girls Lacrosse Spring 2023" and was started back in August 2022. For me, lacrosse is a nearly impenetrable culture. To undertand this forum, you need to be familiar with a host of acronyms and abbreviations. In the case of this thread, one should know that "VHSL" is short for "Virginia High School League". VHSL is an organization that sponsors academic and athletic competitions among public high schools in Virginia. This thread has since grown to 130 pages. I have no idea why it suddenly became popular this weekend, but perhaps games have finally started. As is also the case in the soccer forum, discussions in the lacrosse forum are a little tricky. The athletes in question are generally school kids. We are sensitive to public criticism of children. In addition, we generally frown on criticism by name of individuals who are not public figures and we don't consider youth coaches to be public figures. As a result, posters have to tip toe through their discussions carefully trying to avoid criticizing nearly anyone. Some posters succeed better than others. Sports being competitive, fans are expected. Fans frequently find fault with their competitors. Since these normally can't be aired where players or coaches are involved, criticism tends to focus on teams or organizations. This leads to posts such as one saying, "I still hate Battlefield". I assume that "Battlefield" is a high school, and likely one that significantly out-performs the school which which the poster is involved. As I suggested, I know very little about lacrosse and have almost no understanding of the teams, organizations, or personalities involved. What I have learned from dealing with reports of inappropriate posts is that there can be strong animosities and complex conspiracy theories. Nobody ever seems to do anything simply because it is a good idea competitively. Oh, no. You would be far too naive to believe such a thing. Rather, everyone is said to be playing eight-dimensional chess and, as a result, giving a player extra playing time, for instance, might be interpreted as having ramifications involving everything from college recruitment to someone's financial self-interest. But, this will all be discussed in a sort of coded language that we mere mortals have no hope of understanding.