Tuesday's Most Active Threads

The most active thread yesterday was titled, "Justin Timberlake arrested on DWI in Hamptons" and posted in the "Entertainment and Pop Culture" forum. Early yesterday morning, singer and actor Justin Timberlake was arrested in Sag Harbor, New York on charges of driving while intoxicated. The original poster started this thread to discuss the arrest, calling Timberlake a "loser" and saying that he clearly has a drinking problem. Most of those replying agreed with the original poster, having very harsh words for those who endanger others by drinking and driving. There was one Timberlake defender whose primary argument was that Timberlake is rich, though it is not clear how that was supposed to exonerate him. Some posters in the thread also took the opportunity to criticize Timberlake for his alleged treatment of Britney Spears during a past relationship. In Spears' recent book, she described having an abortion after Timberlake said that he was not ready to be a father. Posters were divided about whether Timberlake had coerced Spears into having an abortion or whether he had simply stated his feelings on the matter. Some posters argued that regardless of Timberlake's position, Spears was not ready to be a mother at that time either and terminating the pregnancy was for the better. A few posters were still angry with Timberlake because of the famous "wardrobe malfunction" that occurred between Timberlake and Janet Jackson at the 2004 Super Bowl. In that incident, Timberlake performed a choreographed move to remove part of Jackson's top and inadvertently exposed one of her breasts to the television audience. According to the posters who are upset with Timberlake due to the incident, Jackson suffered all the consequences while Timberlake had no repercussions. As is to be expected from any DCUM celebrity thread, there are posters who act like they know Timberlake's personal life better than he does and share what they claim is inside gossip. Most of that is likely false. In addition to the robust abortion debate in the thread, there is also a conversation about alcoholism. This includes a dispute about whether alcoholism — referred to as alcohol use disorder in academic literature and scientific studies — is or is not a disease. This thread demonstrates that at least on DCUM, Timberlake has few remaining fans and has been involved in enough controversies to provide a variety of reasons to dislike him. As such, DCUMers tend to dislike him though not always for the same reason.

Next was a thread which was originally posted in the "General Parenting Discussion" forum but I moved it to the "Expectant and Postpartum Moms" forum given that the first two words of the post are "I’m pregnant". It is interesting how posters often choose the General Parenting forum even when there are better choices. I'm sure they have a variety of reasons for doing this, some of which may even make sense, but it has been a long-standing tendency. While this thread is vaguely related to parenting, it is not unusual for threads in the forum to have nothing to do with the topic. As such, we spend quite a bit of time moving threads out of the forum and into more appropriate ones. Frequently I feel that the posters made so little effort to post in the correct forum that I don't want to put in the effort of moving them and simply delete the threads instead. In the case of this thread titled, "High price items on baby registry?", the original poster who, as I mentioned, is pregnant, is putting a baby registry together. She is struggling about whether to include high-priced items on the registry because she doesn't want to seem entitled. Most of those responding urge the original poster to include the expensive items because some close friends or relatives may want to provide a nicer gift. Moreover, several posters point out that a group of friends will often pool funds to purchase an expensive gift together. Finally, if using Amazon or some other registries, the original poster may be eligible for a "completion discount" that will allow her to purchase items on the registry that were not purchased by others at a lower price. Some posters want to know more about the expensive gifts since, as one poster puts it, "A $1500 stroller is much different from a $200 bouncer." The original poster's items turn out to cost between $1,400 and $2,500. This is more than most posters had expected and, therefore, they suggested that the original poster not include all of the items. Several posters suggested that items in that price range should not be on the main registry, but rather things that are purchased by the parents or grandparents and arranged privately. However, another poster suggested including all of the items because even if the original poster bought them herself, they would be marked "purchased" and nobody would buy a cheaper version that the original poster didn't want. The original poster eventually posted a link to her actual registry and posters had a field day critiquing what was included. Posters questioned a number of items, but the original poster strongly defended her choices. The thread culminated in a poster asking the original poster to update everyone in 9 months to reveal which items and been winners and losers.

Next was a thread titled, "UVA and in-state stats and laws on required numbers" and posted in the "College and University Discussion" forum. The original poster says that she lives in Virginia and is upset by the number of smart, high-achieving students she sees being rejected by the University of Virginia. She says that she is worried that her son will not be able to get into the university despite being a great student and athlete. She points out that North Carolina has a law that requires that requires that 82% of the freshmen at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill be residents of the state. This compares to only 65.5% of UVA's freshmen being Virginia residents. The original poster asks why Virginia does not have a law like this. Many posters agree with the original poster, arguing that they pay high taxes and live in a high cost of living area and, after all of that, don't get access to the state's flagship university. One poster says that because Virginia residents have such a difficult time being accepted at UVA, he questions the frequently-expressed sentiment that "Virginians are so lucky to have so many good public options". According to this poster, while there are plenty of good colleges, there are too few spots for Virginia residents in them. Other posters point out that out-of-state students pay significantly higher tuition and if their numbers were limited, tuition rates for in-state students might need to increase. Eventually this thread, like all UVA threads, turned into an argument about the quality of the school. Posters compared UVA unfavorably to other state flagship universities such as the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Michigan. These posters argued that UVA should be expanded. Not only would that create more spots for Virginia residents, but would allow better research and more graduate programs to be supported. There is also a debate about UVA's position in university rankings and whether a desire to maintain high positions in such rankings also motivates the university to stay small rather than expanding. The thread made a not unprecedented arc from "My kid can't get into UVA and I'm upset" to "UVA is not as good as other universities". Somewhere in the middle there was a detour to "Virginia has several other good universities that you should consider". In fact, there was very little discussion of the original topic at all.

The final thread that I will discuss today was posted in the "Tweens and Teens" forum. Titled, "‘Health panel urges interventions for children and teens with high BMI’", the original poster links to an article reporting on recommendations by a health panel regarding interventions in cases of children and teenagers who have high body mass indexes. She says that she has an overweight daughter and already does everything recommended by the panel. She asks if medicinal intervention is next? The panel of experts did not actually recommend drugs, something many of those quoted in the article questioned. This thread immediately broke down along familiar lines that develop in all weight-related threads on DCUM, especially since the popularity of weight loss drugs such as Ozempic. On one side are posters who are generally supportive of weight loss drugs, believing that they help in cases where all else has failed. These posters encourage the original poster to consider this option for her daughter. On the other side are posters who believe weight issues should be dealt with through diet and exercise and anything else is either bad for you or cheating. These posters suggest that the original poster is not doing as good of a job managing her daughter's eating as she believes. They suspect that the girl is either eating more at home than the original poster realizes or is binge-eating outside the home. They of course oppose intervention with drugs. Some even suspect that this entire issue was orchestrated by "Big Pharma" to sell more of their medicines. Other posters point to their pet theories for the increase in childhood obesity with one blaming seed oils and another suggesting it has to do with a gut bacteria that some folks are missing. Another issue that divides posters in this thread is the idea of maintaining a food dairy or food log. After one poster recommended that the original poster's daughter do this, the original poster said that her daughter's nutritionist did not want teens maintaining logs. The recommendation against a food log is consistent with the fear of some that too much focus on eating can lead to eating disorders. Other posters, in constrast, find food diaries to be very helpful in understanding one's food intake.