DCUM Weblog

My wife, Maria, grew up in the Eastern Orthodox tradition and our two sons were baptized in that religion. It is an Eastern Orthodox practice that the 40th day after a death is a day of remembering the departed. As such, I am going to devote today's post to memories of my youngest brother, Doug Steele, who drowned on January 8 while swimming in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of El Salvador. Doug was 54 and would have turned 55 had he lived two more days.

Doug was four years younger than me. When we were young, he never wanted to be left behind. Whatever I was doing, or our brother Greg was doing, Doug wanted to do it too and wouldn't take "no" for an answer. To keep up, he had to work twice as hard and do his absolute best. That imbued qualities in him that would last his entire life. At almost everything he attempted, Doug would excel. But, even if he didn't excel, he did his very best. Doug loved cross-country running and was a dedicated member of his high school team. He was short of stature and found it difficult to keep up with the long strides of the taller kids. But that didn't discourage him. He made such an impression as a runner that his high school cross-country coach traveled almost 3 hours in order to attend and speak at Doug's memorial service. As a high school wrestler, Doug set several school records and still holds the record for the most wins in his weight class. His wrestling coach described him as "the most productive wrestler in the 25-year history" of his high school.

The most active thread yesterday was titled, "Strange comment" and posted in the "Family Relationships" forum. The original poster explains that her mother-in-law gave her husband a check for $1,000 as a birthday gift. When the original poster's husband opened the card containing the check, apparently in the presence of both his wife and mother, the original poster immediately proclaimed that they could use the money for their ongoing home renovations. The original poster's mother-in-law interjected to say that the gift was for her son and that he would decide how to spend it. The original poster was upset by that remark and now wants an apology. In the two pages of replies that I have read, every single one of them sided with the mother-in-law. Given the normal treatment of mother-in-laws in the family forum, that is fairly incredible. One would think that the original poster would get the message and accept that she was wrong. But, in that case, the thread would not have reached the 18 pages it managed to accumulate in less than a day and I probably would not be writing about it now. So, no, the original poster did not accept that she was wrong. To the contrary, she continued to argue that she was perfectly justified in making a unilateral decision about what her husband would do with his gift. I don't have time to read all 18 pages but I jumped to the last page and see that the original poster is still arguing this morning. Therefore, this thread may continue for a while.

The most active thread yesterday, by some measure, was titled, "I don't think I can be friends with moms who drive huge SUVs" and posted in the "Off-Topic" forum. The original poster says she has just moved to the suburbs and describes encountering a group of moms loading groceries at the grocery store who all had the same type of white SUV. The original poster found this hilarious but wonders if these women are concerned about global warming. I am fairly certain that this is a troll thread. The original post clearly seems designed to trigger as many people as possible and the poster has a posting history that suggests a certain amount of creativity has probably been employed. If the thread was indeed aimed at trolling, it was wildly successful as the thread generated a massive 24 pages in less than 24 hours. Probably as intended, SUV fans who were provoked came to the vehicles' defense. Some posters pointed out that the original poster's decision to move from an apartment to a house was also ecologically unsound. The original poster defended this choice by stressing that it was a small townhome with no yard. The original poster's attacks on SUVs were soon replaced by her defense of cars when posters argued that the original poster should be walking rather than driving. The poster found herself fighting a battle on two fronts with SUV proponents on one side and those arguing that she should have chosen a walkable urban neighborhood on the other. The brilliance of the perfect troll thread is that everyone knows that it is a troll, but they are still incapable of not responding. The bait is just too appetizing.

Earlier this month one of the most active threads that I discussed was focused on articles in the Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School's student newspaper describing drug use in the school's bathrooms. In that thread, parents demanded that something be done about the problem. It turns out that Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), did do something. The school system restricted access to the bathrooms. The most active thread yesterday, titled, "Bathroom security announcement" and posted in the "Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)" forum, was about that policy change. Generally, posters were in agreement that these restrictions are a bad idea. Some posters described the policy change as "collective punishment" which was unfair and would be ineffective. Many parents said that it would be harmful to students who had medical needs for unfettered bathroom access and menstruating girls. However, there was strong disagreement about what should be done instead of restricting bathroom access. As I have written before, the MCPS forum has a contigent that strongly supports the return of School Resource Officers (SROs), police officers stationed in schools. Other posters are not convinced that armed police officers raiding school bathrooms is the solution. Whenever someone mentions SROs, a poster or posters immediately bring up the failure of police at Parkland and Uvalde. Those schools were mentioned so frequently in this thread that one could be forgiven for thinking they were MCPS schools. Several posters complained that the school security guards don't do anything to stop kids vaping or using drugs in the bathrooms and want these employees to enforce school rules. Others who responded see the bathroom issue in the context of greater societal issues which should be addressed, particularly gun control (there have been a number of gun-related incidents in MCPS schools including a shooting in a school bathroom). It is unlikely that this will be the end of the bathroom controversy so this is probably not going to be the last thread on the topic about which I write.

Yesterday was a day on which people around the world gathered around their televisions for one of the most watched events of the year: the broadcast of Super Bowl commercials. So naturally, the most active thread on DCUM was titled, "Super Bowl commercials". Posted in the "Entertainment and Pop Culture" forum, the thread managed to rack up 13 pages in just over 12 hours. Pretty amazing considering that most of our users were asleep during much of that time. Started with a prompt by the original poster to discuss the commercials, the thread is mostly a collection of opinions about the ads that appeared during the football game. Many users expressed dissatisfaction with all of the ads, opining that none of them were very good. Others found favorites, with the Dunkin' commercial being praised by several posters. Probably the most controversial ads of the evening were the "He Gets Us" ads promoting Jesus. Many posters pointed to the right-wing, evangelical Christian groups behind the ads, especially the family that owns Hobby Lobby. This provoked criticism from both liberal-leaning and anti-religious posters. However, posters who supported the message of the ads spoke up to defend them. Two commercials that featured dogs, one by the Farmer's Dog and the other from Amazon, were lauded by multiple posters. The Remy Martin ad featuring Serena Williams provoked some debate over the appropriateness of an athlete promoting an alcoholic beverage. At some point the thread was temporarily hijacked by discussion of the half time show and Rihanna's apparent pregnancy, though there was an entire separate thread devoted to that topic. One or two posters even posted about the game that periodically interrupted the commercials.

The most active thread yesterday was the thread about The Satanic Temple offering abortion services. I've already covered that thread so I'll move on to the next most active thread which was titled, "Uninvited from Super Bowl party" and posted in the "Off-Topic" forum. The original poster explains that her husband commands a military unit that has an annual Super Bowl party. The original poster, who has been feeling lonely and isolated, was looking forward to attending the party. The host of the party was scheduled to be on duty during the game, so the original poster's husband volunteered to take his shift. Subsequently, someone else — it's not exactly clear who — emailed the original poster's husband, copying the original poster, to say that due to capacity reasons the original poster and her children could not be hosted this year. Many posters found this behavior by whomever sent the email to be appalling and shockingly rude. Some of those went so far as to propose retaliatory ideas such her husband withdrawing his offer to cover the host's shift. While the original poster and her family had attended the party in previous years, this was the first year that her husband held the command position. Some posters suggested that those attending the party were planning to relax and maybe engage in gossip and didn't want the boss's wife around. As such, they argued, the original poster should not take this as a personal slight. It was just something that went with the job. They further hypothesized that the previous commander's family did not attend and that the original poster should not have expected to have been invited this year. Beyond that, multiple posters urged the original poster to focus on why she was feeling isolated and lonely and to work on fixing that rather than worrying about the Super Bowl party.

It continues to be college admission season which means that threads about college admissions continue to dominate the "most active threads" list. Yesterday's most active thread was one example. Titled, "UVA EA Stats" and posted in the "College and University Discussion" forum, the original post consists almost entirely of a link to a blog post by a University of Virginia Associate Dean which provides University of Virginia Early Action admission statistics. The one consistent characteristic of college application threads is the conviction by posters that the procedures are unfair and biased against them. In this case, posters are convinced that northern Virginia is not sufficiently represented in UVA admissions which, they believe, favor applicants from other parts of Virginia. This highlights one of the great contradictions I've come across from reading DCUM. Starting at an early age, many DCUM posters begin plotting their child's course to a prestigious college. If they plan on using public schools, they choose a neighborhood that feeds to top schools, follow school developments like a bloodhound on a raccoon's trail, make sure their kids check all the right boxes for extracurricular activities and take all the correct high school classes. But, then, come college application time they suddenly become convinced that this is all working against them. They come to believe that every other kid in their high-achieving high school, indeed every kid in every high school in the neighboring area, has the same qualifications as their kid. Moreover, just as in the case of Lake Wobegon, all of them are above average. Far above average to hear them tell it. The idea that some of these students, particularly if that student is the poster's child, might be turned down for admission while an applicant from rural southwestern Virginia is accepted simply cannot be countenanced. As such, this thread mostly consists of posters arguing that northern Virginia is being mistreated, other posters trying to convince those posters this is not the case, and a third group of posters who can't pop popcorn fast enough while they intentionally stir the pot or simply stand back and enjoy the show. This basically continues for 15 pages so far.

The most active topic yesterday was sort of a return engagement. While the thread is new, the topic is not. Diligent readers of this blog may remember that last month I discussed a thread about school calendars for the Fairfax County Public Schools. That thread was about 4 proposed calendars that had been offered for public input. A thread titled, "School Calendar 2023-2024" and posted in the "Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS)" forum revisited that topic because the school board was holding a meeting in order to approve one of the proposals. Posters provided live coverage of the board meeting, posting continual updates to what was taking place. Interspersed among the updates was plenty of commentary from posters kibitzing the board activity. Based on what was posted, it appears that the Board approved a modified version of what had been designated the "blue" calendar. This calendar provides for the first day of school two weeks before Labor Day, includes a two-week Winter Break, and a one-week Spring Break. These were all things that DCUM posters seem to have wanted (though, of course, there was not complete agreement on anything). In addition, the calendar provides for a host of Religious and Cultural Observance days. These days mark significant religious and cultural days in a variety of traditions and may be missed by students without earning an absence. Teachers are not supposed to introduce new material on those days so that absent students doen't fall behind. These days were selected based on public input and recorded absences from previous years. In the end, DCUM posters seem relatively pleased with the outcome, though everyone had their own personal nit to pick. The calendar was approved for three years, though the second and third years might be tweaked somewhat.

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 most active thread yesterday was titled, "SOTU Thread" and posted in the "Political Discussion" forum. Created to discuss last night's State of the Union address delivered by President Joe Biden, the thread managed to produce 15 pages of discussion in less than 18 hours. With posts being created at that pace and needing to sleep for many of those hours, there was really no way for me to keep up with this thread. Most of my exposure was in response to reports of inappropriate posts. I was interested in how widespread participation in this thread was and, based on a quick analysis it appears that there were nearly fifty posters who contributed to the thread. Of those, five posted more than ten times including three who posted more than twenty times each. Based on what I've read, the thread is a combination of play-by-play discussion of the speech as it takes place, analysis and commentary on various points, discussion of audience behavior, and lots of talk about fashion. The thread also included discussion of Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders' response. DCUM has a liberal-leaning audience so it is no surprise that Biden generally received good marks while Sanders left a lot to be desired. However, conservative posters on DCUM are generally very vocal and frequently dominate threads due to repeated posting. But, it appears that last night even they struggled to find ways to spin things in their favor. Pickings were so slim for them that at one point the best they could do was fixate on Jill Biden kissing Douglas Emhoff as they greeted each other. Sadly for them, even KissGate was fairly short-lived. The highlight of the evening for many was a bit of political rope-a-dope by Biden who accused Republicans of wanting to sunset Social Security and Medicare, only be met by an avalanche of boos and jeers from Republicans. Biden adroitly welcomed the unanimity around protecting those programs declared them off the table. It was an amazing hoisting of Republicans on their own petard.