Wednesday's Most Active Threads

The most active thread yesterday continued to be the presidential debate thread that has been among the most active threads since Monday. The most active thread after that was somewhat related. Titled, "Taylor Swift has announced that she is voting for Harris after watching the debate.", and posted in the "Political Discussion" forum, the original poster simply linked to pop star Taylor Swift's Instagram page where she urged her fans to research the presidential candidates. Swift went on to say that she would be voting for Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. She signed her post, "Childless Cat Lady" and was pictured holding her cat, an obvious reference to statements by Republican Vice Presidential candidate J. D. Vance. As those responding in the thread pointed out, Swift had been expected to endorse Harris after previously endorsing President Joe Biden. However, there had been some concerns about Swift lately due to her close relationship with Britany Mahomes, wife of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, and a supporter of former President, current cult leader, and convicted felon Donald Trump. In addition, Trump recently posted a fake video produced using artificial intelligence showing Swift endorsing Trump, something that Swift mentioned in her Instagram post. Supporters of the billionaire celebrity Trump, including his running mate Vance, immediately began suggesting that nobody cares about the opinion of billionaire celebrities. However, Swift seemed to have some impact because interest in voter registration surged as demonstrated by both search engine queries and traffic on vote.gov. There was also discussion about the timing of Swift's post. Her fans suggested that she had been smart to post after the debate because that showed that she had made an informed decision. Critics, however, argued that she was trying to draw attention away from Harris' poor debate performance. This was particularly deluded because Harris was almost universally seen to have had a great debate performance. If anything, the Harris campaign would have preferred the endorsement to have come at another time since they clearly wanted the limelight on Harris and the debate. Like Vance, many of those responding proved to be obsessed with the fertility and marital status of women. Despite Swift's clear ownership of the "childless cat lady" label that Vance has popularized, several posters criticized not only Swift, but Oprah, and Harris herself for not having children. Misogyny from anonymous posters on DCUM may not be important, but then the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, weighed in on X offering to give Swift a child. While Swift is encouraging millions of fans to support Harris, Musk is cementing the Republican Party as the home of misogynist weirdos.

The next most active thread was the one about Dave Grohl that I discussed yesterday and will skip today. After that was another thread posted in the "Political Discussion" forum and titled, "Debate Moderator Fact Checks". The original poster attempts to appear even-handed in his post in which he defends the moderators of the presidential debate for fact-checking former President, current cult leader, and convicted felon Donald Trump multiple times during the debate. The original poster also suggested it was understandable that the moderators did not fact check Vice President Kamala Harris on several occasions but then he questioned why they did not interject when Harris said that she had been at the Capitol Building on January 6 when Trump inspired an insurrection attempt. The original poster says that Harris was actually at the Democratic National Committee headquarters. Despite the original poster's attempt to appear objective, many of his assumptions were quickly criticized. In fact, Harris had been at the Capitol Building both before and after the attack on the building. Therefore, her statement was factually true. The original poster also made suggestions about Harris' beliefs about abortion and the state of the economy which are not supported by available evidence and which provoked objections from several of those responding. As Trump supporters have been forced to come to terms with the fact that he soundly lost the debate, they have turned to providing excuses, many of which came up in this thread. The role of the moderators is one explanation upon which they have relied, arguing that the moderators were unfair and biased towards Harris. At least one poster claimed that Harris had ear pieces allowing her to be coached by someone off-stage. This reflects Internet conspiracy theories that Harris' earrings were actually listening devices and that Barack Obama was telling her what to say. Other posters suggested that Harris had been provided the debate questions ahead of time. The spread of false allegations among Republicans was not limited to DCUM posters. During the debate, Trump himself claimed that Haitian immigrants have been stealing pet cats and dogs and eating them. This was one of the claims about which the moderators fact-checked Trump. This claim, which has been circulating in right-wing social media, was refuted by officials in Ohio, something that the moderators pointed out. Nevertheless, Trump supporters are adamant that the allegation is true. They managed to find a woman who is not Haitian and not in the Ohio city in question who did kill a cat. They also discovered indications that Haitians may have killed geese. As many posters pointed out, geese are not cats or dogs but rather wild game that is frequently hunted. Some posters argued that the moderators had actually not fact-checked Trump enough. While Harris may have stretched the truth on occasion, she avoided outright lies. Trump, on the other hand, lied repeatedly and was fact-checked on only a small fraction of his falsehoods.

Next was a thread titled, "Is not allowing my husband to cook scrambled eggs in the morning an unreasonable request?" and posted in the "Relationship Discussion (non-explicit)" forum. The original poster says that she has a strong aversion to the smell of scrambled eggs being cooked. Her husband loves scrambled eggs and would eat them every day if she could. She has to work remotely in their kitchen area and the lingering smell of the eggs bothers her. While her husband has compromised by cooking scrambled eggs only once a week, she would like him to stop completely. As the title says, she wonders if her desire is unreasonable. Almost none of those responding thinks that the original poster's request is reasonable. A couple are willing to make concessions because she has to work in the area, but they are basically the lone exceptions. The vast majority of the posters suggest using the hood vent and, if that is already being done, getting a better one. Others suggest opening a window or using an air purifier. Some suggest lighting a candle. Many posters suggest that the original poster simply move her work area, at least until the smell dissipates. Some posters argue that this sensitivity is not normal and something that the original poster can have treated. They suggest various forms of therapy. Other posters think that this is a problem that the husband can solve. One suggestion is that he cook eggs in the microwave which many posters say has less smell, though another poster argues just the opposite. Other posters suggest that he cook outside either on a grill or an induction burner. As is often the case on DCUM, there are posters who are not at all interested in the topic of the thread, but feel the need to opine on off-topic issues. In this case, that was the healthiness of eating eggs. Several posters worried about the original poster's husband's cholesterol level. Others challenged these poster, saying that eggs may not have a link to high cholesterol. This then led to a debate about breakfast cereal. It turns out that breakfast cereal is a far more divisive topic than the smell of eggs. While there is fairly broad agreement that the original poster is being unreasonable about not wanting her husband to cook scrambled eggs, she demonstrates a willingness to find alternative solutions. In one post she asks about hood vents that might work better than the one that she has and in another follow-up she requested recommendations for air purifiers. So she does not appear to be completely unreasonable. Nobody seemed to have thought of the solution that was immediately obvious to me. Just restrict his scrambled egg cooking to weekends when, presumably, the original poster doesn't have to work in the kitchen. Then he can eat eggs twice a week instead of just once.

The final thread that I will discuss today was also posted in the "Relationship Discussion (non-explicit)" forum. Titled, "DH having affair but not home yet from ‘work’". The original poster says that she recently found proof that her husband is having an affair. Writing at 3 am, she says that her husband has not yet returned from work and that she believes that he is still with his affair partner. However, a small part of her is concerned that he may have been in an accident or something. She asks if she should send a text to check on him. A few hours later the original poster followed-up to say that her husband had arrived home a half hour before she was supposed to wake up. She is planning to play dumb and not let on that she knows when he returned. The discussion then turned to the broader issue of the original poster's situation. She has been a trailing spouse, following her husband as he has moved from job to job. As a result, she lacks a local support system and is not financially stable herself. The couple has one elementary school-aged child. At this point, the original poster doesn't have a plan for going forward. But, she is determined not to reveal her knowledge of the affair. Many posters advise the original poster to get a lawyer and figure out her rights in this situation. They generally agree with her decision not to let him know that she is aware of the affair. Some posters suggest that she start siphoning money from their joint accounts into a private account. Others suggest that she stop any physical intimacy in order to protect herself from sexually-transmitted diseases. One poster suggested hiding an Apple AirTag in his car, precipitating a debate about the legality of her doing that. As demonstrated in the previous thread, DCUM posters have an amazing ability to zero in on the most pertinent detail of a thread. In this case, several posters engaged in a long-running debate about the meaning of "gaslighting". That was clearing what the original poster was hoping to learn when she posted this thread. Those responding were divided about the original poster's immediate need for a lawyer. Some argued that a lawyer would simply cost money that the original poster would otherwise be awarded in a divorce and, therefore, was a waste. They argued for separating and relying on a mediator. Other posters were adamant that the original poster needed a lawyer and the sooner the better. There was also some concern that the original poster was not yet facing reality and that she was continuing to hope that she might be able to stay with her husband. In part, this concern was caused by the original poster's mentioning that she was following the "180" which is apparently a set of rules started by members of the Mormon religion that is aimed at swaying an unfaithful husband back to his wife. The original poster said that she is not following the 180 for that purpose, but then seemed to indicate that she was still open to remaining together. This caused some posters to get nearly irate in advocating that she open her eyes.