Monday's Most Active Threads

Once again I have not read any of yesterday's most active topics. But, at least this time the topics didn't make me question where I went wrong in life. The topics might not be my cup of tea, but I can still understand the interest in them.

Leading in both numbers of replies and number of views was a thread titled, "Professor who uses 'third world' country" in the "Off-Topic" forum. The OP describes a professor who uses the term "third world" to describe poor countries. The OP doesn't ask a question or say much more than just that, so responders had quite a bit of leeway with their replies. Some time back in ancient history, some folks thought it might be a good idea to choose words and language that were less offensive than that used at the time. This became known as the "political correctness" or PC movement. That quickly inspired others to become "anti-PC". To hear them tell it, they were brave proponents of free expression because they weren't afraid to offend someone. But, whatever you do, don't call them deplorable. That's simply not acceptable.

Eventually, political correctness became sort of passé and it was replaced by what might be described as "PC on steroids" known as being "woke". People reacted like a crowd at Walmart on Black Friday rushing to declare themselves anti-woke and, almost immediately, "woke" became an insult. This brings us back to yesterday's most active thread. The term "third world" became unfashionable back in the PC stone age and it is surprising that a university professor would employ the term. A quick glance through the thread suggests that DCUM posters reacted much as would be expected with some of the "anti-woke" crowd condemning the original poster as the real culprit for, of all things, being "ageist". Others pointed out that the currently favored terms are "LICs and MICs" for lower income countries and middle income countries. Much of the conversation seems to be devoted to the larger issues of how language changes and whether posters are or are not offended. Essentially the message is that the original poster should get off DCUM's lawn, or should I say, kindly step off our well-manicured, artificially irrigated, heavily fertilized, annually reseeded turf.

Yesterdays second most active thread in both views and replies was titled, "Homecoming question-Am I off here" and originally posted in the "General Parenting Discussion" forum. When I saw it for the first time just now, I moved it to the "Tweens and Teens" forum where it is probably more appropriate. The original poster describes his daughter's plans to attend three different homecomings and needing approximately $350 for clothes, food, and transportation for each one. The OP asks whether this is normal or if he is out of touch. I personally would not answer without knowing how he describes poor countries, but I admit that I also didn't know this was a trend. Scanning the first page of the five-page thread, it looks like posters are divided about whether the daughter's plans are excessive or whether the father is "cheap AF". Given that we are in homecoming season, we've seen a number of homecoming-related threads recently. Unlike most that I've viewed, this one at least didn't end up fixated on how girls dress these days. The anti-PC, anti-woke crowd might be all for saying whatever you want (as long as it's not about them), but they clearly don't support wearing what you want.

After the top two threads, there was not much consistency between threads with lots of replies and threads with lots of views. But one thread that was near the top in both numbers was titled, "Which Federal Agencies are still allowing daily work from home?" and posted in the "Jobs and Careers" forum. Had I seen this thread before now, I probably would have locked it because I believe there is an existing thread on exactly the same topic. Nevertheless, this one managed to reach four pages without me noticing. The thread starts out with posters simply answering the question but, based on a quick perusal, appears to have gotten diverted into a discussion of various problems plaguing the IRS. I wonder if IRS employees who work at home can take home office deductions on their taxes and, if so, will they have to audit themselves?