Anna T - Revisionist Personal History

[bea]

As I recall, part of Anna T's (Domestic Felicity) story was that she was raised outside Israel by a single mom, and they emigrated there when she was a teenager. My brain is full of fuzz this morning, but I think she's said she grew up in Russia? Or part of the former USSR?

Well not today, apparently. She's so mad at John Kerry's statements on Israel that Anna has just plumb forgotten she emigrated there as a teenager, saying she was born in Israel and has lived there all her life.

[sea_gale]

Yep, if I recall correctly, she was born in the Ukraine and moved at the age of five, with her mum, who raised her alone while working as an engineer.

Doesn't surprise me that she's rewriting history; she had a fiance before Mr T, of whom she has scrubbed all mention of. But the original entries are still on the RSS feed ;)

[bea]

Goodness, I'd forgotten that. I just remember her being so coy for so long about being Jewish, because of all the fundie followers she had.

[sea_gale]

I feel so sad for remembering all that, but she was my gateway fundie.

ETA: I just finished the comments on the latest post, and read this little gem:

Not long ago I bought some clothes. While chatting with the salesladies, I revealed where I live. I was bombarded with tons of questions: is it safe? Why would you live there? Is that truly our land? Those questions were very earnest, and it was evident average people (not the so-called elite!) have just never heard anyone represent the West Bank settlements the way I had.

She's also been fey about where she lives and its legitimacy ("God gave us that land! If you disagree, you're a smelly bumhole!"), but yep, looks like she lives in an illegal settlement. Fuck's sake. That's probably why she's so nervous; she's worried about being evicted. Can't say I'm sorry for her, though I am for her weans; they seem like really sweet kids.

[ladyamylynn]

I feel so sad for remembering all that, but she was my gateway fundie.

ETA: I just finished the comments on the latest post, and read this little gem:

She's also been fey about where she lives and its legitimacy ("God gave us that land! If you disagree, you're a smelly bumhole!"), but yep, looks like she lives in an illegal settlement. Fuck's sake. That's probably why she's so nervous; she's worried about being evicted. Can't say I'm sorry for her, though I am for her weans; they seem like really sweet kids.

If I recall correctly, she lives in Samaria, which is in the West Bank.

[YPestis]

I guess it comes as no surprise where Anna stands on the settlement issue. Still, it was surprising she lives on the West Bank. I thought Anna wanted to live a simple, quiet life.....I hardly consider living in contested area peaceful.

I was also surprised when Anna mentioned she knows no other country except Israel. She used to be pretty open about where she was from. I wonder why she's white washed the Russian part. Anyway, if she is living on a contested settlement area, and may be evicted soon....well, that's rough, but that's the risk you run when you choose that spot. I love her reasoning: And besides, who gave our government the authority to do such a thing? The land of Israel is not theirs to give away. It was promised to us by G-d

Yes, because God promised you this land, those silly man-made laws don't apply! Take whatever you want because God gave you permission. :shock:

I'm assuming it was this quote that pretty much contradicts her previous history of immigrating from Russia:

I, who have lived in Israel all my life and never contemplated living anywhere else, began checking out the immigration laws of New Zealand.

Does anyone know why she'd pick New Zealand? Do they have a large Orthodox Jewish population there? The US has the second largest Jewish population outside of Israel and is far easier to emigrate to than New Zealand.

This is not the first time she's revised her history. After her second child, Anna T posted that she wanted to limit her children (for now) with NFP. Then later, she starts talking wistfully that some families are blessed with many but her two daughters may be the only children she will ever have. Commentators were sympathetic, assuming she was having fertility issues. Anna never corrected them on this. It was a complete change. She went from explicitly saying she would limit her children to talking like she wants more but was unable to have any.

Anna T is a lot of things but I never thought her duplicitous. It seems uncharacteristic of her to continually rewrite her story, and on such a public forum too.

[bea]

I read that bit about only two children and maybe no more and thought "geez, that really makes it sound like it's some kind of medical issue that's restricting family size, not her/their own decision that she simply can't handle more kids" but I thought I might be imagining it.

Apparently I wasn't imagining it. Just read the comments on the post and she never takes the opportunity to be honest about the fact that it was HER decision not to have more kids right now. If I were more interested, I'd go back and see if those entries are still there - along with the entries on her previous engagement and her emigration from Russia.

[Daisy]

I caught the bit with the two kids and implying she can't have any more either. It's weird, why even try to rewrite history in that? It's not like she was responding to a comment, she choose to write a whole post on the subject. She could have just kept quiet and not said anything at all about it.

Speaking of, I know at the time of the original post we were speculating if she would just try to space any future children further apart. It looks like she's decided to stop for good with the two girls

[Benk]

I'm assuming it was this quote that pretty much contradicts her previous history of immigrating from Russia:

I, who have lived in Israel all my life and never contemplated living anywhere else, began checking out the immigration laws of New Zealand.

Does anyone know why she'd pick New Zealand? Do they have a large Orthodox Jewish population there? The US has the second largest Jewish population outside of Israel and is far easier to emigrate to than New Zealand.

The Jewish population of New Zealand is very small, and trends strongly to the assimilated and non-observant, rather than the Orthodox. I imagine it would be really hard to live a fully Orthodox life. I can't imagine where one would get kosher meat. .... A pause while I do some Googling ..... Okay. There are exactly two stores in New Zealand that sell kosher meat and cheese, and both are run by synagogues rather than being actual viable commercial enterprises.

And, to give my yichus, I'm a New Zealander, although I live overseas these days.

[sea_gale]

How on earth do you do NFP when you also keep niddah?

[OnceModestTwiceShy]

I guess it comes as no surprise where Anna stands on the settlement issue. Still, it was surprising she lives on the West Bank. I thought Anna wanted to live a simple, quiet life.....I hardly consider living in contested area peaceful.

I was also surprised when Anna mentioned she knows no other country except Israel. She used to be pretty open about where she was from. I wonder why she's white washed the Russian part. Anyway, if she is living on a contested settlement area, and may be evicted soon....well, that's rough, but that's the risk you run when you choose that spot. I love her reasoning: And besides, who gave our government the authority to do such a thing? The land of Israel is not theirs to give away. It was promised to us by G-d

Yes, because God promised you this land, those silly man-made laws don't apply! Take whatever you want because God gave you permission. :shock:

I'm assuming it was this quote that pretty much contradicts her previous history of immigrating from Russia:

I, who have lived in Israel all my life and never contemplated living anywhere else, began checking out the immigration laws of New Zealand.

Does anyone know why she'd pick New Zealand? Do they have a large Orthodox Jewish population there? The US has the second largest Jewish population outside of Israel and is far easier to emigrate to than New Zealand.

This is not the first time she's revised her history. After her second child, Anna T posted that she wanted to limit her children (for now) with NFP. Then later, she starts talking wistfully that some families are blessed with many but her two daughters may be the only children she will ever have. Commentators were sympathetic, assuming she was having fertility issues. Anna never corrected them on this. It was a complete change. She went from explicitly saying she would limit her children to talking like she wants more but was unable to have any.

Anna T is a lot of things but I never thought her duplicitous. It seems uncharacteristic of her to continually rewrite her story, and on such a public forum too.

Welcome to the brain of a Zionist. UGH. (Full disclosure: former religious Zionist here; used to say stupid shit like that all the time...)

[bea]

How on earth do you do NFP when you also keep niddah?

You have separate bedrooms and don't have a lot of sex, I'm guessing.

[fun2beme]

Ugh, Anna has always grated on my nerves, even before all the re-writing of history.

She uses her religion as a cover for everything she does. She's lazy as heck, but her excuse is that women are delicate creatures who aren't biologically suited for work (per God). She may have an illegal living situation, but God said it was OK. She doesn't want more kids despite her condemnation of women who don't have them, but it's OK because she's using NFP (which God apparently said is OK but I can't find that in the Bible), not evil artificial birth control, though in essence, it's still family planning - which is wrong, unelss she's the one doing it.

:angry-banghead:

[flojo]

The Jewish population of New Zealand is very small, and trends strongly to the assimilated and non-observant, rather than the Orthodox. I imagine it would be really hard to live a fully Orthodox life. I can't imagine where one would get kosher meat. .... A pause while I do some Googling ..... Okay. There are exactly two stores in New Zealand that sell kosher meat and cheese, and both are run by synagogues rather than being actual viable commercial enterprises.

And, to give my yichus, I'm a New Zealander, although I live overseas these days.

Growing up I only really knew one Jewish family. They were ultra observant (one of only one or 2 families to walk to synagogue because driving = work). They ended up emigrating to Israel when I was about 7. Interestingly enough, the mother was actually a convert from Christianity (and they had a lot of trouble convincing people they weren't messianic)

ETA: Hi :penguin-no: Another expat kiwi!

[Benk]

Growing up I only really knew one Jewish family. They were ultra observant (one of only one or 2 families to walk to synagogue because driving = work). They ended up emigrating to Israel when I was about 7. Interestingly enough, the mother was actually a convert from Christianity (and they had a lot of trouble convincing people they weren't messianic)

ETA: Hi :penguin-no: Another expat kiwi!

Hi Flojo! Yay for Expat Kiwi Fundie-watchers. (We have to make up for having exported the Campbells of Above Rubies to the rest of the world. I just find it so mystifying that they could spring from Aotearoa. Really, they are NOT typical!)

[slh12280]

I kind of figured she lived in a disputed area. I can't imagine doing that, especially with small children. I think that whole business just causes more problems. Plus, if you believe that God is really on your side and wants you to have that land then why don't you trust that he will give it to you when the time is right? Another way religion is used to harm and control.

[Shaz]

Anna T has been very active in the comments section at the Skeptical OB lately. Nothing earthshaking, but she is engaging in discussion with people on something other than religion.