Alyssa & John 2: Getting By on Their Looks and Fashion Sense

[llucie]

Compared to her siblings Alyssa seems to be lacking a lot of basic knowledge. Maybe she was a poor student, lets remember that she was the only one to drop out of college, maybe she found it too dificult, maybe she realised she was never going to work anyway and it was a waste of time...but she surely shouldnt be homeschooling anyone, that poor girls of hers are going to be so fucked.

[backyard sylph]

I agree she sounds incurious and a bit dim, but I bet there are a whole lot of people who'd spell it that way if you asked them, because that's how they hear it. See: would of/could of. ? 

[Casserole]

1 hour ago, Johannah said:

You would think even if she didn’t know the word or spelling, it would come up in planning for the party. Like a text from Kelly saying the theme is medieval, comparing notes with her siblings about their costumes, googling or searching Pinterest for medieval costume ideas (which also obviously didn’t happen given the inconsistency). And if you’re going to post anything for thousands of people to see, wouldn’t you spell check first? I don’t get it. 

Also, Erin’s post said #chivalrytheme  ?

 Yeah their costumes look like the theme was sent out via the game telephone

"Medieval Times!"

"Oh yeah, olden times with knights and swords"

"If there are knights, there must be princesses, right?"

"What? Disney Princesses? *insert Erin and Chad looking like cinderella and prince charming*"

"Knights are chivalrous, must be a chivalry isn't dead theme."

[nelliebelle1197]

On 2/18/2019 at 2:25 PM, nausicaa said:

Yeah, I wouldn't be so hard on Alyssa if she weren't smug enough to be homeschooling. I also get a whiff of "It's cute for girls to be dumb!" from her, and it really grates on me.

Especially since she has three daughters... (which makes me wonder if she does have an idea of how uneducated she is, but doesn't think it matters in regards to teaching since it's most important that her daughters be pretty and appealing to men.)

#superficialtwit

On 2/18/2019 at 6:41 PM, JermajestyDuggar said:

I remember thinking it was spelled like that when I was a teen! Thank goodness for spell check! I’m not a great speller but I’m aware of it. So I’ll often check my spelling and then try to remember the correct spelling. Alyssa doesn’t even seem to bother with spell check. For something that thousands of people will read! Now that is incredibly ignorant in my opinion. And this person is going to homeschool at least 6 kids? She has no idea how ignorant she actually is!

I am never going to give up laundry-mat from my childhood. You will pry it from my cold dead hands.

[QuiverDance]

On 2/8/2019 at 2:54 PM, Pecansforeveryone said:

All of the fundies I knew were pro-family planning, and I knew a lot of fundies. I just thought the Duggars and Bates were their own weird little thing until I came to Free Jinger and found out about the Quiverful movement. 

Even the super strict Catholics I know (and I know many) who are one issue voters w/r/t abortion and who won't attend weddings of people who are remarrying after divorce, etc., still practice some form of birth control and limit family size. 

On 2/18/2019 at 6:07 PM, JermajestyDuggar said:

I will say that I’m sure everyone around her likely pronounces it Mid-Evil so that spelling probably sounds right to her. Where I’m from, it was pronounced Mid-Evil. But “been” was pronounced like “bin.” And “pen” was always pronounced like “pin.” Short e and i sound very similar in the Midwest and it’s likely the same way in TN.

It is, to a degree.  I live in Williamson County, which is becoming much more America-homogenized, and my accent has really morphed into something more standard than the South Louisiana accent I grew up with.  I used to say "bin" and "pin" for "been" and "pen" and now definitely do not.  It wasn't conscious; I just have a chameleon accent, I guess.  I also say a fast "Med-i-eval" instead of "Mid-evil" which I definitely used to use as a pronunciation. Then again..... I still knew how the word was actually spelled....

On 2/8/2019 at 3:49 PM, Destiny said:

I've said it before, and I will say it again. I grew up the sort of fundie that allowed piercings, makeup, short hair, pants, and all the rest of the so-called list of why they aren't fundie anymore. I was fundie as hell. I was homeschooled because the public schools were too "worldly". I was taught to hate the gays, and I wrote letters in support of the Constitutional amendment to make gay marriage illegal. I marched in a few Marches for Life. To my eternal shame, I even helped picket abortion clinics a couple of times. I judged an acquaintance who got pregnant out of wedlock, and participated in her shunning. I passed out tracts. I went on missioncations. I said catholics aren't real christians because they worship Mary. I can think of zero actual convictions that I did not share with the fundies we follow, minus things like clothing and head covering.

I did all these things with piercings and short hair, while wearing jeans. No makeup, but that was laziness, not conviction. My church had no issue with alcohol. 

... Tell me how I wasn't fundie. Fundies don't come in only one package. It's about the beliefs and actions, not the trappings.

ETA: My shame at who I was knows no bounds. I still think about that poor acquaintance in particular and am appalled at how terrible I was. 

I was raised Catholic but same same to all of this.  I once won a huge trophy with a naked baby on top of it for writing an anti abortion essay that was published in a regional newspaper.  The thought that I was used as a naive young person to spread propaganda enrages me now.  As an example:  While I have never had an abortion, and probably wouldn't absent some horrible circumstance like enancephaly or danger to my own life, I still understand why other people must be allowed to make their own medical and reproductive decisions.  It's not that hard, if you believe an action is wrong, don't do it.  No legislation required. 

 

[QuiverDance]

On 2/19/2019 at 12:09 AM, Melissa1977 said:

Conversely, Michael stated that her dress was renaissance inspired. She seems to know not only that middle age was a thing, but also that it had different stages.

 

To be fair... This could also indicate she thinks the Medieval and Renaissance periods are the same thing and not stages on a timeline spanning hundreds of years. 

[TeaELSee]

1 hour ago, QuiverDance said:

To be fair... This could also indicate she thinks the Medieval and Renaissance periods are the same thing and not stages on a timeline spanning hundreds of years. 

Brandons big into Medieval history. They had an entire show about it. They took the younger boys to Medieval Times outside Chicago and showcased the children’s book he was writing about that time period.  She should know the difference, maybe she just prefers the Renaissance period. 

Regarding spelling: I recently spelled ombré, hombre on this site, so I think I’ll sit this one out.

[singsingsing]

Given that Brandon is about as immersed in the ATI kool-aid as one can be, I'm guessing he's interested in "Medieval" history. Not so much reality, but whatever makes fundies feel good about themselves and reinforces their own beliefs and biases. I've seen how they've butchered American history. I don't even want to contemplate what they'd do to the Middle Ages.

Also, to be fair, late Medieval and Renaissance history overlap. And this was clearly not meant to be a historically accurate event. Michael's bubblegum pink princess dress is far more historically inaccurate than using 'Medieval' and 'Renaissance' interchangeably. And that's fine, because it wasn't supposed to be historically accurate. It's okay for people to have a fun 'Medieval' or 'Renaissance' inspired party without worrying about accuracy. It's not okay to think 'Medieval' is spelled 'Mid-Evil' and also be planning to homeschool your kids.

[kmachete14]

IF Alyssa had gone to school, I'm sure she would have been the type of girl who is always worried about boys and clothes and never studied and was fine with getting C's. She would come to school with perfect hair & nails. She might talk about how she thinks her classes are dumb and she'll never use this stuff in the real world. She would rarely read anything besides fashion magazines and tabloids. Perhaps part of it would be a learning disability that no one cares about since she doesn't care about school (chicken/egg scenario here). We all know these girls.

Those type of girls do not grow up to get teaching degrees.  

[nolongerIFBx]

On 2/19/2019 at 1:11 PM, AtlanticTug said:

I won't sugar coat it, she's just dumb. I'm sorry but there is no intellectual curiosity in a person who comes up with "mid-evil", it's dumber than dumb. Her own lack of a proper education is what has brought her here, and God forbid she inflicts it on her children.

The Bates and Duggars are wealthy by fundie standards because they are reality TV whores. But if you remove that, what you're left with is a great example of why the cycle of poverty continues and why our society is still stratified by class and increasingly so by the day. The media often talks about inner city kids and their terrible schools but these fundies in the south educated at SOTDRT have no hope in hell of raising above their place in the world unless they have some extraordinary talent (none of the ones we follow do so it should tell you how rare that would be) or they have to get extraordinarily lucky (Bates, Duggar families). Alyssa's kids stand zero and I mean ZERO chance against kids the same age whose parents are highly educated professionals, live upper middle class lives, attend the best schools, activities, travel the world and so on.

Are southern fundies less educated than those in the north? Accent does not equal uneducated.

[backyard sylph]

48 minutes ago, nolongerIFBx said:

Are southern fundies less educated than those in the north? Accent does not equal uneducated.

Struck me she was comparing perceptions of urban kids typically in north, and fundy kids typically in south, in this one particular regard. Typical perceptions are loosely gathered things when used for comparison.

[QuiverDance]

4 hours ago, TeaELSee said:

Brandons big into Medieval history. They had an entire show about it. They took the younger boys to Medieval Times outside Chicago and showcased the children’s book he was writing about that time period.  She should know the difference, maybe she just prefers the Renaissance period. 

Regarding spelling: I recently spelled ombré, hombre on this site, so I think I’ll sit this one out.

Brandon is .... so odd.  I missed that tidbit, but it makes sense.

 

[AtlanticTug]

3 hours ago, backyard sylph said:

Struck me she was comparing perceptions of urban kids typically in north, and fundy kids typically in south, in this one particular regard. Typical perceptions are loosely gathered things when used for comparison.

Yes, this. If you look at geographic patterns of poverty, in the south it is predominantly rural while in the north/coastal areas it's more concentrated in inner cities. 

After the 2016 election there was a lot of talk about how Trump appealed to lower class, blue-collar type workers but in fact Hillary won this demographic massively. The issue is that almost all the poor people who voted for her were extremely densely concentrated in inner cities which did not help in the electoral college at all (though did drive up the popular vote).

[Vivi_music]

Guess my good friend who did his Master's on the Crusades... is a Mid-evalist!

[mstee]

Alyssa doesn’t come off as the brightest which makes me wonder what the heck Gil was doing having her do all the family taxes (it was mentioned on one of their episodes- no clue which one though)?? Maybe that’s where she excels. 

[Melissa1977]

10 hours ago, mstee said:

Alyssa doesn’t come off as the brightest which makes me wonder what the heck Gil was doing having her do all the family taxes (it was mentioned on one of their episodes- no clue which one though)?? Maybe that’s where she excels. 

I work with taxes and accounts, in a big office with a big team. And in my experience, it's possible to be good with numbers/regulations and at the same time have no cultural interests or even looking *dumb* in other academic/professional fields.

Maybe Alyssa is not dumb (aka has not a low inteligence), maybe she's just vain and not interested in anything out of fashion and being thin. In a similar way, Lawson seems to be smart, starting a little business when he was young but I'm sure he shares Alyssa's low cultural level. 

[miss_batson]

Alyssa doing ads

 

[mstee]

9 hours ago, Melissa1977 said:

I work with taxes and accounts, in a big office with a big team. And in my experience, it's possible to be good with numbers/regulations and at the same time have no cultural interests or even looking *dumb* in other academic/professional fields.

Maybe Alyssa is not dumb (aka has not a low inteligence), maybe she's just vain and not interested in anything out of fashion and being thin. In a similar way, Lawson seems to be smart, starting a little business when he was young but I'm sure he shares Alyssa's low cultural level. 

Definitely. I’m not sure why I got so many WTF votes for my comment but what you said was what I was trying to get at. Some people do well with numbers but don’t do well in other subjects. It did take me by surprise to hear Gil say she did the family taxes since I’ve seen how she speaks and writes on Instagram. I don’t think Alyssa is bright overall but she can at least work with numbers.

Bottom line: I hope her kids get to go to a regular school. 

[nausicaa]

Just now, mstee said:

Definitely. I’m not sure why I got so many WTF votes for my comment but what you said was what I was trying to get at. Some people do well with numbers but don’t do well in other subjects. It did take me by surprise to hear Gil say she did the family taxes since I’ve seen how she speaks and writes on Instagram. I don’t think Alyssa is bright overall but she can at least work with numbers.

Bottom line: I hope her kids get to go to a regular school. 

I think the "WTF" was aimed at Gil for having Alyssa "Mid-Evil I-don't-know-cardinal-directions" Bates do the family taxes, not at you. 

She may be good with numbers. I think she has decent common sense and is pretty practical, unlike a Jill Duggar type. However, she still comes off as vapid and disinterested in anything academic and therefore shouldn't be homeschooling. I shudder to think what the high school science curriculum would look like. 

[wandering woman]

Alyssa's nasal voice grates on my nerves. I find her to be a bit standoffish and possibly condescending. She is not my favorite Bates.

[Bobology]

3 hours ago, wandering woman said:

Alyssa's nasal voice grates on my nerves.

We may be co-bitchez... Grates on my nerves, too, and there are exercises one can do to get certain parts in your throat/larynx/whatever working more in sync with each other in order to lessen the nasal tone. If she had gone to public school with heathens she likely would have received some free-to-her speech therapy and learned to correct it. Same with the *barely* lisp several of them have. (Now if only I were perfectly perfect myself then I could have something to say about all this.) #notperfect but I still said something.

[Carm_88]

I think Alyssa isn't interested in much outside of herself, John, the girls, and being pretty. That sounds harsh and I hate sounding harsh about it, but I think that's just what she is. 

[FaithAndReason]

Alyssa comes off as vain/shallow/not intelligent but I find myself wondering if this is the nature of the beast of being raised fundie. Girls are raised to be beautiful for their future husband. They are taught that  having the right hair, the right look, the right clothing is what keeps your daddy/husband/god happy. Why wouldn’t these girls appear shallow to others? Their whole life focus is on appearance. It’s the same on the Erin thread with her hyper focus on the perfect looking family IG. If you look perfect then god will reward you! 

[TeaELSee]

12 hours ago, wandering woman said:

Alyssa's nasal voice grates on my nerves. I find her to be a bit standoffish and possibly condescending. She is not my favorite Bates.

Look up her singing on YouTube. She has one of the most nasally voices I’ve heard.

[miss_batson]

Alyssa in a fancy dress with Jasckson, Lexi and Allie