Jana 9: So, What is Jana (and her Instagram) Being Primed For and Why?

[tabitha2]

To be fair Michelle was grew up Ohio. Country music back then was much more of a regional thing back then and most northern teenagers would have been listening to pop music or Rock. 

[RosyDaisy]

Keep in mind country music predates rock and pop. She would have known who Dolly Parton is.

[Screamapillar]

Teenage Michelle was wearing bikinis and jeans in the early eighties. There's no way she'd never, at the bare minimum, heard 9 to 5. That song was #1 on the Billboard top 100, mainstream. She knew damn well who Dolly Parton is, admitting it just didn't fit into the 19 Kids and Counting persona she had crafted. 

[tabitha2]

I will give you She may have heard of her in passing as some singer but not been interested enough to inquire anymore And as I said Country music was not exactly the wide spread popular music it is now. You think many Ohio teens in 1970s were getting down traditional country/Blue grass?  I feel that would have been seen as square, old fashioned and definitely not cool. Grandpa watched Hee Haw! Junior was watching SNL? Laugh in? I don’t know what was trendy. 

 

[socalrules]

I was a kid in the 80s in California and I knew who Dolly Parton was and I didn’t even listen to her music. She was just one of those people everyone knew. Michelle knew, she just played stupid because the Duggar brand is about them not being of this world like everyone else. So many episodes were based around them not knowing something most people know or being a fish out of water. 

[Timetostoplurking]

I’m the same age as Michelle and grew up in Minnesota (about as northern as you can get). Believe me! Everyone knew who Dolly Parton was.  Everyone! Country lover or not, Dolly was everywhere. It would be like not knowing who Taylor Swift is now.  I think Michelle is lying.  

[nausicaa]

42 minutes ago, Screamapillar said:

Teenage Michelle was wearing bikinis and jeans in the early eighties. There's no way she'd never, at the bare minimum, heard 9 to 5. That song was #1 on the Billboard top 100, mainstream. She knew damn well who Dolly Parton is, admitting it just didn't fit into the 19 Kids and Counting persona she had crafted. 

Yep. I don't believe for a minute Michelle didn't know who she was.

Neither of my parents were really into country music and both knew who Dolly Parton was in the 80s (hell, I knew who Dolly Parton was in the last 80s at age 5). She also had a big, mainstream movie career. 9 to 5 was a huge hit across the country, Dolly had several Christmas specials, and Michelle was still a mainstream Christian when Steel Magnolias came out in 1989. 

34 minutes ago, socalrules said:

I was a kid in the 80s in California and I knew who Dolly Parton was and I didn’t even listen to her music. She was just one of those people everyone knew. 

Now that I think about it, she's kinda like the Snoop Dogg of country in that way. ? 

[Bad Wolf]

Of course Michelle didn't know who Dolly was. She was far too involved reading her bible and getting to know Jesus and JB. Seriously. Michelle, you don't fool us.

[Daisy0322]

Ohio at least the southern part has always listened to country music. Most of southern Ohio outside of Cincinnati is farmland and small towns. 

[Snarkasarus Rex]

I'm sure Michelle knew who Dolly was.  TLC likes to play up the 'look how weird they are compared to the rest of us' angle, so it was probably 'suggested' she play dumb.

[allthegoodnamesrgone]

1 hour ago, Screamapillar said:

Teenage Michelle was wearing bikinis and jeans in the early eighties. There's no way she'd never, at the bare minimum, heard 9 to 5. That song was #1 on the Billboard top 100, mainstream. She knew damn well who Dolly Parton is, admitting it just didn't fit into the 19 Kids and Counting persona she had crafted. 

I think I'm about 5 years younger than Michelle, I grew up in Des Moines Iowa, and we didn't listen to country music, my mom still hates it (but she hates all music that isn't show tunes) my dad was/is a rock and roll fan, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys stuff like that. And I've known who Dolly Parton was since I was a tween, I googled and 9 to 5 came out in December of 1980, I was 10. My parents were really strict, I was very limited on what I was allowed to watch well into my mid teens, so knowing who Dolly was at such a young age from that movie and her music when we didn't listen to country music means she was pretty mainstream back then so I also believe there is no way she didn't know who she was.  I believe she didn't tell her kids about her but Michelle and most likely JB know who she was. 

[Markie]

5 hours ago, tabitha2 said:

To be fair Michelle was grew up Ohio. Country music back then was much more of a regional thing back then and most northern teenagers would have been listening to pop music or Rock. 

I’m the same age as Michelle, and grew up in Canada. I knew who Dolly Parton was. All the kids I grew up with did. She was lying to appear more holy on their show.

[QuiverFullofBooks]

I couldn’t find the clip on YouTube, but I don’t think Michelle actually denied knowing who Dolly was. As I recall, she was evasive when the producers tried to get her to admit that Dolly is very Nike.

[Mama Mia]

10 hours ago, QuiverFullofBooks said:

I couldn’t find the clip on YouTube, but I don’t think Michelle actually denied knowing who Dolly was. As I recall, she was evasive when the producers tried to get her to admit that Dolly is very Nike.

That sounds much more likely, given how Dolly Parton falls more into “general cultural background knowledge of anyone in a certain age range” than someone you’d know only if you listened to specific types of music. 

It brings up an interesting thought though - if you begin isolating yourself from all the usual passive cultural information most people in your age and place take in —- how much of it would you forget over decades? Like we all forget some of the names and events and details over time, or mix them up. And of course some information “everyone” knows, you might just have somehow missed in the first place. But I wonder if people like Michelle, who grew up mainstream, but than isolates from the conversations and media that keeps those things alive—- do they lose more of that background info than your average person? Just seemed interesting to me.

 

 

 

 

 

[Bobology]

1 hour ago, Mama Mia said:

But I wonder if people like Michelle, who grew up mainstream, but than isolates from the conversations and media that keeps those things alive—- do they lose more of that background info than your average person? Just seemed interesting to me.

Oooh, very interesting thought! Thank you for this, @Mama Mia. I'm thinking of how this applies to my 5 y.o. grandson who now becomes frustrated and weepy when he can't remember something we are talking about and he believes he should remember it. In his defense, he has outstanding memory and he is accustomed to remembering everything. I'll be making a point now to keep important things 'alive' for him. 

[Glasgowghirl]

Michelle definitely knew Dolly and I do think now some of the older Duggar's will have listened to some more contemporary stuff that isn't hymnn's and classical music. 

[CarrotCake]

6 hours ago, Glasgowghirl said:

Michelle definitely knew Dolly and I do think now some of the older Duggar's will have listened to some more contemporary stuff that isn't hymnn's and classical music. 

We know for sure since the older girls are quoting mainstream songs regurarely.

[LacyMay]

On 8/7/2019 at 9:07 PM, QuiverFullofBooks said:

I couldn’t find the clip on YouTube, but I don’t think Michelle actually denied knowing who Dolly was. As I recall, she was evasive when the producers tried to get her to admit that Dolly is very Nike.

This is such an interesting one because while Dolly is very Nike Dollywood seemed to be a bit more on the conservative side. Closed on Christian Holidays, church services in the park on Sundays, scripture verses on the rides and throughout the park and instead of doing a typical "Halloween" they do a Harvest Festival with Pumpkin Luminights. 

Confession, after seeing Dollywood on Bringing up Bates it ended up on my bucket list. We made it last October (for Luminights!) And I'm in love. It's my new happy place, a *very* close second with Disney and only second because Disney is Disney. I'm restraining myself right now by not writing an eleventy paragraph post on Dollywood. 

[livinginthelight]

Okay, I just did my own bit of research. I asked my 20 something son who is on the high end of the autism spectrum, who has never seen 9 to 5 and who is not on any social media if he knows who Dolly Parton is.

Yes. Though he doesn't know much about her, he's heard her name and knows the basics of who she is. She's THAT famous!

[raspberrymint]

On 8/3/2019 at 5:41 PM, CaptainFunderpants said:

They would be interesting if the producers would ask real questions that really highlight the differences between them and secular people in major metros -particularly non-Southern ones like San Francisco, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, and Miami.

If they would use Time for Kids polls and ask the Duggar kids their thoughts on the subjects and ask them why they agree or disagree, use Teen Vogue polls and ask the teens, that would be interesting, and go through a secular marriage counseling book and ask the married kids what they would do in a given situation or how they deal with it, then share the recommended secular way and ask them the pros and cons of the religious way vs. the secular way.

That would be interesting and informative.

As it is now, it's an infomercial for fundamentalism.

I haven't seen any variation of the show since the 2000s.  The show is boring as mud, I'm guessing even more now than it used to be, but I'm saying the human beings are interesting and varied.  We don't know the full extent of that and we may never.

I'm the same person I was when I wasn't allowed to voice my thoughts and opinions in an abusive household.  I'm not more interesting now.  I'm still me.

The Duggars would be boring acquaintances to me, a stranger, and the majority likely outright hostile if they knew basic things about me.  If I were a childhood friend still trusted by some adult daughters, or if I were one of the adult daughters, I would know the nuances of the oldest sisters.  I feel like Jinger and Jana were always the most interesting, but are now the most repressed for different reasons.  Jill and Joy are more able to express themselves.  Jessa is middle of the road.

Edited August 11, 2019 by raspberrymint
More thoughts

[Melissa1977]

19 hours ago, raspberrymint said:

The Duggars would be boring acquaintances to me, a stranger, and the majority likely outright hostile if they knew basic things about me.  If I were a childhood friend still trusted by some adult daughters, or if I were one of the adult daughters, I would know the nuances of the oldest sisters.  I feel like Jinger and Jana were always the most interesting, but are now the most repressed for different reasons.  Jill and Joy are more able to express themselves.  Jessa is middle of the road

I think I could stand chatting with Jessa for a while. She's got humor sense and is not always preaching. But the others must be insufferable: the know-it-all nervous Jill, the dull Joy and the entitled Jana and last but not least the super Stepford wife Jinger.

[raspberrymint]

On 8/11/2019 at 2:46 PM, Melissa1977 said:

I think I could stand chatting with Jessa for a while. She's got humor sense and is not always preaching. But the others must be insufferable: the know-it-all nervous Jill, the dull Joy and the entitled Jana and last but not least the super Stepford wife Jinger.

I have a dear friend who reminded me of younger Jinger in her youth and reminds me of current Jinger now.  I know her, I love her, and I know not everyone is close enough to her to see her like I do.  I actually can't imagine how surreal it would be talking to Jinger herself, because everyone who is remotely comparable to her in my personal life is an old friend, now that I think about it, and there isn't space for me in my current life to meet such humans yet.  I'm early in my first pregnancy, so I guess that situation will change when I'm around more moms.  Actually, I think these future acquaintances will trust me but be forbidden by their husbands to get too close.  Jinger is famous and we live far away from each other, so that's different.

Jill and Jana remind me of ex friends that are too cold to talk to.  Jessa and Jana in different ways remind me of myself.  If I knew them personally, it could go either way with Jana.  I don't know enough about her to say which.  Joy reminds me of my sister in law, who is friendly but not that deep.  Joy takes things more seriously, though, in a good way.  

[mollysmom]

6 hours ago, raspberrymint said:

I have a dear friend who reminded me of younger Jinger in her youth and reminds me of current Jinger now.  I know her, I love her, and I know not everyone is close enough to her to see her like I do.  I actually can't imagine how surreal it would be talking to Jinger herself, because everyone who is remotely comparable to her in my personal life is an old friend, now that I think about it, and there isn't space for me in my current life to meet such humans yet.  I'm early in my first pregnancy, so I guess that situation will change when I'm around more moms.  Actually, I think these future acquaintances will trust me but be forbidden by their husbands to get too close.  Jinger is famous and we live far away from each other, so that's different.

Jill and Jana remind me of ex friends that are too cold to talk to.  Jessa and Jana in different ways remind me of myself.  If I knew them personally, it could go either way with Jana.  I don't know enough about her to say which.  Joy reminds me of my sister in law, who is friendly but not that deep.  Joy takes things more seriously, though, in a good way.  

Am I the only one completely lost? None of this made sense to me & I read it 3 times. 

[AliceInFundyland]

10 hours ago, mollysmom said:

Am I the only one completely lost? None of this made sense to me & I read it 3 times. 

Yes, I think perhaps the general idea is that the Duggar sisters remind her of her friends and family. I believe she's mentioned a few times that she's stepped away from that world. So... She gets them but yet feels really far away from that time in life.

And maybe finds them relatable?

Which I get? Whenever I have a random dream fundie encounter I tend to find myself engaging in a sincere conversation with whoever it is. We have a pleasant experience where we discuss our beliefs and differences. I go deep.

Or maybe I am way off.

 

@raspberrymint

Congrats! ?

[Mlissmartin]

19 hours ago, mollysmom said:

Am I the only one completely lost? None of this made sense to me & I read it 3 times. 

I figured it out, she's just comparing her friends to the Duggar girls and how she sees them.