The NON-Thinking Housewife is Truly a Joyless Twit

[GolightlyGrrl]

What's got her knickers in a twist? People smiling.

http://www.thinkinghousewife.com/wp/201 ... y-society/

[Witsec7]

She would sure be pissed off to read about ThatWife practicing her 'signature' smile for years. :lol:

[Mommy22alyns]

Wow. She may be even more joyless than the Maxwells, which is quite a feat.

[Guest Anonymous]

Oh no the evils of smiling. Is she just out of topics to be pissed off about? I always refer to her in my head as the constant PMS housewife, but that may not be as funny outside of my own head.

[fundiefan]

Wow. She may be even more joyless than the Maxwells, which is quite a feat.

I don't know much about her; does she have a like-aged son that Sarah could hook up with? Nothing would make Steve happier than to give his daughter away to someone as joyless as he is. She is used to it, after all.

[VodouDoll]

Alas for Sarah, the NTH is a Catholic. Steve Maxwell would die before he'd hand one of his daughters over to that family. Plus, the Maxwells don't read literature. The NTH would think them seriously uneducated.

[OnceModestTwiceShy]

Once again, her lack of historical awareness is showing. Pretty sure the reason people were so serious in old photos (not to mention portraits) was that before the proliferation of personal camera equipment, for most people, having a picture taken was an EVENT. You got dressed up, you went to a particular place or had someone come to you, you paid lots of money, etc. Photos were not thought of as documentation of good times, as we think of them now, since we can carry our cameras around wherever we go - they were records for posterity. Hence, grativas was thought more important.

Also, maybe we smile more today in general because for many people, the advances of modern technology has lead to life being easier for a lot of people - not just in terms of there being more available leisure time but also just the fact that you will probably smile more if you have indoor plumbing, a supermarket nearby, and pain relievers.

I guess, to connect to that other thread about fundies being political conservatives, this is really more of an economic "problem", having to do with the wider availability of consumer goods and services, though I'm aware that this is a simplification. Which, again, makes the fervent support of capitalism so ironic.

Also, I thought fundies were all about the constant moronic smile, whether you feel it or not, as an expression of "JOY"? I have very rarely seen photos of fundie families that were not smiling broadly (sometimes just their mouths, not their eyes, however). Is she criticizing that too? Or is it just heathens smiling that is inappropriate? I guess because we should all be thinking in detail about how we are going to hell.

[fundiefan]

Once again, her lack of historical awareness is showing. Pretty sure the reason people were so serious in old photos (not to mention portraits) was that before the proliferation of personal camera equipment, for most people, having a picture taken was an EVENT. You got dressed up, you went to a particular place or had someone come to you, you paid lots of money, etc. Photos were not thought of as documentation of good times, as we think of them now, since we can carry our cameras around wherever we go - they were records for posterity. Hence, grativas was thought more important.

Also, maybe we smile more today in general because for many people, the advances of modern technology has lead to life being easier for a lot of people - not just in terms of there being more available leisure time but also just the fact that you will probably smile more if you have indoor plumbing, a supermarket nearby, and pain relievers.

I guess, to connect to that other thread about fundies being political conservatives, this is really more of an economic "problem", having to do with the wider availability of consumer goods and services, though I'm aware that this is a simplification. Which, again, makes the fervent support of capitalism so ironic.

Also, I thought fundies were all about the constant moronic smile, whether you feel it or not, as an expression of "JOY"? I have very rarely seen photos of fundie families that were not smiling broadly (sometimes just their mouths, not their eyes, however). Is she criticizing that too? Or is it just heathens smiling that is inappropriate? I guess because we should all be thinking in detail about how we are going to hell.

Smiling was also movement that could cause blurs in old film. Still as a rock was pretty necessary to clear images then. Also, picture taking was a serious thing and in the early days people were intimidated. We are so used to pictures and cameras and think nothing of them, but when they were first introduced? Imagine how odd and weird it must have been to SEE yourself, in print like that. People didn't take snapshots, as OMTS just said, they may have had one picture taken in their whole life. Often, pictures were taken for documentation purposes rather than for posterity or anything else.

[samithemage]

I often wonder, when fundies go on a truly bizarre rampage, do they understand what they are arguing against? They never seem to consider the practical and historical applications of anything. There is so much cognitive dissonance within the fundie world that I don't know how anyone with a bit of knowledge and common sense manages to operate.

[Librul]

Photo exposures were a LOT longer. My grandparents, born in the late 1880s talked about having to sit still for many seconds while the exposure was made. That went a long way to insure the "solemn" look of vintage photos. They were just as joyful, silly and spontaneous as we are, just not at formal photo time.

[Rowan]

For how many photographs do the Amish people agree to smile? But then the Amish have no difficulty seeing the decadence and softness of modern cool Americans and enough moral fiber to try to resist those things.

Umm, as far as I know the Amish NEVER agree to their faces being shown in a photograph. So agreeing to smile would *never* happen!

What. An. Idiot.

[jenny_islander]

People were just as silly and goofy back then in the appropriate setting and they told just as many corny jokes too. I've been reading back issues of Harper's Bazar while up late with a toddler who is having one of those growth spurt sleep issue things. The funny pages are full of little scenes that could translate to modern sitcoms, caricatures poking fun at all and sundry, bad puns, and so on. This was a paper directed at the well bred and those who aspired to be well bred. It's archived online at the HEARTH Project. (Note: There is a streak of casual racism in the humor, so beware.)

[emmiedahl]

My grandfather says that he loved the United States the first time he set foot here because people were always smiling. He thought, what lovely, friendly people! In Kazakhstan, smiling is just not a cultural habit. You only smile when you are overwhelmed with joy. He assumed that all these smiling people he met were overwhelmed with joy to meet him! This was in the 40's.

My grandfather loved how Americans are casual and friendly.

[jenny_islander]

I've been told that it can be something of a shock for people from certain countries to discover that (for example) the realtor who has been so sympathetic, attentive, and conscientious does not in fact want a closer relationship with you or your family. It's just that in many professions in the U.S., professionalism means treating a client like a friend for the duration of the business relationship.

[slh12280]

Umm, as far as I know the Amish NEVER agree to their faces being shown in a photograph. So agreeing to smile would *never* happen!

What. An. Idiot.

Ha! When I read the part about the Amish I chuckled. Since when would the Amish want their picture taken?

[ems]

Uuuuugh. I hate hate HATE to think of agreeing with this (wo)man on anything.

I actually do think she has a point though.

Not that I think our society should be about "formality," "hierarchy," and other bull that fundies love, but it would be nice if American culture wasn't so about putting on a fake smile at all times.

(This is from a woman who always gets told by some stranger to "smile" when she is really just lost in thought).

[Kitten]

Hope she never meets Michelle or Kelly Bates, then, 'cause they always have their "cheerful countenance" on, at least when the cameras are rolling. And we know that the Pearls would advocate "correcting" a child until s/he "cheerfully" accepted the correction.

[pimpom]

Booyakasha and up yours Stinking Housewife!!!!

http://www.howtobearetronaut.com/2010/0 ... ictorians/

[ladypuglover]

Booyakasha and up yours Stinking Housewife!!!!

http://www.howtobearetronaut.com/2010/0 ... ictorians/

I have a book that is about children of the victorian age and it focuses on their clothing. Now even though the book is about children's fashions during the victorian age, children are still children no matter when in history. I would say about half of the photos have children smiling from ear to ear or with blurry mouths.

I also have seen on different sites of victorian families acting silly or out of the norm. Awkward Family Photos has several such photos and it would be hard to find others on the net.

Bah to the unthing/stinking housemouse.

[Goyangi]

Booyakasha and up yours Stinking Housewife!!!!

http://www.howtobearetronaut.com/2010/0 ... ictorians/

What great pictures! Thanks for the link.

I especially liked the last one: http://www.howtobearetronaut.com/wp-con ... hasmar.jpg

[jenny_islander]

That last one is so cute!

For the link-phobic, it's a couple sitting for a series of four shots, during which they gradually crack up. I think he starts giggling first (behind a cookie-duster moustache) and then she can't hold her expression and you can almost hear them laughing in the last shot.

[ChickeyMonkey]

What great pictures! Thanks for the link.

I especially liked the last one: http://www.howtobearetronaut.com/wp-con ... hasmar.jpg

That one was one of my favorites, too. You can see the love and playfulness between the couple.

[sugaree]

I don't know much about her; does she have a like-aged son that Sarah could hook up with? Nothing would make Steve happier than to give his daughter away to someone as joyless as he is. She is used to it, after all.

She's a man, baby. Seriously, I believe that the Thinking Housewife is a persona noted racist douchebag Lawrence Auster uses to try to make his misogyny more palatable. Their writing styles are very similar.

Anyway at this point in time, I think he or she is really grasping for things to complain about.

[pimpom]

"But then the Amish have no difficulty seeing the decadence and softness of modern cool Americans and enough moral fiber to try to resist those things. "

Aaargh, the highlighted part is a particular pet peeve of mine. Ppl calling others soft & wearing their own 'suffering' like some kind of badge of honour. I hope they do realise that even if they are right and there were no soft ppl in the past (yeah right) there were no soft ppl because they were DEAD?! Then again, if you're so addicted to judging ppl, maybe you'll find a way to judge them for being dead...Dying is just so decadent and un-patriotic It's a SIN!;-)

[2xx1xy1JD]

She's a man, baby. Seriously, I believe that the Thinking Housewife is a persona noted racist douchebag Lawrence Auster uses to try to make his misogyny more palatable. Their writing styles are very similar.

Anyway at this point in time, I think he or she is really grasping for things to complain about.

I've read other anti-feminist blogs, but this one always leaves me thinking that the writer is really a dude, and a woman-hating one at that.

And yes, primitive photo equipment with long exposures requiring people to be perfectly still account for the solemn expressions. My great-grandparents had a blank, serious look in their wedding photo, and that's one time that you'd think someone could be happy.

It's like deciding that people who travel must all be miserable, just judging from passport photos.