Troublesome Strumpet
@impiousjade.bsky.social
Zaftig GenX atheist feminazgul with no fucks left to give. Of historic interest, here's a link to the US' "Field Guide to Simple Sabotage": https://www.gutenberg.org/files/26184/26184-h/26184-h.htm
& of course I didn't get the whole industry & all the ins & outs of it, somehow mom just was really really good at ELI5 when I was little. She could put stuff in simple terms like that.
November 12, 2025 at 9:51 PM
& of course I didn't get the whole industry & all the ins & outs of it, somehow mom just was really really good at ELI5 when I was little. She could put stuff in simple terms like that.
She didn't put it in those words, but I remember watching TV with her on Saturday mornings when I was a kid, & watching ads, & her telling me about how the people who made the ad are trying to get me to buy something.
I was seriously like 5 years old or some shit. Really young.
I was seriously like 5 years old or some shit. Really young.
November 12, 2025 at 9:50 PM
She didn't put it in those words, but I remember watching TV with her on Saturday mornings when I was a kid, & watching ads, & her telling me about how the people who made the ad are trying to get me to buy something.
I was seriously like 5 years old or some shit. Really young.
I was seriously like 5 years old or some shit. Really young.
Mom taught me about stuff like how image can be used to manipulate people, whether that's a personal image someone projects into the world (like how they dress, act, etc.), or whether it's a string of images put together to make an advertisement or marketing campaign - or propaganda.
November 12, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Mom taught me about stuff like how image can be used to manipulate people, whether that's a personal image someone projects into the world (like how they dress, act, etc.), or whether it's a string of images put together to make an advertisement or marketing campaign - or propaganda.
Someone who seems beautiful, well put together, well-educated, clean in dress & manner, etc. - they might be a total shit.
Like Mike Johnson.
Like Mike Johnson.
November 12, 2025 at 9:47 PM
Someone who seems beautiful, well put together, well-educated, clean in dress & manner, etc. - they might be a total shit.
Like Mike Johnson.
Like Mike Johnson.
These days I treat it as a variation on "check your privilege", whether that's beauty, social class, education, manners, whatever. Someone rough around the edges, you can't assume they suck. Maybe they do, but find out first.
& it goes the other way, too - the Halo Effect.
& it goes the other way, too - the Halo Effect.
November 12, 2025 at 9:46 PM
These days I treat it as a variation on "check your privilege", whether that's beauty, social class, education, manners, whatever. Someone rough around the edges, you can't assume they suck. Maybe they do, but find out first.
& it goes the other way, too - the Halo Effect.
& it goes the other way, too - the Halo Effect.
At the time she meant that you can't assume that someone who "looks bad" is actually a bad person. She took that lesson from her own high school days, when she was socially ostracized for dating a really nice kid from "the wrong side of the tracks", so for her the context was social class.
November 12, 2025 at 9:44 PM
At the time she meant that you can't assume that someone who "looks bad" is actually a bad person. She took that lesson from her own high school days, when she was socially ostracized for dating a really nice kid from "the wrong side of the tracks", so for her the context was social class.
Like, I just watched the swearing-in of Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D.-AZ) & Johnson was the picture of good manners & congeniality about it. Friendly smile & congrats & everything.
Reminds me of a lesson from my mom: you can't judge a book by its cover.
Reminds me of a lesson from my mom: you can't judge a book by its cover.
November 12, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Like, I just watched the swearing-in of Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D.-AZ) & Johnson was the picture of good manners & congeniality about it. Friendly smile & congrats & everything.
Reminds me of a lesson from my mom: you can't judge a book by its cover.
Reminds me of a lesson from my mom: you can't judge a book by its cover.
Ugh, I'm tearing up, I need to pause this for a few so I can prep for this job interview. No good going into it with streaky mascara...
November 12, 2025 at 9:34 PM
Ugh, I'm tearing up, I need to pause this for a few so I can prep for this job interview. No good going into it with streaky mascara...
I've been trying to get to know him a bit better since my mom died last year. He's 81, still truckin' along. It's been surprising & sad & really pretty great. He's a total nerdy weirdo.
I kind of knew that, at least to some degree. Without mom around he gets to be himself.
I kind of knew that, at least to some degree. Without mom around he gets to be himself.
November 12, 2025 at 9:33 PM
I've been trying to get to know him a bit better since my mom died last year. He's 81, still truckin' along. It's been surprising & sad & really pretty great. He's a total nerdy weirdo.
I kind of knew that, at least to some degree. Without mom around he gets to be himself.
I kind of knew that, at least to some degree. Without mom around he gets to be himself.
They only ever had one kid: my dad, born at the tail end of the Silent Generation, & boy he embodies that whole generational ethic.
He's probably also autistic, tho' we don't know that for sure.
He's probably also autistic, tho' we don't know that for sure.
November 12, 2025 at 9:28 PM
They only ever had one kid: my dad, born at the tail end of the Silent Generation, & boy he embodies that whole generational ethic.
He's probably also autistic, tho' we don't know that for sure.
He's probably also autistic, tho' we don't know that for sure.
& grandma, his wife, she was born & raised in a sod house on the Colorado prairie. Educated in a 1-room schoolhouse. Her family sold the farm & moved to the city in 1934 - & I bet good money it was a combo platter of a) the Depression & b) the Dust Bowl.
I learned so much from her.
I learned so much from her.
November 12, 2025 at 9:25 PM
& grandma, his wife, she was born & raised in a sod house on the Colorado prairie. Educated in a 1-room schoolhouse. Her family sold the farm & moved to the city in 1934 - & I bet good money it was a combo platter of a) the Depression & b) the Dust Bowl.
I learned so much from her.
I learned so much from her.
I have photos of him from when he was in mechanic school & flight training; he's young & bright-eyed, barely 20 years old, optimistic & cheeky.
Photos from after he came home, he looks haunted & rarely smiles. & he lived with that his entire life, & never spoke of it.
Photos from after he came home, he looks haunted & rarely smiles. & he lived with that his entire life, & never spoke of it.
November 12, 2025 at 9:23 PM
I have photos of him from when he was in mechanic school & flight training; he's young & bright-eyed, barely 20 years old, optimistic & cheeky.
Photos from after he came home, he looks haunted & rarely smiles. & he lived with that his entire life, & never spoke of it.
Photos from after he came home, he looks haunted & rarely smiles. & he lived with that his entire life, & never spoke of it.
He kept B-24s in the air while they were on bombing missions to cut supply lines to Japan. & he seriously saw some shit: was shot down several times, nearly captured once, saw his buddies killed in front of his eyes.
It explains a lot about why his photos changed.
It explains a lot about why his photos changed.
November 12, 2025 at 9:22 PM
He kept B-24s in the air while they were on bombing missions to cut supply lines to Japan. & he seriously saw some shit: was shot down several times, nearly captured once, saw his buddies killed in front of his eyes.
It explains a lot about why his photos changed.
It explains a lot about why his photos changed.
I didn't even know about what my one gpa did in the War until after he was dead: he was a flight engineer with these guys. www.kensmen.com
Ken's Men | 5th AAF 43rd BG
www.kensmen.com
November 12, 2025 at 9:21 PM
I didn't even know about what my one gpa did in the War until after he was dead: he was a flight engineer with these guys. www.kensmen.com
I wish I could have an hour with each of my grandparents again. There's so much I'd ask them about that I didn't even know to ask when they were alive, when I was growing up. & not just when I was a kid: I had a LOT of growing up to do, well into my 30s & 40s.
November 12, 2025 at 9:20 PM
I wish I could have an hour with each of my grandparents again. There's so much I'd ask them about that I didn't even know to ask when they were alive, when I was growing up. & not just when I was a kid: I had a LOT of growing up to do, well into my 30s & 40s.
The voices are fascinating. They're the voices of my grandparents & parents. I keep thinking of them & who they were & what they lived through, & the stories they told me about their lives. It fleshes out a lot of family tree work I've done off & on over the years.
November 12, 2025 at 9:19 PM
The voices are fascinating. They're the voices of my grandparents & parents. I keep thinking of them & who they were & what they lived through, & the stories they told me about their lives. It fleshes out a lot of family tree work I've done off & on over the years.
I wish I'd read them all years ago. They're full of amazing stuff. Already learning a ton about boots-on-the-ground US history & daily life that I never knew at all.
November 12, 2025 at 9:18 PM
I wish I'd read them all years ago. They're full of amazing stuff. Already learning a ton about boots-on-the-ground US history & daily life that I never knew at all.
Absolutely. Progressive men are the fucking worst about it.
I mean, at least the right-wing misogynists are right out there & open about it. Progressive dudes have to shroud themselves in layers of privilege, condescension, & plausible deniability.
I mean, at least the right-wing misogynists are right out there & open about it. Progressive dudes have to shroud themselves in layers of privilege, condescension, & plausible deniability.
November 11, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Absolutely. Progressive men are the fucking worst about it.
I mean, at least the right-wing misogynists are right out there & open about it. Progressive dudes have to shroud themselves in layers of privilege, condescension, & plausible deniability.
I mean, at least the right-wing misogynists are right out there & open about it. Progressive dudes have to shroud themselves in layers of privilege, condescension, & plausible deniability.
I fucking can't even with that shit.
Misogyny was at the very heart of the 2016 & 2024 elections & you cannot tell me otherwise.
I knew before 2016 that men hate women, but it wasn't until 2016 that I really understood *just how much* men hate women.
Misogyny was at the very heart of the 2016 & 2024 elections & you cannot tell me otherwise.
I knew before 2016 that men hate women, but it wasn't until 2016 that I really understood *just how much* men hate women.
November 11, 2025 at 11:00 PM
I fucking can't even with that shit.
Misogyny was at the very heart of the 2016 & 2024 elections & you cannot tell me otherwise.
I knew before 2016 that men hate women, but it wasn't until 2016 that I really understood *just how much* men hate women.
Misogyny was at the very heart of the 2016 & 2024 elections & you cannot tell me otherwise.
I knew before 2016 that men hate women, but it wasn't until 2016 that I really understood *just how much* men hate women.