Jen Hatmaker

[Anonymous]

Looks like Jen now has more in common with Chip and Joanna Gaines. They are getting attacked for having a gay couple with kids on their new show.

[Anonymous]

It's amazing how Jen and some others have devolved while others have evolved. I remember back when I checked out some of the mommy bloggers years ago noting the contrast between Jen Hatmaker (who back then I thought seemed down to earth, funny and self-aware) and Kelle Hampton (who struck me as a phony using her child's special needs for fame.) I checked out both their instagrams recently and Jen is a shadow of her former self (or at least what I thought she was) and Kelle has matured and become far more down to earth and likable offering actual wisdom from the trials she has faced.

[Anonymous]

Waiting for Jen to chime in on the Chip/Johnna Gaines situation. Will she feel solidarity with them because she too was cancelled by evangelicals when she became affirming?

[Anonymous]

It would be interesting to see how many mom blogger marriages ended. And how tragic is it that the OG mom blogger committed suicide?

Jen really did distinguish herself way back then. I kind of followed her blog but mainly read her Bible studies and books (the last one being Seven or Interrupted) She seemed to strive to live for Jesus while laughing at herself and her family.
Others like Jamie Wright and Kristen couldn't tamp down the mean-girl vibe very well, and were super snarky. Glennon has always had the crazy eyes and mania. Sarah Goodfellow was doing good work in Peru and was very transparent about trying to assimilate to the culture. Sarah Bessey's family and marriage seem strong, but her writing is still terrible.
Tara is supposedly under contract to write her book, which I am dying to read. Her marriage seems super strong and loving, too.

[Anonymous]

It would be interesting to see how many mom blogger marriages ended. And how tragic is it that the OG mom blogger committed suicide?

The Dooce thing is super tragic but she was suicidal before she became a blogger. IIRC a lot of her original content was about being hospitalized for post partum depression that made her suicidal after her first daughter was born. But I am sure all of the online criticism didn't help her mental health.

[Anonymous]

Jen talking to some guy about her deep concerns about capitalism guys!

Oh thank goodness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jen’s nauseatingly obsequious way of introducing her podcast guests tickle me. D listers much suck up to C listers I guess.

“We are losing our minds a little here because joining us on the podcast this week is a woman who shaped an entire era of pop culture — Jennie Garth. THE Kelly Taylor from Beverly Hills 90210, whose journey many of us grew up watching.”

Losing our minds for THE Kelly Taylor??!!

THE Kelly Taylor? Who talk or thinks that way.

I was really into 90210 back in the early 90s and I rarely think about it now and it took me a minute to even remember who Jennie Garth/Kelly Taylor was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone noticed how every single time she goes to Me camp, or New York City, or Europe for her birthday cruise, or anywhere other than her actual house, she always talks about how she wants to sell everything that she owns, pack up, and move there immediately! I love to travel and I travel a fair amount even internationally, but there’s something about coming home. I think that all of the shilling and all of the hyperbolic enthusiasm every time she travel somewhere else is just reflective of the fact that inside, she’s desperately unhappy, and she can’t simply just enjoy the life that she has.
And I didn’t think that I could be more disgusted until I read that most recent text thread between her and her new neighbors -- and also tell me that your neighbor has dementia without telling me that your neighbor has dementia. like WTH? — But Tyler‘s fake crying over everything that happened in Texas is almost rage bait. He doesn’t know what to say to us. He doesn’t know what he can give to us. Who is turning to him for solace and consolation?

My guess is it's part of the influencer culture to be hyperbolic about everything in an attempt to excite people and drive engagement. I think it's a practice that probably has diminishing returns though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jen talking to some guy about her deep concerns about capitalism guys!

Oh thank goodness.

Bashing capitalism has become another mindless progressive shibboleth. These people have no idea how the world actually works or what has gifted them with the privileged lives they lead compared to most of human history. They're ignorant, incurious, and ungrateful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand how no one in Jen's circle will tell her how cringe and self-important it is to name and brand an annual vacation, announce it like it's a world tour, and then go to the town and act like the main character and post all about it, year after year. Does this content really appeal to anyone beyond Jen's ego and need for importance? Of all of the cringe things Jen does, this is right behind the constant product endorsements, but those are at least making her money. What is she getting out of this business-wise?

And I agree with other posters here, if I had a month to travel I would want to do it with friends or my family. The fact that she's content to sit in a new town alone and work at getting the locals to worship instead of being with her own family or friends says a lot.

My impression is that Jen still has a significant, if reduced, number of female followers who still think she's great and love her posts. Occasionally, one of them appears in this forum and chastises someone for something they said about Jen.

[Anonymous]

The most valid critiques of capitalism is rampant consumerism leading to waste and excess driven by creating false needs that have to be fulfilled. She even wrote a book about it. This rampant consumerism is now largely driven by online influencers. Jen doesn't see that she, and those like her, are the problem! But she wants to teach us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand how no one in Jen's circle will tell her how cringe and self-important it is to name and brand an annual vacation, announce it like it's a world tour, and then go to the town and act like the main character and post all about it, year after year. Does this content really appeal to anyone beyond Jen's ego and need for importance? Of all of the cringe things Jen does, this is right behind the constant product endorsements, but those are at least making her money. What is she getting out of this business-wise?

And I agree with other posters here, if I had a month to travel I would want to do it with friends or my family. The fact that she's content to sit in a new town alone and work at getting the locals to worship instead of being with her own family or friends says a lot.

My impression is that Jen still has a significant, if reduced, number of female followers who still think she's great and love her posts. Occasionally, one of them appears in this forum and chastises someone for something they said about Jen.

I posted something negative on JH’s IG post recently and it disappeared. Something to the effect of- does this nice older couple know that you’re posting their text exchanges? It’s really cringe how you’re exploiting them for content. I think she deletes any negative comments so it looks like she’s got this gushing fan base.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The most valid critiques of capitalism is rampant consumerism leading to waste and excess driven by creating false needs that have to be fulfilled. She even wrote a book about it. This rampant consumerism is now largely driven by online influencers. Jen doesn't see that she, and those like her, are the problem! But she wants to teach us.

100%. Also, she did not respond to the negative comments made on her posts during Prime days. But she DID reply to a post from Emil Ley, defending the use of Amazon distribution for small businesses. Which is hilarious, given the fact that most (if not all) of Jen’s links for Prime Days were NOT small businesses.
Girl… you’re trying to sell us a freaking Samsung TV…..

[Anonymous]

Do we really believe 6000 people have signed up for the me-course on grief?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The most valid critiques of capitalism is rampant consumerism leading to waste and excess driven by creating false needs that have to be fulfilled. She even wrote a book about it. This rampant consumerism is now largely driven by online influencers. Jen doesn't see that she, and those like her, are the problem! But she wants to teach us.

I'm not denying there are potentially legitimate criticisms of capitalism, just that bashing it has become another lazy progressive shibboleth and virtue signal performed by people who have little understanding of how they have benefitted from it and what any genuine workable (as opposed to utopian) alternatives to it there might be. They're filled with righteous certainty but lacking in depth of understanding.