Jack Monroe again

[scabbers44]

Has anyone seen the recent tweet about her pawning/selling three diamond engagement rings? Aibu to think if you are pleading poverty and asking the general public to donate money one week and then showing off pictures of three massive diamonds you own the next, it's never going to go down well? Especially when you are already being challenged on lying and grifting?

For a long time I thought JM was nothing but a force of a good but I can't understand how she can be so tone deaf. It can't be deliberate but equally how can she not realise how it looks to produce three huge rings just a week after claiming she's so skint she needs handouts.

Apologies if there's already a thread on this.

Jack regularly patrols her critics on Twitter, even if they are blocked, presumably through sock accounts, checks who is agreeing with them and then blocks them from her own account.

She checks who quote tweets her, as well as those who comment on any media appearances (such as BBC Breakfast, etc) and will snipe at them even if she's not tagged in the tweet.

JM claims to tweet/use Twitter mostly on the toilet. I suggest she sources a doctors appointment if she is needing to go that regularly.

Anyone remember when she had long covid after 3 weeks of symptoms in Dec 2020, where instead of isolating she went to the newsagents to buy three copies of her Christmas on a budget promotional article in the EXPRESS - you know, that notoriously right wing publication?

If we’re going down the route of asking poor strangers to donate money then you can basically accuse every charity exec with a salary over 16 grand a year of that (many are on three figures). Whatever she is or isn’t you need to understand that poor people do have some nice things too. And a lot of the time need to pawn them when the shit hits the fan.

Didn’t she say earlier on Twitter that she wasn’t 28k pa but would earn times more than that if she was an mp? That’s not too shabby?

She's full of shit.

@HighlandPony - if she's earning 1/3 of an MP's pay, she's not poor.
But i suspect she earns much more than that. Otherwise she would release her patreon earnings like most people do. Why doesn't she? If she's happy to post screenshots of her empty accounts?

She's earning a decent income. So she's either absolutely completely hopeless with money or has a lot more disposable income than she makes out. Neither make her a fit person to advise others on how to save money.

That boiling soap thing was absurd. As was switching out the lightbulbs. She's scaremongering.

I don't know much about JM but that's a pretty unfair allegation.

Was she not skint for a long time before that though? It never really leaves you. I don’t find a lot of what she says that useful because it’s very urban/city oriented and I’ve always been semi rural (deprived fishing and ex mining villages) so it doesn’t apply to us but I did take exception to the insinuation that skint folk can’t possibly own things worth pawning. It goes hand in hand with that whole “you can’t be skint coz your kids wearing adidas” thing but the reality is most of its fakes or secondhand eBay gear.

It doesn't the same though.

It would only if the folk had expensive stuff while taking off lightbulbs and not being able to afford food and set up go fund me.

And adidas clothes are not comparable to rings like that anyway

Was she not skint for a long time before that though? It never really leaves you

I cba to go into her timeline but the short answer is 'no'. She may have had a short period on benefits about 10 years ago but despite what she claims, she's also had the support of her wealthy parents and her son's dad. Her backstory is full of inconsistencies and gets more wild with every retelling. She would like everyone to believe she was a regular food bank user who was also homeless and even a sex worker at one point, but it's all bollocks. The receipts are all out there if one cares to look, from either her Twitter or interviews she's done, but she hopes that no one will look too deeply into it. She's a poverty tourist and adopts whatever label she thinks will make her immune to criticism.

I wasn't saying it's "evil" for posters on here to question her actions. I wouldn't give her money and I can see inconsistencies in what she says and does. It's absolutely legitimate to ask questions about her financial probity.

What I was shocked and disturbed by was the absolute ripping to shreds of every single aspect of her life and personality. It so reminds me of the worst of school bullying.

The Tattle Glossary that listed every single time she's used the wrong word in context. Criticising her for saying she had one kind of staircase when she apparently had another. Then people repeating stuff from Tattle on here as if it was gospel.

I would class "she had long covid and went out and bought the Express" as an example of unreasonable petty criticism. At 3 weeks, you are not contagious. Not unreasonable to want to see your article in print. Not harming anyone else. And of course it's not "evil" for one person to share that. But the combined effect of a pile on of strangers combing through every aspect of someone's life to slag them off - I think it's social.media at its worst.

I'm not a follower and I don't know enough about her to know if she's done the same thing to other people. But even if she has, I think we have to reflect on whether we want to be part of trial by social media. It's so easy to throw stones from the safety of an anonymous user name. Jack may be a robust individual who knows exactly what she's doing. She is probably protected by her vast number of celebrity champions. But I do worry that this kind of pressure - and the link I posted earlier shows it's not just Monroe - could easily end in loss of life.

I agree that she’s not an expert.

I do think the single parent thing is relevant though because she uses it over and over to make a career for herself. If she’s not the rp as has been said then iher behavior is even more appalling. She uses the struggling single mum shtick to sell articles and get fame and money. If she’s not only not poor but not even a single parent that makes me furious. On my own behalf (as a sometimes struggling single mum) and on behalf of all the other women out there who are not pretending to be single mums.

I totally agree that usually someone’s child custody arrangements would be their own business. However I don’t think that’s true in her case as she has put it in the public eye over and over. She can’t use her alleged personal circumstances to launch a media career then claim they’re her own business when questioned as to whether she’s telling the truth.

She’s opened herself up to this, especially that last blog post pleading poverty whilst simultaneously showing her spends on social media.

Ive probably said this before. But Jack can’t remember if she used a food bank for a long time, 2 months or just once. She has said all those things. The lack of consistency in this one small fact which is the basis of her whole ‘story’ says bollocks to me.

What I was shocked and disturbed by was the absolute ripping to shreds of every single aspect of her life and personality. It so reminds me of the worst of school bullying.

I disagree. The life and personality are absolutely her USP and very often aspects of it mentioned so of course they will get closely examined and ripped to shreds if bullshit. All scammers should be ready for that. And if even half is true (and it looks like most is) than that was a scam. Aimed at mix of rich but want to look like give a damn and actual vulnerable people.
If you are selling yourself, you will get questioned on discrepancies.

When it starts crumbling people start panicking and chaos ensues. Like claiming attacks on certain person are timed to fit in with Sabbath when their jewish lawyer isn't working....

I think JM does some really good work and I'd like to give her the benefit of the doubt but at the same time I get some hefty bad vibes. The attention seeking (there is no current social issue of which she doesn't claim experience) is positively soap-operaesque and the frequent ruddy-bloody-brave-old-me tone of her posts makes my teeth itch. Possibly she is just bad at gauging tone and is just too in her own head but often there seems to be a whiff of poverty-porn about it all. The boiling soap down to make shower gel instead of just using the soap as er, soap and not wasting the heat on boiling it down is nuts. And I was furious about that kitten.

she said she lived in a shitty bungalow (or words to that effect) and was going to have to move to a tiny flat because she was so poor. Then she was rattling her tip jar again. except her own pictures show she has stairs and quite a lovely house.

I think it’s fair enough to question her claims. It’s not really about her, it’s that she claims to be a poor single mum and to give the perspective of poor single mums on tv and social media. It’s not her, it’s what she represents or claims to. Her guardian reader poverty shtick has the potential to do real harm to some very vulnerable people. It’s really not on.

@HighlandPony its not the same thing at all. Donating to a registered charity is not the same as having someone scam you. Nor is doing a job for that charity.

Having a charity that can afford to pay three figure salaries and is asking folk on minimum wage to set up a direct debit to contribute to that salary is a scam in my book. They almost always set up opposite the likes of b&m, pep, the pound shop, the 99p shop, poundstretchers, farmfoods etc in town. Very rarely do you see them set up outside marks or next or the fancy cafes or salons.

If you can instruct lawyers to file lawsuits against random people you have money.
Her net worth is £3million.

That is fair point. I don't like big charities anyway usually due to their ads and scandals.
However, they usually at least provide something and show some work

Can you share your source for that information?

Poor people don’t rent £800k houses without trying to get out of the rental agreement, or even rent them in the first place if they have a poverty hangover, partner or not (and then say they would buy it in a heartbeat if it was £500k).

I wonder if she’s actually spent anytime with poor people.

Selling = "These things are no longer worth keeping"
Pawning = "These are treasured possessions that hold a lot of sentimental value and I am desperate to avoid selling"

So yes, it's more performative.

I have no issue with Jack blogging about recipes (no one has to eat them). I think anything raising awareness of people who are financially struggling is great.

But her twitter feed is riddled with wild contradictions. And it is utterly unethical to cosplay poverty for "donations" ("PayPal me!") When you have an extravagant lifestyle (designer dogs, travel, Toni and guy, Botox...) And a house stuffed full of sellable assets (diamond rings, egg chairs, BBQs...)