If you go home for Christmas, you probably celebrate it with your family and relatives. And the thing about them, the bigger the family is, the more likely it is that there's at least one person with whom you do not get along. Or at least don't see eye to eye.
For today's OP, that person was her brother. Well, saying that they are not seeing eye to eye is kind of an underestimation - their whole worldviews are probably on different sides of a spectrum. And so, only one remark of his started a whole trail of family drama.
More info: Reddit
During Christmas many of us are forced to spend time with relatives, who don't see eye to eye with us
Image credits: DC Studio / Freepik (not the actual photo)
For this story's protagonist this relative was her brother, who recently came back from Japan
Image credits: EyeEm / Freepik (not the actual photo)
The main problem with this man was that he has fully adopted the so-called "red-pill" ideology
Image credits: kues1 / Freepik (not the actual photo)
His views slipped out during the Christmas dinner, when he dragged Americans for being "lazy", when sister forgot to put knives on the desk
Image credits: Impressive-Pie9521
The woman tried talking about her brother's disrespect with their mom, but she just doubled down on his stance
When the OP and her brother were about 10 years old, their family moved from the United Kingdom to the United States. While the author embraced her life here, it turned her brother into a red-pilled elitist.
He believes that white men are disadvantaged by diversity, that he can’t find a job because his female interviewers "don’t have the mind" for technical work, or that women shouldn’t be allowed to vote. Basically, a terrible situation.
His views were the thing that caused the main incident of this story. The OP had a Christmas party for her family. The woman spent hours preparing the meal, so the dinner could be as perfect as possible. Then, when setting the desk, she accidentally forgot to put down the knives. This made her brother comment, “Lazy Americans. Lazy Americans don’t use knives. Hahaha!”
This rubbed the original poster the wrong way. Knowing how much effort she put into this dinner, she couldn’t stand his rude jokes. So, she cursed at him, but everyone acted as if they didn’t hear her.
After the dinner, the OP went to talk to her mom about her brother, but she only doubled down on his comment. Yet, the main issue wasn’t even the comment itself (which was already problematic), but rather the brother's disrespect towards his sister and her family.
But her mom didn’t want to hear it – she kept gaslighting her daughter that she’s simply overreacting. She even lashed out at her husband for not leaving the matter alone.
Image credits: The Yuri Arcurs Collection / Freepik (not the actual photo)
So, basically, the mom was enabling the toxic behavior of her son. And let’s not jump around the bush, red-pill ideology is beyond problematic, as this story’s example shows. The term for it comes from the movie The Matrix (1999). In it, the character is given a choice between two pills: red (choosing to learn a difficult truth about reality) and blue (remaining in a comfortable, blissful illusion).
It was a concept that started as a metaphor in an action movie, but with time, it turned into a politically charged one. Now, the so-called red-pillers are imagining they’re choosing to be awakened to the truth, which typically is the nonsense the brother from the story spat.
And it keeps getting worse. Now, in some circles in these incel communities, the discourse of “black-pill” keeps popping up. They think that the person’s looks are completely genetically determined, and since, in their eyes, women choose intimate partners only based on that, that means that whether or not a person will be an incel is predetermined.
They not only talk – they try to prove their truth with misreadings of scientific studies or even conducting their own “experiments”. Those who adopt this ideology can either just accept the reality that they’re an incel or try to change society, usually by advocating for mass violence and terror.
Well, as far as we know, the OP’s brother hasn’t gone this way – but if he keeps getting enabled, it’s rather possible that he might. As some netizens said – kicking the family out wouldn’t be the worst idea – after all, they just stomp over her boundaries of respect.
What do you think, was the woman over the line to call out her brother? Would you have done the same?
She started doubting if it was alright to call it out, but netizens assured her that it was
