#that one uncle

[un-originalusername]

Getting ready for thanksgiving with the family like:

[doubletamponne]

Unlike Paul-Louis Courier, I love my relatives, and I wish I saw them more often. Well, except for the uncle who...

Has a country château in the Czech Republic (he lives in Münich), where, as he proudly told us, he intends to withdraw once “they” take over and hunt him down. “They” being, of course, nefarious refugees and their weak-kneed liberal allies. He advised my parents to do the same, I don’t think he was entirely joking when he said he wouldn’t shelter them if they came knocking at his door because they have failed to prepare accordingly.

Was very pleased to learn that one of my brothers has joined the army and has been sending him books like La Guerre Civile qui vient (a civil war against those nefarious Muslims, évidemment) and No Society (according to which social ties were disintegrated not by rampant capitalism and its right-wing allies, but such bourgeois élites as left-wing university professors, civil servants and trade unionists, whom “the people” must rise to topple), not to mention his own annotated copy of Le Camp des Saints, so my brother knows what to expect and readies himself to fight the real enemies.

Basically disowned his own eldest son who dropped out of business school because of undiagnosed mental issues (incidentally around the time one of his first cousins attempted suicide), and has struggled for a while until he found a job as a hotel receptionist in the Netherlands. Speaking to my cousin, I was glad to hear he has settled with a girlfriend and is up for promotion soon, but of course, last time his father visited us, he wasted no occasion to denigrate his son and lament his “ingratitude”.

Found out that his late father had begun working on a history of the family in his last years, and destroyed the manuscript because his father had “tarnished” the family name by stating that his grandfather was un ramasseur d’équevilles, i.e. a garbage picker. (as in, my grand-uncle’s grandfather) That actually caused a rift between my uncle and the rest of the family.

(Unfortunately, my parents are quick to brush these off as “he’s always been like this”, and I understand their unwillingness to push back given that they both know him well (he’s my mother’s cousin, but he also happened to be a colleague of my father for many years) and on his few trips to Paris he always sets aside time to visit. Plus, much like my grandfather, he can be very likeable as long as no one provides him with an occasion to reroute the conversation to his favourite far-right obsessions)

[amtoastpolitical]

At thanksgiving dinner

topic of paris gets brought up

Uncle: you know, on our tour of champagne country we did not see one chanel store, which is a real shame.

Me internally: that is in fact the stupidest, blatantly bourgeoisie thing anyone could ever say

Uncle: but you know what we did see? some of those dirty muslim neighborhoods

Me internally: please send help I'm going to die here

Uncle: thats probably why the attacks happened, they were too diverse

Uncle’s Puerto Rican wife nods

I pass out at the table

Me internally: ohmyfucking god is this man for real? to much fucking diversity? how could any human being be so fucking disgusting and ignorant to ever say such a thing, what the fuck has happened to society, oh my fucking god has this person every read a fucking book i am going to die, plox call the ambulance over here I've contracted brain cancer and every cell of my body is killings itself in disgust

[ohwyrmies]

does everyone have that one uncle who just doesn't listen to the rest of the family? like, sometimes it's a cool thing. that one uncle who you can come out to, or that one uncle with whom you can discuss feminist theory, or that one uncle who decided screw everything I'm moving to Alaska to hunt yetis.

for me, he's a global warming skeptic. and a libertarian.

god dammit Tom.

[capricornmenace]

I love when my uncles say, "Na look hurre," or "Let me learn ya sumptin," especially "Whatcha know gud?" But don't forget my absolute favorite, "I wuh bout ta knock tha brake-shoes off dat badboy,".

[kaioumichiruisgone-blog]

I hate my uncle.

Mother refuses to respect that and continues to let me be near him. He's in my house now, with his son, making me feel throughly invaded and tense. Not just me, my dad too. He feels the same way if not worse. Mother just said to me that she was nice to [my friend] when she didn't like her. I told Mother that no, it's not the same. My friend didn't continuously hurt anybody, let alone every one of my family members, being an emotional and financial burden. She didn't keep us all up multiple times dealing with her marital bullshit and DUIs. She never raised a kid with lies and neglect. Mother once told me to try and forgive him, that alcoholism is a disease like cancer or my own depression. No, because cancer patients don't harm others in ways they will never forget, and I have never done those things because of my own mental illness either. (Having many people in her life that have died of cancer, I can't believe she would say that. I don't hold it against her but bad choice of words. Depression is more fitting, at least. That's not purely physical, like alcoholism.) My father has alcoholism and he is now sober and has been as long as my sister has been alive. He got help when he needed it and didn't turn it away every time saying he knows what he's doing. I would try to forgive him, I really would, but I can't. The damage he's done to his parents and his sisters, *my grandparents, my aunt, my mom) and most of all his own son who because of his selfishness I had to take care of and love, I refuse. Watching him lie and hurt a kindergarten student day after day, week after week is too much. I hate him, I hate him, I hate him. And I'm glad to cry and let it all out now. My mom is so kind and forgiving, I do love her so much.