oh man lol I posted a scrolling screenshot of the absurdly long thread a few of these posts came from which became its own mini controversy w/in a controversy after it blew up and inadvertently sparked a second round of discourse alleging that jorts the cat is ableist bc they qted it
I hurt the entire disabled community personally by posting a screenshot of a very long thread (by someone with a much larger following) with a one sentence summary of its argument
but calling a physically disabled autistic person an abusive stalker and socially wrong for one billion made up ways? that's good for the disabled community, actually,
For a hot second I thought I had to have missed something, but then I saw all the "she's always been this problematic" takes to bring me back to reality (they're unhinged losers)
I wonder what those people would make of my telling neighbors to just help themselves to the herbs in my garden whenever they need a small amount of something fresh, as it produces more than I can use, & I never actually get around to drying them.
I'm sure they could find SOMETHING wrong with that.
The thing that killed me about this the most was the notion that the chili gift was a grave sin bc what if they don’t they have bowls. What if they only order pizza bc they don’t have bowls?
I feel like for me this was the internet turning point, I spent way too much time trying to figure out what the fuck I was missing here. Now I feel like I just do that every time I open a social media app
I was off twitter when this happened so when I discovered after a few days of discourse that the chili neighbor was you it really confused me (not as much as the whole thing confused you i'm sure)
In this safe space I want to say I once baked banana bread for a family above me whose mother was shot and killed and I think about how cancelled I would have been for such an act after watching this
Did you NOT stop to think about how banana bread is made with bananas? The fruit most like a gun?!?! How do you think that made them FEEL HUH?!?!?!?!¡! Jesus Lord and Savior Christ.
You just know every one of these mfers was reaching for these responses and knew they were talking out their collective assholes just for the sake of being Like This
I think it says something good about human nature that so many people here remember the controversy w/o necessarily remembering that you were the target. Those smears shouldn’t stick on YOU.
this was all so bizarre when it happened because it all came down to "fuck you for being nice" and i'm still convinced a lot of these people were jealous that they didn't have nice neighbors that sometimes would give them food
i remember when i was in high school (in TN) we had a chili cookoff and one girl inexplicably made chili spaghetti and i was the only person that was like "hell yeah" (since half my family is from cincy), everyone else was confused and outraged, like she brought a dead animal or something
I'm sure me implying I was gonna hit a bunch of your harassers with a hammer during this, contributed to my last twitter account being suspended. That and quote tweeting Elon with a "kys" euphemism. Such an infuriating saga of bullshit from fuckheads
I remember people saying we had to listen to "the legitimate criticism" as if "legitimate criticism of somebody bringing chili ovee to their neighbors" could even exist.
Everyone I know who avoids the brain poison of social media who heard about this was BAFFLED at the outrage. I was also baffled, mind you, but I at least was aware of the brain poison.
they interviewed two etiquette experts and one of them was like "yeah it's actually kinda weird" so that made me feel even more insane. I was like fuck... I guess I am a psycho????
"etiquette experts" are the most stick-up-the-arse people in existence. Imagine the menswear guy if he had absolutely no sense of humour and strictly believed that every norm invented after the death of Queen Victoria was uncouth behaviour, everything is an excuse to look down on people.
Generally speaking going out of your way to be nice to people encourages people to go out of their way to be nice to people and for all of the avowed religiousity of the U.S. we seem to be really bad at executing that principle.
We jad Welcome Wagon in this country for decades, but it's weird to take neighbors food while introducing yourself? News to me. Was that etiquette "expert" 13 years old?
Underrated weirdest part of it, they had to go out of their way to both sides this instead of just asking literally any normal person who would’ve laughed them out of the room
iirc the wapo article specifically said it's regional, which I guess is fair enough, but I was feeling so attacked already that all I really got out of it was "even the Washington post says I'm weird"
…I’ve lived in 3 regions (Rockies, mid Atlantic, and a Texas) and again for people of a certain age, this is normal. You’re good. And f them. Crazy people. *shakes head*
now that we're far away from it I feel like we can collectively all agree it's closer to Joy Ann Reid having her "Body language expert" on her show. just a total quack fraud coming on stage to be like "yes, the thing you believe right now is scientifically sound"
My neighbor brought us 3 massive zucchini shirtless last week (the neighbor, well the zucchini didn’t have shirts either) and I totally thought of you, Ch. I said thanks. Was no issue, except it made me think of your trauma.
Can't believe you, a person who cooks a lot and likes to cook, offered home-cooked food to your neighbors who were quite obviously struggling with getting good food. You sicko, you freak, you weirdo.
What's next? Call an ambulance if you see one of your neighbors bleeding on the sidewalk?
I feel like the person who made the conscious decision to be an etiquette expert in the Year of Our Lord Two-thousand and twenty-three is more likely the psycho.
when I hear "etiquette" I think "important part of human culture, for better or worse, ideally used to protect vulnerable groups". when I hear "etiquette expert" I think "24/7 dead eyed freak, collection of phrenology busts, would die and kill for the royal family (NOT MEGHAN OR HARRY)"
Without question I’m gonna go out on a limb and say at least half of these people thought it was “too forward” to just give food to neighbours, BOY neighbours at that.
From the people who brought you "It's mixed signals if a girl says she isn't interested in dating a boy but then laughs at his jokes or does social activities with him" comes "Why would you ever feed anyone you didn't want to have sex with?"
if it wasnt you who was suffering as a direct result of all this psychological terrorism, it might be funnier that all this hate stemmed from, and i'm paraphrasing here, "ew boys have cooties"
I feel there's like a generation of transphobes and general bigots that grew up with media where a reveal that someone's gender was something unexpected was a shocking twist or comedy beat so in their mind if they can rip off a wig and go "she's a man baby" they think it's an automatic win
I had also accidentally gotten one of their door dash orders a couple days earlier and seen the receipt listing what they'd ordered so I had, like, a pretty decent idea of what ingredients they were cool with
I read all of these when it was happening and seeing them again is still a shock. People just confidently hitting “post” on the most unhinged shit imaginable.
People we made up. They also don't have cups or mugs or any other kind of serving vessel, and would not be able to eat out of the Tupperware for similar reasons.
I remember you pointing this out and the discourse pivoting fluidly to "she admits to going through their garbage and spying on their receipts" like... okay
but what if the chili container was in the hot sun and expanded so much from the chili vapors that it exploded hot flaming chili all over the neighborhood?? then a hazmat team would have to be brought in to contain the chilpocalypse!
I'm not saying there's some vast conspiracy but I do sometimes think there are trolls trying to sow division to sabotage attempts at community building, and you got hit with some blowback
this discourse made me go out and share double batches of fresh bread and bacon (sorry rufus!!!) with all my neighbors, i hope you know. we do monthly potluck-style cookouts at my place everybody is invited to too so even the folks like this can get out of the house and eat the 1 food they bring.
yeah. they said "awesome, we were just about to order food!" and then we talked a little and they said they were going to fix the fence between our yards, and then they did.
Literally don't understand how people saw this story where nothing bad happened and all parties involved were happy and decided to engage in a weeks long campaign of intense psychic violence about it
Also it’s very funny seeing people either not realize that you were the chili neighbor, or never hearing about the chili drama and are now learning about it for the first time
When my parents moved to a new neighborhood their neighbors introduced themselves and brought baked goods. They also received eggs and fresh fruit from people's gardens after meeting and talking to neighbors. I think modern society just has us very alienated from what used to be a social norm
people writing fanfiction make me less angry than the people who *should* know better and just went along with it anyway and tried to equivocate for their own careers
Now that I'm in my mid 30s, I've started hanging around investment firms and ivy league schools to try to groom some fresh faced 20-somethings making 6 figures. If I'm gonna get canceled as a groomer I at least want to get some alimony payments out of it.
That chili chaos was the perfect example of late-stage Twitter-induced brainrot. Like, you could point to any one of those attacks as a sign that they very seriously needed to log off.
I grew up being very close to my next door neighbors—my parents cooked extra all the time, especially when they made vegetarian dishes (the neighbors were). For over 20 years my father would make dozens of plates of Christmas cookies for the neighborhood. It’s community building, not weird.
I really loved finding out you were autistic as part of that story, because I'm ALSO autistic and once had a panic attack because some neighbors in Portland brought me brownies the day after we moved in. We really are a whole-ass spectrum and I love that for us
lmao. I did it because one time the cops came by to ask if I'd seen the old lady who lived there before because mail was piling up. it was fine, she was on vacation, but I was like "gosh I should try to be a better neighbor"
Hey as someone who’s developed long COVID and now relies more on my neighbors for help- THANK YOU. I get that twitter is a mess. But what you did was awesome
I plan grocery delivery orders weeks/months in advance, and when the pandemic started the stores were empty and delivery slots were impossible to get. I reached out to my neighbors to see if they wanted to add anything to my orders and got freaked out when they started being friendly in return 😂
Oh my gosh that was you?? I always thought the backlash was one of the dumbest things ever to happen on the internet, I’d be happy if my neighbors gave me chili
I know that someday, someone will get dogpiled for a dumber reason, because the internet in combination with the law of large numbers demands it, but I am physically unable to conceive of what it will be.
What the fuck? Seriously you were being nice and I hope the boys liked the chili. I’m so glad I missed ALL of that because I would have thrown hands for you.
Imagining a "reporter" from like the daily caller knocking on their door asking them how upset they were that you invaded their personal space with abelist chili and they just look confused and shut the door on their face
you did a nice thing and cooked food for your neighbors and some ppl twisted it into a psychological melodrama. sometimes a batch of chili is just a batch of chili
I didn’t really know you back then but I remember trying to piece together what happened and I genuinely couldn’t believe this was what got a wapo column lmao
Unless your follow up photo of chili showed you pouring rat poison into the chili, I have no idea what was outrageous. That sounds like a very nice thing to do.
didn't even find the one where someone accused me of ejaculating into the chili. with my penis. which i don't have. not that there would be anything wrong with it if i had one. but i don't
yea I remember the initial shit-stirrers—aside from, well, That Group—were a bunch of weird TERFs who invented this fanfic that you were a trans woman, trying to seduce your neighbors with your wiles…or something
I have gotten "ywnbaw" and the more specific "you're clearly a man because of x y and z masculine features in your profile picture" and it's just like... all right, clearly you exist in another reality, have a nice day
yeah go figure! they brought phrenology back into fashion, just to “transvestigate” the specific cis person that’s telling them to fuck off at any given time
it's kinda fun when they do it to me because it's like "never medically transitioned bud, but thanks for respecting the fluidity of my gender, accidentally"
why do so many people assume you’re trans? is it just because you’re cool? like they don’t think a “real” woman would have a pig & be into sci-fi or whatever?
The posters who organized against her seemed to have a severely irrational hatred of her and Rufus. So they said whatever the fuck that came to mind, no matter if it made sense to anyone else
People online make weird assumptions. More often than not, Twitter thinks I’m a gay man. I’m neither of those things, but that doesn’t stop Twitter. 🤷🏻♀️
my best guess is because I have a lot of trans friends and hang out in, like, some "trans circles" online? and I get really mad at TERFs? but that's just the people I fell in with naturally, and I simply happen to think it's morally correct to be mad at TERFs.
one of my first (out) trans friends got permanently run off the internet by TERFs and I lost contact with her, and even if I were otherwise inclined to look the other way, I would have taken that one quite personally.
Comments
*self diagnosed
It's like if you offered someone a fresh bottle of water on a hot day and some bystander was like, "HOW DARE YOU?! THAT PERSON MIGHT HAVE RABIES!!"
I'm sure they could find SOMETHING wrong with that.
If they brought it to my housemate, I'd send it in for a toxicology screening.
...like I stare at that, think "where do I even start?" and then rather than figuring that out I go lie down and stare at a wall for a bit
Do they exist? Yes! Does everyone have them? No!
When we were loading up the moving truck the dad (nice Navy guy) showed up unannounced and spent two hours helping.
That's not why you be nice, but it's also nice.
I guess that they decided to choose etiquette experts like CNN chooses panelists. The article doesn't justify itself unless the controversy is real.
What's next? Call an ambulance if you see one of your neighbors bleeding on the sidewalk?
Of course all the replies were, correctly, stfu bitch before we make you the 51st state.
Because people are freaks
POUR SOME CHILI ON MEEEEEEEEEE
In the name of GRUUUUUUB
ALERT THE VICAR
Like I know you were t to be clear, but also even if you were doing that, who fucking cares why are so we puritan lmfao.
“My neighbors are young and keep ordering takeout so I thought I’d make them some chili.”
“Oh so you’re a racist who supports killing cats?!”
once they changed showrunners it jumped the shark, all the twists got really predictable
I remember coming over here and seeing your “I been cancelled before” banner and wondering what the reason was
I was aware of the chili discourse but I didn’t have any idea who it actually was at the time
I’m glad you’re still online so we can be friends but I genuinely don’t know how
The Twitter outrage was unhinged - even for Twitter
Twitter: chilly reception to warmth
I LOVE chilli. Except the one I had for lunch. That one was very meh 😑
This is bizarre and I’m so curious.
What a bizarre and troubling viral post.
Who doesn't love chili and someone caring about them?
honestly the most normal anyone has ever been
"not that there would be anything wrong with it"
the most ridiculous made-up discourse ever
that’s why they just knee-jerk type YNBAW and 41% shit at even the most openly cis ally
Had it happen to me, when they had ZERO evidence to go off of, and I mean zero.
They attacked my dog‘s appearance, because that was what they had a photo of. 🙄
Didn’t stop them from calling me a man.
can’t imagine a world where i wouldn’t be too embarrassed by using that term to show my face in public