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The original was posted on /r/hobbydrama by /u/ohthatsnoo on 2024-08-31 14:52:34+00:00.
What’s On the Menu?
Someone on Twitter became the subject of an outrage. Roses are red, violets are blue; this is all obvious, I am boring you.
So, what happened? Did our person of interest say something insensitive when they were fifteen? Drink coffee in their backyard? Start fandom discourse? No, not quite. What actually started the whole fiasco was, if the title wasn’t any indication, chili. Yes, really. That bean and meat slop we all know and love would lead to threats, news articles, and over a month of trouble.
Feeling hungry yet?
Appetizer
Please note that a lot of the original tweets have since been deleted or lost to time, and sources are a bit scattered. I tried to piece everything back together as best as I could. I also refuse to refer to Twitter by its new name, after all it was still “Twitter” at the time, so expect that through the whole read.
As a precursor, here’s a visual of the infamous chili for you.
Order Up
On November 7th, 2022, a Twitter user known as “Chinchillazilla” would post a tweet about some college-aged men who had recently moved in next door. She was an artist and animal enthusiast, relatively known on some level, but not a celebrity or anything like that. She was just some person hanging out online, and boy was she about to get more than she bargained for. Chinchilla expressed concerns over her new neighbors in her tweet, as they’d been ordering quite a bit of food–mainly pizza. The only reason Chinchilla knew this was because she happened to see specific boxes in their outdoor garbage can. Not to mention, a few of their orders had shown up at her door by mistake.
She did not express any ill will toward these guys in her tweets, mind you, aside from a few joking remarks. Like any good neighbor, she decided that hospitality was the solution. She declared that she would make them a homemade dish, most likely a pot of chili. Six days after the initial tweet, the chili would come to be.
It’s important to add that for whatever reason, likely just being in the wrong place at the wrong time, Chinchilla had already been a target in previous incidents. One particular person, known as ”Jai”, had long-running beef with her and was fixated on accusing her of racism and transphobia. This individual has been known to start a lot of drama in general, under the guise of social justice. She has doxxed people and started smear campaigns. She and the crowd she runs with are known as the “PAWG Patrol”.
It was suspected that users who lurked in Kiwi Farms type spaces had ignited this backlash, and perhaps other incidents with Chinchilla and her personal circle. However, this has not been proven. Keep in mind that at least some of this controversy was legitimate, but its origins may not have been. Or maybe they were. Who knows, it’s a complicated mess.
If you are unfamiliar with Kiwi Farms and similar internet spaces, it is a website dedicated to the harassment and stalking of individuals that KF users deem worthy of their attention. This ranges anywhere from targeting LGBT people who simply exist, to people who truly are depraved and should be in prison. Regardless, KF users will stop at nothing whether their victim asked for it or not. They’ve caused suicides.
You be the judge on what may or may not be troll behavior. It can be tricky to tell the difference when we’re talking about Twitter of all things.
Perhaps you’d like to order a drink to get through the rest of this?
Dig In
Once Chinchilla had made her intentions to cook clear, people took notice. And when people on certain internet platforms take notice, you know that two things are likely: assumptions and exaggerations. Here are some responses that were given early on:
Don’t feed them, if they never learned to cook for themselves that’s their issue
Well I don’t know about any of you, but I can feel my brain dissolving into soup. No, I won’t cook up my soupy skull meat for you, don’t worry.
Luckily, some people were kind and rational in their responses. Many pointed out that in other cultures, food-sharing is integral in society. Chinchilla held her head high as the debate ensued, and continued updating her story. She attempted to deliver the chili, but the neighbors wouldn’t answer their door. It was then stored in her freezer, and things escalated from there.
One particular user stated that “if some random WP” [white person] made them “the saddest little ground beef and vegetable dish” and didn’t ask first, they wouldn’t answer their door either. They went on and on about consent. Need I reiterate that this was about CHILI? A food that often resembles my cat’s barf (but sure tastes better), and it was being spoken about as if it were a topic of morality.
Another user replied to this person. User “B” made a bizarre comparison in their reply to not only wheelchair etiquette, but infantilization of the elderly. User “A” was more than pleased with this analogy. A did bring up decent points about dietary restrictions and Covid germs being risk factors for shared food, but it was immediately undermined by them continuing to drone on about poor boundaries. As if Chinchilla were some pervert prowling the neighborhood.
Somebody on tumblr made bold claims that Chinchilla was a racist, TERF, and stalker. Their argument twisted everything into people condoning the chili-giving with outdated 1950s values. Once more it was portrayed as our subject being the town creep. No sources to speak of were provided for these claims.
Ironically, actual TERFs were targeting Chinchilla at the very same time she was accused of being one. Some were spinning it into her being transgender, and attacking her for that assumption specifically. A user went so far as to say that semen was put into the meal. As far as any source shows, Chinchilla is a cisgender woman, and has never expressed bigotry toward anybody.
At one point someone else had made, get this, their own thread about the situation which totaled around forty-two tweets. So this person apparently wrote the equivalent of a large essay because of various hypotheticals, the main one being that Chinchilla didn’t consider that the neighbors might not have bowls.
Personally, I think it’s safe to assume that if you cook a whole dish for someone, then you’re also generous enough to share dinnerware if necessary. Nevermind that mugs, plates, and tupperware exist and people are bound to have at least something in their house to begin with. You can buy bowls at the dollar store if it’s such an issue.
Another accusation of ableism, specifically not accounting for the sensory struggles people with autism face, occurred. Turns out Chinchilla herself is autistic. My, how the tables turn.
Allegedly, another individual compared the chili-giving to incest, though only references to it remain. (EDIT: u/sloopster found the origin, which I was not lucky enough to find myself.)
Chinchilla eventually locked her twitter account so that only her followers could interact with and see her posts. People started dubbing the situation “Chiligate”. News sites even posted articles about the backlash; some were supportive of Chinchilla, while the Washington Post…well, wasn’t. Reporter Emily Heil failed to properly investigate the incident, and helped spread baseless claims to the public. She took it a step further and recruited some so-called experts on the matter, who really just insulted Chinchilla’s actions rather than offering anything useful. As with most of the responses, it relied too much on hypotheticals.
At some point, apparently before the article was posted, the chili was FINALLY delivered to the neighbors. Did the world end? No. As it turns out, people in the real world thrive off of community. The neighbors were reportedly happy with the gesture and even offered their own kindness in return. The article did n…
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