Am I the asshole for being insistant about “wanting to murder the entire Romanov family”?
Around 4 months ago I was invited to see the school musical “Anastasia” by some theater kids that were friends of mine. I already knew the framing and content of the play is utter reactionary nonsense, but I decided to actually go yesterday night to watch to support my buddies.
The musical itself had good production quality, and there were some great unintentionally funny moments in there, too. I was dissapointed that the one communist didn’t brutally blow Anastasia’s brains out, but I definitely think the play gave me some resolve and inspires violence in me.
Anyway here is the main part, lol. It isnt the most precise retelling of events, but generally what went down, spare the details. After the play I was chatting with a bunch of the cast, and apparently one of them heard that I would have shot the Romanov family, if I was in the position to, (which they heard from a seperate friend that is actually socialist. ) I didn’t deny it, and I actually fully leaned into it. “The Romanovs had no qualms on the treatment of their people. There would be no room for abdication, no humbleness to step down, obly death, ETC…” One giggled, another person gasped, “Do you feel no sympathy for them?” My friend (who played Tzar Nicholas) asked me something like:"Would you shoot the Romanov’s even if it was me?! " “No sympathy. And yes, I would shoot regardless of personal connections” and I quickly left into the crowd. Since then, my friend has been avoiding me? idk he seems not happy with me. Am I the asshole here?
Either way, I would rather be perceived as an asshole than be a liberal in content.
You could have been a bit more diplomatic with a friend. Dishonest a bit but it would have been a chance to swerve and say that if you were their friend it wouldn’t likely get to that point, that you’d convince them to abdicate or that if you were their friend you’d likely have similar class interests and not want to shoot them so it’s a moot point. Pivot then to how much you value them as a friend but they should really read up more on the truth of the matter and that particularly ugly royal family. But it’s not always easy to keep one’s cool and be collected in the moment with the perfect things to say.
Still you should apologize and try to explain a bit. Reframe it and explain how awful the Romanovs were as people and how you don’t see them as being like that at all.
Romanovs did deserve it though and not the asshole for holding that point of view.