You know what you do – you defend the family no matter what.
Unless, of course, the situation does not warrant it.
This smacks of what we all did when we were children.
We talked about how bad our parents were…
And then we got ready to punch someone if they agreed with us too much.
Everything was permissible.
Unless of course, someone said something about your mom…
“Hillbilly culture at the time (and maybe now) blended a robust sense of honor, devotion to family, and bizarre sexism into a sometimes explosive mix. Before Mamaw was married, her brothers had been willing to murder boys who disrespected their sister. Now that she was married to a man whom many of them considered more a brother than an outsider, they tolerated behavior that would have gotten Papaw killed in the holler.”
–J. D. Vance, Hillbilly Elegy