I was thinking earlier on this thread, that it's a common thing on Mn for people to declare a sibling the "golden child" and themself often the "scapegoat". I always take it with a handful of salt because people do like to see that in themselves.
I don't believe there are so many people for whom this is a general thing - at times maybe but not all the time, which then makes them not have those roles.
I'm slightly tainted by both my siblings, when younger, did go through a time when they were claiming these things. But they were blowing out of proportion something that really didn't happen in the way they said (eg one of them said how mean df was because he did all this woodwork and would never show anyone how to do it. I know that he loved showing people - I'd often sit in his workshop and he'd show me how to do it, and he offered to show them so many times, but they always refused)
So it's not totally surprising that you do see this playing out in public. Can you imagine the AIBU that M would write?
"I'm married to a darling man who's traumatised because his mum died when he was very young, and no one ever tried to help him, and his dad just treated him coldly - even on the day of the funeral. His brother's always been treated as the golden child. He gets everything and their dad has handed over a beautiful house for him to live in and some of the rental properties the family owns and taken him on in the family business. Even his children now see their grandad often, and it's rubbed in by seeing photos in the national press of them together, which really upsets dh.
We were only given this dingy little place when we got married, and so dh told his father where he could stick the family business. Dh is so upset when he sees them, and says he's been scapegoated and pushed aside; we've been low contact because of that for six years now. He now wants to work for the business again, but his father says no. AIBU to say that his family should apologise to him before they're allowed to see our children."
And there would be a certain number of gullible mnters who would just see the words "golden child" and tell them they're doing totally the right thing, and they're far better than the other people and calling the brother and father names.... familiar, eh?