Sara,
You said that your uncle treats your family like this often. Maybe they wanted the party to take place at their home. Maybe they were jealous that your mom/family would look like the ones who did the most work…and might have felt self-conscious about you guys looking better than them in the video…so they excluded you from the video taping. I wish the benefit of the doubt could be given that they somehow forgot to include you. Oversights can happen…but if they’ve shown a pattern of treating your family badly, then it becomes harder to make excuses for them. Or it could be that they didn’t want to use their video camera and since your family suggested he bring it, this was their way of getting you back . Either way, a juvenile thing to do. Here’s what I think:
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Do NOT do the same thing that your uncle did. Otherwise there’d be no difference b/w you and them. Instead, find ways to put your uncle on the spot…shame him.
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As Reha suggested above, why not invest in your own video camera? If capturing family events is so important to you…why put all your faith in someone that’s gonna screw you over? If you can’t…then ask ANOTHER member of the family to bring the camera for the next event. In a way, that’s embarrassing for your uncle. It sends the message that the whole family wasn’t satisfied with how he went about doing things in the last occasion. Or maybe assign your uncle “smaller” tasks. While he might be grateful that he has little to do…it also sends the message that the family thinks he can’t be trusted with something on a larger scale.
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Did the rest of your family members also feel that your uncle deliberately omitted you from the taping? If so, what if your parents and other uncles/aunts were to discuss this issue with your Uncle? There’s power in the numbers, right? And the discussion could be civil. They could thank him for bringing the camera and for his effort. And then tell him that they don’t want it sent to Pak because it wasn’t a positive portrayal of the family. If everyone confronts him (calmly) , he’ll know that he can’t easily get away with such stunts in the future. That will be SOOOOOO embarrassing for him. *****I think that if the whole family stays quiet about what he did, it’s like they are passively promoting his idiocy.
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If the rest of the family members can’t approach him in unison, then do it indirectly, as Reha suggested. Maybe your family…and the others…can agree to mess around with your uncle with sneaky remarks. For example, the next time Uncle brings his camera…you/your mom/various aunties and uncles can embarrass him by LOUDLY reminding him to tape this and that. And every time you get ready to do an activity…somebody from the family (not necessarily you..could be a cousin or another adult) can say, “Oh Uncle…it’s so nice of you to join us…we wouldn’t want to leave anybody out. After all we’re a family.” If everyone else is in cahoots with you…it’ll create more of an impact.