Ms. J. L. Snickers

They're not really. Take a look at the "Welcoming" section, and there's several people who've been thrust out of their communities because they disagreed with another brony's opinion. Even here, there's people leaving because of disagreements. Sure, I've seen a couple of YT comments, but that's mostly about bronies reacting to trolls, not bronies reacting to other bronies.

Feel free to ignore this post entirely. This is a bit of a rant, very much a tl;dr, and the result of too much coffee ice cream. I’m not really in my right mind as I write this, it’s merely an observation from a new member of the community. The Brony community is known for their “love and tolerance”, which is the message the show preaches to us. Well, in all fairness, I don’t think I’m any more loving and tolerant by watching the show – I still have a short temper, poor debating skills, and the inability to leave well enough alone. (As many of you here in the forums have discovered). And I’m pretty sure there’s a good many people like me, who are just regular people who still have their faults and flaws and aren’t morally impacted by the show in any way. We seem to have a fixation on “trolls”, or “Brony haters” who go out of their way to heckle us. But it also seems like we go out of our way to defend our beloved characters and TV show. So we’re engaged in this eternal tussle over the TV show we love and the people in our fandom who draw a lot of negative attention. A lot of us feel like we’re being unfairly judged because of the kid-friendly, female-oriented nature of the show, and that somehow saps men of their masculinity. So to make up for that, or to “take back our masculinity”, the men defend themselves to an unnatural degree. I can’t stop people from feeding trolls. It’s hard, since trolls design themselves to provoke and inflame. (Look up the “You’ve Been Trolled” song on YT.) But there seems to be an element missing here. An element of harmony, if you’ll pardon the obvious reference. Look over at the “Welcome” section of this forum. Have you noticed how many people in there have been driven out of other communities because they expressed a different opinion? These people aren’t being persecuted by Brony-haters or trolls, they’re being insulted and hurt and shunned by us. People just like you and me. We kick them out of our forum sections, message boards, chatterboxes, or what have you, simply because they disagreed with something we hold dear. We’re supposed to “love and tolerate”, and I see a lot of people suggesting we do that to the “haters”. But not once have I seen someone say, “You know, we treat some fellow Bronies pretty shabbily. We ought to tolerate and love them a bit more.” Shouldn’t we focus more on our groups instead of the people who hate us and our preferences in lifestyle or television choices? Sure, it can be said that the trolls and some other members of the community have the same opinions, therefore we’re bound to clash over some issues. But here’s the difference: these kids aren’t trying to inflame or provoke. These are their honest opinions. Maybe their opinions are skewed due to media portrayals, or maybe their opinions don’t align to yours, but the person sitting behind the computer screen genuinely believes those opinions. I’m not saying don’t stop trying to love the haters, but it seems like we need to rethink our priorities. So can we stop focusing on the haters who try to bully us, and try to love and tolerate the people who try to join our little neighborhood? It seems pretty hypocritical of me, so don’t bring that up, since I feel guilty enough already for slamming some people for having different opinions than I do. Like I said before, I don’t always think before I act, and I can’t just walk away from an argument. But I will make an honest effort to try to be a little more tolerant of people in this community who have contrasting opinions. Because when it comes down to it, we’re all very different. We’re only united by our love of muffins and gemstones and sonic rainbooms, but we’re all unique, and having varying worldviews and upbringings. I’m new to this community. Not really new to the fandom, since I’ve liked it for a while, but this is really my first time actively participating with other fans of the show. Because of this, I’m pretty sure I’m wrong about this. My judgments have been based largely on YT comments, and this message board here. I’m rambling now. And I’m getting a headache. I should stop eating this ice cream, it’s giving me brain freeze and weight gain.

Aww, don't say that! As AppleJack would say, "That's just stinkin' thinkin'." I'm sure you'll get a wonderful partner one day, you just need to be patient. I'll enter this as soon as I can find an updated version of myself. All I can find are pictures of me when I still had glasses and a stupid haircut. O_e