Why Are Bronies Disliked?

[Dr. Mechano 630]

I think it needs to be emphasized that "the fandom" and "the fans" - while related - are not the same concept. When referring to the fans, I refer to individual people, with their own behaviors, choices, and actions. The "fandom," on the other hand, refers more to a loosely-organized group, along with a set of norms and trends that the group displays. In many ways, my critiques of brony culture could really be considered a critique of nerd culture in general; Gamers, anime fans, comic fans... there's a ton of elitism, sexism, and self-entitlement in all of these groups. I say this as an unabashed nerd myself, not to put down my fellow fans, but to lament the climate of the community I'm a small part of.

 

When most people refer to the fandom, they are - for better or worse - referring more to overarching group trends than to individual people. I love MLP fans, and I'm unashamedly one myself, but I do not love the fandom culture for the reasons I've already mentioned. I agree that "nobody should be hated for the actions of somebody else," but I want you to understand that criticizing the fandom and its norms isn't the same thing as generalizing or criticizing the fans themselves as a collective group.

[Simon 4,557]

I think that's the problem though.  This thread is obviously about the fandom, not individual fans.  So attacking individual fans or groups of fans on this thread turns it into an attack on the fandom.

 

There's a big difference between saying, "People hate us because of the clopping" and "People think we're all cloppers, here are ways we can get rid of that impression."  The former is just an attack.  The later is recognizing that some fans are flawed, but also emphasizing that there are others without that trait and that if people understood that, they wouldn't have that negative impression of the fandom as a whole.

 

Nobody including myself is trying to say the fandom is perfect, but I think there's a horrible misunderstanding here because some of you are under the impression that people such as myself are trying to say that it's perfect, while others think that the rest of you are trying to say we're all horrible people or the fandom as a whole or on average is bad.

 

So maybe we could have a more meaningful discussion if instead of focusing on small groups of flawed people that we will never be able to change, we focus on ways to make the outside community see bronies as the genuinely good people that most of us are.

[LordDiscord 289]

I gave a well based opinion from personal experiences as an insider and as an outsider, but everyone thought I was being a troll and an asshole. :v

Did you ever just consider leaving and letting it be or did you continue on fueling the fire. If someone disagrees with your opinion, it is likely they will never agree to it. So continuously arguing with those who have there minds made up will only instigate the flame war to spread bigger than it should.

[FoxyCryptid 4,330]

I think it needs to be emphasized that "the fandom" and "the fans" - while related - are not the same concept. When referring to the fans, I refer to individual people, with their own behaviors, choices, and actions. The "fandom," on the other hand, refers more to a loosely-organized group, along with a set of norms and trends that the group displays. In many ways, my critiques of brony culture could really be considered a critique of nerd culture in general; Gamers, anime fans, comic fans... there's a ton of elitism, sexism, and self-entitlement in all of these groups. I say this as an unabashed nerd myself, not to put down my fellow fans, but to lament the climate of the community I'm a small part of.

 

When most people refer to the fandom, they are - for better or worse - referring more to overarching group trends than to individual people. I love MLP fans, and I'm unashamedly one myself, but I do not love the fandom culture for the reasons I've already mentioned. I agree that "nobody should be hated for the actions of somebody else," but I want you to understand that criticizing the fandom and its norms isn't the same thing as generalizing or criticizing the fans themselves as a collective group.

 

The key is to ignore the people like that, once they realize no-one is reacting to them they tend to crawl away with their tail between their legs.  

[Nylon 158]

With all due respect: you can't be serious, can you? It's PONIES! Before this show, ponies were for little girls, and even after the show many people won't accept that it's not JUST for little girls anymore. It's like playing with Barbie as a little boy, of coarse the other kids are gonna mock and tease you for playing with something that's for girls.

 

It just goes to show, that some things (reguardless of how immature and stupid) will stick with us throughout out whole lives. It even happens to the most mature of us

Edited January 24, 2014 by Sniper-Melon

[USMCav8r 105]

"Cupcakes", "Rainbow Dash", clopfics, cloppers and other disturbing things are what prevented me from being a brony for a long time. I only became a brony after watching an episode because of FOBEquestria....

[Solid 1,327]

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds."

                                                                                                             - Albert Einstein

 

Apparently, he is right.

[Noodles 109]

Take a step back and ask the flowing question.  Is it really one post saying things need to change? or is it that some folks don't like the answers to the question?

There may be some aspects that cant be addressed because the fandom is a bunch of individuals whom decide for themselves if they are brony or not.

so comments like you should do something about x part of the fandom is pointless. equally pointless is the defending as if its an attack anything negative you hear.

this is a question if you don't like the answers that's your problem not the question or the person giving an actual answer. the answer can in deed be unfair but that's life.

[Firehearted 120]

Simple. When people think of us they see the darker side of the fandom: cloppers (No offense to any). That's what a lot of people see in all bronies. We also watch the show which is out of the social norm and is therefore shunned by the public as strange and wrong.

[epzik8 92]

Simply because of the negative stigma associated with it.

[SBaby 660]

Take a step back and ask the flowing question.  Is it really one post saying things need to change? or is it that some folks don't like the answers to the question?

There may be some aspects that cant be addressed because the fandom is a bunch of individuals whom decide for themselves if they are brony or not.

so comments like you should do something about x part of the fandom is pointless. equally pointless is the defending as if its an attack anything negative you hear.

this is a question if you don't like the answers that's your problem not the question or the person giving an actual answer. the answer can in deed be unfair but that's life.

 

This wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't for the fact that we do agree that there are people that cause problems in the fanbase.  Nobody is saying that there aren't.  If you would read the posts, you would know this has been said numerous times.

 

The fact is that a majority of the posts that have been made in response to the question are doing nothing but generalizing the entire fanbase, because of a few stupid people that cause problems. This is why people are taking offense in it.  Because it's lumping us with them, when we don't like them anymore than you do.

 

Again, try going to a Pokemon or Sonic fan site and making these same arguments, and see what happens.  You'll get the same results.  I truly believe that the reason nobody here has done that yet, is precisely because they know what I said here is true.

 

At this point though, this topic has become nothing but blaming the entire fanbase, because of what a few people who probably have nothing to do with this site have done.  People are saying 'a few people did it, so it's everybody's fault'.  Then they complain when anyone tries to tell them it isn't everybody.  

 

It sounds like what these people are saying is that they want to be able to say anything they want to about the fanbase without any feedback whatsoever, but when someone criticizes them or tells them that they're mistaken when they generalize the entire fandom, they refuse to hear it, and instead play the victim, even though they were the ones that brought it up in the first place.  Here's the reality of 'life'.  If you call out an entire fanbase for something on their own site, especially something that a small minority of the fanbase is involved in, you'd better expect to be rebutted and criticized for it.  If you can't handle that, then you probably shouldn't be saying it.

 

 

 

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds."

                                                                                                             - Albert Einstein

 

Apparently, he is right.

 

 

This is a harsh, but honest fact of life.  The Civil Rights Movement is historical proof that this is true.

Edited January 24, 2014 by SBaby

[LordDiscord 289]

Here my take on the subject. While there is no denying that some bronies go out of their way to shove the fandom down others throats, there are just as many if not more that are against said behavior, so generalizing the entire fanbase over the actions of the few is asinine. Also it is idiotic to say that the blame lies entirely on ''us''. There are just as many haters that will instigate a argument on a video that is completely unrelated to MLP just so they can complain later that we ''discuss'' the show where it shouldn't be discussed. 

 

I can understand that there should be some enforcement to get bronies to cut out this behavior but at the same time the others on the outside should control there community or whatever they are apart of. We all need to find a comprise and stop pointing fingers at people, because all it is doing is escalating the problem farther than it should.

I think that's the problem though.  This thread is obviously about the fandom, not individual fans.  So attacking individual fans or groups of fans on this thread turns it into an attack on the fandom.

 

There's a big difference between saying, "People hate us because of the clopping" and "People think we're all cloppers, here are ways we can get rid of that impression."  The former is just an attack.  The later is recognizing that some fans are flawed, but also emphasizing that there are others without that trait and that if people understood that, they wouldn't have that negative impression of the fandom as a whole.

 

Nobody including myself is trying to say the fandom is perfect, but I think there's a horrible misunderstanding here because some of you are under the impression that people such as myself are trying to say that it's perfect, while others think that the rest of you are trying to say we're all horrible people or the fandom as a whole or on average is bad.

 

So maybe we could have a more meaningful discussion if instead of focusing on small groups of flawed people that we will never be able to change, we focus on ways to make the outside community see bronies as the genuinely good people that most of us are.

This might be unrelated but I wish to know how you got your banner that appears at the bottom of your comments?

[TurtlesForSale 128]

Well at first glance the whole idea of a 20 year old man watching a little girls tv show and then clopping over it is pretty disturbing so people are gonna find it wrong, if haters actually understood why people watch the show they might have some small chance of understanding and then they could stop hating. Haters are in every fandom and the bad fans that act stupid towards haters won't help but people should learn to never judge the fandom by the fan or the fan by the fandom and people don't understand that we are not all terrible people. The fact that we are about a young girls tv show is going to make the hate a lot worse than other fandoms but there is nothing we can do about it. 

[GhostX108 0]

Bronies are disliked like the way of racism... Most of the Anti-MLP people hate Bronies the way they hate the Blacks, but they don't carry it far like they are being treated as slaves.

 

I know, but MLP changed male people too. I think Lauren Faust was expecting it to be a children's show for six year old girls, but it adapted and put it to boy/males too.

 

Well, maybe Bronies like it for the theme, but for bronies, I suggest they hide their 'friendly' personality.

 

----

 

As for the side of Bronies, they were exposing it too much. I know those haters would say, 'hey dude, why do you like MLP even though it's a girly show and stuff?'.

 

But I suggest both the haters and bronies made a mistake.

 

I know too, because I think there's more Male people who like MLP than Females..

[Poetic Tale 2]

Hey everypony just wanted to throw my two cents in here and hope I don't bother anyone. Basically the Brony community as a whole is split. We've got many different groups of fans that like different aspects, some may be found *disturbing* by others and that has caused a rift inside the very fandom itself. Whether or not you agree with something does not mean you need to actively try and stamp it out. The whole war between the groups only raised the situations to completely non bronies. People fear what they don't understand, and they hate what they fear. People ether don't understand why males would like MLP or they are exposed to the shall we say other side of the fandom. They hate us because they don't know who we are and they are afraid to try and find out. I am a pretty outspoken brony myself, always got some type of pony clothing on. And I have been approached before by people who asked if I was a real brony. They would go on to say they never knew a *real* brony before. But the main thing I always told them when they asked questions about Me, was that I'm a normal guy just like them. I know I'm rambling on a bit but we need to know as a whole that we are hated because we are misunderstood. We were not the first nor the last that this has happened to. But we shall prevail through anything that comes our way. See that's the thing no matter how much fighting happens within the fandom we are all fans at the end of the day. And it's the strength of our friendship that made us a community big enough to hate in the first place. Rather then asking why we are disliked why don't we find ways to become more liked in the eyes of the non bronies. I guarantee some of you have friends that don't know you like MLP, but they are your friends so ask yourself what does it change in your friendship that you like a TV show. If they would think more that way and less "oh it's a show for girls so he must be mentally unstable" then this would be a whole lot easier. Well I have spoken enough, I hope I didn't offend any pony by what I said here and if I did I am sorry but it's time we see that we are all in this together no matter what aspect of the show you like, or for what purpose you are a fan in the first place. Thank you all and take care. /)

[pinkie p1e 4]

Because we ponify everything

Edited January 28, 2014 by pinkie p1e

[hawkflame 3,310]

This wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't for the fact that we do agree that there are people that cause problems in the fanbase.  Nobody is saying that there aren't.  If you would read the posts, you would know this has been said numerous times.

 

This much I agree with.  Question is, what are we going to do about it? 

 

I don't think it's enough to just distance ourselves anymore.  To me, that's just covering our own asses.  We need to show that the kind of behavior some bronies exhibit isn't tolerated in our fandom. 

 

I don't know what we should do, but we should do something.  Maybe, if, for instance, someone's being harassed at a convention, the harrasser should be kicked out of the con.  I don't know what we can do online other than vocally condemn asshole behavior without reservation, but at least it's something.

[Aquacorn 1]

it's cruel and i hate it, i made a ref to rainbow dash and i get called -HA GAYYYY- its so annoying

i dont rage at haters, i let them do their thing, as they say

 

 

 

 

HATERS GONNA' HATE

[FoxyCryptid 4,330]

This much I agree with.  Question is, what are we going to do about it? 

 

I don't think it's enough to just distance ourselves anymore.  To me, that's just covering our own asses.  We need to show that the kind of behavior some bronies exhibit isn't tolerated in our fandom. 

 

I don't know what we should do, but we should do something.  Maybe, if, for instance, someone's being harassed at a convention, the harrasser should be kicked out of the con.  I don't know what we can do online other than vocally condemn asshole behavior without reservation, but at least it's something.

 

The situation is that goes into moral grey area because everyone has a different idea of what bad behavior in the fandom is. Calling for that cold just as easily lead to more pointless harassment of cloppers, grimdark fans, cosplayers, merch collectors, or whoever said individual considers  the "bad element".

 

That's why it's best just ignore the content and people you don't like and not give it anymore attention. 

[Artleck 70]

About a month ago, I joined a random Plr_hightower server on Tf2, i got to kill myself by a guy. saying to me many stereotypical things what a hater would say to a brony. For example (You horse fucker, kill yourself pony fucker, you jack off to ponies) To me my reaction was disgusted by this gentell man. I dislike the R34 type, it disgusts me, but the gore side i find okay. I don't mind the horror side, because i don't see anything wrong with that. But R34 ccan put me in a weird horrified state when watching the actualy show.

 

But back on topic. So yea i got called all that for no reason what soo ever. i told him "Sir you are describing cloppers not bronies" he replied with "IDC THERE THE SAME" I don't think bronies and cloppers are the same. I just think there a different type of "brony" known as a clopper. 

[Book Horse 12]

Well, I can't blame haters.  They think of the show as gay just because guys watch it, and probaly dont want to be bronies themselves, and they think they would become a brony if they started watching the show.  I do agree pony related stuff is everywhere.  The .mov videos are featured on a few youtube videos I watch, and there are tons of people on social places like facebook, and ifunny who post all kind of pony stuff hoping to get a few new bronies (or pegasisters).  I understand why there are haters, but I wish they could rather, 'ignore' us maybe rather than hate on us and sometimes call us gay. 

I don't know if this has anything to do with what you were saying, but this is my opinion on haters and non-bronies.

[Artleck 70]

Well, I can't blame haters.  They think of the show as gay just because guys watch it, and probaly dont want to be bronies themselves, and they think they would become a brony if they started watching the show.  I do agree pony related stuff is everywhere.  The .mov videos are featured on a few youtube videos I watch, and there are tons of people on social places like facebook, and ifunny who post all kind of pony stuff hoping to get a few new bronies (or pegasisters).  I understand why there are haters, but I wish they could rather, 'ignore' us maybe rather than hate on us and sometimes call us gay. 

I don't know if this has anything to do with what you were saying, but this is my opinion on haters and non-bronies.

They use gay alot... I don't think the haters understand the term "gay". To be homosexual it to actually to fall in love with the same gender. But i still find it confusing as in how the show is gay?Is it because they think it's all pink and girly? well back in time pink was conceded a manly colour. There is no such thing as being girly. It's just something humanity made to separate genders. It's most honestly like manliness. That isn't real either. 

[Simon 4,557]

They use gay alot... I don't think the haters understand the term "gay". To be homosexual it to actually to fall in love with the same gender. But i still find it confusing as in how the show is gay?Is it because they think it's all pink and girly? well back in time pink was conceded a manly colour. There is no such thing as being girly. It's just something humanity made to separate genders. It's most honestly like manliness. That isn't real either. 

Nobody ever said hatred makes sense xD  People associate being gay with being girly, and we are guys doing something girly, so that apparently shows we must be gay in their minds.  Does it make sense? No, but most stereotypes don't.

 

Honestly though that's my biggest problem with the hatred and harassment... a lot of the things that people hate this community for have a basis in reality, but it's the stereotyping.  This is such a diverse community and there really aren't any stereotypes that will fit most all of us because we're all such different people.  So i get really frustrated when the community is subjected to stereotypes based on things a small number of people do.

[Artleck 70]

Nobody ever said hatred makes sense xD  People associate being gay with being girly, and we are guys doing something girly, so that apparently shows we must be gay in their minds.  Does it make sense? No, but most stereotypes don't.

 

Honestly though that's my biggest problem with the hatred and harassment... a lot of the things that people hate this community for have a basis in reality, but it's the stereotyping.  This is such a diverse community and there really aren't any stereotypes that will fit most all of us because we're all such different people.  So i get really frustrated when the community is subjected to stereotypes based on things a small number of people do.

That's all they do is. stereotype. Because they might be afraid of the truth. But i am stereotyping saying "they" as one whole group. making the person seem like the others. Some haters can be very similar. But many haters have made mistakes of calling me ery stereotypical things. I obviously corrected them and gave them proof. But like any normal hater they just deny it. Seeing mostly some of them are scared of the truth or just think i am lying.

[Guest]

You know, I never once received hatred for liking the show. Many people know I watch it, and I have never had anyone really come after me for it. It's not  about watching the show, it's about being too in your face about it. By all means watch the show and be a brony, but don't slam it in people's face when it's not pertinent. If you do that, I assure you that the amount of hate you'll get will be significantly less. People will always hate people for liking things they don't like, but if you're not obnoxious about what you like, you'll find many people don't care.