Rant: Why are some Bronies DEFENDING Anti-Bronies?

[Henny Penny Benny 936]

Well ok.

Wishing good upon the person and hoping that individual stops their unjust hatred is actually better way of put it.

Yah, yah.

 

Makes me think of something I read the other day in C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity. The whole chapter—aye, the entire book—is full of good stuff, but I'll try to cut it down to what really applies here:

 

It is laid down in the Christian rule, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.'[...] Well, how exactly do I love myself?

     Now that I come to think of it, I have not exactly got a feeling of fondness or affection for myself, and I do not even always enjoy my own society.[...] Do I think well of myself, think myself a nice chap? Well, I am afraid I sometimes do (and those are, no doubt, my worst moments) but that is not why I love myself. In fact, it is the other way round: my self-love makes me think myself nice, but thinking myself nice is not why I love myself. So loving my enemies does not apparently mean thinking them nice either.[...] Go a step further. In my most clear-sighted moments not only do I not think myself a nice man, but I know that I am a very nasty one. I can look at some of the things I have done with horror and loathing. So apparently I am allowed to loathe and hate some of the things my enemies do.[...]

     For a long time I used to think this a silly, straw-splitting distinction: how could you hate what a man did and not hate the man? But years later it occurred to me that there was one man to whom I had been doing this all my life—namely myself. However much I might dislike my own cowardice or conceit or greed, I went on loving myself. There had never been the slightest difficulty about it. In fact the very reason why I hated the things was that I loved the man. Just because I loved myself, I was sorry to find that I was the sort of man who did those things.[...]

     The real test is this. Suppose one reads a story of filthy atrocities in the paper. Then suppose that something turns up suggesting that the story might not be quite true, or not quite so bad as it was made out. Is one's first feeling, 'Thank God, even they aren't quite so bad as that,' or is it a feeling of disappointment, and even a determination to cling to the first story for the sheer pleasure of thinking your enemies as bad as possible?[...]

     We may kill if necessary [as in war or to punish a heinous crime], but we must not hate and enjoy hating. We may punish if necessary, but we must not enjoy it. In other words, something inside us, the feeling of resentment, the feeling that wants to get one's own back, must be simply killed. I do not mean that anyone can decide this moment that he will never feel it any more. That is not how things happen. I mean that every time it bobs its head up, day after day, year after year, all our lives long, we must hit it on the head. It is hard work, but the attempt is not impossible. Even while we kill and punish we must try to feel about the enemy as we feel about ourselves—to wish that he were not so bad, to hope that he may, in this world or another, be cured: in fact, to wish his good.

 

 

 

 

Wow, I actually tried to cut that down to what applied. But it was still so long.

 

Worth the read, though, I'd say!

Edited August 18, 2014 by Henny Penny Benny

[Banul 3,831]

Often I feel like I need to lash out against anti-bronies, because I hate bullies and seeing them harassing bronies makes me genuinely mad. But here's the thing: throwing hate back at them only perpetuates the problem. It won't change their mind, it just deepens their hatred of us. I don't defend them, but I don't advocate being hostile toward them either. It just accomplished nothing. What they do isn't cool, but we can't stoop to that level either just because they do.

 

If we want to change people's minds, we need to be calm and rational. That video somebody posted of Dr. Wolf is a good example. I didn't agree with it at first (see first sentence of this post) but I think he's heading in the right direction. Anti-bronies are still people. I think decent folks sometimes get a skewed idea of what we are about. We have to show them that we arn't the degenerates they think we are instead of blowing up at them. To the ones that are just dickholes, best thing to do is ignore them. Arguing with those types is an exercise in futility.

 

 

P.S.

 

No joke, I absolutely LOVE Toto's Africa.

[Silver Letter 1,830]

 

 

they are well within their rights

That's neither here nor there. I feel that the main point of this thread was to remind people that anti-bronies are not the same as those that simply dislike the show my little pony. Anti-bronies hate people on a personal level. What needs to be said is that their opinion is morally wrong. No one is saying that they should be silenced.

[Fractured 2,683]

If they have criticism's about the fandom
If said opinions are valid and well reasoned
If it's done in the manner of an intellectual, with no hostile intent
Then listening is the least I could do. Any chance to improve myself is welcome.
Then again, it depends on what you mean by anti-brony.
Would this include people who don't agree with the workings of the fandom, or people who actively attack bronies?
There's a big difference, and i'm not sure what distinction you're making.

[CosmicHooves 2,705]

If they have criticism's about the fandom

If said opinions are valid and well reasoned

If it's done in the manner of an intellectual, with no hostile intent

Then listening is the least I could do. Any chance to improve myself is welcome.

Then again, it depends on what you mean by anti-brony.

Would this include people who don't agree with the workings of the fandom, or people who actively attack bronies?

There's a big difference, and i'm not sure what distinction you're making.

I made my point PRETTY clear on the distinction between bronies, non-bronies, and anti-bronies.

Please read the thread carefully.

[ARagY 1,152]

Well technically you CAN support whatever hate group you like, it doesn't make it right/wrong. Whether you live where they have a clear right to do so or where it's the society that shapes what is/isn't okay to do. Anti bronies are not really a problem until they start interfering things that should actually matter to you, like your job, your family, etc. If someone hacks your bank account over a show on television, maybe it's time you moved, or at the very least, stayed away from areas where they were. You should be happy the Internet can't be controlled, really. Otherwise they could take control and completely oppress any mlp content, but it doesn't work like that. And because it doesn't, I'd say let them be, there are more important things to deal with.

[Fractured 2,683]

I made my point PRETTY clear on the distinction between bronies, non-bronies, and anti-bronies.

Please read the thread carefully.

Not quite clear, but I suppose the main phrasing to go by here is:

Conscious ignorance is inexcusable, and hatred is intolerable.

We share the same derision towards those who hate us for because we exist.

As I hope anybody with half a heart would, no matter the issue.

[Zygen 6,065]

I think I get what your saying, that many people just seem to kinda confuse "Antibronies" with haters of MLP. They are different groups, as some people don't like MLP, and some people don't like bronies, or some don't like either.

 

I personally feel that many of the antibronies are simply not able to understand bronies, or are simply misinformed. There aren't a ton who really understand the fandom as much as many of us do, and still hate us. There are some though. 

 

Still, while I see no real issue with not liking MLP, not liking a group of people as a whole simply for liking a show makes no sense to me, nor do I consider it right.

 

Of course, I don't want to sound hypocritical and say it's ok to assume all antibronies are total rotten to the core evil beings, because honestly I don't like to judge people by a group as a whole.

 

Still, the fact that antibronies hate us, the bronies, for liking MLP is just kinda odd to me. Why does it really matter to them?

 

Honestly though as far as me caring about what antibronies think, I don't really care until they actually do something about their hate. And I usually just try and stay calm and not bother feeding their hate by reacting, am I to passive? Maybe so, but it's how I tend to be, many times I tend to just try and stay neutral or passive. Just kinda how I tend to be in many cases.

 

Basically though, I don't think hating an entire group of people makes any sense, regardless of the group of people. No group of people is going to have every person be entirely the same, especially if you can dig deeper down. In my opinion atleast.

[Miles 2,512]

@Jeric, I'm totally with you on this.  So to keep it simple, everyone, I'm just going to second his stance.  *ehem... seconded*
 
 

 

I only watched a minute of this, btw...
 

So, basically... he's already made himself look bad.  Why should I, or we as bronies, say anything to him?  Imagine, his boss [if he has a job], his family, his friends... Heck, even his neighbors... imagine if they see this.  What are they gonna do or say?  [Rhetorical]

 

Exactly.  That's why he's already punished himself by uploading this video.  And, let's say, if he's single... by chance if someone were to have seen his video and he tries to hook up with them - "Aren't you that [insert expletive] who bashed MLP and bronies?  Get away from me you a-hole."

 

So that's why I just leave it be.  That's why I don't do anything about anti-bronies - they've already made a bad name for themselves.

[Night Rain 9]

I think I have meet a Anti-Brony once. He is a friend of mine and when he heard I was going to watch MLP he threaded to end are friendship. So I just went forward with the show I thought if he is a true friend he would not care. So when we meet again he hated that I called him on his bluff. I also found out he never watched the show. So after a few months he said "Lets check it out." and after 5 episodes. I asked him "So how is it?" and he replayed "I like it but I am not a brony." So for me some of them are not as bad as they say and don't want to get bugged or bullied by others. I can understand why some are like that I was bullied all through school.

[CosmicHooves 2,705]

@Jeric, I'm totally with you on this. So to keep it simple, everyone, I'm just going to second his stance. *ehem... seconded*

 

 

 

 

I only watched a minute of this, btw...

 

So, basically... he's already made himself look bad. Why should I, or we as bronies, say anything to him? Imagine, his boss [if he has a job], his family, his friends... Heck, even his neighbors... imagine if they see this. What are they gonna do or say? [Rhetorical]

 

Exactly. That's why he's already punished himself by uploading this video. And, let's say, if he's single... by chance if someone were to have seen his video and he tries to hook up with them - "Aren't you that [insert expletive] who bashed MLP and bronies? Get away from me you a-hole."

 

So that's why I just leave it be. That's why I don't do anything about anti-bronies - they've already made a bad name for themselves.

Wow.

I guess you have a point there.

It seems as if the ultimate weapon against anti-bronies is basically not doing or saying anything.

Edited August 18, 2014 by Emerald Starlight

[Fractured 2,683]

Wow.

I guess you have a point there.

It seems as if the weapon against anti-bronies is basically not doing or saying anything.

Among other things, people hate to argue with thin air. They thrive on the reactions we give them, its the only way they sustain themselves. Were we not to acknowledge them, they would disappear. It would take a while, but eventually they would starve themselves out.

[Minepro 107]

Seems like you need to watch more ponies, because this "Love and Tolerate" thing doesn't seem to sink in with you.

It seems I need to watch more ponies too, "love and Tolerance" isn't what I'm going for in my other forum where some prick started an argument that I'm sucked into.

[Heliodor 156]

Anti-bronies are a hate group? Has one of them keyed your car, burned hateful messages on your lawn or broken your face? They're just a bunch of internet trolls. Dude, don't compare them to actual hate groups where people are really threatened with violence.

[Shanks 10,811]

But in the end, it's all just a matter of personal opinion anyway.

Yes, "bronies are homosexual autistic pedophile manchildren" is indeed a personal opinion but if someone said "the earth is flat" or "2+2=buttered toast" those could also be considered personal opinions but those opinions are completely uninformed and flat out wrong. We all have opinions but not all opinions are equal, "I don't like MLP" is an acceptable opinion but the earlier but the whole "bronies are *insert insult here* is nothing more than hateful bullshit by a bunch of immature trolls.

 

 

I think part of the whole defending "anti bronies" thing is a confusion on the parts of some people as to exactly what an anti brony actually is. For whatever reason a lot of people just can't get it through their heads that not liking MLP is not the same as being an anti brony, having something not be to your personal taste is not the same as actively going out of your way to hate on and troll people who do like it. I don't like coconut, everything about it makes me go "bleh" but I don't eat it and I don't go after people who do like coconut.

 

Part of it is also this white knight crap where a lot of bronies keep trying to make the point that they are not "those kind of bronies". In other words not the kind of bronies who enjoy things like say grimdark and clop and that is all fine and dandy, I can understand why those things are not to everyone's liking and even as someone who enjoys stuff like that I don't like that stuff appearing in google "safe search" either. But all these efforts to guilt trip and scapegoat fans who are into that has accomplished is create a divide in the brony fandom that shouldn't have even existed in the first place, make it impossible on here and I am sure many other pony forums to actually discuss these things in a civil manner and draw unnecessary public attention to it which gives fuel to trolls.

[SFyr 1,982]

 

I feel like we need a review on COMMON SENSE.
I have noticed some bronies have been defending Anti-Bronies.
The bronies that do this usually put down their own fandom and say "Well they probably have a good reason for hating the show."
First of all, you can hate MLP and NOT be an anti-brony.
If I hate Africa am I racist against black people from Africa?
No!
Anti-Bronies HATE BRONIES.
Not the JUST show.
The fans who love and watch the show.
And I'm not just talking one or two Bronies.
They HATE EVERYONE who is a Brony.
They are the ones who go around in the YouTube comments calling Bronies faggots, pedophiles, and much much worse.
Some of you might be thinking, "Well that's your definition an Anti-Brony."
Really?
This is the definition of an Anti-Brony according the urban dictionary:

"Anti bronies will specifically go out of their way to spew whatever they can against bronies to the point of making their own anti brony Facebook pages, YouTube channels, (I shit you not) anti brony Call of Duty threads, and whatever they can get their grubby little hands on.

They are typically found in the ages between 10-30 (mostly 13, go figure) and, like some bronies, are the most annoying things you can find on the Internet.
Not only will they spam anything pony-related, but they make their own (albeit shitty) anti brony rap songs, anti brony Minecraft servers, even break the fucking law to deface pony murals, and so on.

Anything that a brony might do that annoys you, anti bronies have sure covered it, except it's a thousand times more annoying because, well, at least bronies enjoy themselves when they do pony-stuff, they don't watch My Little Pony to write bios with (LITERALLY) over 9,000 characters in text why the show sucks."

Sure we have our bad folks in the fandom, but is that we're all about?
Of course not.
Anti-Bronies are a hate and you CANNOT defend the actions of a hate group.

 

Yeah you have a point, but what I am mostly ticked off about is the fact that some Bronies want to change the meaning of the word "anti-brony".
They always classify them as people who hate the show.
That is NOT who Anti-Bronies are.
They don't JUST hate the show, they hate the people who watch the show.

 

Yes, but that's not all we consist of.
There are some pretty cool things that come out of this fandom.
Antibronies consist of JUST hate, but hey.
I can't stop them.
They have their rights.

 

 

Here's your message I want to stress most after that: (in reference to antibronies hating bronies)

That's the thing though.
It's impossible to justify hatred towards an entire group of diverse people.

 

 

 

I seriously, seriously don't mean to be mean about this, and for that I apologize, but you sound like a hypocrite in my opinion..   You have your points, but I feel you generalize a lot.

First off, the urban dictionary is far from a place I go for the definition of something--otherwise a person with my name is apparently the most awesome person ever who is also a sex god. It's the place I only know of for its horoscope-ish definitions for each person's name I got linked to in Facebook spam.

Second, 'anti-bronies' in a way do include some hate for the show, just by relation and similar interest. People with the anti-bronies label have expressed dislike for the show too, which matters more than some else's definition of what an anti-brony is. Regardless, sometimes complaints against the fandom itself (and the people therein) is a little bit justified; many anti-bronies go to the extreme, but sometimes current anti-bronies very likely had a bad experience with bronies that gave them a well-founded dislike for the fandom.

They are a group of very diversified people, just like us, and many very likely have reasons for their hate, and some bronies have a legitimate reason for their anti-anti-brony sentiments (I've actually seen this term around before).

 

Right now, my biggest complaint about the brony fandom is how it seems to feel overly victimized sometimes. It reminds me of singers banging on about all their haters, instead of just making music.

I came to draw ponies and enjoy what people have to offer, usually being acceptance, optimism and creativity, not people sticking to a click and obsessing over those who aren't. I'm not saying you're like that, but that is why I can defend anti-bronies.

They're people too, and not a strawman group to pick apart while ignoring that our fandom is vulnerable to actual criticism--anything worth going for often is.

 

More often than not, I've seen it posted in anti-brony groups that they're not against all members of the brony fandom as you said just because we enjoy the show, they're against a subgroup that often represents us in what they see as a bad or inappropriate light. Or, they dislike us because we simply end up making the fandom hard to get away from. Forced proximity is a good recipe for dislike.

 

However, I will say there's gonna be dumb haters with frustratingly illogical reasons for hating the whole of the fandom, or the show. I'm not really defending those people, just trying to say the whole group isn't irredeemable or composed of that division thereof. There are members worth defending on both sides, somewhere, so I work to occasionally make the distinction that both have good people, and what's said about either group can't be generalized to the whole while still being accurate.

 

 

Keep calm and pony on. ♥ 

Edited August 18, 2014 by SFyr

[Shanks 10,811]

More often than not, I've seen it posted in anti-brony groups that they're not against all members of the brony fandom as you said just because we enjoy the show, they're against a subgroup that often represents us in what they see as a bad or inappropriate light.

If that is the case then why call themselves "anti bronies"? It dosen't take a rocket scientist to recognize the implications of the term "anti brony" and what it is actually supposed to mean. There are certain aspects of the brony fandom I don't like, I don't like the white knights, I don't the ones who shove it down peoples throats and take it too seriously by treating it as if it were a religion. That is all fine and well but going "they all must suck, down with ponies" is extremely childish and petty.

Edited August 18, 2014 by EarthbendingProdigy

[SFyr 1,982]

If that is the case then why call themselves "anti bronies"? It dosen't take a rocket scientist to recognize the implications of the term "anti brony" and what it is actually supposed to mean. There are certain aspects of the brony fandom I don't like, I don't like the white knights, I don't the ones who shove it down peoples throats and take it too seriously by treating it as if it were a religion. That is all fine and well but going "they all must suck, down with ponies" is extremely childish and petty.

Some nazis were cool people. Cannibals can revere life. Vegans aren't all jerks. Murderers can be sweet and upstanding citizens. Yes, the title anti-brony is much more expressive of what they're there about, however it's more of an umbrella than it seems.

And, I've basically heard the same (just recently a little bit), "anti-bronies are immature and are dumb, down with anti-bronies" from bronies.

I'll go ahead and compare this to furries (bear with me). What IS a furry? Whatever it was, it's not anymore. There are groups almost completely seperate in some ways, the otherkin from the 'furry artists' for example, but they often identify as the same general group because it's easier, and they can find similar-minded (not just same-minded) people to interact with. AND, probably most importantly, it's easier for the outside world to deal with you if you have some kind of easy-to-understand label. Anti-bronies tend to get people there for a variety of reasons, not just because members of the fandom sometimes leave a bad taste in the mouths of others. The definitions don't matter as much as the actual group people join up with. They're a collection of individuals, not a mob.

Edited August 18, 2014 by SFyr

[getting contact info 7]

because anti bronies arnt really mean people they just don't think much about the fandom or the show

[[NULL] 906]

They HATE EVERYONE who is a Brony. They are the ones who go around in the YouTube comments calling Bronies faggots, pedophiles, and much much worse.

 

That's rather judgemental of you. I'm pretty sure that not every person who hates the fandom has that mindset. Maybe you should consider that there are valid reasons to dislike the fandom, such as the fans who don't like people giving the slightest criticism to their precious show.

 

 

 

Some of you might be thinking, "Well that's your definition an Anti-Brony." Really? This is the definition of an Anti-Brony according the urban dictionary: "Anti bronies will specifically go out of their way to spew whatever they can against bronies to the point of making their own anti brony Facebook pages, YouTube channels, (I shit you not) anti brony Call of Duty threads, and whatever they can get their grubby little hands on.

 

Yes, because everyone knows that Urban Dictionary is a trustworthy unbiased source.

Edited August 18, 2014 by SpaceOnion

[Solid 1,326]

There are those who aren't fond of bronies but respect them and keep the Hate strictly inside. Those are the ones that I tend to defend for b/c these are good examples of how one should probably react to something they don't like or disagree with. They also tend to have rational reasons (usually involving those obsessed bronies who try to force other people to watch mlp, or shove clop everywhere which also violates some basic site policies) and don't generalize these issues to the entire brony community.

 

 

There are also those who go out of bounds to hurt other bronies, be it physically or psychologically. They generalize, and often make up reasons that are illogical and not backed up by evidence. These shall face my 100% diverted attention when I'm in a good mood, or shall face my wrath when I'm not.

[CosmicHooves 2,705]

Alright.

I would like everyone to stop commenting on this.

I have my answer.

I've decided to leave this group of people alone.

There's also no point in calling them a hate group either.

It's not like they actually want to kill Bronies.

They can just merely dislike them.

And it's fine.

I'm going to just ignore what they have to say and keep doing what I love.

[bluejay 2]

I've seen this before and im annoyed

[Horsefly 43]

Or, maybe we defend them because of LOVE AND TOLERANCE. you know, because some of us aren't hypocrites.
You don't just say "oh i love and tolerate, cus that's what mlp teaches", and then just immediately bash the anti-bronies later, even if they hate the show, or you.
Love and tolerance does not mean that you only love and tolerate those who also practice love and tolerance. It means you love and tolerate EVERYBODY, regardless of ANYTHING.

Edited August 18, 2014 by Horsefly

[Shine Racer 106]

You know what I always do? I just ignore people like that because they don't know the actual you. And half the time they just be talking abunch of smack anyways.

 

Plus when I first became a brony, I thought the show was just like any other cartoon I would normally watch I mean seriously. Its a show with great animation really neat looking characters who have different personalities which I find is pretty interesting, So what's to dislike about it?