Is it really about "disabilities" with Derpy?

[Fawkes The Phoenix 737]

Then again I never understood why bronies like her so much in the first place.

 

There's one simple reason why i like Derpy a lot, she represents the union between the fandom and the actual series, and how the community started to get influence on MLP. She has been put in the background with her crooked eyes in alot of episodes, despite it was just a mistake the first time just because of the fandom, she got a voice just because of the fandom, she's starting to get kind of a "role" in some episodes just because of the fandom.

[Visual Spectrum 1,932]

Please provide a source for a definitive statement such as that. South Park and BASEketball own the etymology of the word, which was more akin to 'stupid' or mentally deficient ... yes. 

 

 

 

'Common' signs of ASD? I have to ask, where are you getting this information?

 

Maud has a monotonous voice, deadpan expression, has an high interest in rocks, very literal, I can't remember the rest.

 

It should be noted that not everyone has the same symptoms. 

 

My symptoms are poor social skills, poor eye contact unless I know you, flapping my arms when I'm nervous, and I get obsessed easily.  Even though being dead pan is a sign of autism, I have the opposite problem. I'm very emotional, and I show my emotions. 

[Jeric 46,854]

No, not everyone has the same symptoms.

 

monotonous voice, deadpan expression, has an high interest in rocks, very literal.

 

That would not classify someone as having ASD by walking into a Psychiatrists office, even if they were part of the anti DSM-5 faction.

[newfrickinshow 100]

Let's be honest though, everypony has some symptoms of something if you leave it vague enough.  Big Mac doesn't talk much while Granny Smith shows symptoms of senility.  The CMC's cutie mark obsession to the point where they're willing to risk injury, Trixie maybe be a bit narcissistic, etc.  Just like everybody in the real world has a symptom or two of something if you look hard enough.  Honestly without somebody to actually diagnose though it's largely just speculation and guess work,  Unfortunately in the real world there has been a stigma placed on apparent/possible mental ailments that results in some being a little on the oversensitive side.  I just wish that those mad at Derpy would go after them instead of somepony who was a bit clumsy and had a bit of bad luck.

[ManaMinori 4,145]

Wait- Derpy is disabled?  

I don't understand. A little eccentric, clumsy, but disabled? That doesn't make sense. Just running through the list:

 

Awkward eyes: is...this a thing with disabled people? My experience is a little shallow, to be honest, but do disabled people regularly have eye issues like this? Is there a specific mental defect that leads to that kind of condition?

 

Clumsy: Again, is this something that disabled people are prone to? It's not something I hear about a lot.

 

Speech: Maybe this is what people are most up in arms about. I don't see it though; if they were going for offensive, they failed at it. She doesn't stutter or struggle to form words, and she articulates perfectly. Her accentuation is somewhat unique, if that's what people are talking about. It's not really any different from speaking with a Canadian tongue in that sense, though.

 

In the end, I think this was a little of everyone's fault. The parent's saw her and assumed something that was completely illogical. Bronies rushed in to defend it, thereby confirming an idea that was false. Show creators cut her out, basically signalling to everybody that their thoughts were correct, even though they don't make sense in the first place.

 

I think this was just one of the larger and more perfect example's of Murphy's Law; everything went wrong at exactly the right time.

note how I put "disabilities" in the header with quotes? As far as the people who have taken offense to Derpy goes, she's disabled. Which is why they 9the people who think Derpy was disabled) were crying fowl, in "The Last Roundup" episode

[Andaasonsan 3,205]

There's one simple reason why i like Derpy a lot, she represents the union between the fandom and the actual series, and how the community started to get influence on MLP. She has been put in the background with her crooked eyes in alot of episodes, despite it was just a mistake the first time just because of the fandom, she got a voice just because of the fandom, she's starting to get kind of a "role" in some episodes just because of the fandom.

I came in after the whole Last Roundup shitstorm so I never really had the chance to get attached to her.

 

For me she has become the mascot for brony entitlement: Because Lauren Faust made the mistake of pandering to some idiots on 4chan, from now till the end of time we get to hear bronies raging about "soccer moms". Whoo!

[Jeric 46,854]

I need to poof out of this thread, I bring up the actual medical source on mental health diagnosis that is actively and currently used in the field and I am met with YouTube in response.

 

---

 

My point in bringing up what I did is that, as in everything, the truth resists simplicity. There are few absolutes in life, rather a gradient of causes. It is always a bad idea to say x = y due to a few similarity of x to y. This is good life advice, and will also help to place perspective and act as a cooling down manta during the fan drama moments as they arise in the future.

[EquestriaGuy 1,074]

I came in after the whole Last Roundup shitstorm so I never really had the chance to get attached to her.

 

For me she has become the mascot for brony entitlement: Because Lauren Faust made the mistake of pandering to some idiots on 4chan, from now till the end of time we get to hear bronies raging about "soccer moms". Whoo!

Well I may have "slightly" over the top feelings for Derpy, but speaking for myself, I never felt entitled to have her in the show. In fact it annoyed me when she'd pop up too often. I remember the exact time, day, and what I was thinking when Derpy spoke. I'll never forget that wonderful moment, and it saddens me that we may never have another moment like that again. 

[Shanks 10,816]

I came in after the whole Last Roundup shitstorm so I never really had the chance to get attached to her.

I did too but still got pissed once I found out what happened, it may be for the best that I came in afterwards with my temper.

 

 

For me she has become the mascot for brony entitlement: Because Lauren Faust made the mistake of pandering to some idiots on 4chan

Spoken like someone who truly has no idea what is really going on here, it dosen't matter that Derpy may have been inspired by some people on 4chan who noticed her walled eyes and gave her her name because it isn't just "some idiots of 4chan" who like Derpy. A lot of people connect with Derpy because she is seen as different from the others and seeing her yanked out thanks to the ill informed opinions of people who didn't even bother to listen to the same people they claim to speak for represents a profound disrespect. What so many fail to understand is this is much bigger than just one popular background character in a cartoon and it is one thing to not understand but the complete and utter lack of any effort to even so much as try to understand is one of the main reasons why this is such a contentious issue when it never should have been and dosen't need to be.

 

You can see Derpy's speaking role as pandering but even if you could make the case that it was the censoring of Derpy is a far far worse case of pandering because it pandered to mostly people who aren't even fans of the show in the first place simply because they are these self entitle people who have this delusion that they have a right to not be offended by anything. These people literally go out of their way to find things to bitch about and this is one rather unfortunate case where they have clearly won.

[EquestriaGuy 1,074]

 These people literally go out of their way to find things to bitch about and this is one rather unfortunate case where they have clearly won.

I wouldn't call it a clear victory. We got Derpy back, eyes included. It seems like they're giving as much of her back as they safely can. It is depressing that we may never hear her speak again, but at least she isn't completely scrubbed, like it looked she might be up until MMC. On top of that, when I went to see Rainbow Rocks, I was the only brony in the theater, amongst probably 2 dozen little girls, and they all went wild and shouted for Derpy by her name whenever she was on screen. People know who she is, and that can never be taken away. 

[Andaasonsan 3,205]

I did too but still got pissed once I found out what happened, it may be for the best that I came in afterwards with my temper.

 

 

Spoken like someone who truly has no idea what is really going on here, it dosen't matter that Derpy may have been inspired by some people on 4chan who noticed her walled eyes and gave her her name because it isn't just "some idiots of 4chan" who like Derpy. A lot of people connect with Derpy because she is seen as different from the others and seeing her yanked out thanks to the ill informed opinions of people who didn't even bother to listen to the same people they claim to speak for represents a profound disrespect. What so many fail to understand is this is much bigger than just one popular background character in a cartoon and it is one thing to not understand but the complete and utter lack of any effort to even so much as try to understand is one of the main reasons why this is such a contentious issue when it never should have been and dosen't need to be.

 

You can see Derpy's speaking role as pandering but even if you could make the case that it was the censoring of Derpy is a far far worse case of pandering because it pandered to mostly people who aren't even fans of the show in the first place simply because they are these self entitle people who have this delusion that they have a right to not be offended by anything. These people literally go out of their way to find things to bitch about and this is one rather unfortunate case where they have clearly won.

See this is the thing though. It feels like bronies make this whole issue about them. This is a sweet little TV-Y show. It is not supposed to be pushing the envelope or be controversial. Because of that I can understand why she came across as a bit much to some parents.

 

But because bronies have to make this all be about bronies, they expect the show to dig in it's heels and take a bold stand in the culture wars and protect their character.

 

It is especially bad because you had bronies acting like raging assholes over this and doing stuff like harassing Yamino.

 

Because of all this it makes it really hard to sympathize with the bronies on this.

[Shanks 10,816]

On top of that, when I went to see Rainbow Rocks, I was the only brony in the theater, amongst probably 2 dozen little girls

Wow on a somewhat off topic note my experience seeing the first Equestria Girls movie was almost the exact opposition with the theater being packed with bronies and a few young children and their parents. The really cool thing is that one family of two young children were also sporting pony related shirts so the entire family was into the show.

 

 

they all went wild and shouted for Derpy by her name whenever she was on screen. People know who she is, and that can never be taken away. 

I would have loved to have seen something like that, most of the day I was so pissed off at the direction of this thread and all the emotions this topic stirs up in me but I now feel a bit better. I suppose that is a good way of looking at it, they at the very least can't stop all the fanfics, fanart and apparently even little girls most of which have a limited if any exposure to any of this from liking Derpy is very encouraging to me.

See this is the thing though. It feels like bronies make this whole issue about them. This is a sweet little TV-Y show. It is not supposed to be pushing the envelope or be controversial. Because of that I can understand why she came across as a bit much to some parents.

But they are the ones who made it controversial, they started this fight not the bronies even if there were some bronies who behaved a bit less than honorably.

Edited October 4, 2014 by EarthbendingProdigy

[Andaasonsan 3,205]

But they are the ones who made it controversial, they started this fight not the bronies 

Did they? She's a character who comes across as a bad "retard" impersonation, named "Derpy", who is completely incompetent. It's not a particularly nice portrayal at all, at least in the original version of The Last Roundup. They didn't even remove the character, they just toned it down a bit to make iTunes happy.

 

And so now it's just "Raggghhhh, soccer-moms!" all the damn time.

[Plageius 263]

The SJW's are ruining everything!

[Shanks 10,816]

Did they? She's a character who comes across as a bad "retard" impersonation, named "Derpy"

But what baffles me is why Derpy supposedly comes off that way when these same people have said nothing about Snips and Snails who you can make a much much stronger case for being stereotypical "retard" characters? Then there is a few other characters in other childrens shows like Uncle Grandpa for example but nobody is calling for his head but why is that?

[newfrickinshow 100]

I'm not sure arguing about who made it 'controversial' adds anything of substance to the debate.  Any chance we can just agree that it is because some people found it offensive and then debate the nature of the offense?  Those that find unflattering portrayal of a potentially mentally handicapped pony can give their two cents while the others can try to give their feelings on why portraying Derpy as she was/is fair game?  Seems like that's a much more valid debate than the blame game.

[Andaasonsan 3,205]

But what baffles me is why Derpy supposedly comes off that way when these same people have said nothing about Snips and Snails who you can make a much much stronger case for being stereotypical "retard" characters? Then there is a few other characters in other childrens shows like Uncle Grandpa for example but nobody is calling for his head but why is that?

Snips and Snails come across as kind of dumb, but not necessarily mentally handicapped. It probably also helps that neither of them has a name like "Durr-py". As I said earlier, it was a "perfect storm" of things that came together to push things over the top.

 

I've never seen Uncle Grandpa so I can't really comment on that.

[Fractured 2,684]

So, is anybody going to elaborate on what exactly makes Derpy so offensive? I put up some ideas, but i'm really not seeing it...

[Andaasonsan 3,205]

So, is anybody going to elaborate on what exactly makes Derpy so offensive? I put up some ideas, but i'm really not seeing it...

We've gone over it quite a bit. It was a bunch of things coming together, but the main thing is the name on top of everything else.

 

Okay here is the thing, I personally don't find her offensive. But I can understand why others would be.

 

That is what seems to be missed during these conversations, that because you aren't offended by something doesn't mean others are not entitled to feel differently.

[Thespian 78]

Regarding "Derpygate" (that is a really bad name btw) I have no qualms with them changing her voice, eyes, and name. It doesn't add or detract anything from the character. What I thought was bad about the whole thing was Rainbows line change. It goes from someone being exasperated that a known cluts is messing up again but is still being civil because it is the right thing to do.

 

TO

 

Treating someone who is a known cluts as someone who does have a mental disability.  The first rainbow just sounds annoyed, which fits with her character because she is a short tempered and brash pony. The new rainbow sounds like she is treating someone who has a disability with the calm, nice, and collected politeness you are supposed to give to the disabled. Every teacher, instructor, supervisor, coach, and disabled person I have talked to says that you just need to treat the disabled like a normal person. If you intentionally censor yourself and go out of your way to be polite and nice to someone, that isnt being normal. That is saying "Oh I know you have a disability so I should make it a huge deal by putting on a fake smile and fake emotions and fake voice just for you. Does that make you feel alienated and an outsider?"

If they had just redone all of Derpys voice and animation I would be fine. But the fact that they make rainbow sound fake really pissed me off. They shouldn't have done anything to begin with, but that personally pissed me off. 

[newfrickinshow 100]

So, is anybody going to elaborate on what exactly makes Derpy so offensive? I put up some ideas, but i'm really not seeing it...

Because her voice had the characteristic of some mental disabilities.  Combine that with the weird eyes, clumsy nature, and name it is possible for some people to think they were making fun.  To be frank I have a hard time dismissing their arguments outright. 

[EquestriaGuy 1,074]

It seems like a case of people uninterested in judging someone by their character, rather than their outward appearance.

[Singe 2,111]

It could be said that Derpy had too much layered on her character at once. Name, eye, clumsy, speech, and etc.

Edited October 4, 2014 by Singe

[Andaasonsan 3,205]

Regarding "Derpygate" (that is a really bad name btw) I have no qualms with them changing her voice, eyes, and name. It doesn't add or detract anything from the character. What I thought was bad about the whole thing was Rainbows line change. It goes from someone being exasperated that a known cluts is messing up again but is still being civil because it is the right thing to do.

 

TO

 

Treating someone who is a known cluts as someone who does have a mental disability. The first rainbow just sounds annoyed, which fits with her character because she is a short tempered and brash pony. The new rainbow sounds like she is treating someone who has a disability with the calm, nice, and collected politeness you are supposed to give to the disabled. Every teacher, instructor, supervisor, coach, and disabled person I have talked to says that you just need to treat the disabled like a normal person. If you intentionally censor yourself and go out of your way to be polite and nice to someone, that isnt being normal. That is saying "Oh I know you have a disability so I should make it a huge deal by putting on a fake smile and fake emotions and fake voice just for you. Does that make you feel alienated and an outsider?"

 

If they had just redone all of Derpys voice and animation I would be fine. But the fact that they make rainbow sound fake really pissed me off. They shouldn't have done anything to begin with, but that personally pissed me off.

I've gone back and watched a comparison a few times, and it really seems like the only difference in Rainbow Dash's part is that "Derpy" has been cut off the end of her sentence.

 

Also, after rewatching that a few times, the original Derpy voice is more cringe-worthy than I remembered.

[EquestriaGuy 1,074]

The rerecorded lines were terrible. I'm still not even sure it was Ball and St. Germain who did them. They just sound so off, and shitty, like one of those MLP toy commercials.