Hate crimes (edit: cyberbullying?) against bronies not being addressed properly?

[chirox the pony 1,334]

Wow, you want legal action because some people called you names online. Again I'm gonna go back to powerpuff girls and say, when I was six years I was mocked for liking PPG. I continued to watch it and it didn't effect me too much (and I was six or seven years old). There are far worse things the governments need to deal with. It's not like there's mass discrimination in the jobs market or in education over this. I have Bubbles (the powerpuff girl) as my avatar on the school computers and I've gotten next to nothing over that. Though to be fair it would be pretty funny to see Obama or Bernie Sanders make a speech over this. Like:

 

I have a dream, where a man is not persecuted because he likes pink horses!

[Silver Stream. 708]

Agreeing to those who pointed out that bullying isn't a hate crime at all. Hate crimes are far worse and shines light to some gruesome facts and stories. However, one should not be spoken to like an idiot for misusing a term and having a flawed logic that you do not agree with even if it doesn't make sense.

 

As Jonusdarkflame pointed out, regardless of what you wish to call it, it should not be swept under a rug. Unfortunately, bullying exists everywhere and anywhere....not just within the brony community. But I strongly dslike when a desire for "justice" on bronies being bullied is countered with remarks about how others out there have been bullied for different reasons with far worse outcomes and nothing happened nor was it addressed: implying to get over it because it happens everywhere. And if nothing was done about that, nothing should be done about /this/outcomes. That in itself is a bit inconsiderate to the opposing party.

 

But the hard truth of the matter, legal action is least likely to be taken if a brony is bullied for having an interest in a kid's show with colorful ponies. (despite the fact the show clearly possesses obvious appeal to people of all ages given the many references and occasional advanced lessons integrated within the show). And even if such issues were addressed, with how this world operates, the outcome will more than likely be something you wouldn't like.

Edited January 26, 2016 by Silver Stream.

[Shanks 10,811]

Bullying is horrible and bronies are frequent victims of it but there is a huge difference between bullying and hate crimes. I have heard maybe one or two news stories about bronies being beaten or threatened for being bronies and I would classify those as hate crimes but nearly ever incidence or bullying I heard bronies being subjected to dosen't go anywhere near to that level. On the other hand there have been many many hate crimes against gays, a disturbing increase in hate crimes against Muslims and a long history of hate crimes against blacks. To be clear a hate crime is an actual crime often involving violence while bullying can but dosen't always involve violence.

Edited January 26, 2016 by Shanks

[Black Sabbath 2,484]

Still haven't heard the leftist media defending Star Trek dorks in high school getting shoved into lockers. Knowing the leftist media they will only defend the physically attractive minorities. 

What on earth are you talking about?

[PinkieatHeart 208]

Unfortunately, people are going to dislike other people. It's not good, but it can't be helped. However, what a person does about it is the most important factor.

 

Being mean about it never, ever helps, no matter which side you're on. Instead of fighting fire with fire, it's probably better to use water- calm, gentle, buy strong actions.

 

If we do tue same thing as they do, how are we any different? Someone has to step up and be the bigger person if a situation like this (be it cyber bullying, hate crimes or any other conflict) of they ever want it to end.

[Dowlphin 459]

My little update: I continued the dialogue with said moderator and they now took a somewhat more balanced action - deletion of the actually offending posts and not just the innocent caption pic which started the whole wave of antisocial outburst and mobbing.

I also got some new video statistics that showed that one person who in said thread even openly announced the intention to post my material on various despicable sites with the intention to mock apparently did just that. So that's what I have a problem with: That malicious, targeted attempts at bullying, psycho-terror or whatever you want to call it, are not likely to be met with a reaction that discourages from this kind of behavior.

Well, I got the culprits on my ignore list and will not hesitate to talk about them as the scum they are. People who make a free choice about how they want to be treated by the way they act.

 

The issue I discussed with the mod is that what goes into the design of a system is what the system will produce, and when everybody says they're not responsible, like when internet forum moderation says their job is to merely protect the own interests of the forum owner, that then this breeds/encourages more protecting of own interests, e.g. in the form of egotistical mentally convenient rudeness. At best it leads to order without justice, but without justice that order will become increasingly difficult to maintain. Because justice is what creates respect for the rules.

(Apart from the MLP forum I mentioned, I have also personally experienced this social design problem in connection to brony convention organization.)

https://twitter.com/Dowlphin/status/691814510403981317

Responsibility needs to be taken at any point where a problem has an impact.

Edited January 27, 2016 by Dowlphin

[Solid 1,326]

Someone ferociously lobbing insults at you through a computer screen is quite different from some ferociously charging at you with a knife. You actually get the option to choose whether or not you want to give a damn about it or not. Words by themselves are simply a collection of pixels or noises depending on the medium, the words only have meaning when we give them meaning (This explains the phenomenon of sarcasm). You deem the words harmful and they will harm you, if not then they are just a collection of letters, unlike a knife which is a knife with no questions asked, and it hurts when someone stabs you with it with no questions asked.

 

In the case someone does decide to physically go at you because you're a brony, do what you need to do, but if they're just firing 4 letter words from their mouth or furiously smacking away on the keyboard a good few miles away, they are simply not worth your time.

[Dowlphin 459]

@Solid

Aimed with angry art, words can sting like anything. Any advice is useless when you are in a situation where it doesn't work. If you want to be invulnerable to any such attacks, you have to become a zombie, passionless, heartless. It's like with food: The most nutritious food is most likely to spoil, because microorganisms know what's good. That doesn't mean it's a good strategy to only eat fast food. Instead you create a protective environment for the healthy food. People do that without coming up with a survival-of-the-fittest mentality that if the food spoils in open air, it was too weak.

We only need to prepare for the environment we create. Creating a better environment benefits life and saves energy otherwise wasted in destructive activities.

 

Unfortunately, people are going to dislike other people. It's not good, but it can't be helped. However, what a person does about it is the most important factor.

Being mean about it never, ever helps, no matter which side you're on. Instead of fighting fire with fire, it's probably better to use water- calm, gentle, buy strong actions.

If we do tue same thing as they do, how are we any different? Someone has to step up and be the bigger person if a situation like this (be it cyber bullying, hate crimes or any other conflict) of they ever want it to end.

I used to think like that, but it burned me up. A potential problem with this is the free will I mentioned. Some people are being mean with full deliberation and enjoyment. They want to be corrupt. They will exploit your attempts to calm a situation, because they see it as the weakness it might actually be in some cases. Bullies are struggling with inferiority issues, so they try to make healthy people believe THEY are inferior. They play mind games. The idea "I am above that, I will not resort to the methods of indecent people" is part of being a victim of that mind game. They want you to believe it because it gives them an edge in their agenda of ruining things for others. But when they face resistance, when they reap what they sow, they will be given an opportunity to learn empathy. And if not, it will build up for future opportunities. If you cann't make things better, make them worse quicker. Both leads to the same result, and ironically, part of not being controlled by the ego is to adapt to the situation and not follow rigid personal moral concepts or strategies. (It is part of what in spiritual circles is called "crazy wisdom". Crazy because it doesn't follow any rules, which makes it infinitely adaptable.)

I have come to realize that if I decide to do so, I can fight fire with fire and it is not at all the same thing. Just as a violent war might occur where one side is wicked and the other just and noble. When dealing with such difficult opponents, if you intend to have a positive impact on them, you first need to get into a position where you get that influence. And that's not by being kind. It's by showing them that you don't take their crap. (To understand better, assume a Fluttershy view and look at Discord and then look at Tirek.) You cannot help everyone, not fix every problem. But you can help yourself and not be attached to trying to fix everything. Then whatever is to happen can happen. Just be yourself. I intend to be myself as much as I can. And that includes not choosing the easy way.

Edited January 27, 2016 by Dowlphin

[simba86 1,541]

the harassment would have to be pretty bad, like REALLY bad but lawsuits and police intervention can and have happened over cyberbullying, i remember reading about a group of people on a forum who was bullying a girl and they was calling her names and saying she had AIDS and herpes "from doing, you know what with many different guys" and she sued the OWNER of the forum for letting them post those things about her "defamation and attacking her charactor and image" and the judge actually made the OWNER OF THE FORUM not the people doing the posting pay her restitution, it is not a common thing to sue for defamation online but it is becoming more common and cyberbullies are finding out that they are not untouchable online, all it takes is a lawsuit and a judge ordering the release of the IP address , i remember reading several other stories about online defamation and the people suing and dragging the bullies to court to confront them face to face. if you use a person's real name and you make up lies and try to make them look bad they can sue you for defamation of charator and for attacking your image, because what if a potential employer looks online for imformation on a potential hire and the first they they see is people saying that you are "a theif who does drugs and spreads disease and rapes women"? they ain't gonna hire you!

[Dowlphin 459]

@simba86

Yeah, the system really freaks out when money is involved, hah.

While I don't know the specific case, it's an interesting angle to hold the forum owner responsible, because it might address the common problem of those not upholding certain standards out of personal convenience. Someone who is afraid to not be liked by everybody for example should not moderate a forum. Same for people easily corrupted by power; generally people of bad character. Yet those have a special urge to work their way up in the system, and it often works, because our system is too much driven by fear and thus rewarding that.