Where do the cattle live?

[Dec Browne 20]

Just where do the cows live? And do they live together? Is it that barn from Boast Busters, or would that not be possible, since there was a stampede? And how does Daisy Jo earn money?

[Unikitty 1,212]

Same place the sheep live.

 

[Dec Browne 20]

I thought that picture was from Sweet Apple Acres.

[sweetolebob18 728]

In Boast Busters, Twilight filled a water tower with milk to put the Ursa Minor to sleep. They seemed to be living in a barn.  Since the ponies have cheese (Cheese Sandwich), this implies the cattle sell milk & dairy products. Also, since cattle are intelligent they presumably have other jobs.

 

However, the way the sheep are treated implies non ponies may be 2nd class citizens (like women & minorities were in the USA until the 1960s).  This may be why you never see cows working. 

[Vixor 80]

In Boast Busters, Twilight filled a water tower with milk to put the Ursa Minor to sleep. They seemed to be living in a barn.  Since the ponies have cheese (Cheese Sandwich), this implies the cattle sell milk & dairy products. Also, since cattle are intelligent they presumably have other jobs.

 

However, the way the sheep are treated implies non ponies may be 2nd class citizens (like women & minorities were in the USA until the 1960s).  This may be why you never see cows working. 

 

No. That's overly grimdark nonsense, nobody is a second class citizen in Equestria. It's a pretty darn nice place after all, not totally perfect, but certainly quite benevolent and with a long list of nice things you could say about it, which is to be expected from the setting of MLP. The sheep/cattle were at most a sort of running gag that obviously weren't meant to be taken seriously, and wouldn't be taken seriously by the target audience, who would identify with seeing farm animals like in any other cartoon. The clear reality that some people seem to somehow miss is that not every little thing in a cartoon is meant to be serious/literal or whatever, especially when it contradicts the rest of the cartoon and/or it's setting or whatever so heavily and blatantly. 

 

Either way, Equestria quite clearly has equality. You'd have to be a total lunatic to suggest anyone is being treated as 'second class' or worse. This is MLP, not some sort of cartoon format Game of Thrones or something else equally grimdark. There's no slavery or mistreatment of sapient beings in Equestria, period (and even just animals like squirrels and etc seem pretty darn well taken care of in comparison to us). There have been villains like Sombra that employed slavery and similar stuff, but they were quickly shut down by the good guys, who know very well how wrong it was. The ponies would never support something like that, and the rulers like Celestia certainly wouldn't either.

Edited January 7, 2017 by Vixor

[Vlazamal 338]

This may be why you never see cows working. 

Stay woke.

 

Anyway, yeah the cattles and most non-ponies live as assistants and seem happy with it.

[sweetolebob18 728]

Vixor

Well, you do see cattle & sheep being herded but to be fair the cattle WERE stampeding.  So, IMO it would be like riot control.  Still, AJ locks the sheep up -or just closes the gate for them after forcing them into the pen? Why not ask Zecora ? (Bridle Gossip)

 

As to "Where do cattle live?"  You say the answer is "Anywhere they want to that they can afford" 

Edited January 9, 2017 by sweetolebob18

[The_Gobo 36,257]

Just gonna...

leave this here...

<_<
 

[Abstract 832]

No. That's overly grimdark nonsense, nobody is a second class citizen in Equestria. It's a pretty darn nice place after all, not totally perfect, but certainly quite benevolent and with a long list of nice things you could say about it, which is to be expected from the setting of MLP. The sheep/cattle were at most a sort of running gag that obviously weren't meant to be taken seriously, and wouldn't be taken seriously by the target audience, who would identify with seeing farm animals like in any other cartoon. The clear reality that some people seem to somehow miss is that not every little thing in a cartoon is meant to be serious/literal or whatever, especially when it contradicts the rest of the cartoon and/or it's setting or whatever so heavily and blatantly. 

 

Either way, Equestria quite clearly has equality. You'd have to be a total lunatic to suggest anyone is being treated as 'second class' or worse. This is MLP, not some sort of cartoon format Game of Thrones or something else equally grimdark. There's no slavery or mistreatment of sapient beings in Equestria, period (and even just animals like squirrels and etc seem pretty darn well taken care of in comparison to us). There have been villains like Sombra that employed slavery and similar stuff, but they were quickly shut down by the good guys, who know very well how wrong it was. The ponies would never support something like that, and the rulers like Celestia certainly wouldn't either.

 

Yeah, that's supposed to be how Equestria works - but it seems like the show purposely avoids drawing a hard line between what creatures are intelligent and deserve to be treated equally. You say "not everything is supposed to be taken seriously and literally in a kids cartoon", but that's exactly what we do here, what the point of all these threads asking questions is. In all actuality, this question is completely unimportant, as Equestria is not a real place and what happens there doesn't matter. But, in the context of the world in the show, it is a curious observation that cows are seen to be intelligent and capable of speech - and yet they clearly posses some  animalistic traits. Combine that with the fact that you never see them living their lives like the ponies do, even in the background, and it starts to make you wonder.

[Vixor 80]

Yeah, that's supposed to be how Equestria works - but it seems like the show purposely avoids drawing a hard line between what creatures are intelligent and deserve to be treated equally. You say "not everything is supposed to be taken seriously and literally in a kids cartoon", but that's exactly what we do here, what the point of all these threads asking questions is. In all actuality, this question is completely unimportant, as Equestria is not a real place and what happens there doesn't matter. But, in the context of the world in the show, it is a curious observation that cows are seen to be intelligent and capable of speech - and yet they clearly posses some  animalistic traits. Combine that with the fact that you never see them living their lives like the ponies do, even in the background, and it starts to make you wonder.

 

Purposely? Yeah, no. As I said, it's a cartoon, and stuff like the cows clearly aren't meant to be taken seriously. The mistreatment or even slavery of sapient beings like that is not something that would happen or ever be tolerated in Equestria. It goes against everything the show stands for, contradicts everything in the setting, and just does not remotely fit. The idea that sapient beings are being mistreated in Equestria is completely and utterly nonsensical, and is not even remotely a legitimate position. You can discuss stuff all you want, that doesn't make it remotely sane or reasonable. This is a show about friendship and other positive things, and that is absolutely reflected in the setting. Meanwhile, stuff like slavery and oppression takes a huge dump on that, to put it as least vulgar as possible.

 

We haven't even seen something like a cow talk or anything a long time, have we? The writers likely scrapped that altogether, given that some people seem to be unable to realize that it's not meant to be seriously, certainly not in the sense of using them in a way that the target audience would identify with for the sake of a minor gag. Either way, if they are sapient, they have equal rights to ponies, end of story. Anything less would quite literally require portraying the ponies as evil, and you should know that's not reasonable or reflective of reality.

 

Anyway, I said that not all things in a cartoon are supposed to be taken seriously (not that there aren't things worthy of taking seriously, there's plenty), and this is one of those things, unless you care to magic up some explanation that isn't dark. That doesn't magically change on a discussion forums, because the idea that slavery or oppression exists in Equestria is frankly, an utterly nonsensical position. You can discuss anything for fun, I guess, but I certainly hope people that discuss such grimdark nonsense don't take themselves too seriously when they do, because again, this is MLP, and the setting and characters are as benevolent as they come. On MLPforums, things that I'd expect us to discuss more seriously are the characters, setting, and stuff like that, there are plenty of topics in the realm of those categories that don't go completely off the rails and suggest things that contradict pretty much everything in the show and sound like they'd belong in a bad grimdark fanfiction or something.

[Abstract 832]

Purposely? Yeah, no. As I said, it's a cartoon, and stuff like the cows clearly aren't meant to be taken seriously. The mistreatment or even slavery of sapient beings like that is not something that would happen or ever be tolerated in Equestria. It goes against everything the show stands for, contradicts everything in the setting, and just does not remotely fit. The idea that sapient beings are being mistreated in Equestria is completely and utterly nonsensical, and is not even remotely a legitimate position. You can discuss stuff all you want, that doesn't make it remotely sane or reasonable. This is a show about friendship and other positive things, and that is absolutely reflected in the setting. Meanwhile, stuff like slavery and oppression takes a huge dump on that, to put it as least vulgar as possible.

 

We haven't even seen something like a cow talk or anything a long time, have we? The writers likely scrapped that altogether, given that some people seem to be unable to realize that it's not meant to be seriously, certainly not in the sense of using them in a way that the target audience would identify with for the sake of a minor gag. Either way, if they are sapient, they have equal rights to ponies, end of story. Anything less would quite literally require portraying the ponies as evil, and you should know that's not reasonable or reflective of reality.

 

Anyway, I said that not all things in a cartoon are supposed to be taken seriously (not that there aren't things worthy of taking seriously, there's plenty), and this is one of those things, unless you care to magic up some explanation that isn't dark. That doesn't magically change on a discussion forums, because the idea that slavery or oppression exists in Equestria is frankly, an utterly nonsensical position. You can discuss anything for fun, I guess, but I certainly hope people that discuss such grimdark nonsense don't take themselves too seriously when they do, because again, this is MLP, and the setting and characters are as benevolent as they come. On MLPforums, things that I'd expect us to discuss more seriously are the characters, setting, and stuff like that, there are plenty of topics in the realm of those categories that don't go completely off the rails and suggest things that contradict pretty much everything in the show and sound like they'd belong in a bad grimdark fanfiction or something.

 

Here's the thing: Equestria is supposed to be exactly all of the things you mentioned - in a word, a utopia. But I think there's some small amount of difference between the concept of Equestria, and how the show actually portrays it and stays true to its ideals. I don't think the writers do it on purpose necessarily (maybe they do) but there is some questionable stuff like this in FIM. That's where a lot of these grimdark fanfics come from - somewhat plausable inconsistencies presented in the show regarding the ehtics and realities of Equestria. It may seem silly to discuss, because that is not what will ever actually be shown or written into the storyline. But these brief moments that seem a little off and aren't ever explained are just enough to give one pause and wonder, "What if?" I think it's harmless fun to consider these possibilities.

[Vixor 80]

Here's the thing: Equestria is supposed to be exactly all of the things you mentioned - in a word, a utopia. But I think there's some small amount of difference between the concept of Equestria, and how the show actually portrays it and stays true to its ideals. I don't think the writers do it on purpose necessarily (maybe they do) but there is some questionable stuff like this in FIM. That's where a lot of these grimdark fanfics come from - somewhat plausable inconsistencies presented in the show regarding the ehtics and realities of Equestria. It may seem silly to discuss, because that is not what will ever actually be shown or written into the storyline. But these brief moments that seem a little off and aren't ever explained are just enough to give one pause and wonder, "What if?" I think it's harmless fun to consider these possibilities.

 

You can discuss anything you want for fun as a 'what-if' or an alternate universe type deal, but slavery and oppression and stuff like that requires portraying the ponies as straight up evil (when in reality they're clearly very benevolent and are the clear good guys and so on), and thus pretty much trashing the setting and making the characters horribly out of character, and so on. It's not plausible, not even "somewhat". Grimdark stuff like that and the canon doesn't mix. Fallout Equestria for example, that's something that a lot of people discuss but doesn't really make a bit of sense for canon. You can discuss those fanfics, and lot's of people do, but it's important to remember not to take them too seriously because they really go against everything in the show.

 

But yeah, discussing what-ifs that you aren't actually taking seriously is one thing, but some morons try to take this stuff and make the claim that it could somehow actually happen or that it's happening or something to that effect, which is clearly completely and utterly nonsensical, as that sort of grimdark BS would never be accepted in Equestria. Not by the benevolent citizens, and not by the benevolent rulers. Anyway, I'm going to bed, I have to be somewhere tomorrow, and I really don't feel there's much else to be said here.

Edited January 9, 2017 by Vixor