Where does the brony draw their line?

[Shift 4,271]

The Royal Canterlot Voice is Luna's first way of talking, WITH THIS MUCH VOLUME TO ADDRESS OUR SUBJECTS!

 

Yeah. It's basiclly shouting with grace, dignity, and like a true person would. On the internet it's considered caps lock, so I was just saying I don't fight with caps lock.

[Sks_Burns 730]

when love and tolerance fails, we can always fall back on hammers and machetes. im not advocating violence against people who deserve it, but sometimes an old fashioned ass whooping is needed. keeps things in perspective for them.

Edited November 24, 2012 by sks_burns

[Agent505 661]

So i've just watched the new episode, and I have to say, while not being the best solution to bullies, it's still a solution without cracking skulls. But it also brings up a valid point about getting the full story beforehand...

Edited November 25, 2012 by SeriousNinjaBrony

[Loriem 639]

Before I even saw MLp, or knew much about Bronies other than I thought they wanted my brian in some glass jar, I used this like on haters and trolls; "I love you! "

 

That, or I try to mess with them, being as I try to troll anyone whom seams to be acting offensively in my general direction.

[brian577 120]

I barely go over the line, but once, I broke lose at Fimfiction when someone was dissing My Little Dashie in a hurtful way. I just told them to back off, and that it was a really good fic and you shouldn't bash it. I never actually FIGHT WITH THE ROYAL CANTERLOT VOICE, as what is MLP about?

 

"shouldn't bash it"? So no one is allowed to criticize art because it might hurt someone's feelings. I think MLD is creepy, are you saying I don't have a right to that opinion or shouldn't be allowed to voice that opinion simply because it's something you like?

 

Anyways, I draw the line at threats of violence. Everyone has a right to their opinion, even the haters. Doesn't mean you have to like it though.

Edited November 25, 2012 by brian577

[One 498]

I don't draw metaphorical lines... If someone is pissing me off, I evaluate how to make them stop, and follow with my plan. If it fails, I don't care and continue with my life.

 

On the "Love & Tolerate" thing, I don't really follow that, and I get annoyed when I'm giving someone a hard time on the Internet and they try to defend theirselves by saying I should "Love & Tolerate". (I know, I'm mean)

[Lost Profile 644]

It's mostly freshmen that are haters.... And they try to be a bully to me by using it on me...

 

So what do I do? I smash there skull...

 

 

Now about the destruction of art... Um... T_T

 

For me... I try to love and tolerate... But there are some things around here that cannot be tolerated

[angels_gal 204]

No, love and tolerance should not make one a pacifist. for me i believe that love and tolerance should only take you so far. and Negative comments and hatred only throw fuel on the fire that is already burning. I truly believe that it's the reason trolls do that sort of stuff it is to get reactions out of us. In this case, It's the bronies who were targeted. I think there is a metaphorical line that should be drawn. there are people who refuse to cross that line for fear of loosing something. and after that there is nothing to do be done but walk away and leave it be, hatred serves no point because it only wastes energy.

[SongBrony 419]

I draw the line when a hater starts to bully me personally in my face. Like in today's episode, I fight back, and the hater usually ends up crying when I'm done. But that's only when they are in person and in my face about it. But over the internet, if they defame or do the R34 stuff, I draw a line there. Basically, if you're in my face and you make an R34 and you don't watch the show I draw the line saying you need to stop or I'll make you stop forcefully. (I say don't watch the show because they do it to make us look like freaks and that's their whole goal, while cloppers are bronies who IMO, DON'T HATE ME!, have a weird thing for ponies. But they watch the show so I let them handle it. It's like only a thing someone who watches the show would understand)

[poniesforfun 716]

If you've been in the internet long enough you will know there's no point in wasting energy on trolls an haters. If you put in negative comments and thumbs down their videos it doesn't do a damn difference they'll just come back again and again this even encourages other haters to join in and it just becomes infectious. So I find pacifism the best way to deal with it for now. Aside from all that what else should you do? Find where this guy lives and ridicule him or throw a rock through his window?

[mycarhasaMoustache 449]

There is no point in saying anything to hater via the internet Because using nothing but irrational stupidity they will manage to piss you off somehow. If people want to fight back against haters (mass flagging of videos and stuff) then they should get them selfs organised and do it properly rather then creating a new topic and shouting at each other being calm and coordinated is the best way to deal with a hater. Or witch is what iv been saying this entire time since the brony Art destruction thread poped up just ignore them and they will go away.

[Guest]

I draw the line the moment the hating leaves the internet and goes into real life.

 

The moment someone gets bullied for being a brony, I draw a line.

The moment someone get beaten up for being a brony, I draw a line.

The moment someone destroys a piece of physical art, I draw a line.

 

But when someone on the internet posts a hate comment or hate video? Whatever... I couldn't care less, if everyone ignores it (which I know they won't but anyway) nothing happens.

[Bucky McGillyCuddy 956]

It's not a very realistic motto to live by. Love and Tolerate may work in Equestria all right but for Earth it's probably something more like Eat or be Eaten. It's inevitable that there are always going to be douche bags in the world who will do things like this without thinking twice and you can't simply ignore it. Ideally what the person should have done is walked straight up to him and punched him square in the face.

[Guest]

It's not a very realistic motto to live by. Love and Tolerate may work in Equestria all right...

 

It doesn't work in Equestria though, they don't even use it.

Luna goes evil and tries to take over Equestria? TO THE MOOOOOOON.

Discord tries to bring chaos everywhere? Turned to stone.

King Sombra tries (twice) to take over the Crystal Empire? First trapped in a glacier and then presumably killed.

 

Equestria isn't that different from Earth if you think about it, and don't think too hard.

[Creamy Arty 6,251]

As always, I say each individual should act on their own discretion. As for me, I consider people's lives and property to be sacred things. Should anybody attempt to deprive me of mine or another of his, I'll do whatever is necessary to prevent it, even at the cost of those belonging to the assailant; nobody would be at fault except for the instigator. Most extremes, even those with the best of intentions, don't accomplish anything. Force should be a last resort and is best used in response to a situation currently unfolding, and very rarely as a means of reprisal for past events, but it does have its place. Pacifism often causes more harm than it seeks to prevent, or at best only ensures that all the damage is to one side.

 

A certain kid liked to pick on me a lot when I was little, and would even hit me for the fun of it from time to time. I was a shy kid in my early years and wouldn't really stick up for myself. One day I had enough and slugged him in the mouth, putting him right on the floor and even extracting a tooth. Never had another problem from him from that day forward. The same thing is happening here. The people who violently hate on bronies don't expect them to protect themselves and are the type who enjoy tormenting those they perceive to be helpless. If you want it to stop, you have to defy that expectation.

Edited November 25, 2012 by Artemis

[Shift 4,271]

"shouldn't bash it"? So no one is allowed to criticize art because it might hurt someone's feelings. I think MLD is creepy, are you saying I don't have a right to that opinion or shouldn't be allowed to voice that opinion simply because it's something you like?

Anyways, I draw the line at threats of violence. Everyone has a right to their opinion, even the haters. Doesn't mean you have to like it though.

 

Nonono. It wasn't a polite comment. A hurtful one that was like

 

"You're horrible, you should never write. How could anyone like this fic."

 

Something along those lines. And then that guys rambled and such. MLD wasn't that creepy for me, if you ask me, it and Past Sins are my two favorites. Cupcakes and Cheerilee's Garden is the creepy ones.

 

Just my opinion though.

[Tdroid 234]

I don't think there is anything specific the fandom should react to, at least not as a fandom, that is not of legal nature.

 

Should we oppose that someone destroys another persons art? Yes. Should we make a distinction between who's art is destroyed? Not in my opinion.

 

Anyone should take a stand when their rights are being impeeched and they should laugh at haters and point out how pathetic they are. If this post made sense, that is.

[Rolls Royce 606]

I would draw the line if I'm ever hated on in real life. I can take being called names, but being physically harmed is where I'd draw the line. With all honesty, I'm a very calm guy with rock solid tolerance. However, you don't want to see me angry. If someone physically harms me or vandalizes my property, I'd draw the line there. At that point, I'd either call the cops if it's very serious (truck being vandalized, anything illegal, etc.), go to the head honcho of my college, or for a last resort, beat the crap out of them. Luckily, I've never been hated on, so I've never had to cross the line.

Edited November 26, 2012 by Rolls Royce

[Agent505 661]

After reading a lot of peoples opinions on this, I think there's a very common denominator that keeps appearing. In a short summary, it's that - if it's online and legal, we're fine with it. If it gets to physical/emotional illegal bullying, then we have a problem.

 

I tend to agree with that myself, although personally as I said before, I wont really react to someone attacking me

[Zhooves 843]

Wait... There's a LINE to where I'm supposed to start reacting?

But seriously, in any cases - be it pony or something else - I tend to ignore if someone is picking at me. Even when I go bullied for a couple of years at school I didn't counter it (mostly because I knew how hard of a time the bullies would've had with me as an enemy...).

 

As for picking on someone else... That's a different story. I'll defend them no matter what they've done, as I think talking it out is better... Unless it gets me into a fight. Something that has never happened...

[Dark Qiviut 22,231]

1: Bashing the fandom does not equal bashing the staff. You can hate certain parts of the fandom, and that won't mean you're bashing the staff. I dislike the term brony for what it has become. Most bronies annoy me, and I just refer myself as a MLP fan.

Not true one bit. The bronies and creative team have an extremely close relationship, one of the closest we've seen. I've written a very long explanation as to why the brony community should be appreciated and not bashed in this thread. Here's the text:

 

For those who claim to love the show, they don't demonstrate that at all by bashing the brony fandom, whether it's mocking screenshots, vulgar brony-bashing art/stamps, and brony-bashing comments. For one, the brony fandom and staff are extremely close, and we've seen a lot of contributions the community has given, such as donating money to Kiki, a little kid who Tara Strong is very close with, to help battle her cancer; as well as the Brony Thank-You Fund, which uses part of the funds to donate to Toys for Tots. Just because we have sour apples or sour moments in the brony fandom doesn't give brony-bashers the excuse to stereotype the fandom and bash the crap out of it.

 

When you bash a fandom, you're passive-aggressively bashing the product as well as the people behind the scenes. Without a fandom, the product and communication with the professionals can't grow. You may not enjoy the fandom as much, but bashing the bronies (especially if you claim to love My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic itself) is extremely disrespectful to My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and the people who work on the product so people can enjoy it. Whether you like it or not, the brony fandom has earned that respect because it's vibrant and appreciates the show and creators; therefore, the creators appreciate them in return. if you go out of your way to bash that fandom (or any fandom in particular), then you give MLP:FIM a massive disservice and frankly, tells me you're no fan of the show at all.

As for your dislike towards the term "brony," it's extremely irrational. I've explained why in that thread I linked above.

 

3: Bashing the fanon isn't disrespecting the community. I loathe most of the fanon stuff because I find it to be extremely stupid and horrible. I hate people that go around claiming that you shouldn't hate on the fanon, because that's part of our "creativity". That statement is nothing but trash. I'm sick of the wubstep obsessed Vinyl, the human obsessed Lyra and plenty of other stupid fanon characters this community has given to them. It is not creativity, it's beating a dead horse.

 

Oh, you're completely wrong here. Bashing the fanon actually DOES equal disrespecting the creativity and the community. There has been a lot of great fanwork out there just because of simple fanon. To give examples of fanon that has produced great work:

 

1. Lyra's curiosity/interest in humans and/or human hands. All started by her sitting on a park bench like a human. A crazy idea of Lyra being curious about humans was eventually introduced. Artwork bloomed in the form of moment-capturing fanart followed by fanfics, one being the all-famous Anthropology. When the meme quieted, Too Many Pinkie Pies aired, reviving it in the form of some very hilarious comics! A simple "What if?" turned into something crazy. Like it or not, it deserves respect.

 

2. Octavia's name. The Earth pony wasn't featured much, but she gained massive popularity, and a user decided to give her the name of "Octavia." It stuck. In fact, it gained momentum to the point where it became the defacto fanon name for her. Trading cards soon made her name official. She and Vinyl are two very popular background characters.

 

3. The fanon relationship between Derpy and Dinky (each of whom share a near-similar color scheme). Because of their near-color scheme, Dinky's name was born followed by the idea of Dinky being Derpy's daughter, whether it's born or adopted. A crazy idea that doesn't make concrete sense at this point, but when you have a crazy idea, you can make something good out of it. This resulted in many great pieces of work out there featuring Derpy as a bubbly, yet caring (surrogate) mother.

 

4. Controversy notwithstanding, Derpy herself! The accidental error in the series premiere resulted in her name. And then when the brony fandom grew, so did the idea of a clumsy, yet lovable wall-eyed pegasus. Ideas of her possible character grew to make her likeable, cute, yet keep her eyes derped. As potential for a fanon personality grew, her popularity grew. We see that in all the creativity out there: fan-animations, fanart, fanfic, plushies. The staff caught on and began placing her in obscure places where people can spot her. This all came together with Derpy getting a speaking role in the story. Fanon (and fandom, I'll add) gave her life. Even today following the controversy, she's still very popular, with her getting an official and exclusive Comic-Con toy that sold out within minutes and one of the first Hot Topic vinyl models to be introduced (and subsequently sold out because of her high demand). All because of fanon ideas. Without fanon and fandom, Derpy wouldn't be such a big character.

 

And fanon that I haven't even mentioned has been given life by the bronies. When you get a universe this open, you're bound to get fanon and canon intertwined, whether it's the names, personalities, backgrounds, and so on. There's been a lot of great work as a result of these fanonical what-ifs, and they're still growing. Liking or disliking a fanon idea doesn't give you any excuse to bash it. You show severe disrespect to the brony art (fanfic included) and the brony fandom itself when you bash fanon. And, yes, fanon-bashing means you're disrespecting your very own brony work.

[DeiStar 248]

Not true one bit. The bronies and creative team have an extremely close relationship, one of the closest we've seen. I've written a very long explanation as to why the brony community should be appreciated and not bashed in this thread. Here's the text:

 

 

 

As for your dislike towards the term "brony," it's extremely irrational. I've explained why in that thread I linked above.

 

Oh, you're completely wrong here. Bashing the fanon actually DOES equal disrespecting the creativity and the community. There has been a lot of great fanwork out there just because of simple fanon. To give examples of fanon that has produced great work:

 

1. Lyra's curiosity/interest in humans and/or human hands. All started by her sitting on a park bench like a human. A crazy idea of Lyra being curious about humans was eventually introduced. Artwork bloomed in the form of moment-capturing fanart followed by fanfics, one being the all-famous Anthropology. When the meme quieted, Too Many Pinkie Pies aired, reviving it in the form of some very hilarious comics! A simple "What if?" turned into something crazy. Like it or not, it deserves respect.

 

2. Octavia's name. The Earth pony wasn't featured much, but she gained massive popularity, and a user decided to give her the name of "Octavia." It stuck. In fact, it gained momentum to the point where it became the defacto fanon name for her. Trading cards soon made her name official. She and Vinyl are two very popular background characters.

 

3. The fanon relationship between Derpy and Dinky (each of whom share a near-similar color scheme). Because of their near-color scheme, Dinky's name was born followed by the idea of Dinky being Derpy's daughter, whether it's born or adopted. A crazy idea that doesn't make concrete sense at this point, but when you have a crazy idea, you can make something good out of it. This resulted in many great pieces of work out there featuring Derpy as a bubbly, yet caring (surrogate) mother.

 

4. Controversy notwithstanding, Derpy herself! The accidental error in the series premiere resulted in her name. And then when the brony fandom grew, so did the idea of a clumsy, yet lovable wall-eyed pegasus. Ideas of her possible character grew to make her likeable, cute, yet keep her eyes derped. As potential for a fanon personality grew, her popularity grew. We see that in all the creativity out there: fan-animations, fanart, fanfic, plushies. The staff caught on and began placing her in obscure places where people can spot her. This all came together with Derpy getting a speaking role in the story. Fanon (and fandom, I'll add) gave her life. Even today following the controversy, she's still very popular, with her getting an official and exclusive Comic-Con toy that sold out within minutes and one of the first Hot Topic vinyl models to be introduced (and subsequently sold out because of her high demand). All because of fanon ideas. Without fanon and fandom, Derpy wouldn't be such a big character.

 

And fanon that I haven't even mentioned has been given life by the bronies. When you get a universe this open, you're bound to get fanon and canon intertwined, whether it's the names, personalities, backgrounds, and so on. There's been a lot of great work as a result of these fanonical what-ifs, and they're still growing. Liking or disliking a fanon idea doesn't give you any excuse to bash it. You show severe disrespect to the brony art (fanfic included) and the brony fandom itself when you bash fanon. And, yes, fanon-bashing means you're disrespecting your very own brony work.

 

Hmm... I'm sorry that you're too blind to see my point, pretty much like the regular brony is.

 

You see, I don't bash the fandom as one. I bash the part of the fandom I dislike. My bashing towards 'that' side of the fandom is no different from the ones who bash on cloppers, gore, or even 4chan's /mlp/. Basically, in order to make your point valid, we shouldn't bash ANY part of the fandom, which sadly, doesn't apply to many, many people who are hypocrites and turn their backs on certain parts of the fandom.

 

I do realize the things this fandom has done, and I'm well aware of all the 'good deeds', but your point is only highlighting that and placing it as 'the whole fandom'. What about the trolls in /mlp/ who enjoy to harass bronies? Like it or not, they're part of the fandom as well. Does it mean that if I bash on them I'm disrespecting the show? Many bronies bash on 4chan, even though it was the site that created this fandom in the first place. I guess they aren't real fans either, huh?

 

You miss my point of why I dislike a certain part of the fandom. The part of the fandom that takes the 'Love & Tolerance' motto seriously. The "Hi, everypony! Brohoof! /)" kind of bronies. I hate the term brony for what it has become, thanks to those people, in fact. People who think EVERYONE who watches the show is a brony and likes to be called as such are way too blind to see this. People who are so deep in their pony world that became the common rabid brony.

 

And about the fanon, your logic fails again. If I say: "Lyra-human is shit" does that mean I'm automatically not a MLP fan? For me, it's stupid and unfunny, yet we have to respect it because it's the fandom's "creativity". What about Scootabuse, then? What if we bash it? Are we not MLP fans, then? Or bashing Molestia? Again, your points only highlight the "good" side of the fanon, while leaving the "bad" stuff behind. I appreciate some of what the fanon has to offer, but not everyone is going to enjoy everything. If I'm not a true MLP fan for bashing Lyra-human thing, then neither is one who bashes Molestia.

 

I'm surprised you bothered to write such lengthy amounts of text just because you can't deal with the fact that I'm not a "lel luv 'n tolerate" brony. I dislike them for their actions and for what they represent. No wonder why this fandom tends to be hated. I'm not stereotyping the fandom, but based on what I've seen so far in plenty of sites and chatrooms, it only enforces my reasons to dislike it. The text you quoted from another thread says that we shouldn't bash each other. Dude, wake up, we bash each other EVERY SINGLE DAY. Let it be the common bronies, rabid ones, cloppers, 4channers.

 

Sadly, as I said before, you've been blinded too much to understand my points and my despise towards the term 'brony'

 

If I had to do a TL;DR version of your post, it would be: "If you bash ANY part of the fandom or fanon, then you're not a real MLP fan." Well, too bad that's invalid.

Edited November 26, 2012 by DeiStar

[Yellow Diamond 7,564]

Folks, let's be respectful when disagreeing with one another. Even when opinions do not coalesce, it is not an excuse to be snide.

[Silverjacketcolt 68]

The fact is that people misunderstand that motto. You're supposed to Love and Tolerate your fellow man. That doesn't mean you have to Love and Tolerate the actions of said men. Trying to understand why they perform violent acts is the first step the shining a mirror on them so they can recognize that what they're doing isn't right. Forgiveness, and more importantly empathy can be your best weapons. They WANT you to hate THEM, but if you only hate their actions and still tolerate them, you will eventually win.

 

The key is knowing when to tell them it was wrong, and how to do it. Every situation is different, so I can't post some magical cheat-sheet saying how to handle each one. If you are dealt an injustice, take a moment to collect yourself, then attack the action, not the attacker. Make them see that while, what they're doing is wrong, stupid and pointless, you will not waver from your morals. You will forgive them, and in some cases still love them as you would any member of our species. By attacking the actions and not the people, the people whom are the engines of the violence and hatred lose what fuels that very evil that drives the compulsion to spread misery.

 

Fact is, we're all the same in many ways, and in many others we are different. We focus so much on the differences to create a sense of individuality that we neglect the sense of the collective WE. If we're to survive, we'll need to become more extroverted and embracing as a society and thus accepting of the differences of others. We need to teach, not with retaliation, but with actions of our own.

[Guest]

 

Hmm... I'm sorry that you're too blind to see my point, pretty much like the regular brony is.

 

You see, I don't bash the fandom as one. I bash the part of the fandom I dislike. My bashing towards 'that' side of the fandom is no different from the ones who bash on cloppers, gore, or even 4chan's /mlp/. Basically, in order to make your point valid, we shouldn't bash ANY part of the fandom, which sadly, doesn't apply to many, many people who are hypocrites and turn their backs on certain parts of the fandom.

 

I do realize the things this fandom has done, and I'm well aware of all the 'good deeds', but your point is only highlighting that and placing it as 'the whole fandom'. What about the trolls in /mlp/ who enjoy to harass bronies? Like it or not, they're part of the fandom as well. Does it mean that if I bash on them I'm disrespecting the show? Many bronies bash on 4chan, even though it was the site that created this fandom in the first place. I guess they aren't real fans either, huh?

 

You miss my point of why I dislike a certain part of the fandom. The part of the fandom that takes the 'Love & Tolerance' motto seriously. The "Hi, everypony! Brohoof! /)" kind of bronies. I hate the term brony for what it has become, thanks to those people, in fact. People who think EVERYONE who watches the show is a brony and likes to be called as such are way too blind to see this. People who are so deep in their pony world that became the common rabid brony.

 

And about the fanon, your logic fails again. If I say: "Lyra-human is shit" does that mean I'm automatically not a MLP fan? For me, it's stupid and unfunny, yet we have to respect it because it's the fandom's "creativity". What about Scootabuse, then? What if we bash it? Are we not MLP fans, then? Or bashing Molestia? Again, your points only highlight the "good" side of the fanon, while leaving the "bad" stuff behind. I appreciate some of what the fanon has to offer, but not everyone is going to enjoy everything. If I'm not a true MLP fan for bashing Lyra-human thing, then neither is one who bashes Molestia.

 

I'm surprised you bothered to write such lengthy amounts of text just because you can't deal with the fact that I'm not a "lel luv 'n tolerate" brony. I dislike them for their actions and for what they represent. No wonder why this fandom tends to be hated. I'm not stereotyping the fandom, but based on what I've seen so far in plenty of sites and chatrooms, it only enforces my reasons to dislike it. The text you quoted from another thread says that we shouldn't bash each other. Dude, wake up, we bash each other EVERY SINGLE DAY. Let it be the common bronies, rabid ones, cloppers, 4channers.

 

Sadly, as I said before, you've been blinded too much to understand my points and my despise towards the term 'brony'

 

If I had to do a TL;DR version of your post, it would be: "If you bash ANY part of the fandom or fanon, then you're not a real MLP fan." Well, too bad that's invalid.

 

 

I agree with you that you can dislike parts of the fandom and still be a brony but your view on bronies confuses me. Why is the "Hi, everypony! Brohoof! /)" kind of brony a "bad" brony? To me such a brony would just seem friendly.

 

I also don't understand why you dislike the term brony "for what it has become". What has bronies become? Has the definition changed? Better question, what is the definition of a brony?

 

Well in my book at least, a brony is a fan of My Little Pony:Friendship is Magic. No more, no less and I don't care about the persons attitude towards parts of the fandom, or attitude towards the term brony itself. A brony is a brony regardless of opinons about parts of the fandom.

So I don't get why you would dislike the term "brony". It's such a wide term about a giant fandom. Saying that the "rabid bronies" have changed the term seems weird to me, as I think the rabid bronies are a minority. Besides, that part of the fandom shouldn't change your view on the rest of the brony fandom.