Stupid crap that people say when you tell them what a Brony is.

[Akemi Homura 7,680]

"I don't know you anymore." was the response I got when I said "dude you really F***ing need to watch the first episodes of season 2, theyre amazing" then I said "I'm just kidding man, I had to watch it with my little brother"

 

One does not simply watch FIM with their little brother and not thoroughly enjoy it.

 

My sister is around 11 years old. She laughed at me when I told her I watched FiM. She said that the My Little Pony she used to watch on DVD and VHS looked better than it.

 

> ?

 

...nope. My sis is insane.

 

I can't believe I actually read that.

[FIMChangedmylife72 58]

He, it all the depends on how you do it.

 

I for example, casually told my friends I watched my little pony the day after I did it for the first time, when I still wasn't a brony. And most of them knew that the internet was full of them ans werent surprised. One of them even said he liked them, but it sounds more like he likes the memes but has never watched the show. Thats for the ones who do use the internet.

 

For those who dont it was even funnier. One of my friends who is really cool (Listen to this, he is a typical sports jock who talks about women and sports all day, but he also proudly listens to romantic stuff that other people call gay music. I mean, he even listens justin bieber! And also I've got another friend who is also similar, but he might be even more girly overall, so its not that weird) said he had watched the show on tv with his little sister and liked it, and the other one said that too!

 

And I even mentioned pinkie pie and some guy who I had never ever expected to know about it inmeaditly reacted!

 

Internetzy stuff tend to hit really hard in Chile, and I'm quite happy with it

 

He, it all the depends on how you do it.

 

I for example, casually told my friends I watched my little pony the day after I did it for the first time, when I still wasn't a brony. And most of them knew that the internet was full of them ans werent surprised. One of them even said he liked them, but it sounds more like he likes the memes but has never watched the show. Thats for the ones who do use the internet.

 

For those who dont it was even funnier. One of my friends who is really cool (Listen to this, he is a typical sports jock who talks about women and sports all day, but he also proudly listens to romantic stuff that other people call gay music. I mean, he even listens justin bieber! And also I've got another friend who is also similar, but he might be even more girly overall, so its not that weird) said he had watched the show on tv with his little sister and liked it, and the other one said that too!

 

And I even mentioned pinkie pie and some guy who I had never ever expected to know about it inmeaditly reacted!

 

Internetzy stuff tend to hit really hard in Chile, and I'm quite happy with it

 

Neat. I just found another Brony in my school!!! I am happy.

 

My sister is around 11 years old. She laughed at me when I told her I watched FiM. She said that the My Little Pony she used to watch on DVD and VHS looked better than it.

 

> ?

 

...nope. My sis is insane.

 

My sister is around 11 years old. She laughed at me when I told her I watched FiM. She said that the My Little Pony she used to watch on DVD and VHS looked better than it.

 

> ?

 

...nope. My sis is insane.

 

Ouch. G3s are known to be the worsts things ever made. But hey, its her opinion.

[LMW-YBC 102]

I told my whole English class that I watched MLP. Only one of them *facepalm'd* and the rest were pretty formal about it.

 

I do have 1 friend who is a brony too, who is pretty confident but never tells anyone about his like for MLP. This bugs me a bit as a brony is supposed to be open-minded about the show and should love and tolerate, no matter the reaction. He does however sing the songs like Winter Wrap Up with me.

[Queen Cassie 3,057]

There was massive controversy regarding MLP over on an alternate history forum I go on. Fortunately the Admin is actually reasonable and has repeatedly stated that the MLP fandom is not to be given any special treatment (which basically means haters who can't keep it to themselves get kicked or banned quite quickly). The neigh-sayers over there are all absolutely ridiculous, stating that it's "weird" for grown men to be watching a "show for little girls", and complaining that the Pony Thread should be locked and deleted because of how much trouble it's caused (which is absolutely ridiculous, because all the trouble has been caused by the people attacking MLP).

 

One of them even PMed me and said that he hated the fandom because it had introduced him to the concept of MLP pornography. My response essentially amounted to "There's porn of everything. Welcome to the Internet.".

 

To add to this story, since I am a member of this same forum: the type of users that were banned over this controversy were not your typical forum goers. These were not people around for a few months or who never contributed. We're talking about some of the most respected members of this forum, people who have been there for years, considered authorities on their chosen subjects of history, having written massive timelines and other alternate history material.

 

Then they start attacking the fans of the show on that forum. One in particular, whom I shall not name but whom Krall will be able to figure out whom I'm talking about, would go so far as to constantly report various posts in the one pony thread we have on the forum. He'd also overreact to the extreme about anything involving MLP anywhere else on the forum. For example, there was a comic thread with some two hundred and thirty odd pages that had maybe one MLP comic posted within, and he started ranting about how MLP comics were taking over the entire thread and how everyone involved should be banned. He also specifically got at least one Victoria II AAR that involved a pony-based mod thrown into the abyss of a subforum where it would never be seen or read, when it was completely inappropriate for it to be in that part of the forum especially since all other AARs had always been in the much more respectable section where maps and other alternate history works were talked about.

 

The controversy, which has been named the Pony Wars, has gotten more members banned than Holy Hand Grenade level internet subjects such as Israel/Palestine, or Armenia. Even a highly respected moderator who had been around for the entire time the forum has existed--almost ten years--was removed from his position as a result of the controversy, due to a private PM to another mod where he spoke in anger about deleting aspects of the forum, something that an ex moderator had done a few years previously, almost wrecking the entire forum as a result. Granted, this moderator has stated he was planning on stepping down anyway due to no longer being able to handle the stress of moderatorship, but still...ponies have been more volatile than the worst of internet subjects, on a forum where so many subjects banned on most other forums are regularly debated in a civil fashion.

[Envoy-in-exile 101]

To add to this story, since I am a member of this same forum: the type of users that were banned over this controversy were not your typical forum goers. These were not people around for a few months or who never contributed. We're talking about some of the most respected members of this forum, people who have been there for years, considered authorities on their chosen subjects of history, having written massive timelines and other alternate history material.

 

Then they start attacking the fans of the show on that forum. One in particular, whom I shall not name but whom Krall will be able to figure out whom I'm talking about, would go so far as to constantly report various posts in the one pony thread we have on the forum. He'd also overreact to the extreme about anything involving MLP anywhere else on the forum. For example, there was a comic thread with some two hundred and thirty odd pages that had maybe one MLP comic posted within, and he started ranting about how MLP comics were taking over the entire thread and how everyone involved should be banned. He also specifically got at least one Victoria II AAR that involved a pony-based mod thrown into the abyss of a subforum where it would never be seen or read, when it was completely inappropriate for it to be in that part of the forum especially since all other AARs had always been in the much more respectable section where maps and other alternate history works were talked about.

 

The controversy, which has been named the Pony Wars, has gotten more members banned than Holy Hand Grenade level internet subjects such as Israel/Palestine, or Armenia. Even a highly respected moderator who had been around for the entire time the forum has existed--almost ten years--was removed from his position as a result of the controversy, due to a private PM to another mod where he spoke in anger about deleting aspects of the forum, something that an ex moderator had done a few years previously, almost wrecking the entire forum as a result. Granted, this moderator has stated he was planning on stepping down anyway due to no longer being able to handle the stress of moderatorship, but still...ponies have been more volatile than the worst of internet subjects, on a forum where so many subjects banned on most other forums are regularly debated in a civil fashion.

 

I'm frankly quite surprised to hear that. On another forums which I am a member of, which has a reputation of being a nest of trolls and where threads which bore or run contrary to mass opinion is derailed and trolled to death, or simply closed by the mod; a MLP thread has not only survived for more than half a year, it has never been trolled seriously or derailed. And the mod is no brony.

 

I also find it funny that 4chan /b/, which is for random images anyway, had a Pony War. What is up with ponies that change established behavior?

[Queen Cassie 3,057]

I'm frankly quite surprised to hear that. On another forums which I am a member of, which has a reputation of being a nest of trolls and where threads which bore or run contrary to mass opinion is derailed and trolled to death, or simply closed by the mod; a MLP thread has not only survived for more than half a year, it has never been trolled seriously or derailed. And the mod is no brony.

 

I also find it funny that 4chan /b/, which is for random images anyway, had a Pony War. What is up with ponies that change established behavior?

*snip image*

 

As speculated upon by the administrator of that alternate history forum, it probably has a lot to do with how Friendship is Magic challenges traditional gender stereotypes. Let's face it: society is incredibly sexist. Gender stereotypes are buried everywhere, from various cultural assumptions about career choices, about the nature of entertainment, to our very language where references to male and female anatomy are even used to describe courage and cowardice respectively, among other things.

 

Friendship is Magic challenges these assumptions because it subverts the very nature of girl's entertainment. instead of being full of frou-frou nonsensical garbage the likes of which few females of any age would actually enjoy, it is ridden with complex three dimensional characters, high quality writing, excellent animation, superb story-making and song writing, and an overall wonderful cast and crew. It spits in the face of those who say that girl's entertainment cannot ever be good while simultaneously enrapturing a massive audience on the level of Star Trek or Star Wars fans. It created a community where a fansite can get over one hundred million views in less than a year, where huge amounts of art, music, fanfiction, and other fan works are created every day.

 

At the same time Friendship is Magic has also garnered extreme amounts of hatred from all kinds of different, unusual sources. People who normally espouse beliefs akin to the phrase "love and tolerance" turn into frothing madpeople over the subject, raging away their utter loathing for the show despite the fact that in doing so they betray the very principles they claim to stand for. Of course it has also gained plenty of dislike from the camps you'd expect to see it from, such as chauvanistic blowhards or religious fundamentalists.

 

You add to that the nature of the fandom, the fact that it has grown so massive and is so vocal, even swaying the creators of the show to not only turn a two second animation error into a cameo Where's Waldo character but to then grant that character a voice as well as the name bestowed upon the character by that fandom, and it's only natural you would have significant opposition. The more controversial aspects of the fandom, such as the Rule 34 community, from respected artists such as John Joseco, Slugbox, and Megasweet, to all the clop fic writers, as well as the grimdark content of fics like Cupcakes, Rainbow Factory, and Sweet Apple Massacre, give fuel to those who hate it, allowing them to tar the entire fandom with a brush that paints us all as the very worst aspects. To hear some of them you'd think we were all masturbating twenty-four/seven to Molestia atop a pile of pony corpses.

 

I've heard a lot of confusing things from those who hate the show, though almost none of it has been directed at me specfically. Whether it's the more typical accusations of homosexuality--an insult that makes no sense because it is ridden with stereotypes of its own accord, including the stupid notion that being a homosexual is somehow bad--to all kinds of explanations about how pony fans are all either mentally unstable or outright paedophilic. There have also been plenty who've just expressed a complete inability to understand why a male might desire to watch the show in the first place, because they're trapped in their own web of gender stereotypes and cultural idiocy. And, as I said, I've heard hatred even from those who espouse tolerance, who claim to buck gender stereotypes and treat the genders equally, and while the words are often different, the meaning almost invariably comes down to them being unable to live up to what they claim to believe.

 

In short, the subject is so controversial because it stands as an example of why so many of our cultural stereotypes are outright wrong, and plenty of people don't like that fact.

[Envoy-in-exile 101]

As speculated upon by the administrator of that alternate history forum, it probably has a lot to do with how Friendship is Magic challenges traditional gender stereotypes. Let's face it: society is incredibly sexist. Gender stereotypes are buried everywhere, from various cultural assumptions about career choices, about the nature of entertainment, to our very language where references to male and female anatomy are even used to describe courage and cowardice respectively, among other things.

 

Friendship is Magic challenges these assumptions because it subverts the very nature of girl's entertainment. instead of being full of frou-frou nonsensical garbage the likes of which few females of any age would actually enjoy, it is ridden with complex three dimensional characters, high quality writing, excellent animation, superb story-making and song writing, and an overall wonderful cast and crew. It spits in the face of those who say that girl's entertainment cannot ever be good while simultaneously enrapturing a massive audience on the level of Star Trek or Star Wars fans. It created a community where a fansite can get over one hundred million views in less than a year, where huge amounts of art, music, fanfiction, and other fan works are created every day.

 

At the same time Friendship is Magic has also garnered extreme amounts of hatred from all kinds of different, unusual sources. People who normally espouse beliefs akin to the phrase "love and tolerance" turn into frothing madpeople over the subject, raging away their utter loathing for the show despite the fact that in doing so they betray the very principles they claim to stand for. Of course it has also gained plenty of dislike from the camps you'd expect to see it from, such as chauvanistic blowhards or religious fundamentalists.

 

You add to that the nature of the fandom, the fact that it has grown so massive and is so vocal, even swaying the creators of the show to not only turn a two second animation error into a cameo Where's Waldo character but to then grant that character a voice as well as the name bestowed upon the character by that fandom, and it's only natural you would have significant opposition. The more controversial aspects of the fandom, such as the Rule 34 community, from respected artists such as John Joseco, Slugbox, and Megasweet, to all the clop fic writers, as well as the grimdark content of fics like Cupcakes, Rainbow Factory, and Sweet Apple Massacre, give fuel to those who hate it, allowing them to tar the entire fandom with a brush that paints us all as the very worst aspects. To hear some of them you'd think we were all masturbating twenty-four/seven to Molestia atop a pile of pony corpses.

 

I've heard a lot of confusing things from those who hate the show, though almost none of it has been directed at me specfically. Whether it's the more typical accusations of homosexuality--an insult that makes no sense because it is ridden with stereotypes of its own accord, including the stupid notion that being a homosexual is somehow bad--to all kinds of explanations about how pony fans are all either mentally unstable or outright paedophilic. There have also been plenty who've just expressed a complete inability to understand why a male might desire to watch the show in the first place, because they're trapped in their own web of gender stereotypes and cultural idiocy. And, as I said, I've heard hatred even from those who espouse tolerance, who claim to buck gender stereotypes and treat the genders equally, and while the words are often different, the meaning almost invariably comes down to them being unable to live up to what they claim to believe.

 

In short, the subject is so controversial because it stands as an example of why so many of our cultural stereotypes are outright wrong, and plenty of people don't like that fact.

 

You answered two of my questions with one answer - why it was tolerated on my forums and not elsewhere

In the case of my old forums, it was very tolerant towards sexual fetishes of all sorts (I won't elaborate on what sort here) and societal deviants, making it a "haven for deviants and outcasts", at least in its early days. The popular love for traps and l***s there may have well allowed the community to transcend gender and age boundaries which are so commonly enforced by societal norms. Plus the fact that it was anime-oriented. Ponies, I guess, would just be another deviation (yes, there was some pony porn posted there, but that doesn't dominate the thread). Surprisingly on a place where cynicism dominates and flamewars flare, nobody has asked bronies to leave or complained.

What I still don't understand is the Pony War on 4chan, because it is reputedly supposed to be very similar in nature (although I've never been a part of 4chan, so I wouldn't be able to confirm that).

[Queen Cassie 3,057]

You answered two of my questions with one answer - why it was tolerated on my forums and not elsewhere

In the case of my old forums, it was very tolerant towards sexual fetishes of all sorts (I won't elaborate on what sort here) and societal deviants, making it a "haven for deviants and outcasts", at least in its early days. The popular love for traps and l***s there may have well allowed the community to transcend gender and age boundaries which are so commonly enforced by societal norms. Plus the fact that it was anime-oriented. Ponies, I guess, would just be another deviation (yes, there was some pony porn posted there, but that doesn't dominate the thread). Surprisingly on a place where cynicism dominates and flamewars flare, nobody has asked bronies to leave or complained.

What I still don't understand is the Pony War on 4chan, because it is reputedly supposed to be very similar in nature (although I've never been a part of 4chan, so I wouldn't be able to confirm that).

 

Well in truth I was really only trying to answer the only actual question I saw in that post, that being "What is up with ponies that changes established behavior?"

 

Still, to answer your other question, why your old forum was an exception whereas 4chan wasn't, I can't say. I was never a member of your old forum nor would I ever willingly look at 4chan, so the specific factors of why one place might have a war while another place might stay far more tolerant than you might expect elude me. I can only speak from my own experience and in generalties based on what I've seen.

 

I guess it just depends.

[Shankveld 4,949]

I've gotten "Aren't only paedophiles, bronies?" ~

[Champion RD92 8,658]

I've gotten "Aren't only paedophiles, bronies?" ~

 

Really? -__-

[Shankveld 4,949]

Really? -__-

 

Yes it was the biggest facehoof o.o ~

[Eenohay 318]

Really? -__-

 

There's a huge amount of r34 in the fanbase. r34 wich is about ponies from a show meant for little girls, sooo...

[Krall 263]

As speculated upon by the administrator of that alternate history forum, it probably has a lot to do with how Friendship is Magic challenges traditional gender stereotypes. Let's face it: society is incredibly sexist. Gender stereotypes are buried everywhere, from various cultural assumptions about career choices, about the nature of entertainment, to our very language where references to male and female anatomy are even used to describe courage and cowardice respectively, among other things.

 

Friendship is Magic challenges these assumptions because it subverts the very nature of girl's entertainment. instead of being full of frou-frou nonsensical garbage the likes of which few females of any age would actually enjoy, it is ridden with complex three dimensional characters, high quality writing, excellent animation, superb story-making and song writing, and an overall wonderful cast and crew. It spits in the face of those who say that girl's entertainment cannot ever be good while simultaneously enrapturing a massive audience on the level of Star Trek or Star Wars fans. It created a community where a fansite can get over one hundred million views in less than a year, where huge amounts of art, music, fanfiction, and other fan works are created every day.

 

At the same time Friendship is Magic has also garnered extreme amounts of hatred from all kinds of different, unusual sources. People who normally espouse beliefs akin to the phrase "love and tolerance" turn into frothing madpeople over the subject, raging away their utter loathing for the show despite the fact that in doing so they betray the very principles they claim to stand for. Of course it has also gained plenty of dislike from the camps you'd expect to see it from, such as chauvanistic blowhards or religious fundamentalists.

 

You add to that the nature of the fandom, the fact that it has grown so massive and is so vocal, even swaying the creators of the show to not only turn a two second animation error into a cameo Where's Waldo character but to then grant that character a voice as well as the name bestowed upon the character by that fandom, and it's only natural you would have significant opposition. The more controversial aspects of the fandom, such as the Rule 34 community, from respected artists such as John Joseco, Slugbox, and Megasweet, to all the clop fic writers, as well as the grimdark content of fics like Cupcakes, Rainbow Factory, and Sweet Apple Massacre, give fuel to those who hate it, allowing them to tar the entire fandom with a brush that paints us all as the very worst aspects. To hear some of them you'd think we were all masturbating twenty-four/seven to Molestia atop a pile of pony corpses.

 

I've heard a lot of confusing things from those who hate the show, though almost none of it has been directed at me specfically. Whether it's the more typical accusations of homosexuality--an insult that makes no sense because it is ridden with stereotypes of its own accord, including the stupid notion that being a homosexual is somehow bad--to all kinds of explanations about how pony fans are all either mentally unstable or outright paedophilic. There have also been plenty who've just expressed a complete inability to understand why a male might desire to watch the show in the first place, because they're trapped in their own web of gender stereotypes and cultural idiocy. And, as I said, I've heard hatred even from those who espouse tolerance, who claim to buck gender stereotypes and treat the genders equally, and while the words are often different, the meaning almost invariably comes down to them being unable to live up to what they claim to believe.

 

In short, the subject is so controversial because it stands as an example of why so many of our cultural stereotypes are outright wrong, and plenty of people don't like that fact.

 

I felt that this needed some applause.

 

[ScarletDagger 88]

The last person I told what a bring was. His reply: Oh is that the name for pony fetishes.?? I just told him it's a person who likes mlp and he asks me a question about what a bring Is again.

 

Replace bring with brony. My keyboard sucks

[Envoy-in-exile 101]

Well in truth I was really only trying to answer the only actual question I saw in that post, that being "What is up with ponies that changes established behavior?"

 

And a great answer it was indeed, sir.

 

 

I've gotten "Aren't only paedophiles, bronies?" ~

 

I don't know where people get the idea that liking stuff meant for children, means you're sexually attracted to kids.

 

My online friends that I have divulged this to so far are either OK even though they don't like it, or are bronies themselves. I won't share that I'm a brony offline (see no need to), but to be honest I don't share a lot of stuff with people I know offline anyways.

[Queen Cassie 3,057]

I felt that this needed some applause.

 

*snip image*

 

And a great answer it was indeed, sir.

Thank you...I try.

 

 

 

I don't know where people get the idea that liking stuff meant for children, means you're sexually attracted to kids.

 

My online friends that I have divulged this to so far are either OK even though they don't like it, or are bronies themselves. I won't share that I'm a brony offline (see no need to), but to be honest I don't share a lot of stuff with people I know offline anyways.

 

Again, it's an easy brush to tar with...I doubt that many of those who say things like "all pony fans are paedophiles" truly believe what they're saying. Those few that do would look at it from a rather warped perspective, where in their mind you would say you like the entertainment, but you're really using it as an excuse to get closer to kids. Essentially a "there's candy in my van" kind of approach, is how they're seeing it as.

 

That is, of course, one of the most absurd things possible, but there are those whose perspectives will lead them to believe that. Fortunately, as I said, I doubt there are all that many who are that naive.

[5guysburgersnfries 216]

I express it through art, I draw ponies at school and I've had a lot of people say "OHMYGOSH!MYLITTLEPONY!" my school is riddled with bronies, it's my family that doesn't accept it

[Arrow 236]

I express it through art, I draw ponies at school and I've had a lot of people say "OHMYGOSH!MYLITTLEPONY! " my school is riddled with bronies, it's my family that doesn't accept it

 

Heh, I drew Trixie at my art class once, I got an A+ for it :3

 

One guy drew a sun. Yeah, a sun.

[Strafe 594]

Heh, I drew Trixie at my art class once, I got an A+ for it :3

 

One guy drew a sun. Yeah, a sun.

 

He wasn't drawing a sun, he was drawing Celestia's cutie mark.

[Arrow 236]

He wasn't drawing a sun, he was drawing Celestia's cutie mark.

 

Maybe, but it was more like this

[Shadow Stallion 436]

Quote from the guy who introduced me to the show:

 

"When you're watching My Little Pony, you don't look at it as a little girl's show. You don't watch it and say, 'I'm watching a show for little girls'. You look beyond that; you look into what the show is really about, and you can relate to any of the characters. There's a character for anyone's personality. That's what makes this show amazing. That's why bronies watch this show. Not because it's for little girls, but for what the show actually has in it. We don't judge a book by it's cover."

Edited February 21, 2012 by Shadow Stallion

[Key Gear 6,663]

People who normally espouse beliefs akin to the phrase "love and tolerance" turn into frothing madpeople over the subject, raging away their utter loathing for the show despite the fact that in doing so they betray the very principles they claim to stand for. Of course it has also gained plenty of dislike from the camps you'd expect to see it from, such as chauvanistic blowhards or religious fundamentalists.

 

In short, the subject is so controversial because it stands as an example of why so many of our cultural stereotypes are outright wrong, and plenty of people don't like that fact.

I have to thank you for writing this post. In just a handful of well-written paragraphs, you build a fantastic explanation for why being a brony is so strangely controversial. (I hope you don't mind if I keep a copy of it around to quote to people - with proper citation - on occasion.)

 

Actually, when I was reading your post I started to think, so I greatly apologize for the following rant. The next few paragraphs are probably going to be fairly dry and boring. I probably shouldn't even post this here, but I have been trying to wrap my head around the "brony controversy" for so long. Well, I tend to over-think things, so it was really starting to drive me up a wall.

 

I agree with you that gender stereotypes are a contributing factor to why so many people have such strong reactions against being a brony. However, I also think that there also be something slightly more primitive at work. My reason for thinking this is that I have seen reactions against bronies that come from quite a few angles.

 

When I introduced my sister to the show, she liked it, but when she attempted to introduce her female friends to the show, some of them had a surprisingly visceral negative reaction. To them, it was insulting to suggest watching a show for "little girls". I have heard of other female bronies having a similarly cold reception. And so now we have some type of agism being a reason for disliking the show....

 

And then there was this:

 

I also find it funny that 4chan /b/, which is for random images anyway, had a Pony War. What is up with ponies that change established behavior?

 

Yes, that is something that I have often wondered about. Why was it the case that ponies became so controversial in a place where social deviance and general anarchy are, seemingly, everyday things? It just doesn't seem to make any sense, and the more I thought about it the less sense it made.

 

But then I thought about something. What if it wasn't necessarily about sexism or doing something out of the ordinary? In other words, what if it was about these things but at the same time was about something broader? Something that is fundamental to human nature that encompasses all of the myriad of reasons why bronies are attacked. What if it was about tribes? What if it was about "the other"?

 

In philosophy, the "other" is a concept that refers to anything that is in opposition to the "same", and the "same" is a concept that refers to the traits that people use to identify themselves. These traits are not physical traits, but descriptive traits that a person derives from their gender, heritage, or culture.

 

If we think of people as being members of different tribes, then the "other" is anything that is completely foreign to your tribal identity. Just as an example, if someone identifies themselves as being from the "Green" tribe then anything from the "Purple" tribe is automatically bad. To a member of the "Green" tribe, the "Purple" tribe is the other.

 

I think that when we self-identify as bronies, we become "the other". This means that people that have very strong "tribal identities" will make the assumption that we are opposed to their core values, and they will see us as something that should be attacked. This is when they reach for anything and everything that they have to demonize us.

 

The reason that we become "the other" is simply that they have no knowledge of what we actually are. The word "brony" didn't even exist before Friendship is Magic. To people who hear it or see it for the first time, it is a completely foreign term. This is where the tribal identities kick in. If someone very strongly identifies with a group that has a well-defined way of thinking, then it is not worth the risk to their self-identity to even consider that bronies could be people *like them*.

 

I don't think that this theory explains everything, but I do think that some of this does play a role in the reflex reactions against bronies that I have seen from so many different sources.

 

If we were known as "fans of MLP that are outside of the target demographic", then I do not think that there would be so much negativity out there. But, I also think that it is an unavoidable tradeoff.

 

If we didn't call ourselves bronies, then we would have had to call ourselves something else, and we would have had the same problem. We are a real group and there is a cohesive, identifiable thread that pulls us all together. I think that this may scare some people, but I think that this also allows an amazing amount of creativity and other positive things to flourish.

 

Oh man.... This is way longer than I originally intended...... Well, if anyone actually reads this far, I hope my rant made some kind of sense.

[SailorCardKnight 85]

Being female, when I told my mom about how much I loved the series and about bronies (actually, I worded it as the new MLP series having "a large following of adult men on the internet") she found the whole thought of grown men watching a little girls show really weird, and knowing her, i'm sure the first thing that popped into her mind was bronies where creepy pervs.

She asked why and I told her that the new MLP series is a quality well written show that appeals to everyone, and bronies are not all weirdos and are normal guys who just happen to like MLP. Shes probably still very weary about it, as she knows my love of the show and its strange following now, she constantly preached to me about internet predators all the time when I was a kid afteral. Shes most likely worried about my safety now.

 

She has yet to see it herself, but knowing her i'm sure she'll love it. Its just a matter of getting her to sit down and watch it (she rarely watches TV anymore these days). I also found out recently I get the Hub so it will be easier to get her to do it. Now its just a matter of figuring out which episodes would be the best to introduce her to. I'm also sure she'll warm up to the whole concept of bronies within time the more she learns about them...I just hope she doesn't stumble upon the negative side of the community before I have a chance to show her its good side.

Edited February 21, 2012 by SailorCardKnight

[Discolt 53]

As speculated upon by the administrator of that alternate history forum, it probably has a lot to do with how Friendship is Magic challenges traditional gender stereotypes. Let's face it: society is incredibly sexist. Gender stereotypes are buried everywhere, from various cultural assumptions about career choices, about the nature of entertainment, to our very language where references to male and female anatomy are even used to describe courage and cowardice respectively, among other things.

 

Friendship is Magic challenges these assumptions because it subverts the very nature of girl's entertainment. instead of being full of frou-frou nonsensical garbage the likes of which few females of any age would actually enjoy, it is ridden with complex three dimensional characters, high quality writing, excellent animation, superb story-making and song writing, and an overall wonderful cast and crew. It spits in the face of those who say that girl's entertainment cannot ever be good while simultaneously enrapturing a massive audience on the level of Star Trek or Star Wars fans. It created a community where a fansite can get over one hundred million views in less than a year, where huge amounts of art, music, fanfiction, and other fan works are created every day.

 

At the same time Friendship is Magic has also garnered extreme amounts of hatred from all kinds of different, unusual sources. People who normally espouse beliefs akin to the phrase "love and tolerance" turn into frothing madpeople over the subject, raging away their utter loathing for the show despite the fact that in doing so they betray the very principles they claim to stand for. Of course it has also gained plenty of dislike from the camps you'd expect to see it from, such as chauvanistic blowhards or religious fundamentalists.

 

You add to that the nature of the fandom, the fact that it has grown so massive and is so vocal, even swaying the creators of the show to not only turn a two second animation error into a cameo Where's Waldo character but to then grant that character a voice as well as the name bestowed upon the character by that fandom, and it's only natural you would have significant opposition. The more controversial aspects of the fandom, such as the Rule 34 community, from respected artists such as John Joseco, Slugbox, and Megasweet, to all the clop fic writers, as well as the grimdark content of fics like Cupcakes, Rainbow Factory, and Sweet Apple Massacre, give fuel to those who hate it, allowing them to tar the entire fandom with a brush that paints us all as the very worst aspects. To hear some of them you'd think we were all masturbating twenty-four/seven to Molestia atop a pile of pony corpses.

 

I've heard a lot of confusing things from those who hate the show, though almost none of it has been directed at me specfically. Whether it's the more typical accusations of homosexuality--an insult that makes no sense because it is ridden with stereotypes of its own accord, including the stupid notion that being a homosexual is somehow bad--to all kinds of explanations about how pony fans are all either mentally unstable or outright paedophilic. There have also been plenty who've just expressed a complete inability to understand why a male might desire to watch the show in the first place, because they're trapped in their own web of gender stereotypes and cultural idiocy. And, as I said, I've heard hatred even from those who espouse tolerance, who claim to buck gender stereotypes and treat the genders equally, and while the words are often different, the meaning almost invariably comes down to them being unable to live up to what they claim to believe.

 

In short, the subject is so controversial because it stands as an example of why so many of our cultural stereotypes are outright wrong, and plenty of people don't like that fact.

 

There are so many things right about this post that I don't even know where to start! Gosh, why do we live in a world filled with such foolish expectations?

 

When I was younger, I used to get the same thing for watching, drawing and loving the Powerpuff Girls. Apparently after the '90's passed it became "uncool" to like that show. And now the whole hipster movement about people loving the '90's again seems to just get on my nerves...

 

MLP seems to be just like any popular phenomenon. You'll always have haters, but that doesn't mean you the series is automatically bad just because you assume it must be.

[Queen Cassie 3,057]

I have to thank you for writing this post. In just a handful of well-written paragraphs, you build a fantastic explanation for why being a brony is so strangely controversial. (I hope you don't mind if I keep a copy of it around to quote to people - with proper citation - on occasion.)

By all means! I'm honored you would choose to do so.

Actually, when I was reading your post I started to think, so I greatly apologize for the following rant. The next few paragraphs are probably going to be fairly dry and boring. I probably shouldn't even post this here, but I have been trying to wrap my head around the "brony controversy" for so long. Well, I tend to over-think things, so it was really starting to drive me up a wall.

 

I agree with you that gender stereotypes are a contributing factor to why so many people have such strong reactions against being a brony. However, I also think that there also be something slightly more primitive at work. My reason for thinking this is that I have seen reactions against bronies that come from quite a few angles.

 

When I introduced my sister to the show, she liked it, but when she attempted to introduce her female friends to the show, some of them had a surprisingly visceral negative reaction. To them, it was insulting to suggest watching a show for "little girls". I have heard of other female bronies having a similarly cold reception. And so now we have some type of agism being a reason for disliking the show....

 

And then there was this:

 

 

 

Yes, that is something that I have often wondered about. Why was it the case that ponies became so controversial in a place where social deviance and general anarchy are, seemingly, everyday things? It just doesn't seem to make any sense, and the more I thought about it the less sense it made.

 

But then I thought about something. What if it wasn't necessarily about sexism or doing something out of the ordinary? In other words, what if it was about these things but at the same time was about something broader? Something that is fundamental to human nature that encompasses all of the myriad of reasons why bronies are attacked. What if it was about tribes? What if it was about "the other"?

 

In philosophy, the "other" is a concept that refers to anything that is in opposition to the "same", and the "same" is a concept that refers to the traits that people use to identify themselves. These traits are not physical traits, but descriptive traits that a person derives from their gender, heritage, or culture.

 

If we think of people as being members of different tribes, then the "other" is anything that is completely foreign to your tribal identity. Just as an example, if someone identifies themselves as being from the "Green" tribe then anything from the "Purple" tribe is automatically bad. To a member of the "Green" tribe, the "Purple" tribe is the other.

 

I think that when we self-identify as bronies, we become "the other". This means that people that have very strong "tribal identities" will make the assumption that we are opposed to their core values, and they will see us as something that should be attacked. This is when they reach for anything and everything that they have to demonize us.

 

The reason that we become "the other" is simply that they have no knowledge of what we actually are. The word "brony" didn't even exist before Friendship is Magic. To people who hear it or see it for the first time, it is a completely foreign term. This is where the tribal identities kick in. If someone very strongly identifies with a group that has a well-defined way of thinking, then it is not worth the risk to their self-identity to even consider that bronies could be people *like them*.

 

I don't think that this theory explains everything, but I do think that some of this does play a role in the reflex reactions against bronies that I have seen from so many different sources.

 

If we were known as "fans of MLP that are outside of the target demographic", then I do not think that there would be so much negativity out there. But, I also think that it is an unavoidable tradeoff.

 

If we didn't call ourselves bronies, then we would have had to call ourselves something else, and we would have had the same problem. We are a real group and there is a cohesive, identifiable thread that pulls us all together. I think that this may scare some people, but I think that this also allows an amazing amount of creativity and other positive things to flourish.

 

Oh man.... This is way longer than I originally intended...... Well, if anyone actually reads this far, I hope my rant made some kind of sense.

 

I read the whole thing...I wish I could comment to it in detail as I am wont to do, but I'm afraid I am far too tired now to think it through properly.

 

So I shall sum up my general reaction as: I think you're definitely onto something here, that there's a significant aspect of this part of psychology involved as well. It may even explain why I so rarely receive hatred compared to others...I don't use the term brony in general. I use pony fan...that difference might be just enough. If that makes any sense.