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Does a brony have to love and tolerate every brony?


FancyPhoenix

Does a brony have to love and tolerate every brony?  

26 users have voted

  1. 1. Does a brony have to love and tolerate every brony?

    • Yes
      2
    • No
      17
    • Something else (please explain below)
      7


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(edited)

Yeah, so. I was out eating with a non-brony friend of mine, and we got into a small debate about the "love and tolerate" -aspect of bronyism. He said he didn't think it was a thing that could work. "You can't just love and tolerate everyone! Even if everyone in this world was a brony themself, you can't love them all," he said. I asked him to give me an example, to which he had actually thought of something. He asked me: "What if Markus (name changed just because...) was a brony and expected you to be his friend again just because of that reason?" That got me thinking... Now, before you can really understand the situation, I need to tell you a bit about the relationship between me and this "Markus".

 

Markus has been on my class ever since pre-school. For the first 5 years of school, he was completely invisible, to the point that I actually didn't know he was on my class until 5th grade. He was always a very small, unsociable kind of kid, and he was thought to be a bit "loco in the coco," like Pinkie would say. On 5th grade I started to notice the small mouse-like creature standing alone in the corner during recess. Next I noticed how some "tough-guys" of the class took it upon themselves to make the life of that creature as miserable as possible. I was bullied at those times too, so I decided to see if there was anything I could do to make them stop bullying him. So I stepped in, got into a fight, got detention because the teacher didn't believe I was just helping Markus out. So I decided I'd never again stick my nose into other people's business.

 

After the incident, I started seeing Markus more and more. It was almost like he was following me. After we left grade-school behind us (Finnish school system is complicated, not gonna explain it here img-1485816-1-tongue.png) I found out that he was actually really grateful of what I'd done. We became sort of friends. Sort of, because when he started spending more time with me, I started to notice that those talks about him not being completely right in the head weren't totally made up. He was a strange fellow, very clingy, sometimes even annoyingly so. He would sit right next to me in the hallway and push himself right to my side. It got to the point where people started spreading rumors about us being more than friends. That was a tag I didn't want placed upon me, because being gay was strictly looked down upon among my peers, and I was at a situation where the earlier bullying had just stopped, and I didn't want to start a new round of the same crap I had been forced to take so far. So I distanced myself a bit from him. I thought it would be okay, because he had made a few more friends by then, who he liked to hang out with. So I started to stay a bit further away, deliberately sit a few rows away from him, start less conversations with him and the stuff. Might have been bad thing for me to do, but I didn't really cut myself completely off, just left him a bit more with his other friends.

 

Either way, he took notice of that, and what happened was something I didn't expect. He made a complete 180 degree turnaround, going from friend to a bully in almost one day. At some point the bullying I had faced earlier had started again for some reason, and now he was there with them making fun of me. Needless to say, I felt betrayed. I talked to him about it, but he just made fun of me through the entire conversation. So I thought, fine, if he wants to be like that, then let him. I completely cut myself off from him. I didn't speak to him, I ignored him, I didn't even look at him. I was hurt, and I had a right to be. I still think I do. What I did when I took a little distance, did not give him the right to do what he did. After that, it just got worse, to the point where if I said something about him and he heard me and didn't like what I said, he could grab a baseball bat and start swinging it at me. It went on until the first year of high-school, when he dropped out. Haven't seen much of him afterwards, and I don't really want to...

 

So yeah, that question from my friend really got me thinking. Before, I had seen it a bit more black and white, thinking that if someone is a brony, there has to be something good, something to love and tolerate in them. Now I don't think that anymore. After all that happened between me and Markus, I don't think anything he'd do would change my mind about him. I just can't feel anything but loathing for that person anymore. Some people might think that I should just forget and forgive, but I don't think I can. And I don't think I need to. He hurt me too bad back then, he doesn't deserve my forgiveness.

 

What are your opinions on this question? Do you have someone you could never love and tolerate even if that person became a brony? Do you think being a brony is reason enough to become friends with someone who hurt you in the past?

Edited by Jamza
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(edited)

It doesn't matter whether someone's a brony or not, what matters is the kind of person they are, and whether you're compatible with them. I believe that people can change, and them being a brony may be enough to respark and begin an old and broken friendship, but past issues can still marr your opinion of them. What cartoon they like doesn't define who they are.

 

You can "love and tolerate" anyone without being a brony, but there are times that tolerating won't do anything, instead needing action and words to solve the problem. Tolerating someone doesn't mean letting them beat you with a baseball bat, or abuse you with hurtful words; it simply wouldn't do any good, for you or him. This doesn't mean that you have to be kind or hateful towards him though.

Edited by StingeMuffin
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Brony or not, I think it's good to make friends with your enemy. It's very hard but it's somewhat more doable than starting a nuclear war. I've got a so-called friend who I really can't stand. He's quite a dick sometimes but hey, live and let live. Been doing that even before MLP was popular (hipster alert). If you ask me, I don't believe in this "love and tolerate" nonsense. It's a good value but it should not be confined to MLP only. 

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Love and tolerate can mean different things to different people....how far can love go in your eyes (before it's creepy or something), how much "tolerance" do you have towards something (before you cannot stand it). 

 

We all have different world views and our individual perception on reality can really make our views on loving and tolerating something so biased to the point where we argue over "love and tolerate" itself......going that far, I think we are missing the point here when asking if we should/could/would love and tolerate everything or not...

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Well to be honest, NOTHING in this world is black or white.

 

"Hey you killed that man??"

 

"Well he was threatening to kill me and my family"

 

There will always be a loophole, which is why straight-up LAWS are hard to abide by without "exceptions". In this case, I believe that it should be a general guideline to love and tolorate all bronies, for we are all here for each other and enjoy this silly little show. However, as we all know, there are certain people out there that just don't understand what it means to be a brony in society, and take things a little too far. Or there is that one person that you can not love or tolerate for whatever reason.

 

I don't think this should be a "yes" or "no" question, but more of a use your best judgement, but try to be polite and kind to everypony 

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The fandom doesn't need to obey these rules. We have our bad people and our typical good people within the world that populate it. It's no one's job to be polite or mean. It's simply their personality and they act on their own emotions that make them.There are times where you need to be aggressive, to some people to have things happen. Some people don't have the mentality to understand when these situations come to play. I choose to be polite because I believe that's what's right.

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No, you do not have to "love and tolerate" everyone. There are people on this forum that I don't love, but tolerate. There are some I don't tolerate or love at all. But regardless, they deserve respect. "Love and tolerance" is more of a guideline, not a rule. I also don't see it as an excuse to not defend your points in debates, or to question why others are "wrong"

 

No one ever sees eye to eye, nor should you be forced to. If someone says something that isn't cool, then let them know. don't bash people though. If anything, love and tolerance means be respectful of others, even if they are different. Nothing more. Nothing less.

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Of course no. Anyone that would say yes would not be thinking straight. Sorry whoever votes that you can get cuddle and hugs if you'd like to.

 

Anyways, while the motto among bronies is to love and tolerate, you must understand that this is IF YOU CAN. As much as you can and feel is acceptable, do it. ..Well if you're the kind of person who can, shame on you others. But everyone needs to have a limit. You can't love and tolerate someone who for example killed 3 children for no reason.

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Love and tolerate? Its a little extreme to say that you have to love everyone i don't think that should be true. Tolerate yes. I may not like or respect you but I can tolerate you. By saying you have to love everyone you ignore the fact that not everyone is a nice person. Sad but that's the world we live in.

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Not really, we always don't have to love & tolerate everyone but we do show respect to them. So, we don't always have to respect the people that make us feel bad.

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Nope, I personally think that this blind love and tolerate thing is overrated BS. I think everyone can love and tolerate to certain degree. Some love and tolerate ridiculously everything and some actually think and are not afraid to face hatred and can admit that they disapprove things without fear of being separated from the heard.

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(edited)

Nah, for me love and tolerate simply means to not hate blindly and not judge. Also, if you do have different oppinions then you should tolerate the other ones opinions. It seems like many seems to think love and tolerate means to love and tolerate everything blindly to tolerate everything. It was never meant to be that way, it was like mentioned a guidline of some sorts. Like if you see hatrid, you should tolerate it by simply ignoring it. Not go hating on the guy for hating, but tolerating his opinions. Of course this doesn't mean that you can't answer the hater. But do so by being calm and just talk, not go hating on him. Tolerate his opinions, tell him yours and if he still doesn't agree or accept it then he might just be a troll.

 

Anyway, I myself.. I follow the "love and tolerate" motto, by being more open to things. By not hating something blindly before giving it a chance.. Like EQgirls for example, but it doesn't mean that I have to give it a chance or love it. I can just tolerate it and ignore it and not waste my time hating. Although I will give it a chance it's just an example.

 

There are a lot of people I will never be able to love and tolerate, although I am trying to find peace, so I am trying my hardest to forgive those people. "Tolerating" them but I can't do so without at least forgiving them, which is now almost over..

 

Honestly, those who have hurt me.. They are forgiven, I know it was my fault anyway. So no comment there.

 

All I can really say is that hatrid doesn't benefit anyone. Which is why I have forgiven almost all of my "enemies". Although when I say forgiven, I just mean like.. Yeah I have forgotten about it.. But if I'll get my chance I will get my revenge, tolerate sure.. I'll tolerate them.. But they will see, I am having my revenge by doing good at school. I'm doing so by aiming high, I'm not going to let those people drag me down with them. I will show them that I'm not just a looser, I will show them all. I have high goals set in my life, I'll show everyone that their negativity had no effect on me. I will be the one that had his dreams and actually followed them, I'm not letting anyone telling me differently.

Edited by Fluttershyfan94
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(edited)

I chose "something else". I believe bronies should not be hating on cloppers just because they clop, for an example, but they don't have to stop hating.

 

Love and tolerate is just a guideline, and bronies can still be bronies if they do not follow it and hate on cloppers just because they clop, they will just be, in my words, the "indecent bronies".

 

I do wish those kind of bronies would follow the "love and tolerate" guideline, though.

Edited by ÷Zero
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Love? No. Love is too important an emotion to just give away freely to those who’ve not earned it (and doing so typically leads to those people taking advantage of you). Before you give your love to someone, make sure that they have first worked to earn both your respect and trust.

 

Tolerate? One should always do their best to try. In the simplest terms, people are…different. And while it's recommended to try and approach the world and its inhabitants with an open mind - giving everyone you meet the benefit of the doubt before making your own personal judgments of their character - it's not always going to be the case that everyone you meet is going to mesh well with you, on a fundamental basis of personality.

 

Each of us can pick out at least one personality trait that we find ungodly annoying in others, and try as we might to get along with those who possess such traits, many of us find that we can simply never be friends with such people. To some, this may seem like a bad thing. But then comes the definition of tolerance.

 

Some people mistake tolerance as being synonymous with “acceptance”, but this is not the case. Tolerance means, to make this expression further overused, “live and let live”. In other words, don’t go out of your way to bother someone you don’t like; and, assuming that person’s not a complete A-hole, they won’t go out of their way to bother you.

 

The take-home lesson, you are more than free not to like someone…we all have that freedom. No one can tell you that you’re right or wrong in feeling a certain way, even if that feeling is negative, as long as you don’t be petty and act on those negative feelings. Essentially, by refusing to associate with “Markus” anymore, you are not being a bad person; you are, in fact, being a good person by not grabbing a baseball bat of your own and cracking the guy’s skull in retaliation for the times he tried to attack you.

 

In short, just be yourself, and the people you were really meant to be friends with in life will flock your way; those who can't stand you (and reciprocally, those whom you can't stand) should, if they know anything of tolerance, keep their distance from you. Whatever happens, always strive to be the bigger person.

  • Brohoof 4
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Nice to see that I'm not alone in thinking the way I do smile.png

Just now, reading through my original post and looking at it in a new light, I realize that my rant about this "Markus" was just me being really butthurt over something that happened a long time ago, and those feelings being resurfaced by the talk with my friend. I just think it was something I needed to get out of my system, since this is a subject I feel very strongly about.

 

I do agree with what most of you have said, that one should not blindly love everyone, but that those people should earn that love first. And that tolerating does not mean accepting everything some people do, but accepting their differences as long as they don't directly hurt you or anyone else.

 

Thanks to all for your replies. I think this is a topic that deserves to be discussed, since "love and tolerate" is essentially one of this fandom's basic principles, or at least was supposed to be one. 

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Call me a bad brony, but I just love and tolerate trolls on the internet; I don't actually live that way. I'll try to be friendly with everyone unless they give me a reason not to (the only reason for that is if they directly lashed out at me or something along those lines).

 

Respect someone until they give you a reason not to.

 

And I don't mean you should look down on someone if they just have a few social problems- only if they have a problem with you first.

 

What happened with you and that kid wasn't your fault and I've gone through a similar situation. He should have just left you alone after you tried to sever the friendship. So no, you don't have to love and tolerate someone that harassed or threatened you after you were being nice about not being friends anymore.

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No... The love and tolerate thing is just a way we act in general... But even so... There's this kid at my school that I can't stand... If he was a brony, I'd still smash his skull...

 

There are even some members on mlp forums that are complete ass holes... But I don't associate with them much...

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I am a really nice guy, but unfortunately I have found people during my months as a brony that I trully can't stand and it would be impossible for me to "love and tolerate" them. BTW love & tolerate is bullshit to me, because it's not only the motto for an absurd religion but it's also attempting to go against of the person that you could probably be if you are not confortable being around somepony.

 

I don't want to be a hypocrite so, as I try to be the best person I can be without forgetting the lessons of the show (that I already knew) I think that's the best "love & tolerate" that you can have, following your own judgement. I'm not willing to tolerate some scumbag people that is around in this fandom whether they are bronies or not.

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(edited)

People seem to have a misunderstanding what Tolerance means.

 

Hasn't *anyone* here seen the South Park episode on Tolerance? Or the big topic on this on Round Stable way back when?
 

 

 

Mr. Garrison:Tolerant, but not stupid! Look, just because you have to tolerate something doesn't mean you have to approve of it! If you had to like it, it'd be called the Museum of Acceptance! [the audience looks on] "Tolerate" means you're just putting up with it! You tolerate a crying child sitting next to you on the airplane or, or you tolerate a bad cold. It can still piss you off! Jesus Tapdancing Christ!

 

 

We're all good people, and we all have our differences - the Brony community is generally one of the most accepting communities you could find and that's a good thing. That doesn't mean, however, that it's the end-all be-all of anything, and it's very much just another fandom like any other, including with it's share of trolls and people you'd rather not be with.

 

Should you try to love and tolerate these people anyway? Sure, it's good to try and love and tolerate someone, even if they are being frustrating...but the key thing to remember is that you don't necessarily have to like them - tolerance, like Mr.Garrison said, is just putting up with them. And even then? Sometimes, tolerance has it's limits, and some behaviors should generally not be acceptable at all.

 

Bronies are generally good people, and it's wonderful that we try to 'love and tolerate' everyone for who they are - learning to pick our fights carefully, and loving and tolerating someone, even when that mantra seemingly backfires. I wouldn't say it fails as a mantra, in general or for the community as some said, but for those who say they can't love and tolerate everyone....well, that's okay. You don't have to like them, you are just putting up with them and trying to love them all the same.

 

There is so much I could go into with something like this, but I'll just leave it right there.

Edited by Shiek927
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