How many people "actually" hate bronies?

[Guest]

Alright, now before anyone even posts and I know this sounds redundant, but I would like to remind people: this is the debate pit. Be prepared to deal with opinions you may not agree with. I know I shouldn't have to say this, but unfortunately people don't seem to get that.

 

Basic ground rules:

 

1. Please cite credible sources when asked.

2. Please keep the entire debate relevant to the debate.

3. Do not personally attack people.

 

Anyone who does not follow this basic conduct will be reported and ignored. Forewarning now. I understand this is a touchy subject, but I ask everyone to approach it with their emotions set aside and their heads fairly level.

 

 

 

Now, statistics to get things rolling! There seems to be a lot of debate on how many bronies there actually are. Some people have even suggested as many as 1/3 of the US population. Well, fortunately we have a survey that was conducted near the start of 2013 (with a new one in the works now) done by bronies that gives us the following:

 

 

Thus, we can state with a 95% confidence that between 4.0% and 6.8% of the internet-using US population strongly identify as bronies, or approximately 7 to 12.4 million people.

 

Taken from the Herd Census website.

 

Now obviously, bronies conducting a survey about bronies is going to be a biased and flawed experiment, however that usually means that bronies will try to give themselves a better statistic than what is true. Even with that factored in though, bronies themselves who have researched the subject have stated that approximately 7% of people identify as bronies and only 17% of people in the survey said they would identify at all with the word. This means that 83% of people said they were not a brony in the slightest.

 

According to their 2013 census the following is established:

 

A vast majority of people surveyed said that bronies try too hard to get people to like the show. This once again was a survey conducted to bronies by bronies. This would suggest that a lot of bronies feel the behavior of the fandom is inappropriate at times.

 

Now this raises an interesting question.

 

If this survey is even the slightest bit accurate, it would suggest that less than 10% of the US population are bronies. Even though these surveys are far from unbiased, this is about as close to "evidence" as we're going to get to back up the statistics until another party comes forward. None the less, the question is:

 

If this is true, do bronies really get as much hate as they make it out to be?

 

Speaking from personal experience here: I have never once been ridiculed for more than 10 seconds for being a brony. I would consider hatred anything beyond just a simple "That's dumb" kind of comment. I.e. something truly meant to get under one's skin for their interests or more or less, constant bashing.

 

Does anyone have any kind of statistics or evidence to suggest that bronies are receiving an abnormal amount of hatred? I think this is important because if the answer is no, or we can find evidence to suggest that the fandom receives far less hate than is portrayed, perhaps that could be the cause of an internal problem within the fandom. If the fandom is inflating how much hatred it seems, that sort of comes off as a victim complex. I am not arguing at this moment if they have one or don't, however I am curious if anyone has concise evidence to answer these questions.

 

Now if you have read this far, congrats, however I ask you to help build a concise profile for this specific question.

 

Please take a moment to answer this short survey before responding. I would like to build an accurate profile for this question if you'd be so kind.

 

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MTNFWG5

 

 

You may discuss your thoughts now. Are bronies getting hated too much, or are the number of "haters" exaggerated. Let's find out!

[Neon Fire 473]

I actually think it may be a bit exaggerated.  Every fandom gets hate, and I think people just overreact about MLP getting hate because mainly guys like it.  I have never gotten teased/bullied/etc. for liking MLP (I'm a girl, but still).

[~Silver Essence~ 2,621]

To an extent, despite me being a fan of this fandom, I was never a brony to begin with, I like the term "big fan".

 

What bothers me most lately is how incompetent and unsecured bronies have been since the twilicorn and EG.

 

But despite all that, the best part about this fandom is that not all are like that, sure the number of haters and angry fans grows more and more to the point of others saying the fandom has split, but for the most part, I'll remain a fan, and continue to support and be become friends to those I trust and see are well worth the time.

[Guest]

I actually think it may be a bit exaggerated.  Every fandom gets hate, and I think people just overreact about MLP getting hate because mainly guys like it.  I have never gotten teased/bullied/etc. for liking MLP (I'm a girl, but still).

That's what I'd like to find out, is the amount of "hate" exaggerated or truthful? I would wager that furries probably get more hate. However that's the point of the survey. Let's get as many people to answer it as possible.

 

I also ask you answer truthfully.

[Neon Fire 473]

That's what I'd like to find out, is the amount of "hate" exaggerated or truthful? I would wager that furries probably get more hate. However that's the point of the survey. Let's get as many people to answer it as possible.

 

I also ask you answer truthfully.

 

Yeah, I personally haven't come across much hate besides on youtube but...  Since when doesn't youtube have hate, right?  And yeah, I took the survey and answered everything truthfully.

[Scootalove 10,684]

Now that I've answered the survey, let's get started.

 

I would say that the haters are exaggerating, sure we're not a perfect fandom but like every fandom community they have their pros and cons where people take advantage of that to make false accusations or use a factor that the fandom has as a con to use it to their advantage.  Despite all of the haters, I'll still be a brony with the exaggeration of hatred from the haters.

 

Plus, most haters make up reasons to hate us without explaining it more and they hate us just to hate bronies.

[Guest]

Now that I've answered the survey, let's get started.

 

I would say that the haters are exaggerating, sure we're not a perfect fandom but like every fandom community they have their pros and cons where people take advantage of that to make false accusations or use a factor that the fandom has as a con to use it to their advantage.  Despite all of the haters, I'll still be a brony with the exaggeration of hatred from the haters.

 

Plus, most haters make up reasons to hate us without explaining it more and they hate us just to hate bronies.

The question is though, do they hate you because you're a brony or are they just using that as an excuse to justify their hate. In my experience with bullies often times even if you change the thing they do not like about you, they just find something new not to like.

[Scootalove 10,684]

The question is though, do they hate you because you're a brony or are they just using that as an excuse to justify their hate. In my experience with bullies often times even if you change the thing they do not like about you, they just find something new not to like.

They use it as an excuse to justify their hate, because people in general always find a new thing to hate no matter what it is.

[Delernil 952]

The question is though, do they hate you because you're a brony or are they just using that as an excuse to justify their hate. In my experience with bullies often times even if you change the thing they do not like about you, they just find something new not to like.

This is what is directed at me. I live in an area where homosexuality isn't exactly accepted. Do anything that's not extremely manly and you're branded gay. So really they use brony as an excuse to get everyone to hate me on the grounds of being gay. It's not even brony hate.

[Guest]

This is what is directed at me. I live in an area where homosexuality isn't exactly accepted. Do anything that's not extremely manly and you're branded gay. So really they use brony as an excuse to get everyone to hate me on the grounds of being gay. It's not even brony hate.

Now that is a good point. I notice a lot of people say that when they are made fun of for being a brony it's often because it's "seen as gay". So in actuality they are making fun of homosexuality, and just using being a brony as an extent of that.

[Twilight Circuits 603]

I'm afraid physical age doesn't get taken into account. In addition to such a survey, i've noticed bronies from just observing the forums that age does in fact play a factor on the kind of hate and for how long. I don't go to school like a lot of people do. Therefore, i'm not constantly surrounded by hundreds of different people with varying opinions as an immediate thing to fear. Do I get questioned as an adult, a little for sure. But it's because i'm an adult few people say much about it to begin with. Truth is, i actually get way more positive reactions more then anything else. But then again, I make it look it good.

[Guest]

I'm afraid physical age doesn't get taken into account. In addition to such a survey, i've noticed bronies from just observing the forums that age does in fact play a factor on the kind of hate and for how long. I don't go to school like a lot of people do. Therefore, i'm not constantly surrounded by hundreds of different people with varying opinions as an immediate thing to fear. Do I get questioned as an adult, a little for sure. But it's because i'm an adult few people say much about it to begin with. Truth is, i actually get way more positive reactions more then anything else. But then again, I make it look it good.

I don't really feel age is an important factor here, because I want a survey from ALL ages. I want as many people from as many groups factored in so we can know what the general is without isolating it to specific groups. I will agree that adults who are not subjected to different opinions very often are going to have statistically lower incidents of this happening, but I think that if the hate is as rampant as it is portrayed that being factored in won't make a huge dent on the survey.

[ghostfacekiller39 23,857]

Now that is a good point. I notice a lot of people say that when they are made fun of for being a brony it's often because it's "seen as gay". So in actuality they are making fun of homosexuality, and just using being a brony as an extent of that.

People say "That's gay" to describe things they dislike all of the time in this day and age, though, so I don't think that's the case, honestly.

 

I think that Bronies don't get any more hate from non-bronies than we provide for each other, personally. However, I do feel that the majority of the hate we get from non-bronies is mostly from people why try to troll rather than actual anti-bronies themselves. We're an easy target for trolls, which are all over the internet, even on this site. Our generally emotional reactions only provoke them even further.

Edited February 8, 2014 by ghostfacekiller39

[Twilight Circuits 603]

I don't really feel age is an important factor here, because I want a survey from ALL ages. I want as many people from as many groups factored in so we can know what the general is without isolating it to specific groups. I will agree that adults who are not subjected to different opinions very often are going to have statistically lower incidents of this happening, but I think that if the hate is as rampant as it is portrayed that being factored in won't make a huge dent on the survey.

I guess I would also wonder, what are you going to do after you aquire this data? Besides it's aquisition, is there something you have planned afterward or later or something? Or is this just a curiosity?

[Guest]

People say "That's gay" to describe things they dislike all of the time in this day and age, though, so I don't think that's the case, honestly.

 

I think that Bronies don't get any more hate from non-bronies than we provide for each other, personally. However, I do feel that the majority of the hate we get from non-bronies is mostly from people why try to troll rather than actual anti-bronies themselves. We're an easy target for trolls, which are all over the internet, even on this site. Our generally emotional reactions only provoke them even further.

A sad reality, but yes, I do believe that a lot of bronies might be able to prevent such incidents by not "feeding the trolls" as it were. We all know that the funnier the reaction, the more likely people are to keep poking that group to get more. Sadly, it seems like bronies deliver "the lulz" every other time.

[ghostfacekiller39 23,857]

A sad reality, but yes, I do believe that a lot of bronies might be able to prevent such incidents by not "feeding the trolls" as it were. We all know that the funnier the reaction, the more likely people are to keep poking that group to get more. Sadly, it seems like bronies deliver "the lulz" every other time.

Which is why we get hate in the first place. We're an easy target as is for liking ponies, which, we're usually grown men and that show WAS intended for little girls, and we've developed a reputation for being too emotional and responding poorly to hate.

 

That's all there is to it. It'd exist either way, but the large amounts of bronies that respond poorly are why we get so much hate in the first place. I've gotten some hate on YT for my Rarity avatar, and I just didn't respond at all. Nothing happened after that.

 

A lot of us should keep that in mind, because if we don't respond, it doesn't persist.

 

I think some of us just like the attention, though, personally.

 

Edited February 8, 2014 by ghostfacekiller39

[Guest]

I guess I would also wonder, what are you going to do after you aquire this data? Besides it's aquisition, is there something you have planned afterward or later or something? Or is this just a curiosity?

It will depend on the results. I feel this data could be beneficial to the fandom as a whole. If it comes out saying that bronies more or less receive an abnormal amount of hate, then we look into why and see how we can fix the problem. If it comes out otherwise it more or less proves there is a victim complex and the results of a mass scale survey would more than likely fix that as well because essentially a victim complex can be overcame by exposing that it has little to no basis. It would be beneficial because it would discourage that behavior and thus improve the overall health of the community.

Which is why we get hate in the first place. We're an easy target as is for liking ponies, which, we're usually grown men and that show WAS intended for little girls, and we've developed a reputation for being too emotional and responding poorly to hate.

 

That's all there is to it. It'd exist either way, but the large amounts of bronies that respond poorly are why we get so much hate in the first place. I've gotten some hate on YT for my Rarity avatar, and I just didn't respond at all. Nothing happened after that.

I'm not convinced that is the only reason, but I agree that when people respond it makes matters far worse.

 

According to the survey conducted by Herd Census, a vast majority of bronies identify that they are single. This is an interesting point because a lot of the time being single at an older age can cause cases of depression or emotionalism. This is (although not a concrete factor) an interesting point because if the two are connected, then it means statistically, bronies make for an easy target because many of them were emotionally distract before even being a brony. Funny enough though, they reported a decline in females in the fandom and estimated over 85% of the fandom is male.

 

This is more interesting because in my experience this generally makes a fandom particularly easy to attack. (Once again this is not speaking about this fandom in specific, or even this site. This is just an observation) Female worship becomes a major issue on many online sites that are dominated by men who are single. The problem usually is that women are given a free pass mostly because well.. To put it bluntly, a lot of guys want to score brownie points with the few ladies who share their interests. I personally have seen this kind of thing completely destroy entire communities, however unfortunately there is little actual science behind it. Though experiments have been conducted that more or less suggest that women get away with many more actions online than men do. This essentially means any troll posing as female already has a severe advantage if any of this is true.

[ghostfacekiller39 23,857]

I'm not convinced that is the only reason, but I agree that when people respond it makes matters far worse.

 

According to the survey conducted by Herd Census, a vast majority of bronies identify that they are single. This is an interesting point because a lot of the time being single at an older age can cause cases of depression or emotionalism. This is (although not a concrete factor) an interesting point because if the two are connected, then it means statistically, bronies make for an easy target because many of them were emotionally distract before even being a brony. Funny enough though, they reported a decline in females in the fandom and estimated over 85% of the fandom is male.

 

This is more interesting because in my experience this generally makes a fandom particularly easy to attack. (Once again this is not speaking about this fandom in specific, or even this site. This is just an observation) Female worship becomes a major issue on many online sites that are dominated by men who are single. The problem usually is that women are given a free pass mostly because well.. To put it bluntly, a lot of guys want to score brownie points with the few ladies who share their interests. I personally have seen this kind of thing completely destroy entire communities, however unfortunately there is little actual science behind it. Though experiments have been conducted that more or less suggest that women get away with many more actions online than men do. This essentially means any troll posing as female already has a severe advantage if any of this is true.

If you're saying another reason is that the fandom is mostly males, yeahh, that's something I won't dispute.

 

Don't see how the female card works, though; there's probably dudes posing as females on this site that will read this very sentence sooner or later, and I do believe females get preferential treatment in terms of brohoofs, popularity, etc., around here, I've always said that.

 

Anyway, the only reason I'm making a post completely agreeing with you is so I won't get off-topic and so I could say I filled out your survey, and one of the questions bothered me; "Do you get bullied for being a brony more than anything else?" I think is what it was.

 

Ummm...I had to say yes, because I can't say I've gotten bullied for anything else. I just thought that was sort of a hole in the question and I thought I'd point that out

[Guest]

If you're saying another reason is that the fandom is mostly males, yeahh, that's something I won't dispute.

 

Don't see how the female card works, though; there's probably dudes posing as females on this site that will read this very sentence sooner or later, and I do believe females get preferential treatment in terms of brohoofs, popularity, etc., around here, I've always said that.

 

Anyway, the only reason I'm making a post completely agreeing with you is so I won't get off-topic and so I could say I filled out your survey, and one of the questions bothered me; "Do you get bullied for being a brony more than anything else?" I think is what it was.

 

Ummm...I had to say yes, because I can't say I've gotten bullied for anything else. I just thought that was sort of a hole in the question and I thought I'd point that out

If you haven't been bullied for anything else it is accurate to say you get bullied "more" for being a brony. As some is more opposed to none. So your answer is very acceptable.

[Shanks 10,811]

Alot of people hate bronies  there is not denying that but just because someone dosen't identify as a brony dosen't automatically mean they hate them. The show or cartoons in general might not be their cup of tea, they might not know about bronies just might not even care or might be fans of the show but not like the term brony. Some people have criticized bronies for trying to hard to get people into the show and to be fair there are some that are this way and annoying minority who treat the show like a religion, but there also alot of ignorant narrow minded people that can't even be bothered with things like facts and will just hate because they are lazy assholes who will just label every brony as the same as if the fandom is some kind of hive mind when actual evidence shows that is far from the case.

[SomariFeyWright 776]

For the sake of my point, this post will be using brony in the negative connotation and "MLP fan" when referring to the majority of fans of the show who are sane. Just a warning.

 

Make no mistake, bronies are regularly hated. Not quite to the everyday extent many bronies unfortunately make it out to be, but it's certainly an occurrence, and is honestly a regular thing.

 

I, myself, only refer to myself as a brony around people who understand what I mean when I say it. People who are close to me, and understand I'm not a raging FiM-fan. Outside of the actual fandom, "brony" comes with a poor context, in that it implies you maintain an overobsession with the show followed by all of the stereotypes it naturally brings. Similarly to the negative connotations behind "Otaku". Outside of the fandom, it's best not to use the term.

 

The problem, though, is that people come to believe that bronies and MLP-fans are the same thing. That we're all obsessive jerks who hate on the females in the fandom and pretend the fandom is all about us. The haters of the fandom are often said to be there simply because they don't accept the thought of men watching a female-oriented show, and to be fair, there are haters out there as such. But the fact of the matter is, it is more of a development caused by an overwhelming stereotype overshadowing any prior reputation of all males who watch the show.

 

Yes, people do hate bronies, as well as normal fans of the show. It's just a consequence of having people in the fandom who are less-likeable than the rest of the fandom. It's the same predicament with all fandoms to some degree.

[FoxyCryptid 4,327]

For the sake of my point, this post will be using brony in the negative connotation and "MLP fan" when referring to the majority of fans of the show who are sane. Just a warning.

 

Make no mistake, bronies are regularly hated. Not quite to the everyday extent many bronies unfortunately make it out to be, but it's certainly an occurrence, and is honestly a regular thing.

 

I, myself, only refer to myself as a brony around people who understand what I mean when I say it. People who are close to me, and understand I'm not a raging FiM-fan. Outside of the actual fandom, "brony" comes with a poor context, in that it implies you maintain an overobsession with the show followed by all of the stereotypes it naturally brings. Similarly to the negative connotations behind "Otaku". Outside of the fandom, it's best not to use the term.

 

The problem, though, is that people come to believe that bronies and MLP-fans are the same thing. That we're all obsessive jerks who hate on the females in the fandom and pretend the fandom is all about us. The haters of the fandom are often said to be there simply because they don't accept the thought of men watching a female-oriented show, and to be fair, there are haters out there as such. But the fact of the matter is, it is more of a development caused by an overwhelming stereotype overshadowing any prior reputation of all males who watch the show.

 

Yes, people do hate bronies, as well as normal fans of the show. It's just a consequence of having people in the fandom who are less-likeable than the rest of the fandom. It's the same predicament with all fandoms to some degree.

 

They are the same thing, as I've said multiple times on here: a Brony is merely a fan outside of the targeted demographic. People that start applying other things to the definition and arguing over and just over-complicating things. We need to try to fight the negative stereotype, not let it take root deeper by being ashamed of the term ourselves.

 

Now, I personally don't throw it around because it's confusing to people that don't know about fandom nicknames, so I only use it in place where the meaning is understood.  

 

 

On top, due to the large number of people that do it just fort attention and for the evils, it's hard to pin down how many legitimately hate us, and how many just go after us because they need a punching bag we're an easy target. 

Edited February 9, 2014 by Shoboni

[Guest]

For the sake of my point, this post will be using brony in the negative connotation and "MLP fan" when referring to the majority of fans of the show who are sane. Just a warning.

 

Make no mistake, bronies are regularly hated. Not quite to the everyday extent many bronies unfortunately make it out to be, but it's certainly an occurrence, and is honestly a regular thing.

 

I, myself, only refer to myself as a brony around people who understand what I mean when I say it. People who are close to me, and understand I'm not a raging FiM-fan. Outside of the actual fandom, "brony" comes with a poor context, in that it implies you maintain an overobsession with the show followed by all of the stereotypes it naturally brings. Similarly to the negative connotations behind "Otaku". Outside of the fandom, it's best not to use the term.

 

The problem, though, is that people come to believe that bronies and MLP-fans are the same thing. That we're all obsessive jerks who hate on the females in the fandom and pretend the fandom is all about us. The haters of the fandom are often said to be there simply because they don't accept the thought of men watching a female-oriented show, and to be fair, there are haters out there as such. But the fact of the matter is, it is more of a development caused by an overwhelming stereotype overshadowing any prior reputation of all males who watch the show.

 

Yes, people do hate bronies, as well as normal fans of the show. It's just a consequence of having people in the fandom who are less-likeable than the rest of the fandom. It's the same predicament with all fandoms to some degree.

The point of the survey and the sake of the debate however is that if that hate is truly "there". I mean I am seeing a lot of "brony hate" that bronies complain about, but how much hate are bronies actually receiving? That's why I think we should spread this survey around and get as many people to answer honestly as possible. Let's find out if there even is a cause for alarm, because for all we know these instances may not be nearly as frequent as many of us think.

 

I encourage everyone to spread this survey around so we can deliver as accurate results as possible. Before anything can be done about the "brony hate" we need to understand what we're dealing with. I am not 100% convinced that bronies are being hated on to a level I would consider "extreme".

[SomariFeyWright 776]

They are the same thing, as I've said multiple times on here: a Brony is merely a fan outside of the targeted demographic. People that start applying other things to the definition and arguing over and just over-complicating things. We need to try to fight the negative stereotype, not let it take root deeper by being ashamed of the term ourselves.

 

Now, I personally don't throw it around because it's confusing to people that don't know about fandom nicknames, so I only use it in place where the meaning is understood.

 

 

On top, due to the large number of people that do it just fort attention and for the evils, it's hard to pin down how many legitimately hate us, and how many just go after us because they need a punching bag we're an easy target.

Apologies for such a short response, but I said right at the top of my post that I would be using the term "brony" in its negative context, for the sake of convenience. By no means did I mean that it was inherently a bad term.

[FoxyCryptid 4,327]

Apologies for such a short response, but I said right at the top of my post that I would be using the term "brony" in its negative context, for the sake of convenience. By no means did I mean that it was inherently a bad term.

 

Sorry, I need to quit posting when I'm on the verge of passing out at the keyboard XD 

 

I think my brain shuts of my reading comprehension.