Part Two: Hush now, quiet now.
So you on the edge of your seat as to what happened
that caused such a divided reaction?
Alright, freaks…
Hold onto your brunch:
What happened was a large group of people not
within the intended demographic for the show turned out to really like it.
*Cough*
...
*Cricket*
...
*Tumbleweed*
...
Don’t bring in the dancing lobsters yet though, you
haven’t heard the whole story! These
were MEN! Grown MEN! Un-ironically liking a show made for LITTLE
GIRLS!
*Coughing cricket riding a tumbleweed*
Oh? You
don’t see why that is any sort of deal at all?
Alright. Not much reason for you
to keep on reading unless you’re interested in knowing more, which is cool, this does pique the interest of a lot of people, and rightly so. However.
If you’re seething and enraged right now, but the froth seeping from
between your clenched teeth hasn’t dripped down and broken your mouse so you
can still use the scroll, please keep reading plz.
What was birthed along with this unintended
demographic and fandom, was a group of people who despise them, pick on them,
call them pedophiles, gay or gay pedophiles, and come up with more pitiful
attempts to justify their murderous rage in the face of logic than the bad guy
at the end of Breaking Dawn pt. 2.
 |
Pictured: The only actor in any Twilight movie who was having the time
of their lives.
|
There are a lot of claims from these folk,
made about this fandom (which has named itself the tongue-in-cheek title of
“Bronies” (Bro + Ponies)). I don’t know
how to address these claims really, because they’re all just so out there and
with not a single shred of logical basis.
Nearly every post on an Internet forum, or comment on YouTube, etc.,
that hints at the show or its fan base gets a response similar to the
following:
1. Some members of the unintended
demographic are so OBSESSED with the program, that they have quit their jobs just
so they can stay home and watch the show undoubtedly in puddles of their own urine.
2. Members of the unintended
demographic are all sexually attracted to the characters and/or horses, and
make an excessive amount of drawn pornographic material for their disgustingly
perverse masturbatory sessions.
3. Members of the unintended demographic want nothing more than to force everyone to watch and love their show, and irritate and nearly harass those who refuse to join them.
3. Members of the unintended demographic want nothing more than to force everyone to watch and love their show, and irritate and nearly harass those who refuse to join them.
4. Members of the unintended demographic shouldn’t be considered real men.
How does someone address claims like that? You’d think that there’s no need to, they’re
all just so fucking out there, right?
But these aren’t just reactions from your garden-variety blooming
puberty flower, 12 year old boy needing to be mean to people and pound their
flat chests in order to bury to their roots all of their insecurities, the
universality of these kinds of responses requires more numbers, and some of
these reactions are broadcast on TV, Internet news, and segments of the Internet with higher credibility than YouTube comments and Deviant Art groups. And it's not just the usual suspects like Fox News and the Breitbart blog, there's people who are actually genuinely smart finding themselves attempting to justify their intense dislike in admittedly positions of higher thought, but with close enough amounts of holes to consider them bedfellows of the aforementioned adolescent assholes. I could address these guys, some of whom I have a great deal of respect for, certain Kings of Geek Rock, radio and Internet comedy writing stand out, but the truth of the matter is that they're all coming from the same place, at least that's what I suspect; the pitiful nature of their arguments at least points to that. But to see and understand it all, there is no better way than to just look at the veil-less, blunt and omnipresent opinions listed above.
So let’s start with the easiest one here and work
our way to the ones that are incredibly difficult to refute because of their
iron clad wisdom based upon cold reason and oodles of evidence.
BRONIES ARE QUITTIN’ THEIR JOBS BECAUSE THEY’RE
MANCHILDREN AND SO OBSESSED AND SHIT LOL THEY JUST WANT TO STAY HOME ALL DAY
AND PLAY WITH THEIR PONIES. I’ve heard
this said a lot. I’ve never seen a news
article or story that referred to specific people, strike that, even one
specific adult, male fan of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic who has quit
their job in order to stay at home and watch My Little Pony. Just think about this, people. Think about the TV show you like most. Now imagine that there are only 1 and a half
seasons of episodes (Around when I first started hearing about this.)
Why would you quit your fucking job and sever your
source of income to watch a show? Would
a single person do this? Would a group
of people do this? In this economy? Someone would willingly give up their job to
stay at home and watch a handful of twenty-minute cartoons? Even if they REALLY like them, why would
someone do that?
Why is anybody latching onto this evidence-free
concept when it doesn’t even make sense as like, a thing? Wouldn’t you want to hear the details on why
such an irrational beast(s) would exist?
Wouldn’t that be your first instinct to go to when you hear something
that doesn’t make sense? Evidence don’t
matter to a lot of people, but why would people brush passed all of that? You don’t need to do any work; you just need
to have your brain react to what you’re hearing. But something’s blocking that for people who
subscribe to this belief. More on that
in a bit…
EVERY BRONY IS A FUKIN SECKSAL DEVIANT WHO GETS BONERS LOOKING AT THE PONIES AND THEY MAKE ALL THIS DISGUSTING PORN LOOK AT THEM FAPPING TO STUFF I DONT FAP TO WHAT FREAKS! That's right. Onto
the masturbating. And porn. This is the shit that really fucking irks
me. What fucking possesses people to
care about what gets people they don’t know off? Who fucking cares? And why is this said as if it's a particularly My Little Pony fandom
thing? This is what happens to
EVERYTHING on the Internet. In fact, the
idea that everything that exists has porn made of it is called Rule 34 of the Internet. That’s been long agreed upon before all of
this Pony madness. Is there too much
Pony Porn? How would one even know that
without going out and searching for all of the Pony Porn and finding that the
amount is excessively greater than that of another show with a large fan
base? Or is it just that it exists? Forget that Rule 34 thing for just a second
and think here. All that is happening
here is someone bringing themselves to orgasm, something EVERY SINGLE HUMAN
BEING WITH A HEALTHY SEX DRIVE DOES, while looking at lines on a screen that
are supposed to depict something. Why should you hate someone for doing
that? Why should you assume that
this is what every single member of the unintended demographic, that is just
people who like the show, does? Why
aren’t we assuming the same thing about fans of Firefly, or Gilligan’s Island,
or Lost, or Powerpuff Girls?
I mean, sure, it's weird. To me at least. There's just nothing sexually appealing to me about cartoon horses, but there's also nothing appealing to me about men. People's attraction to men being a point of difference to me, it doesn't strike me at all to be mean or hate people whose wiring makes them wanna touch their happy parts looking at something I go eww at.
Quick sidenote, these folk who get off on the cartoon ponies are called "cloppers", and replace the popular Internet term for masturbation, fapping or to fap, with clopping or to clop. Like when a horse's hooves clop on the ground? I just think that's fucking hilarious. Ha ha ha. Anyways...
ID BE OKAY WITH THE FUCKING BRONIE FAGS IF THEY WERENT ALWAYS SHOVING THEIR STUPID SHOW DOWN MY THROAT AND FORCING ME TO JOIN THEM I DONT WANNA RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE! Alright. Everyone? You too. No. Not you. Everyone. Nobody can force you to do anything you don't want to. People being geeks about a show and wanting other people to watch it isn't "shoving it down your throat", and on the internet, where most of these cases are, it is especially fucking easy to ignore people who are saying things you don't want to hear. You just stop. If someone is harassing you, there are ways to keep them away from you but I suspect if anyone were harassing someone over the Internet to get them to watch a tv show, it's not the show in question, or fans in general of it that are the problem.
Again, this is something that happens with every single other show that people like. They are geeks, they like the show, they think other people would like it if they watched it, so they tell other people about it. I watch Sherlock or some other fucking show and I fall in love with it, I tell my friends, my family about it and maybe they'll like it to. If they don't like it, they can just not watch it, it's not like I'm the Fascist overlord of their freetime. If my little sister, of a friend of mine tells me about a show that they love, after a while I'll try and check it out, and the same thing happens. Worst case scenario, it'll be bad, but not bad enough to learn shit from it, and I'll just stop watching it. Best case scenario, I am exposed to fucking Deadwood, The West Wing or Doctor Who and it changes my life.
Seriously. This is shit that every single damn show and fandom gets away with. People like something, they talk about it, they recommend it. It reminds me of people bitching about: "I'm fine with gay guys, just so long as they're not in my face about it, or hit on me or nothing." It's a fucking double standard. Girls who talk forever about how cute a guy is are never called out for being "in your face" about their heterosexuality. And if you don't like being hit on by people you aren't attracted to, then why aren't dudes ever saying: "I'm fine with (insert kind of girl they aren't personally attracted to) girls, just so long as they don't hit on me." It's just because these people are different that they are given different rules to follow, not because it's logical. A gay guy taking a chance and flirting with a guy, unaware as to whether or not he's gay or even attracted to him is isn't acceptable because he's gay, and fans of My Little Pony being geeks about their show isn't acceptable because they're fans of My Little Pony.
And here's where we get to the why. Why this unintended demographic is getting special rules that they have to follow that no one else has to. Why this thing gets more from people than just intrigue and wanting to know more because of how different it is. Why people hate My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and its male adult fandom:
NO MAN WHO WATCHES A FUCKING CARTOON FOR 3 YEAR OLD GIRLS CAN BE CONSIDERED A REAL MAN!
Read my Internet-lips: NEARLY EVERYTHING EVERYONE DECIDES IS "FOR" MEN, OR "FOR" WOMEN IS DECIDED COMPLETELY ARBITRARILY. That's right. Just about everything that any culture decides is "for" or "not for" men or women is chosen for stupid reasons, held tightly by fanaticism and ever changing. What is deemed MASCULINE varies arbitrarily depending upon when and where you're born. A Greek hero cries his eyes out and he's a fucking MAN; he cries his eyes out in America in the fifties or even now and he's a fucking pussy. The color pink went from being considered a manly color to blue, which was once considered a feminine color. Now they're fucking flip-flopped like all of a sudden some scientist figured out that if a boy wears pink that his penis will slowly retreat into his body and turn into a vagina. Sure, there are some aspects of male and female personality that can be chalked up to differences in our biology, but skirts, colors, withholding emotion, long hair, short hair, nearly all of the shit that your culture screams at your face as a child as FOR BOYS, or FOR GIRLS, that is imaginary. If I paint my nails, wear a pink dress every day, watch My Little Pony and read Twilight, my anatomy will not change in the slightest, I will be a man no matter what in the fuck I do. My being a man has been decided before I was born and no matter how long that dress is on me, there will still be a fucking penis under it.
Some women are comfortable being "traditionally" feminine-
-And some women are more comfortable being what some cultures consider to be "masculine"
I mean, sure, it's weird. To me at least. There's just nothing sexually appealing to me about cartoon horses, but there's also nothing appealing to me about men. People's attraction to men being a point of difference to me, it doesn't strike me at all to be mean or hate people whose wiring makes them wanna touch their happy parts looking at something I go eww at.
Quick sidenote, these folk who get off on the cartoon ponies are called "cloppers", and replace the popular Internet term for masturbation, fapping or to fap, with clopping or to clop. Like when a horse's hooves clop on the ground? I just think that's fucking hilarious. Ha ha ha. Anyways...
ID BE OKAY WITH THE FUCKING BRONIE FAGS IF THEY WERENT ALWAYS SHOVING THEIR STUPID SHOW DOWN MY THROAT AND FORCING ME TO JOIN THEM I DONT WANNA RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE! Alright. Everyone? You too. No. Not you. Everyone. Nobody can force you to do anything you don't want to. People being geeks about a show and wanting other people to watch it isn't "shoving it down your throat", and on the internet, where most of these cases are, it is especially fucking easy to ignore people who are saying things you don't want to hear. You just stop. If someone is harassing you, there are ways to keep them away from you but I suspect if anyone were harassing someone over the Internet to get them to watch a tv show, it's not the show in question, or fans in general of it that are the problem.
Again, this is something that happens with every single other show that people like. They are geeks, they like the show, they think other people would like it if they watched it, so they tell other people about it. I watch Sherlock or some other fucking show and I fall in love with it, I tell my friends, my family about it and maybe they'll like it to. If they don't like it, they can just not watch it, it's not like I'm the Fascist overlord of their freetime. If my little sister, of a friend of mine tells me about a show that they love, after a while I'll try and check it out, and the same thing happens. Worst case scenario, it'll be bad, but not bad enough to learn shit from it, and I'll just stop watching it. Best case scenario, I am exposed to fucking Deadwood, The West Wing or Doctor Who and it changes my life.
Seriously. This is shit that every single damn show and fandom gets away with. People like something, they talk about it, they recommend it. It reminds me of people bitching about: "I'm fine with gay guys, just so long as they're not in my face about it, or hit on me or nothing." It's a fucking double standard. Girls who talk forever about how cute a guy is are never called out for being "in your face" about their heterosexuality. And if you don't like being hit on by people you aren't attracted to, then why aren't dudes ever saying: "I'm fine with (insert kind of girl they aren't personally attracted to) girls, just so long as they don't hit on me." It's just because these people are different that they are given different rules to follow, not because it's logical. A gay guy taking a chance and flirting with a guy, unaware as to whether or not he's gay or even attracted to him is isn't acceptable because he's gay, and fans of My Little Pony being geeks about their show isn't acceptable because they're fans of My Little Pony.
And here's where we get to the why. Why this unintended demographic is getting special rules that they have to follow that no one else has to. Why this thing gets more from people than just intrigue and wanting to know more because of how different it is. Why people hate My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and its male adult fandom:
NO MAN WHO WATCHES A FUCKING CARTOON FOR 3 YEAR OLD GIRLS CAN BE CONSIDERED A REAL MAN!
Read my Internet-lips: NEARLY EVERYTHING EVERYONE DECIDES IS "FOR" MEN, OR "FOR" WOMEN IS DECIDED COMPLETELY ARBITRARILY. That's right. Just about everything that any culture decides is "for" or "not for" men or women is chosen for stupid reasons, held tightly by fanaticism and ever changing. What is deemed MASCULINE varies arbitrarily depending upon when and where you're born. A Greek hero cries his eyes out and he's a fucking MAN; he cries his eyes out in America in the fifties or even now and he's a fucking pussy. The color pink went from being considered a manly color to blue, which was once considered a feminine color. Now they're fucking flip-flopped like all of a sudden some scientist figured out that if a boy wears pink that his penis will slowly retreat into his body and turn into a vagina. Sure, there are some aspects of male and female personality that can be chalked up to differences in our biology, but skirts, colors, withholding emotion, long hair, short hair, nearly all of the shit that your culture screams at your face as a child as FOR BOYS, or FOR GIRLS, that is imaginary. If I paint my nails, wear a pink dress every day, watch My Little Pony and read Twilight, my anatomy will not change in the slightest, I will be a man no matter what in the fuck I do. My being a man has been decided before I was born and no matter how long that dress is on me, there will still be a fucking penis under it.
Some women are comfortable being "traditionally" feminine-
-And some women are more comfortable being what some cultures consider to be "masculine"
Let them be who they are. Why must one’s Manliness or Womanliness be dictated by arbitrary rules? You got a dick or you don’t.*
This, I think, is the root of the whole despising of Bronies thing. People are either way too caught up in gender roles like it's still fucking 1950, or are either not secure in their own masculinity for whatever reason and being mean to someone who is doing something not-so-masculine makes them feel better about themselves. Sure being a bully like that does upset some people, some to the point of becoming assholes themselves, but in the end it's just fucking funny. A group of men who are open about their love for a cartoon that was made for an audience of young girls are fucking comfy with themselves and their masculinity. They're aware of how little impact is made purely from the act of being perceived, otherwise, the negative perception others have of them would keep them from revealing their love for the show. That's why in the end it is just fucking funny. They are trying to attack a group who are mostly by definition immune to what they're doing. Like a goddamned, pissed off, toothless dog gnawing at your ankle thinking he's ripping your flesh awf. But more adorable. Some might assume with the amount of attention I'd give to this topic that I myself, could be were among the accursed unintended demographic. And that's unfair. Is using this subject as an avenue to discuss important cultural subjects such a goddamn crime that you have to put me up on a witch trial and act like you know every goddamn thing about me? Alright, fine, I fucking love My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
But what would be unfair to assume is that my thoughts on the controversy surrounding it are tainted by my having a dog/pony in this fight. If I didn't enjoy the show I would still feel the same way. How do I know? Because when I first found out about all of this, I watched the first episode and didn't really like it all that much. I still felt the same exact way that feel now, I just kind of didn't want to watch it. I thought maybe if I had a son or a daughter, this would be a show that I would love to watch with them, but by myself? Not so much. I talked to a friend of mine about it, who got into show after that. He told me to give it another chance, I did, with full knowledge that me and him don't see eye to eye on some shows, and that he has in the past recommended I watch shows that outright fucking blew. I watched a few more episodes and started to appreciate it more than I did when I all I saw was the pilot.
Everything you would expect from a show
called fucking "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" is burned alive
aside from that there's colorful girl ponies. At first glance, you might
write off the characters as archetypes, but the writers of the show go out of
their way right out the door to show how these characters break your
preconceptions of them. The writers also go out of their way to test the
emotional and mental limit of each of the main characters pretty regularly,
leading to many episodes where a pony has a fucking mental break down or psychotic
rivaling those of previous cartoon-psycho champion Ren Hoek. They are all
distinct and loveable, but the show doesn't go the Simpsons route by always
evolving them and bringing up elements or characters that challenge them and
make them grow.
And the music. Sometimes it's cute and acoustic, sometimes it's sweeping and epic... sometimes it's heartstring-tugging, somtimes it's intentionally lame and cheesey, but it's always wonderful, and catchier than some fucking catchy monster made of catchers mitts.
And the music. Sometimes it's cute and acoustic, sometimes it's sweeping and epic... sometimes it's heartstring-tugging, somtimes it's intentionally lame and cheesey, but it's always wonderful, and catchier than some fucking catchy monster made of catchers mitts.
It's also just a lot of fucking fun. It's galaxies away from the blandness of the original show, it's actually pretty goddamn cartoony, taking many cues from Looney Tunes while still keeping it colorful (not blechingly so) and cute. If you keep in mind that it has to be a children's show first and appreciate how much it achieves within those limitations, most of the flaws can be chalked up to a show within its first season finding itself.
 |
| Betcha didn't think they'd be dropping anvils on wounded ponies in wheelchairs, did ya? |
This is a great
show, in my opinion. If you watch the show, disagree with my opinion and
want to argue yours, then let's have some goddamn discourse and share our
points of view in hopes of walking away from the experience more knowledgeable
of the other side, and having strengthened our thoughts on our own at the
least. But not watching the show and having an opinion on it and having
such intense dislike of people who love it and supporting your dislike with
such childish, immature reasons like the above, is just a fucking waste of
hate.
There are people, ideas and actions that deserve a shit ton of hate bred from logical observation and reason. If you have extreme dislike for people who have done terrible shit, that just shows that you feel things and you're not an emotionless fucking creep. It all depends upon being logical and hungry for evidence at the start, though. The simple acts of someone enjoying a show you don't like, masturbating to something you wouldn't, and not following arbitrary gender roles do no harm to ANYONE. And hating someone for those reasons alone, when they have harmed no one is just another example what it is about us that makes us fuck everything up. We don't give a shit about things that matter and make demons of people who have done no harm to anyone. Hate that could fuel Good Change, being wasted on people who like a show about cartoon ponies who never did no hurt to nobody.
There are people, ideas and actions that deserve a shit ton of hate bred from logical observation and reason. If you have extreme dislike for people who have done terrible shit, that just shows that you feel things and you're not an emotionless fucking creep. It all depends upon being logical and hungry for evidence at the start, though. The simple acts of someone enjoying a show you don't like, masturbating to something you wouldn't, and not following arbitrary gender roles do no harm to ANYONE. And hating someone for those reasons alone, when they have harmed no one is just another example what it is about us that makes us fuck everything up. We don't give a shit about things that matter and make demons of people who have done no harm to anyone. Hate that could fuel Good Change, being wasted on people who like a show about cartoon ponies who never did no hurt to nobody.
“I never expected to work on a show
based on a toy line, but I accepted the project based on my sincere childhood
love of the toy and Hasbro’s desire to create an entertaining show that
is not just a long toy commercial.
“When I
took the job, I braced myself for criticism, expecting many people–without
even watching the show–to instantly label it girly, stupid, cheap, for babies
or an evil corporate commercial. I encourage skeptics like this
to watch My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic with an open
mind. If I’m doing my job right, I think you’ll be surprised.”
-Lauren
Faust
“And it don’t matter who you are. If I’m doing my job, it’s your resolve that
breaks.”
-John Popper
-John Popper
*I hope none of this is read as anti-anything aside from the subject of the essay, particularly anti-trans; that was far from my intention. What I mean is that liking this show has no effect on both your anatomy and your gender-identity. To simplify: by "having a dick", I mean also: "knowing that you were meant to have been born with a dick." and otherwise. For the sake of not having to address this giant issue that deserves its own 40 page essay devoid of pony-distractions, please overlook this, it kind of would have complicated and muddled up the essay, so it's understandable. No disrespect was intended.
Also, after last week I saw Princess and the Frog. Giant fucking exception to what I said about Disney children's media before. Kind of seemed like it was made rewriting the worst aspects of Disney of the past in mind...
