Wait Wait don't tell me apologizes to Bronies, mocks itself

[Pinstar]

Last week there was a thread stating that the NPR radio show (also available as a podcast) made several jokes about "Bronies", going so far as to warp a quote from the creator (who doesn't mind Bronies at all) into saying that she finds them creepy.

That said, on this week's episode of Wait Wait don't tell me, the show went very far to apologize to the offended Bronie community.

First off the out right apologized for their characterization, saying that not all bronies are unemployed creepy men living in their mothers' basements.

Secondly They had a bronie come on the air; one of their former interns and explain bronies in a more positive light. He then went on to say that while he was, in fact, unemployed and living in his parents basement, that condition was a result of being a former intern for the show, not because he was a bronie.

Lastly, and this is the clincher, former president Bill Clinton was the guest on the show and was given three MLP:FIM trivia questions to answer in their "Not my job" segment.

Wait Wait don't tell me, I forgive you.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Bronies seem to be the new guys on the block with the largest persecution complex (Not all of them, of course).

If you can't laugh at yourself, for watching a show about ponies, aimed at little girls, then what can you laugh at?


I like to eat rusks, a soft biscuit designed to wean babies on to solid food.

My friends take the piss out of me for that, and I laugh along. Gotta be able to mock yourself.

 

[Erana]

Bronies seem to be the new guys on the block with the largest persecution complex.

If you can't laugh at yourself, for watching a show about ponies, aimed at little girls, then what can you laugh at?

What about people who are actually being offensive or downright pathetic? The brony community has some of the most impressive fanworks in such a short period of time, and have managed to convert hard-core trolls into people whose philosophy is to "love and tolerate the shit" out of people they don't like.
And you don't have to watch the show to enjoy a lot of the fanstuffs, either; I liked Derpy before I ever saw the thing.

I suppose what I'm saying is that, unlike a lot of fanbases, you really have to reach to mock bronies, and the only thing one has to joke about them is that they're watching a show for little girls. And then you have to deal with the whole, "people don't insult adults who love Transfomers, or other male-oriented franchises" sexism thing...

I've never seen anyone mocking of bronies actually, in any way, seem funny. Go ahead and laugh at the raving Halo fanboys, or the stupid Sonic recolor fan characters. And if you can find something other than, "Lol, dudes liking little girl cartoons," then I guess you get to make fun of bronies, too.
(This was very poorly worded; I was in no way intending to say all Halo or Sonic fans were raving and of poor calibur. In fact, I used them as an example because they are some of the strongest out there, with a lot of the coolest fanworks on the net.
They just also happen to be really, really huge and have plenty of very publicly known lackluster fanstuffs that even the fans mock)
Without a good reason to laugh at bronies, it all seems like someone's insecure with their masculinity or think themselves too kewl for anything mainstream.

 

[likalaruku]

If you can't laugh at yourself, for watching a show about ponies, aimed at little girls, then what can you laugh at?

nail, meet hammer. well put.

Yeah, what IS with all the dudes watching My Little Pony? I'm a girl & I won't even watch that, but it's almost as popular with the geeks at TGWTG as Dr Who is.

 

[Jim Grim]

Why should they have to apologise for mocking people for liking a T.V show? It's not like they're some kind of oppressed people. I mock my friends for liking certain T.V shows all the time.

 

[SillyBear]

Bronies seem to be the new guys on the block with the largest persecution complex (Not all of them, of course).

If you can't laugh at yourself, for watching a show about ponies, aimed at little girls, then what can you laugh at?


I like to eat rusks, a soft biscuit designed to wean babies on to solid food.

My friends take the piss out of me for that, and I laugh along. Gotta be able to mock yourself.

This.

I loved it when NPR had a go at them. It was clearly tongue in cheek and if you feel persecuted over that you are a fucking cry baby. Imagine being someone who gets actually persecuted about something important. You'd explode.

You "bronies" do watch a show aimed at little girls and the show is about ponies. You can bloody well expect to encounter some ribbing. Stop acting like little girls. NPR shouldn't have to apologise at all.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Bronies seem to be the new guys on the block with the largest persecution complex.

If you can't laugh at yourself, for watching a show about ponies, aimed at little girls, then what can you laugh at?

What about people who are actually being offensive or downright pathetic? The brony community has some of the most impressive fanworks in such a short period of time, and have managed to convert hard-core trolls into people whose philosophy is to "love and tolerate the shit" out of people they don't like.
And you don't have to watch the show to enjoy a lot of the fanstuffs, either; I liked Derpy before I ever saw the thing.

I suppose what I'm saying is that, unlike a lot of fanbases, you really have to reach to mock bronies, and the only thing one has to joke about them is that they're watching a show for little girls. And then you have to deal with the whole, "people don't insult adults who love Transfomers, or other male-oriented franchises" sexism thing...

I've never seen anyone mocking of bronies actually, in any way, seem funny. Go ahead and laugh at the raving Halo fanboys, or the stupid Sonic recolor fan characters. And if you can find something other than, "Lol, dudes liking little girl cartoons," then I guess you get to make fun of bronies, too.
Without a good reason to laugh at bronies, it all seems like someone's insecure with their masculinity or think themselves too kewl for anything mainstream.

I understand what you're saying. But most people grew up playing Sonic and watching Transformers, so it's as much a nostalgia thing as anything else. 20-something yeard olds aren't watching MLP for a nostalgia hit. There's nothing wrong with that, but I also understand that it seems a bit freakin' weird that all these adult men are obsessing over it.

There's also a difference between people who enjoy MLP, and those running around calling themselves 'bronies' and posting MLP .jpgs everywhere.

 

[Jazoni89]

Why should they have to apologise for mocking people for liking a T.V show? It's not like they're some kind of oppressed people. I mock my friends for liking certain T.V shows all the time.

Mainly because, the bronies would probably kill him, his wife, his children, and his dog if gotten the chance.

They are very defensive when it comes to my little pony, surely you should know that by now.

 

[Ritalynn]

I love the show, not only is it full off D'awwwwwwwwwww... but it actually has as good message. And it's creator is a great queen.

 

[Cap'n Ninja]

If you can't laugh at yourself, for watching a show about ponies, aimed at little girls, then what can you laugh at?

nail, meet hammer. well put.

Yeah, what IS with all the dudes watching My Little Pony? I'm a girl & I won't even watch that, but it's almost as popular with the geeks at TGWTG as Dr Who is.

I'll leave it to the hordes to shower you with the specifics, but it boils down to "It's actually pretty good" give it a try if you've got 25 minutes to spare one day and you're bored.
I'm a girl too, and I enjoy it. Gender doesn't really come into it despite what you'd expect, it's just designed to specifically appeal to young girls and their families.

 

[Actual]

I like to eat rusks, a soft biscuit designed to wean babies on to solid food.

Another one like me!

When I get funny looks at the supermarket check-out I just say I left the baby in the car...that doesn't seem to help.

If Bronies get to start a cub I say we do too...the Ruskies, no that's taken....

EDIT to say that I'm not a bronie, but I have watched a couple episodes of the show and it's pretty good for a kid's cartoon, if I had kids or were unemployed (snark) I'd watch it too.

 

[SilkySkyKitten]

If you can't laugh at yourself, for watching a show about ponies, aimed at little girls, then what can you laugh at?

There's a difference between joking around about something, and somebody going to Fox News levels of offensive nonsensical slander about something. The NPR incident was the latter, not the former, and that's why the Brony-folk have been up in arms about it this whole time.

Hell, we Bronies are fully aware (or at least I am fully aware) that watching a show primarily aimed at little girls is rather bizarre. I've joked about it several times with fellow Brony friends without problem, so we are fully capable of laughing at ourselves. The thing is, though, when somebody attacks you without proper evidence and even goes as far as twisting the words of the creator of a show you enjoy to make it look like they think you're fucked up when in reality that couldn't be further from the truth, I'm pretty sure getting angry is a very acceptable response.

 

[MisterShine]

Yeah, what IS with all the dudes watching My Little Pony? I'm a girl & I won't even watch that, but it's almost as popular with the geeks at TGWTG as Dr Who is.

The latest show was a sort of reboot of the series, and it is actually pretty funny.

It's not the funniest show I've ever seen by a long shot, but for a show that is made up entirely of ponies and primarily aimed at little girls, it is as funny as it is able to be. Actually, the fact that it IS a show with all ponies and actually being funny is what makes it even better. I don't get all the love people on the internet have for it, but it is by no means bad.

Captcha: Assfert effects

That's gross, Captcha.

 

[Blindrooster]

The fact that bronies seem so offended by this is a bad thing. It seperates them from everyone else, establishing them as their own class of people.They are not "bronies" they are people who like a kids show. Despite what people might think this isn't a religion or a race, and shouldn't be treated as such.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

I like to eat rusks, a soft biscuit designed to wean babies on to solid food.

Another one like me!

When I get funny looks at the supermarket check-out I just say I left the baby in the car...that doesn't seem to help.

If Bronies get to start a cub I say we do too...the Ruskies, no that's taken....

I just pretend I'm a young father.

It doesn't work either.

Spoiler: But damn, I fucking love rusks.

 

[Actual]

I like to eat rusks, a soft biscuit designed to wean babies on to solid food.

Another one like me!

When I get funny looks at the supermarket check-out I just say I left the baby in the car...that doesn't seem to help.

If Bronies get to start a cub I say we do too...the Ruskies, no that's taken....

I just pretend I'm a young father.

It doesn't work either.

Spoiler: But damn, I fucking <3 rusks.

It says "All ages"! That includes late twenties damn it!

 

[Daystar Clarion]

If you can't laugh at yourself, for watching a show about ponies, aimed at little girls, then what can you laugh at?

There's a difference between joking around about something, and somebody going to Fox News levels of offensive nonsensical slander about something. The NPR incident was the latter, not the former, and that's why the Brony-folk have been up in arms about it this whole time.

Hell, we Bronies are fully aware (or at least I am fully aware) that watching a show primarily aimed at little girls is rather bizarre. I've joked about it several times with fellow Brony friends without problem, so we are fully capable of laughing at ourselves. The thing is, though, when somebody attacks you without proper evidence and even goes as far as twisting the words of the creator of a show you enjoy to make it look like they think you're fucked up when in reality that couldn't be further from the truth, I'm pretty sure getting angry is a very acceptable response.

I heard the the segment.

It was obviously a joke.

Again, persecution complex.

It's no different that the Big Bang Theory poking fun at comic book geeks, except, you know, people don't get pissy about it.

 

[Erana]

And to all the people who are saying, "Bronies should expect some ridicule, why should they apologise," I have to ask if you actually saw the original segment.

It went waaay beyond, "Lol, dudes watching little girl cartoons." I had my expectations low from the general reactions people had in the thread on it, but I'll be damned if they didn't shock me a bit.

If it had just been, "Hey, a new cult hit sweeping youth is to like My Little Pony. That's pretty freaky, with tons of otherwise normal guys going nuts over tiny horses. Are we not teaching kids what it means to be manly?" or something, then yeah, they get their opinion. But they way overstepped the line any respectable mainstream media should maintain, and they're right to apologize.