Wait Wait don't tell me apologizes to Bronies, mocks itself
- Thread starter Pinstar
- Start date
Recommended Videos
It isn't that the bornies are being prejudiced against but they are being attacked because of the reasoning that girls watching boy shows are cool but boys watching girl shows are broken. It is all just a part of the basic conditioning that has been instilled in our society that females are inferior to males so females aspiring to join the male culture is a sign of strength but males joining the female culture is a sign of weakness. As a society we admit that that kind of logic is wrong but yet we still subscribe to it.
Honestly, if you got offended you aren't secure in your broniehood (...I can't believe I just use that word...). As long as they weren't violently offensive or threatening theres nothing to complain about. Its no different than how geeks are joked about (hell, many of us have adopted the geek moniker with pride!) or how completely heterosexual guys can joke about being gay for the lulz. If you are secure in your self, be that your geekhood, sexuality, or television preference you can laugh at yourself and laugh with others laughing at you.
Well, different people will have different reasons for liking it, the most common ones being:MiracleOfSound said:
It's My Little Pony but it doesn't make you constantly want to rip your own eyes out with a fork (although some will find there are a few moments where it might for them).
Another reason being that since there's so little official content on the lore of the MLP: FiM universe you can make up all kinds of absurd stuff and there's nothing to tell you you're wrong e.g. some people like to say Big Macs the leader of a Communist revolution, some people like to pretend Pinkie Pie is a murdering sadistic psychopath who can bend the laws of reality (this one's most likely true), and some like to say Princess Celestia is a brutal tyrant who will crush anyone who dares to defy her.
There's also the ridiculousness/trolling factor of saying you like something called My Little Pony which some enjoy.
Community generated content such as mildly humorous pictures with captions underneath, comics, remixes and music videos which often contain in-jokes about things from the show it's self and the community it's self.
Nostalgia factor for those who grew up watching the older incarnations or had the Action figures (I'm gonna call all Pony toys Action figures from now on because I can) and even the boys and girls who didn't have My Little Pony as a significant thing in their childhood can still derive Nostalgia factor from the occasional Looney Toons-esque comedy that shows up every now and again.
Oddly enough they managed to get quite a few jokes into there that most little kids will never notice such as a child Dragon named "Spike" falling asleep in a tipped over punchbowl and "Pinkie Pie" saying its looks like the punch has been... Spiked!
The community it's self is usually for the most part quite nice and friendly (for the most part).
A unspoken rule has now basically come into existence where anything with Ponies becomes more awesome/ funny.
(A similar rule applying to Ninjas, Dinosaurs, Chocolate, and giant Robots)
So that's why people like it, but I suppose people like other things without being as defensive about it as the average MLP: FiM watcher is.
It's probably because when you're watching a show that is made mostly for little girls some people will tend to mock you or the show it's self (usually by either calling names such as man-child, or a pedophile, or a loser, or calling the show "retarded kiddy shit" etc. etc.) and so that causes some to instantly get into a Defensive position when ever someone say they just don't like or dislike or are annoyed by MLP: FiM since they begin to sort of become paranoid and assume that just because someone dislikes or doesn't like MLP: FiM it must mean that they hate it or they think you're stupid if you watch it or stuff like that.
There's also the reasons commonly found in the fan-base of anything where there are some who seem to have an attitude that "anyone who doesn't like exactly what I like must be a moron!".
TLDR: Bronies get defensive because they think you're going to insult them or the stuff they like to watch because there are many who do insult them and the stuff the watch (honestly, Ponies might be pretty well accepted on The Escapist but if you were to go almost anywhere else you'd get the strangest looks and comments).
Or, in another way of putting it, it's sort of the same attitude some Furries tend to get (I'm not saying watching My Little Pony and fascination/ sexual attraction to anthropromorhpic animals are at all the same kind of thing) where since you've been insulted about it before you begin to assume that anyone saying anything that's not positive about it is a personal attack.
Ahh... hadn't had a good wall of text in a while.
...Pinkie Pie's my favorite, then Celestia, then Twilight Sparkle.
Its one of those "you have to see it to believe it" concepts. I started out totally anti-pony when I first saw them on the Escapist but I soon got dragged into a argument with three very persuasive bronies, all with good arguments about how my hate against them was stupid. So I got an episode recommended to me and I watched the whole thing. Got hooked on the show ever since. Its definitely a acquired taste (along with everything else) but there is no denying that people will hate on it just like me before actually understanding it.MiracleOfSound said:
P.S. If anybody does get interested in watching it then I suggest you watch episode 25.
]Erana said:
So what? All you're saying here is that you don't think it is funny. You can't apply your sense of humour to everyone. I've already explained why you didn't think it was funny, it's because every time someone teases you about watching a show aimed at little girls, you find it annoying/offensive. You don't find it funny. Big deal. No one is disputing this.
We get it, you don't find it funny. I don't either.
Are you not from planet Earth? People always get insulted over the premise of things. Always. It's human nature to tease people who do something different to you. NPR's joke wasn't even slightly controversial and if you were annoyed or offended because they teased you based on MLP's premise, you're being a bit of a tit. Get over it.Erana said:
Most jokes in mainstream culture aren't funny at all to me. Doesn't mean they aren't jokes and it doesn't mean they don't have a point.
No one really gives a shit about you or the television shows you watch. I really doubt the NPR announcer who slagged MLP off goes around all day thinking about how much he hates MLP. He just made a stupid joke and the "bronie" community put their little ***** hats on.Erana said:
To be honest, if I were to make a joke about MLP, it wouldn't be about the premise of the target demographic. It would be about the way its fanbase reacts every single time someone says slightly negative about the show. Just tell the haters to suck a dick and move on with your life. You're sitting on an internet board trying to scrabble reasons together as to why "they're wrong and you're not".
The NPR joke was childish and a tad hateful? No shit. Most jokes are. That's humanity for you, we've been doing this shit since the dawn of time. My Grand Father was teased about liking Frank Sinatra in the early days of Sinatra's career because his target demographic was young girls. This was in the early forties.
Why the hell are all you pony fans acting so damn surprised and offended over this? This happens and sometimes it is targeted at the things you don't like. Imagine being a Justin Bieber fan. Although I must say, for the most part, Bieber fans do react better to criticism than Pony fans do. Think about all the shit and hateful nonsense that is said about Bieber. And yes, off the top of my head, I can't think of a huge controversy after anything hateful about Bieber was said. Yet someone at NPR makes a vaguely hateful joke about MLP and all of a sudden there is a shit storm.
Just fucking enjoy the show you like and stop bitching about how the haters "aren't funny and aren't logical". They don't have to be.
Lol. I love the way "bronies" act like MLP is some huge force of social progression. My Little Pony is breaking traditional gender roles? Hahaha. Big call. Let's wait fifty years and see how it is remembered, who knows what will happen.Erana said:
Anyway, the reason my little pony fans are being teased is because of two main reasons:
-The show is incredibly girly.
For a male, being feminine is a negative trait in our society. That alone is going to cause a heap of hate to come your way. And stop being so fucking surprised by it. This has been the case since the dawn of man. You aren't special and you aren't martyrs. Yes, hating a male because they have feminine qualities is fucking stupid. But you know what? People are stupid. We don't like difference and we don't like it when people act different. It sucks, but that is the world we live in and you shouldn't be so damn surprised when you get called out for it.
-The show is aimed at young children.
Once again, having childish qualities and attributes as an adult is also a negative trait. Society expects adults to have traits that we associate with being an "adult". Once again, this isn't new either. And once again, it sucks, but that's the world we live in. You're going to get teased for this in any culture.
Both these reasons are stupid, but they aren't any less valid than any other reason. Regardless of the reason, regardless of the criticism, you shouldn't pretend to be surprised by criticism. Suck it up, move on and enjoy watching the show. Don't worry about what people say.
I've got a young son, and because of this I am around little children and watch quite a lot of children's cartoons. To be honest, the reason I don't like the show is simply because it's not that great. Yeah, it's well made and it is a better than average children's show, but I don't see it to be anything to write home about. There are stacks of children's TV shows with just as much depth and just as much technical prowess as this. I think the whole MLP fandom is very hive-mind like and it is becoming a bit of a meme and a bit conformist. It pretty much rules the internet right now. That's why I think it is popular. I think it is a 7/10 Kids TV show that got popular on the internet and spread like wildfire.
Meh, I would have had no problem with it if it was actually funny. The problem is that the only jokes anyone actually makes about it is the moronic 'they're all creepy old guys' and the bigoted 'if you like this you're clearly gay', both of which were never funny to begin with. Hell, the Brony community seems better (and more mature) at mocking itself then outsiders:
But still, they're free to mock, the only problem I had was their little deliberate misquote of Lauren Faust, just because her comments were specifically about how people who use those arguments above are immature and outdated.
But still, they're free to mock, the only problem I had was their little deliberate misquote of Lauren Faust, just because her comments were specifically about how people who use those arguments above are immature and outdated.
... Huh, I must have missed the initial diss. But eh, I don't really feel offended by much of anything. I usually just laugh, smile, and move on. I'm secure enough in my own liking of the things I'm a fan of to embrace them, flaws and all.
I understand that not everybody will like the show, and while I advise people to give it a shot, if they do and don't like it, I just nod and bid them a good day.
I understand that not everybody will like the show, and while I advise people to give it a shot, if they do and don't like it, I just nod and bid them a good day.
I don't watch it, and remain only vaguely aware of the show, but I'm sick of hearing about bronies already.Pinstar said:
It's not that I find them creepy. And it's not that I think people are evil for making fun of them. It's that, as far as humor goes, this stuff is low-hanging fruit and it's not being done well.
It's a case of someone simply saying, "Ha! You watch a show! It's funny that you watch it!" Okay. Why? No explanation is given. Just, "Ha! You watch it! It's funny that you do!"
Now, if these guys were uniformly behaving in some strange way... or if they all wore giant glowing antennae to show their support or something... then there'd be something to make fun of, I guess. As it is? "They like a cartoon that's meant for little girls."
And this is on whose authority? Yeah, the original toys were sold featuring little girls in the commercial. Yeah, the majority of the characters are female. But the show is just a show, as far as I'm aware.
I mean, which is it that bothers people more? The fact that it's grown men liking something meant for kids, or liking something meant for females? Does it require the combination of the two to magically become funny?
If a grown man comes home from work, after putting in a good day's work, returning to a home where he pays all his bills on time, helps his neighbors when they need, obeys all traffic laws on his way to and fro... but he plays with action figures in a wholly unironic way, we have this natural inclination to say, "Ew. Weirdo."
But why? Simply put--the more imagination something requests of us, the more we (as adults) write it off as "for children." And I think we're all the worse for that sad fact.
I don't think that. And with that logic, no one should have to apologize in America, but I still do if someone's offended.Jimbo1212 said:
Granted this is a stupid reason to get offended.
Someone will ALWAYS get offended at something, you just have to work on the fact that only a tiny minority were so who cares.Easton Dark said:
Also, I think the majority of people would agree with them. It may not be true, but most would think that if you told them that a load of guys were watching My Little Pony.
The fandom is more than capable of laughing at themselves, the rage comes in when media outlets start calling us pedophiles and accusing us of fraud to feed a non-existent addiction. That's when the fandom gets mad, little niggling stuff like getting poked fun at as the new strange pop-culture phenomenon comes with the territory.Daystar Clarion said:
The NPR thing was largely seen as exactly what it was, a joke, and while many in the fandom had a good laugh and went on with their lives there will always be those who lose their shit and try to summon forth a pony raid on whoever made the joke.
I'm pretty sure the freedom of the press doesn't allow for attacks against groups of people with blatantly false information.Jimbo1212 said:
Anyway, I haven't seen many complaints from bronies on the subject of ridicule. In fact I think there's a project out there to apologize to some radioshow for some members spamming the inbox after a the radioshow slandered the bronies.
The worst I've heard from the community is "It's to be expected from fox, but NPR, I am disappoint."
I really, truly, have not heard any bronies show any more offense than that, so I don't know what some of you are talking about.
It's nice that they gave an apology. Sure they didn't have to, but I don't think it was them cracking under pressure from angry letters. I'm almost positive they just wanted to be nice after researching the subject a little more (by which I mean browsing pony videos on youtube for like 5 minutes).
True on both counts. As far as I know, only a really tiny minority are actually offended by this, it's a radio show that makes fun of all kinds of things, just seems like a normal thing for a show like that to do.Jimbo1212 said:
If I hadn't heard about MLP before this, I wouldn't have instantly considered fans jobless and basement dwelling but... more in the weakling/wimp category. They could still be successful, just kind of sissy.
I've come to find that isn't the case though. I can appreciate the artistic and literary works of the brony community (yeah fanfiction, I LIKE IT), and if others can't, well, like you said, free country.