What's With This Brony Thing Anyway?

Let's get started, and I know what some of you may be thinking. What is a Brony? So in the simplest terms a Brony is a fan of the television cartoon My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.  Now where did the term Brony come from exactly? And well that's a bit more complicated, simply because there are two trains of thought on the matter. One being that it originated on the online message board 4chan's page/b, so b-ponies became Bronies. But here's where it gets confusing, because how did b-ponies become Bronies and not bonies besides for the obvious innuendo-y reasons. Therefore I present the simpler and more logical explanation: bro + pony = Brony. Now what you might say to yourself isn't bro a primarily male term? and though there is an unusual amount of the fan base that is male some of the female fans did want their own title that they could identify with, thus pegasister (Pegasus + Sister = PegaSister) was conceived, though that term is not universally accepted by the female fan base, and some still prefer the term Brony.

So why is there such a big deal surrounding a cartoon meant for little girls. Well besides there being an unusually high adult viewership, it is at the best word to describe it, a wholesome show. The characters are varied and they find themselves in mostly semi-relatable situations for young people. The show displays a more realistic portrayal of friendships than many shows around. And as a throwback to cartoons of old the episode usually ends on a high note with some sort of a moral message.

With saying all that you might be asking "where's the controversy?" and it spawned from where much controversy currently lives: the internet. That shouldn't be all too surprising though considering that 4chan is part of their history, and if you didn't know 4chan was responsible for the semi-recent past's largest leak of stolen celebrity photos known as "The Fappening", or at least that is where the leaking began. Now that you know where it came from, on to what it is. The generalised explanation that I can give is that the actions of the few extremists write the perception of the many. An explanation amongst the Bronies is that there is a faction that the others wish would not exist, and therefore do not talk about. These of course are the fans that choose to sexualise the ponies, and not just in their minds which is bad enough, but also in drawings, fanfiction, etc. then they proceed to share these with the internet, where anyone can find them. The people who end up finding the sexualised pony stuff (because I can't think of a better way to put it) unintentionally just happens to be the shows intended target audience, small children mostly little girls. And thus it is assumed that all adult fans (Bronies) sexualise the ponies and transform a wholesome show into something perverted. And that of course is the primary reason behind their poor reputations.

So, why are people doing this? Well that is a simple principle: People are weird. I am not ne to judge people on their sexual preferences, but in this case I am reconsidering. Now I know that I may have mentioned here previously that at a young age I found myself enamoured with several animated characters myself such as Jean Grey, Mary Jane Watson, and Ami from Sailor Moon. And later on I would find myself infatuated with television and literary characters. I see nothing wrong with that in practice; it is okay to develop crushes on fictional characters, from what I can tell it is a natural and normal behavioral practice. This is assuming that you also must realise that fictional character are not real and that they are not a substitute for a possible real tangible person. I think that is where this sub-group of Bronies has gone wrong they are using these animated fictional characters as surrogates for the real thing. Though two sided relationships may be hard, both to find and to keep, and giving a real person the power to hurt you may not seem like the smartest thing to do, but still favourable to something that is literally just in your head that you choose to unleash upon the internet.

If we're being real there are more interesting "children's" cartoons on right now. Such as Adventure Time, Gravity Falls, or Steven Universe. Don't be ashamed to like what you like, or watch cartoons hos intended target audience happens to be small children. Just be careful about what you decide to post on the internet, you never know who will see it. Also don't sexualise cartoon characters.

Post Script: Now, I wouldn't call myself a Brony, I'm not against the show, I liked it. Also I finished filing my first notebook. And this is the first post written originally in my new notebook. I just ant to thank everyone who visits and reads these things I post. If you ever have any comments, just let me know. 

Redheads.

So I am not one to try and hide my nerdiness on this blog, I mean I’ve written two blog posts involving Final Fantasy VII. So it really shouldn’t be too much of a stretch for you to learn that my attraction to redheads started with Jean Grey, she was smart, hot for a comic book/cartoon character, and also she could read minds and had telekinesis. Also when I was younger Cyclops had personality traits which I aspired to have: leadership, respect, superpowers, and the girl. Now, I see that he’s a bit of a douche, has a hard time thinking for himself, and habitually plagued with self-doubt (but that’s probably why when I was younger I wanted to be Spider-Man, but then Mary-Jane Watson there fueled my redheaded love). But Scott Summers is not what I am here to talk about. And though for a long time I lacked any opportunity to express it, my affection for redheads didn’t wane.

It wasn’t again until high school that I met my first redheaded crush.  And well from there I formed my first opinion on redheads. And sadly it was a generalization, but it was more of an environmental thing rather than people’s personalities being in any way related to their hair colour. It was a dumbass thing to think at the time, and I know that I should have known better especially even then I knew that the reputation blondes is completely false.

So here is an excerpt from a thing I wrote in 2008 on redheads.

“Redheads, gingers, touched by fire, call them what you want they have always eluded me everything from behavioral pattern to common interests, all but one thing I have observed they they all seem to have in common. A superiority complex, they may not admit it but they all protrude an air of being better than all the rest.”

It is so obvious to me now that I was so very wrong. I never saw their passion, their intelligence, their creativity, or their determination. I only ever saw the fire in their hair, but never the fire in their souls.

Now I know I am still putting a lot of stock into physical appearance, and still am making plenty assumptions about people passed on a single physical attribute. I know this is wrong, I know that. Whole heartedly I know that the physical is fleeting and that it is on the inside that counts. But that’s not saying that the physical has no effect on personality, because it does. But that’s what I am looking for though, someone with passion, intelligence, determination and someone who lets their souls' fire burn bright and hot. Someone who is a redhead on the inside.

Before I finish I’d like to address the supposed soullessness of redheads. Because to lack a soul is to lack fundamental personhood, for someone to be soulless is to truly be less than human, they would be literally a sub-human species. And to classify someone let alone a whole group of people in that way is just far too degrading to be allowed to happen.

Post Script: If it wasn’t obvious, I’m back. Now in my defense I did say it might be a while. Plus the summer weather is a little too nice to write and not going out exploring, enjoying and photographing.