The Mudpony Liberation Front · 2:16am Aug 3rd, 2014
A story called So... What about us? recently wandered its way onto the featured box. As it stands, it has about 2800 views, and a rating just shy of 95% positive. I'll refrain from any reference to the literary merits of the piece—you can get a sense of that by reading the whole thing in just a few minutes—and focus on why I think its premise is silly.
"But Space, this is a [Random] [Comedy]! Why are you wasting your time analyzing this?"
Because it's not funny. This story really doesn't make that much effort to be amusing. The entire thing is about Applejack and Pinkie Pie's reaction to Discord taking away the wings and horns of Dash, Fluttershy, Twilight, and Rarity.
Naturally, this immediately devolves into a discussion of the dynamics between the various races of Equestria. Let's skip ahead to the bit I think summarizes it pretty well:
Pinkie stopped once she understood what Applejack was talking about. “Oh yeah.” She sighed. “Being a...mud pony.” Pinkie cringed when she said that, being called a mud pony was a pretty hurtful insult to say for an earth pony. It just reminds pegasus and ‘high class’ unicorns that they can fly and sleep on clouds, or rest in actual beds, while they are stuck on the ground; sleeping in hay,
Okay. Let's deal with this on the level it deserves. Earth ponies have beds, which would be pretty obvious to anyone who's actually watched the show.
Moments later, Pinkie Pie was dragged away by the secret police for daring to put her filthy mudpony hooves on a real bed.
But the idea of a socioeconomic divide between earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns is silly for more reasons than that. Here's another representative line from What about us:
“Pinkie,” AJ faced her. “Are we gonna let some low down, self centered, flyin’ monster remind us why we’re the lower class.”
I mean, obviously they're the lower class. Just look at their poverty.
And naturally, they're oppressed to such an extent that they're not allowed to hold any official positions of note.
And those filthy mudponies have got to be kept out of high society.
Bonus silliness round thing
“They would’ve sooner or later Pinkie. It’s so easy anyway.” AJ dug a hole in the ground and started demonstrating the process. “All ya have to do is put a packet of seeds in the ground,” She covered the hole up and spit on it. “pour water on em’,” She pointed to the sun, which was next to the moon. “and shine some sun on it, and BAM.” She slammed her hoof in on top of the mound of dirt. “Ya got food. So easy a filly can do it.” She looked away from Pinkie to hide the anger in her face. “Ah’m surprised they didn’t kill us off.”
Who are you and what did you do with Applepony?
"This is complete horsefeathers."
—Applejack
That is not farming. That is really shitty gardening at best.
Of course, the real problem with this argument is that there's literally no reason for there to be any sort of animus between the different pony races.
You might remember them. They're siblings.
And these are their parents.
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(Yes, goddamnit, Mr Cake is the father of the Cake twins. Even if he wasn't, it'd still be pretty good evidence for the absence of any acute racial animosities.)
Although honestly, I can believe that there would be stallions willing to cross any number of lines here.There's literally no canon backing for the idea that earth ponies are racially oppressed. Now, mules, on the other hand...
"None taken... you fucking bigot."
ftfy
2339018
Why, thank you, Badger.
Okay, I agree except for...
Literally no reason?
Hearts warming Eve? Wendingos?
Bueuller?
Truly the only racial gap between the ponies is the ability to open a pickle jar. Unicorns? Magic. Pegasi? Feather hands. Earth ponies? They're fucked.
>earth ponies
gross :(
2339067
Fine. There's literally no canon evidence that there is one.
In one of my stories, The Trouble With Unicorns, I start off by assuming that the races all get along pretty well, at least usually. But there is some simmering tensions that come to the surface over the course of the story.
But all of it is based off of canonical evidence as seen in the show itself. Whereas this story that you mentioned seems to have been written by someone who didn't even watch the show.
While what you said was pretty amusing, and I thoroughly enjoyed your analysis, I think that the only thing Discord really stole from this story (based on the examples you gave us) was an editor...
But to speak directly on the matter, I would ask you to consider this: "what if the 'earthpony' plight is analogous to that of several 'minorities' that exist (for the sake of argument) here in the United States?"
Earth ponies, since they may have experienced oppression in the past, might have difficulty discerning any slight received from any act of actual discrimination. Therefore this commentary may speak more to the "crutch" of the mud-ponies than any oppression imparted through their counterparts.
2339173
A rather excellent observation. Here's a quote from the author's userpage:
First, there's the entire Hearths Warming story. That's nothing BUT racial animosity between the tribes. And second, you really can't tell me that there aren't racist ponies. In any society with individuals that are radically different than others, prejudice will fester. Sure, the majority of people can look past such trivial things, but to believe that everyone can is just naive.
In the MLP universe, earth ponies would most likely be the target of the majority of this racism. Just because there are rich earth ponies with titles and government positions doesn't make it not true. After all, there are black Americans that hold office (like the presidency, for instance), but you can't say they aren't still the subject of racism on a regular basis. It just goes without saying that a show for little girls wouldn't want to show that.
2339994
It's set well over a thousand years ago. Chancellor Puddinghead (or whoever) is as far removed from Pinkie Pie as Charlemagne is from you.
For that matter, let's consider that one of Equestria's most important cultural touchstones is a story that's basically a morality tale about the effects of racism. "If you hate other ponies, goddamn wind monsters will kill your ass."
Okay, let's try to sort through this. Racism is not synonymous with racial oppression. We can argue about the number of people who have noxious ideas about black people, but it's surely telling that we have a black president.
(On that note, I spend an entirely unhealthy amount of time in the "right-wing fever swamps" of the internet, and while everyone there hates Obama, it's rare indeed that his race is mentioned even obliquely.)
So sure, the fact that there are rich and powerful earth ponies doesn't necessarily tell us anything about the prevalence of racism in Equestria, but it does tell us that it's not incredibly acute.
You really can't make this kind of argument from silence. "It doesn't matter that the show doesn't provide evidence for this idea. Of course it doesn't! It's for little girls."
You can certainly posit the existence of things that haven't been established canonically, but constructing these kind of conspiracy theories is just silly. CartsBeforeHorses (
2339173 ) has the right idea here.
2340195 I understand what you're saying, I really do. I doubt racism is even as common in Equestria as it is in America, but it still likely exists. One thing I've learned is that bad experiences tend to stick with people the most, so the rare occasions when they would encounter racism would be remembered for a long time.
Also, the story isn't canon, but his own idea of what Pinkie and Applejack might have felt about the fact that all their friends are complaining about being just like them. It's not a scientific observation of racial tensions, but the personal feelings of two individuals.
To be honest, I thought the story was very well done and Pinkie and AJ's reactions very accurate to their characters. They know their friends aren't racist, but it would still hurt when they react so negatively to essentially becoming an earth pony.
2340302
"Lower class".
2340338 What about it?
2340382
That implies that there's more going on in that story than what you're talking about.
2340390 Have you seen pegasi or unicorns in the "lower class"?
2340399
I've barely seen a lower class. It's not like the Apples live in a hovel.
2340485 They're still the lower class, as with the Pie family. I don't live in a hovel, but I'm lower class.
2340564 Being a farmer doesn't make you lower class, city boy. The Apples are especially an example of a highly successful and influential farming family. It's implicit in Over a Barrel that they have family-owned farms far and wide across the nation and that the Ponyville and Apploosa farms are just two of a wide swath of Apple owned land. And those two particular enterprises are massive- Sweet Apple Acres is a huge farm with hundreds of trees, and Apploosa's farm extends over the horizon with it's length and berth. You can't be a lower class farmer and have land like that, or a crop like that, or a huge customer base like that. You just can't.
Who am I to talk, though? We're both city boys.We're not very smart, but I'm just smart enough to know what a good economic situation looks like. You're just going to ignore evidence and logic because you're "lower class". Wanna see lower class? Come down here in Chicago and go to Inglewood. Go to the many latino neighborhoods. You're "lower class" so maybe you'll find it homely. You can't tell me the Apples and the Pies live in a situation that can be anything, absolutely anything, like that.
I've had a very frustrating day. Don't make it worse by being a shithead.
2340789 First off, I don't care how bad your day was, don't take it out on me. Second, you're making a lot of assumptions about me based on absolutely nothing. What makes you think I'm a city boy? I grew up in the country. Also, lower class doesn't mean 'live in a bad neighborhood'. Applejack has mentioned on several occasions in several episodes their financial trouble and the Pie farm looks like something out of Eastern Europe, so yes they are lower class. Third, Space and I were having a mature and civilized debate. Don't bring your childishness into it.
2340564
Equestria can't be much advanced past 1900 levels, judging from the technology. By that standard, the Apples have a pretty damn high standard of living. Also, we don't know enough about the Pies to draw any conclusions about them.
2341255 Applejack has said repeatedly that they had severe financial trouble, to the point where their continued ownership of their farm is constantly in question.
As for the Pies, this is enough; images.wikia.com/mlp/images/8/85/Rock_Farm_rainbow_S1E23.png
They're so poor, look what they were reduced to growing; 24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ljtlo9F9OU1qg34h7o1_1280.png