Well that happened · 4:42am Jun 5th, 2020
So apparently one of our number attempted to murder people with a sword. What the fuck.
I admit it. I'm not as active as I used to be (I blame Warframe, Titanfall, and Apex Legends). I don't read as many stories, I didn't post here very much even back when I was relatively active, but the attempted murder thing is something that makes me feel like I should say something.
First of all, fuck that guy.
Second of all... i read Cynewulf's blog. It's important to admit that they're right, and that the brony fandom does have a checkered past. We definitely did have an undercurrent of shitty people in our midst. But... that's never been how I thought of this fandom. This has been responsible for me making some of my best friends (that's you, Jed) and I've met great people because I cosplayed Pinkie Pie. In fact, I'm actually friends with at least two professional cosplayers because of it. I've made some of my best artwork because of this fandom. I always saw it as a welcoming space - after all. We liked a show for little girls, what were we gonna do? Defend a "manly image" a lot of us weren't too interested in fulfilling?
Bronycon was the best con I've ever been to. I got to meet Sarahndipity, I was accepted as One Of The Pinkies at the Too Many Pinkies panel, I saw Yourenigma in person. And I wasn't the only person there crossplaying. It was a fun, supportive atmosphere. It seems like night and day from the attempted attack.
This show... it made me a better person. It helped me make so many friends. It helped me keep the friends I already have (I've had severe trust issues for a long time - Pinkie's bouts of paranoia were... uncomfortably familiar). It was something I bonded with extant friends over. And it's an uncomfortable thing to realize that the fandom is full of people who can refuse to see what the show's really about.
It's about trying to be a better person.
So, where am I going with this?
Well, when you see somebody in this fandom who seems like they haven't watched the damn show... call it out. Tell them to stop. Make it clear that this isn't welcome. Because this isn't what the show is about. It's never what it was about, and we shouldn't enable it.
When I heard about that my jaw drop. It goes to show there are awful people everywhere unfortunately.
Very well said Doc. Staying silent is not the way.
We've been silent about those people too long.