I Deleted My Last Blog Post... Again · 5:56pm Oct 1st, 2020
Not over racism this time, but because what should have been a forum for civil discussion about the debate had quickly become extremely uncivil. I stopped it before I had to ban anyone, but I've learned my lesson. I'm going to stop trying to discuss politics on my blog, because it is clear to me now that not even Bronies are capable of civil, rational discussion of politics in 2020, and that both sides are just as horrible and just as likely to degenerate into name-calling and insults. You're all horrible, and you all should be ashamed.
I'm not mad. I'm disappointed. In fact, my disappointment is immeasurable, and my entire experience with the brony fandom has been ruined. I wish I could say I'm joking, but I'm not. I'm honestly feeling like coming back was a mistake. This isn't the brony fandom I used to love and be a part of. Not anymore. Not if 2020 can do this to us.
So, this is probably going to be my last blog post on this site. Sorry, everyone.
I don't know what happened to love and tolerance since I was last here, but whatever cancer is killing America in 2020, not even the bronies are immune to it. It can't be attributed to any single side or party, because both are just as rotten and just as guilty. Anyone who says that their side is different is fooling themselves. You're not different. You may have a different ideology, but you're just an @$$hole wearing a different hat than the @$$hole you're arguing with. In the end, you're both two @$$holes arguing over pointless BS while ignoring the real issues.
We have degenerated to the point where even a global pandemic can be politicized, and because it has been, it has been allowed to run rampant in our country. 3rd world countries that did absolutely nothing concerning COVID-19 are doing a drastically better job than we are with handling this virus. What does that say about us as a country, and as a people? 2020 is the first time in my life that I am ashamed to call myself an American citizen. Were it not for my lack of income and the fact that my family needs me to stay alive, I'd have left this country and never come back. I feel like every day I should go online and apologize to the world for my country's behavior, but then I remember, I'm not responsible for how other people act. I can only take accountability for my own actions. Sadly, the overwhelming majority of Americans are not willing to take accountability for their own actions, and would rather blame everything wrong with the world on the other side.
We used to be the country of compromise, of taking numerous viewpoints and ideas, then taking them and using them to figure out something that worked.
We used to have news agencies that were impartial. Now the only difference between them is whether they're being paid to keep sucking Trump's elephant d--k or Biden's donkey d--k. They're all propaganda machines that regurgitate a political party's lies over and over again. They claim impartiality, then spend hours on end saying "Our guy good, their guy bad" over and over again. If you've deluded yourself into believing that your news agency is impartial, here's a fun experiment: Watch one of their political commentary bits, and count how many times they praise your side and denounce the other, and compare it to how many times they denounce your side and praise the other. If you still argue that they're impartial after that, you're too deluded to have any hope of being saved. There is no impartiality in the news. Not anymore.
I remember a Klingon proverb, that only a fool fights in a burning house. America is burning and we are all fighting. No one is going to stop until there's nothing left of ashes, then blame the other side for it. However, the truth is that we're all to blame because no one was willing to do the one thing that we had spent so much of our history doing: Stop fighting amongst ourselves, talk things out, and figure out a way to get through things together. There are fifty states here, and all of them, regardless of political affiliation, are part of America. Regardless of race, color, creed, or faith, we are all Americans. The doom that comes for one of us comes for all of us.
If the great ship America sinks, we all drown, not just the conservatives or the liberals, the boomers or the zoomers, or the majority or the minority. We're all in this together, and we're all going down with this ship, like it or not. We are the house divided. We cannot stand. All we can do is collapse like a house of cards. All I can hope for is that, when our country has torn itself apart, and we've finished fighting each other over who gets to rule over the ashes of what we used to call America, we can actually build something worthwhile. We'll never be able to rise to anything approaching our former greatness, but maybe we can become something other than a joke, a laughingstock, and a cautionary tale about what happens when a nation becomes too divided. I doubt it, though. To quote Captain America: Civil War, "An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again. But one which crumbles from within? That's dead... forever." 2021 is the year that we bury America. It was good while it lasted. Shame we f---ed it up.
My fellow Americans, please enjoy the next three months as much as you can, if possible. They're likely to be the last good months we're ever going to have, compared to what we're all going to do to ourselves in the months and years to follow. Just remember, if you claim that it's someone else's fault, you're part of the problem.
Unfortunately, there's no way to step back from this divide. It's been practiced over and over in other countries, stirring up tensions and differences until it results in violence and chaos, and the people doing it always profit greatly in the ensuing years. Both sides in the US have been manipulated and driven to this point, and it's not a warning sign - it was the goal all along. People who claim no nation as home, no country their own, all just resources to be taken and consumed - they will be who wins when this is finished.
I don't think we even have three months. No matter the reality of it, at some point a foreign power will publicize "atrocities" happening in our cities as justification for sending "peacekeeping troops", and we will become an occupied nation. Just as has been done to countries around the world for decades and centuries. I wish you the best if this is where we part paths, Bucking. Stay safe.
5368325
That would be ironic, given that America has done the same to other countries. The only difference is, those countries weren't nuclear-capable, so no one is likely to step in for fear of upsetting the atomic wasp's nest that America has become. Decades of nuclear arms races and reckless military spending have made it so that a military conquest is likely impossible until things have gone all the way to hell.
Not until we've collapsed so fully that we no longer even have the option of nuclear retaliation will anyone try to step in, and even then, only very carefully. We can't even ask our allies for help, since the last four years have been spent alienating us from nearly every country we'd consider a friend. That's a shame, since that means that the majority of our country's infrastructure will collapse, millions will starve, and millions more will have died fighting over what little is left before any adults can step in and take away rulership of the country that in all honesty, we no longer deserve to have.
Not exactly. As a general rule, third-world countries are less vulnerable to Covid-19 as well as most pandemics that have low lethality and few obvious symptoms due to their far lower internal population movement. (I'd bet the numbers for common flu and colds match) Industrial countries have high contributing factors you don't normally think about. Somebody you meet in New York for breakfast may be in Chicago for lunch and dining in San Francisco that evening, while somebody in Lower Thirdworldville may see the same people in town their entire life. This is a weird virus. You'd expect countries with high population densities and high tolerance for being shoulder-to-shoulder to have C19 go through like a bomb, but maybe south-east Asians have a higher resistance than mainland Chinese?
Worse, medical authorities from the CDC to WHO have released such wild and contradictory advice that they may have damaged their ability to handle a *real* pandemic beyond repair. We rely on these large organizations to be stabilizing influences in times when large world-wide medical issues arise. There have been several contagious diseases that have been *wiped out* due to their actions, after all. Perhaps in the future, we will see worldwide megacorps who deal with medical issues step forward and provide the stable leadership many government agencies have squandered on wild swings of public perception, and once again, we can start knocking off various diseases that claim far too many lives before their times.
5368338
Not just irony; all of those times were just gathering data, seeing what works and what doesn't, establishing precedents and seeing what people will swallow as justification. Nuclear deterrence won't be effective in stopping this; it might even be used as the justification itself to send peacekeeping troops. "Out of control US leaves missile silos unguarded, UN forced to send troops to safeguard them." And I don't think it likely that we'll see an actual occupying military force as such, holding checkpoints and enforcing law; it will be primarily "advisors" and "support staff" to each side, probably some material, which will help prolong the conflict and make it bloodier. It'll likely eventually be carved up into specific resource zones under the control of various powers "managing" it for the US; oil fields, mines, farming areas.
In all honesty Politics unless it pertains to a particular story really shouldn’t be discussed here or any forum dedicated to entertainment sources. Especially when it leads (in my opinion) to censorship of people with different but valid opinions.
Heh -- the bronies are the same -- you were just attracting the subset of bronies who are interested in posting in the kind of political blog posts you were posting. The civil bronies, that were not coming for a fight, didn't post in the blog.
If you construct a boxing ring, people are going to fight each other. It is also similar to a police sting operation -- a boxing ring will encourage people to box -- some who might never box otherwise.
It's very sad seeing you go. Hope you will reconsider, for the sake of bronies that haven't done nothing wrong under your blog posts, and deeply love your stories.
Inb4 this blog post also gets deleted because it devolves into a shitshow /s (unless..?)
5368325
Uhm... whut? What "Atrocities" are you talking about? Discounting covid, the deathcounts for all the recent rioting and police violence (in both directions) is less than 1000. Probably less than 200. If that constitutes "atrocity" then why hasn't everyone already invaded *checks a list* 70% of sub-Saharan Africa? Not to mention, our military and national guard are both fully intact.
Furthermore, if the election results _do_ trigger a civil war (which it probably won't, but for the sake of argument) the sides won't be "north vs south" it'd be "about 10 major cities and southern California VS The rest of the non-urban US". Not to mention the kind of turnout when the good-ol-boys in more rural areas figure out that it's open season on "those commie-lovn' leftist socialist ninnies". If you're betting on the US armed forces tearing themselves apart in the madness, I wouldn't bet on that either.
Finally, who _would_ send "peacekeeping troops"? The US is Big, and (according to Gallup) 30-40% of the population is armed. The only real options are Mexico, Canada, China, Russia, and India. Pretty much everyone else is about the size of an average US state at best. Let's look at them each in turn:
Mexico: they can't even police their own near-narcostate. They'd get curbstomped by militas before they make it through Texas.
Canada: relations are too good, and honestly, it'd probably be an improvement at this point anyways, so why are you worrying about them?
China: the US by and large dislikes China. If anything could get the left and the right to stop fighting, it's a common Chinese enemy. Not to mention that if china gets too distracted by the US, they'd get their shit kicked in by India as soon as they turn their backs.
India: India is basically at-war with China, and love that Trump likes to dunk on it. We might not be firm allies at the moment, but "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" very much applies here.
Russia: Honestly the biggest threat. Russia has a bad reputation, but it hasn't really done anything particularly notable since they annexed Crimea in 2014. Probably the only country that actually stands a real chance of getting a foothold in the US. Problem is, that while no one really hates russia right now, no one really likes them either. And while they've got the manpower, rumor has it that their equipment is generally pretty old and in questionable shape (aside from their handful of superfighters and other small-volume/high-value equipment).
Problem isn't 'can they take the US', it's 'can they keep it?'. See the above armed population numbers. The US is big enough and armed enough that we'd probably just grind the heck out of any occupying force.
Also, even if relations aren't the best, we do still have some pretty staunch allies, namely Japan, Israel, England, France, Australia, and Canada (maybe Germany too. Maybe). They wouldn't take an occupation force lightly.
This is, of course, all completely predicated on the idea that a (very unlikely) civil war is enough to completely unman the US defenses.
5368468
I was talking about the future, what's going to happen, as well as making it clear that "atrocities" would just be the excuse regardless of what was actually happening. You're responding to things that were already explained but not actually reading what was written, as well as taking an extremely simplistic and narrow view of politics, don't worry about it.
Dude. The civilized Bronies are the ones wise enough to not enter the shitfest that is politics. You should, instead of looking at the comments, look at and deduce the number of your followers from the guys in the blog, and you get a bunch of guys that at least know not to bring politics into ponies.
You just baited some unsavoury individuals that take it too far no matter the place. Things quickly escalate when those parts of the two groups are brought together.
Seriously, don't let it get to your head. Not you too. 2020 got that impact on people.
5368468 "30-40% of the population is armed." Technically, that's the percentage of the population who admits to owning guns, and the last year has pushed that percentage higher. In all probability, the US has more functional long guns (rifles and shotguns) than people, since they tend to cluster into collections. And if you think any country wants to start something with that kind of numbers... (Discount China totally. If they invade anywhere, it will be Taiwan, and even there would be problematic due to the number of soldiers it would take and the difficulty in getting them there.)
another Klingon proverb comes to mind regarding American politics that all sides should consider "Destroying an empire to win a war is no victory. ending a battle to save an empire is no defeat"
It's within your right, but I didn't think the other blog post wsa getting out of hand. Only 1 or 2 people were throwing baby fits.
Really, the only thing that invites more hatred is when it's coming from a biased perspective and forcing it onto others, and sadly, there's an entire wing of politics now that still refuses to accept the 2016 election and doing everything possible to gaslight people. Many are aware of the gaslighting, but the Brony community is also full of the same people that can be called "radicalized" too.
It's how you get places like Derpibooru having a complete meltdown over the past few months. The admins decided to follow their biased politics and push it from a top-down onto the user base. A large part of their community and many great artists had to split off and form their own community "Ponybooru" away from the radicalized politics of their former community.
Don't expect this type of thing to stop anytime soon. I do believe that Trump is going to win with 90% certainty (though there's MANY incidents of ballot harvesting\fraud coming out now), and you're eventually going to see a nuclear meltdown of tardation like nothing else with people calling for a full Civil War now. The "Stand Back And Standby" response was a call for people and militias to arm up and defend themselves when the election results come in and there's a worse tantrum by the media and the radicalized than 2016.
5368525
I will be perfectly honest. I avoided the last two blog posts like the plague. Even though Bucking nonsense is the author that got me in to Fimfiction I don’t get involved in politics at all.
Love and tolerance do still exist. They are just less outspoken these days given the frustration inherent in attempting political discourse. Note I do say this as someone who is lacking in love of the rest of humanity, tolerance is the best I have ever been able to manage. I personally got into one and only one major political argument before I concluded it was pointless. I then got into one argument more recently concerning COVID and concluded I needed to nip it in the bud before I gave myself a migraine.
Regardless sorry to see you go, I had been hoping to see more updates or new stories but given the nature of the last few years I can’t fault anyone for wanting to distance themselves.
Impartiality isn't what you are describing. if something is bad, it is bad. You don't have to bring up good things for the sake of balancing the bad things. Of course, you can't ignore either the good or the bad but bringing up as much the good when theres a lot of bad is as much biased than only talking about the good or the bad.
An hour long documentary about Adolf hitler isn't impartial because it spends half an hour on the few good policies he'd implemented in germany.
No offence Bucking, but even Bronies are not immune to basic Human nature. We all Bicker, We all Fight, we take side and choose groups and most of all we have our own leanings and agenda's. That is what makes us, Us and sadly that's how it will always be until there are no nations or boarders.
BUT, us Bronies have one thing that sets us apart from all others! No matter how uncivil we get, no matter how much we argue and bicker, no matter the amount of insults and hate, We will always step back, apologize and continue on like it never happened if asked.
You can compare us to the Mandalorians of Star Wars, We are all Family and Friends that follow an Idea and are more then fanatic enough to back it to the hilt no matter how much we fight, bicker and bitch. If it came down to it, we would throw everything into the defense of the Community and each other.
That's a large reason why I didn't comment further. I had a feeling it would become a slapfight that you'd hate.
You shouldn't let shitty people ruin the entire thing for you, these kinds of posts will inevitably end up attracting them. I know better than most of the political rot in this fandom. We liked to ignore it for a while but that only lasted for so long before it boiled over. But it doesn't make it worth giving up. There are many people here that like your stories and didn't engage in inflammatory behavior. There are many of us who do still believe in the true spirit of love and tolerance here.
If you didn't want arguments in the comments, then why did you make a post centered on politics? That's not me being sardonic, I'm genuinely curious as to what you were expecting.
Don't get me wrong, 2020 has certainly been a shite year all around, but politics is the one topic that's almost guaranteed to start fights no matter what year it is. It's actually an unspoken rule at my house not to talk about such things at the table, due to how inevitable it is.
This is why I don't discuss politics, it's like fire and moths.
Great going people.
Don't let a handful of asshats ruin your time here, like meany others I saw the posts and just didn't get involved because the only thing political debate ever becomes is an argument no matter the country or group.
Maybe it would be best to log out for a week or two and then come back when the sting has faded, I would definitely be sad to see you go over a couple of bad apples.
Stay safe out there.
I could not resist.
i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/mobile/000/025/543/eca.jpg
I find that touchy subjects tend to have a MASSIVE divide in the opinions that are attached to them. The bigger the divide in opinions, the harder people argue over it. Also, the more the subject affects them, the more negatively or defensively they argue about it. And finally, the harder the times are, the worse people treat each other... most of the time without realizing it.
I know you probably won't see this considering you said you're leaving for good, but I just want to take a moment to apologize for any negative involvement I may have had in the discussion.
Well the issue is that politics devolved to something of a sport supporters...
People just default to their team and go for them without really thinking...
I'm Italian and I've got people completely out of wack on the video by Schwarzenegger and the fact that he was supporting Biden as the President Elect... For them it was just again a matter of "team" there was NO thinking... you are one faction or the other... Really depressing.