Ostracized · 10:06pm Jul 2nd, 2015
Sometimes I honestly feel as though our fandom has the sad habit of picking up some extremely undesirable characters. Of course it would, name a fandom that doesn't. Yet in my experience it seems that the amount of insane, ignorant and downright hypocritical people that inhabit the tiny nook of the world that I live in seem to fill our local brony group to the brim.
I'm no saint and will never claim to be. I've lived for 25 years and in that time I've done things I'm ashamed of. I've lied and cheated on a lover, I've stole money from my parents to snort coke with a bunch of lunatics on a crazy night out, betrayed a few friends in the process and a bunch of other things I dare not mention. So no... I'm no angel. Nor do I in any capacity believe that being a brony makes me one.
Recently I became involved in a fight with my local group of bronies over something they called a "Crisis of Morality". I had made the mistake of letting a few of them know about the demons of my past. In turn, I'd found out things about their past as well. None of them have ever had sex, none of them had ever even smoked weed let alone anything beyond that. Their view on the world seems to suffer from tunnel vision since my very own actions have lead them to the conclusion that I am a morally bankrupt individual that has "no right to call himself a brony".
That last bit stung quite deep. I can handle the fact that I will never be on the same wave length as them, but it has never made me view them any other way than as people I had believed I could call friends. I could care less if they were a bunch of virgins who couldn't find a girlfriend, I liked them all the same. They were people who liked the same thing I did. People who didn't judge me for my love of ponies but embraced me for it.
Yet it seems that I was embraced solely for my love of ponies and nothing else. Learning about who I was seemed to make them think I was bad news. Their attitudes towards me changed. I was slowly cut from the group until one day I decided to pitch up at one of their meets and walked off to smoke a Jay with a sister of one of them and was promptly snubbed like some kind of crackhead. Later I was lambasted in slew of messages about how my behavior was unbecoming of a member of "their" fandom. And so in an instant I was no longer recognized by the group and it has made me feel rather depressed.
Its funny how not 3 years ago I wouldn't be caught dead with the likes of them to be completely and rather shockingly dismissed by them. Is it me? Have I misread the pretense of Love and Tolerance? Is their some kind of purity bar that one must pass before being known as a brony? It perplexes me...
I wanna say "screw them, I have other friends." But I feel as though a piece of me has been taken away by this... I all of a sudden feel as though I don't belong in this fandom... Goddess who knows... I'll smoke a bong and ponder on it.
I know the feeling bro, except I've been ostracized amongst most of my peers in a special needs classroom (of the high-functioning variety) for 1) doing my assignments on time, 2) getting good grades, and 3) merely disagreeing or proving wrong their claims about this and that.
3200850 I believe beyond a doubt that they are simply jealous of you. To which I would say, pay no heed to them. But I suppose we both know its easier said than done when you feel as though you've connected with them at some level. People suck.
3200855 I don't pay heed to them anymore--it's been a year since I graduated. And I do too believe they envied me on some level.
Indeed.
I think no matter what fandom you are a part of you will encounter people that aren't very good representations of that fandom. When i first entered the fandom, I was part of a site where I met some friends. One day, everyone in the chat room started attacking me for no reason, and the group leader banned me. I wrote him a message telling him that I didn't think it was cool, and in return he deleted all of my stories/ profile details. Later, one of my friends who knew the sit admin chewed him out, and the site admin apologized to me, but by then I didn't want anything else to do with his website.
I encountered this rude behavior on a few different websites before I started meeting local friends and started making friends on this website. I have met rude people in about every fandom though, whether it was the anime fandom, steampunk fandom, or other fandoms. Some people think they are better simply because they write, draw, or contribute a lot to a fandom. I've never liked this attitude since I think everyone should be valued for their contribution, no matter how small. And I have unfortunately encountered more popular members of many different fandoms that had this elitist attitude I just can't stand.
Moral being, no matter where you go, people will be people. There are good people, but there are also bad people. You've got to ignore the stupid people and focus on the people who are your true friends.
Smoking a bong right with you brother... Fucking people.
Two words I have for ya:
Tell those people to fuck off
Your a brony regardless of whatcha do k?
3200916
You are of course right, and I thank you for your kind words. However, it still stings. And perhaps that is just something time will heal.
3200943
Ha ha... You little fiend :P
3201086
Perhaps I just needed a simple reminder of that fact. incidentally, thank you for the watch.
3201106
Wuv you
This fandom has mercs, trigger pullers, arms dealers, and other irregular fighters in it. You're far from the only SOB here.