#BLM (or, how Priest destroys the foundation of his platform with one blog) · 10:05pm Jun 4th, 2020
None of this post or statement reflects the beliefs or stances of The Barcast.
I am fucking horrified of what I'm about to write, and what it could do to me. But it's too important to me to stay silent longer.
Fimfiction is loud today. As it should be. As I want it to be. I feel like many folks on this platform have the luxury to discuss the BLM movement and recent fandom events openly and honestly. However, I've been afraid to speak true to my beliefs for a long time. I felt like discussing support for X or support for Y could put me as a target for the very people who began to give me momentum in my writing and encourage me to keep going.
I know this seems dramatic, but please let me explain from my point of view. From someone who came from /mlp/ to Fimfiction.
I've been very, very scared of discussing politics on this website. Although some of my comedic attempts are less than subtle. Especially that one. And a great deal of it comes from my roots from /mlp/.
There's a particularly informative blog by Cynewulf on the subject that I encourage you to give a read. I'm not going to be the person who corrects or adds too much context to something that already exists. Cynewulf's analysis is generally pretty spot on, and as someone who was a part of the April First merger, I wanted to inject humor and levity into an event that I interpreted as not to be taken seriously.
I originally began to branch away from /mlp/ because I wanted to expand my prose. I wanted to improve. I felt like I had some sort of... "talent" for writing, (which feels weird to say) but I wanted to nourish it. I wanted to expand my audience. There's only so long you can keep writing Fluttershy and Cadance RGRE/'Flutterrape' fics to the same few Anons. Flutterrape, as it was named, did not absorb well into Fimfiction. Probably because it has fucking rape in the name. So, after a rebrand of "Fluttershy Wants in Your Pants" I was able to keep going, never skipping a beat, and keep both sites/profiles in harmony for the longest time. It was 'make Fimfiction happy PC bullshit.' Even if I didn't feel that way.
Except, it wasn't really that simple for me.
Circles on 4chan were always... not great. The prolific use of the N-word was something I got used to. Especially the word that is generally a slur for homosexuals. I genuinely became numb to those phrases. It was just something you got used to when you're in that world. And, frankly, a part of me is still numb to it, even knowing that it's wrong. I don't partake or use the words, and I certainly don't encourage the use of them from my friends. In that world, you watch as channers coordnate infiltrations livestreams with promises of money if they do X or Y and then doxx them. You see threads that report people livestreaming protest coverage to the police to see if they can get them killed live on stream. "How much can we get away with for the lulz". I was never comfortable with it. But I was quiet. Almost just as bad. Complicit.
But... I began to heavily lean away from 4chan right around late 2016. I think you guys can figure out why. I never really tried to make a great deal out of it. As a writing mentor once told me, "Making a big deal out of leaving something is the surest way that you'll come back.". Meaning, it becomes about the attention. Attention is that big drug that is so addicting to those who have little else going on in their lives. And the last thing I wanted from anyone on 4chan was attention. I know what happens to those who get on their bad side. Especially if you were a part of them once.
The fact of the matter is that now I don't really have the luxury of not getting attention in the horse world anymore. Especially with Barcast. Especially with my writing and books. Especially if I dive into the horse music scene like I would want. I have people who read what I have to say now.
I never sincerely considered a hard break from chan culture until, well, the public shootings began occurring regularly.
And at that point. My presence was so diminished, well, that nobody would really miss me anyway. The generals were still running without me. The right people had the right passwords. I fully let go of my responsibilities at /mlp/ and jumped out of the groups I was a part of. Or at least I was silent for so long they didn't even know I was there.
However, with the way that Fimfiction is lighting up today, and especially how the Viral media is painting Bronies in an alt right light. I can't in good conscious stay silent any longer. I've done my political protesting in my local areas and never really tried to let it splash onto horse world. This platform is a form of escape. This platform is a form of entertainment for folks. I believed that if I drug real world shit into this, that it would be looked down upon. That I would be chastised by the many folks who I brought over from 4chan via osmosis of my work being here now and not there. (However few that may be)
And I genuinely fear that by saying too much, I'm going to get a huge target on my back. "Look at the blue pilled cuck that lost his balls." "Wow I bet that's why Barcast is so shit." "Fucking good riddance. Bet he's a part of Antifa."
Which, for the record, I am not.
But I want to say this. And if I get lash back from it, fine. If I lose followers for it? fine. I get the feeling people will try to doxx me. I fear that bad actors will put me in a place where my personal life could be compromised.
But, well. I have one thing I want to say. And I believe it's non-political. But I know it won't be taken that way.
I believe that any person of any gender, color, gender identity, or sexual preference should be able to walk the streets WITHOUT fear of being murdered. Racism is a systemic problem not just in the United States, but the whole world. And needs to be fixed.
I can already see the bad actors in the comments saying that it's not a problem. That X,Y, or Z case exists so the whole argument is bunk. I'm tired of seeing these clear cut examples that could have been ripped DIRECTLY from The Alt-Right Playbook. I'm so tired of bad faith arguments. I'm so tired of seeing people injecting sneaky ways to talk about something highly controversial into casual conversation.
I'm so tired of seeing people being murdered. Videos of people being killed. I'm so tired.
I'm on the side of the Black Lives Matters movement. I've been supporting my local peaceful protests and have tried to help local groups de-escalate conflict and exile folks who seek to escalate the behavior into bad faith.
I don't think All Cops are Bad Cops. But, I do think that there are people in power who abuse their privileges that need to be held accountable.
I believe that reform is needed in our police training programs. That skin color is not a threat. That racism is real and very alive.
and I genuinely believe that by saying this, I'm going to be targeted by the same people who helped me gain the followers and support I have today.
But If I have the power to get the message out to one person who I know disagrees with me and empower them to at least THINK about their positions/stances and the community that they've been immersed in for so long that they're immune to hearing the word 'nigger'.... Then I can say with confidence that I tried.
(And I'm sorry for using that word. But I feel like using it here emphasizes my point)
I've had the opportunity to interview Wootmaster with the Barcast. And I'm so proud of him for speaking out and sharing the information that he has given. He has similar roots in /mlp/ as I do, while he was more immersed in the music/Tracy threads and I was immersed in the writing generals. I've had the opportunity to hang with him in person, and I can say without a doubt that he is a good person of integrity and deserving your respect.
I still fully intend to continue attending my local peaceful protests.
I wholly encourage for those who are scared due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic but want to contribute to donate in a meaningful way.
I feel like by hitting send on this blog that I'm essentially making a deathwish. And maybe that's melodramatic. I feel like there isn't a person in their right mind that wouldn't share my position and belief. But I also know that's not how the media machine works. I know that's not how the world works.
But we're going to make the world better with love, not hate. We will protest where we see injustice. And we will change minds and rally our friends, family and neighbors with care. This time won't be like the others. It's too fucking important. I'm not a person of color. But I'm an ally. And I'm afraid of saying it, but I'm going to do it anyway.
For those who took the time to read this whole blog, thank you. I know not many will in this political environment. Many folks will jump down and #BLM! and FUCK (Author I've gone out of my way not to talk about here). And many will jump down to inject a bad faith argument for the purpose of making someone angry. And that's what they want. They want to make us look like brutes. And we are better than that.
And if you do disagree, I hope you have a pleasant day. Please know out there that there is someone who loves you. There is someone who cares about you very much. You aren't alone. You're welcome to your opinion, and your opinion deserves to be heard. But please understand why we're so passionate about our stance as well.
And before I hit send on this, I want to thank Cynewulf, Monochromatic, Present Perfect, Regidar, Lucky Seven, RBDash, Not Enough Coffee for inspiring me to make this and finally say something. I'm drawing my line.
I went through a very similar process and interaction with /mlp/, and I knew I wasn't the only one. great on you priest, especially choosing to speak with the knowledge of your audience that you have.
Much respect for taking a stand, Flupri!
Thank you for writing this blog, Priest. Massive props to you for this
5276359
I hope you have a great day.
ill say props for getting this off your chest and im gonna be avoiding this comments section. because personally im...really really tired of the constant fighting thats happened everywhere else. thank you flutterpriest
Hey Priest?
I was kind of a channer in the long long ago, and I recognized it in you, and I believed pretty strongly that it was residual in your humor and not something that had leached into your spirit and I'm legitimately incredibly happy to be vindicated about that. Thank you a lot. Like, a lot a lot.
I don't comment much.
But hey man, you did a good thing by posting this. Don't regret what you posted.
I used to think racism was born of ignorance. But as I got older I feel it is something inside of us. People are tribal and I don’t know what the solution is. but doing something is better than doing nothing and pretending that nothing is wrong is the worst of all. If things can change they have to go on a much deeper level than a hug and a song.
For a while I was in Law Enforcement and even I do admit to having the “Us vs. Them” mentality. Your working with the worse of people so you expect the worst out of people. The problem is it transfers to your real life as well. When you see the world with anger the world becomes an angry place and that attitude will not make you a happy person. And I was a pretty miserable person so I got out. And now I write stories of ponies :P
You have to do whats right for you and that is the most important thing you can do for yourself. After spending a long part of my life making others happy while I was miserable was a hard lesson to learn. But well support you any way we can. And besides who you are is waaaayyy more important than losing a follower or two. But if it will make you feel better next time I’ll go on the barcast and type “Barcast sucks donkey balls.”
Sorry I tend to ramble,
/mlp/ is not a friendly place, to put it lightly. I still frequent the place, but man are they full of Stawmann arguments and fuckhead's looking to spread misinformation for the sake of causing a shit show.
I too grew numb to certain words and phrases from being there, and a part of me enjoyed the blatant insensitivity of the place in a world where you walk on eggshells.
I, however, do not support most of their ideological preferences. Despite being right-leaning I refuse to be indoctrinated with Dogma.
You're a good man, Priest, and this was very well said.
I've had virtually no experience with 4chan as a whole. Seeing it through your eyes...
Yeah, you made the right choice slipping away. Well said.
You have many friends here that support you, Priest. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and for your courage. I hope it inspires all of us to stand together against allowing the sickness of racism and oppression to continue. I'm proud to stand with all of you, as a friend, a Brony and a human being.
You have my respect and my support for taking a stance on this one. Then again, you already did.
Confession time: I got sucked into /channer culture when i was in college. Part of it was backlash against my parents, part of it was the influence of a couple of friends I had at the time (one of whom i stopped speaking to over half a decade ago, and, well, I can't technically be friends with the other guy anymore,) and part of it was trying to find a place where i didn't have to feel inadequate about not doing enough.
Big mistake on my part. I'm still trying to unlearn several nasty tics i picked up for the couple of years i spent there, and occasionally i'll say something where - if i'm lucky - a friend will take me aside and gently point out that what i said wasn't cool or funny and maybe i should think about it and apologize if i need to. I hate how difficult it's been for me to shake some aspects of a mindset that seemed so superficial that i hardly even knew they were there.
The fact that you've been able to make that break, get out of /mlp/ and speak out about injustice says a hell of a lot about your character. Good things. And I'm glad that you posted this, I'm glad that you're publicly taking a stance and I'm glad that you're willing to risk your reputation for saying things that need to be said.
And yes, Black Lives still Matter even if you do lampshade getting that response.
I'm so glad I never spent more than a few months in 4chan, well before ponies were a thing. It's taken years to cleanse it from my soul, and who knows what still lurks in there? :|
I respect peaceful protests and I think the reasons in this case are legitimate. I also think we could all remember that a few weeks ago people using their first amendment rights that people died for were being ridiculed and called irresponsible just because they weren't the right people. People using their 2nd to stand in front of their homes to make sure they aren't trashed are being ridiculed as stupid hillbillies as well with jokes about inbreeding (talk about inclusive!). Perhaps reclaiming your rights (rights I'm not lucky to have not being american) is never to be ridiculed.
Adding to that, I don't consider most of the woke word juggling honest, having being personally hurt and neglected by faux progressives in very personal and undeniable ways. I don't think they are helping anybody. Not because they are talking about completely false problems but because they never point to working solutions. Sometimes on purpose.
Keep strong and keep your mind open. Just because you got out of the chan's don't fall into the false idea that the world outside is without flaws. I've found twitter to be an order of magnitude worse than the Chans. In fact I don't remember having a single meaningful conversation online since I left in 2014-2015. Sometimes I flirt with the idea of coming back, nothing feels genuine anymore.
You are a cool dude, despite posting cringe :p
Good luck, and don't let haters annoy you.
Solidarity comrade.
And yeah, Woot is cool as fuck.
Proud of you, Priest. And so, so sad that you felt it necessary to preface what should be a completely uncontroversial statement with such a long essay in defense of posting it.
I don't think you're gonna lose a bunch of followers for this. I think most people agree at least generally with you on this. But I suppose it is always a bit of a risk bringing up politics in any situation. So good on you!
5276359
I agree with the supporting of peaceful protestors and not supporting looters and rioters who are causing the message of the peaceful majority of protestors skewed.
But FP did say that the group of protestors that FP is with are attempting to rid the more violent of the protestors.
I believe that what FP has written is very much correct and the same as to what I believe however with me not living in America my knowledge of the current affairs is not adequate enough to fairly represent the protestors.
FP said that he doesn't believe all cops are the same and would do that deed but it is a small minority of them similar to how the peaceful protestors are having their goal weakened by the increasing violence from the looters and rioters, now I will say that I can understand the logic behind the rise in violence due to this not being the only case of tragic racism being overlooked leading to a rise in anger but I do not and will never support or condone it and I hope a common ground can be reached as unlikely as it is.
I just wanted to give my own say on the matter but to those who are interested in what my point of view is and don't want to read a wall of text then I will say that I agree wholeheartedly with what FP has stated and if you do disagree then as FP said that is fine but I do feel as if this is the time for discussion at least to hear out the sides as from my own perspective I believe understanding is the only way to sort this out but like I said I'm probably not educated om the matter enough to talk about the details.
But yeah peaceful protestors have my full support in their actions and goals but only peaceful ones and I fully agree with FP's actions and statement.
5276823
People need to talk now more than ever. FP is taking that step along with several others. I just happen to be that one person it seems to disagree with certain things.
Okay so I am of an opposing view, so what? Lets talk about both our sides instead of delving into insults or just sweeping it under the rug. Some people might be shocked by what they find.
5276879
Didn't mean any insults sorry if it was taken that way.
I fully agree with this people should be talking without attempting to Stoke someone else's ire so I honestly meant no offence to you.
If I have misinterpreted this message as you just simply stating that people should be talking and not just writing what you said off then, yeah my bad.
5276889
I wasn't, but I've already had one person pm me with insults, speculation, and negative insinuations and my posts on other people's blogs are being down voted into the ground and disagreed with.
Just like now, few want to talk, most want to just burn things to the ground.
Lets actually talk!
5276895
Mate I'd be happy to but where I'm from its 3 in the morning and I only saw this post and commented on because a mate of mine woke me up so in the morning mabye.
Again would be happy to discuss but I'm so fucking tired
5276895
I'll take the short silence as a "yeah OK"
I expect downvotes from the ignorant.
I don’t care.
I’m white.
Black Lives Matter.
Look.
I understand that people are upset over certain areas of protests turning into riots and looting.
But understand this: the vast, vast majority of the protests are peaceful. This shows an extraordinary amount of restraint on behalf of the aggrieved. Sure, some people take advantage of demonstrations to pursue their own agendas. But they’re not the protesters.
But I will not say there isn’t rioting that comes from some of the protests. But... can you blame them? Can you even imagine what it’s like? Every moment of every day, constantly putting up with chaff from other people?
Anything placed under sufficient pressure will explode.
When you persecute a demographic of people for CENTURIES... what else could you possibly expect?
Acting surprised, or outraged at the current societal reactions is like saying “I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT LIGHTING A MATCH IN A ROOM FILLED WITH A FOOT OF STANDING GASOLINE AND ASSOCIATED VAPORS RESULTED IN AN EXPLOSION THAT DESTROYED THINGS I CARE ABOUT!”
You want to know why things like this can rise to levels of violence and destruction? This has been happening for CENTURIES! Hundred of years! Can you hear their pain now? Did you care before WHITE property started getting destroyed?
Do you think that it’s not fair to ONLY focus on people of color? Even though white people don’t have to walk, daily, in fear of their lives? For no fucking reason, other than the circumstances of their birth.
Black Lives Matter.
If you can’t see that, if you can’t see why it’s SO important what the message is, just add the word “too” to the end of that statement.
Edit: Sorry if I didn’t make this clear, I’m siding with priest and saying he’s brave for taking this stand.
5276915
5276924
please go to PMs :)
Thank you for posting this, FluPri. I am hopeful, even confident, that FiMFiction is waking up enough to see that this is a real problem, and that you're not gonna lose a bunch of followers for this or anything—but I'm glad you made the choice to publish, even with that fear.
Black lives matter, and fuck fascism.
Hey man. Kudos on coming out and saying something like this. I'm entirely in my little bubble, not caring about things, to the point I wasn't even aware people were trying to paint bronies as alt-right. I agree that things need to change, but I also know that there's nothing in particular I can do, other than vote. And you bet your ass I'm going to.
If I wasn't an antisocial shut-in, I'd be tempted to go and protest myself. But the crowds would definitely set me off. >~>
5277079
Yeah fair enough.
My bad I started this then just left it which was short sighted on my part.
how does using the n word at all help make your point?
I can say this for sure: you've gained one here, Flutterpriest.
5277154
Humanity as a whole never was. Actually, "humanity as a whole" never was. You can't generalize enough to cover all of humanity while still saying anything, and tribalism never stopped resulting in tribes killing each other. You can go on talking about "humanity as a whole", but that was never a thing, it still isn't a thing, and it might not be psychologically possible for it to ever be a thing. It's the ideal, but like all ideals it's something we can really hope to reach.
5277288
For too many people, and let's be honest one is too many, that word is so integrated into the vocabulary and daily speech that seeing it, even at a glance, I wouldn't make them think twice.
My hope, is that if they see it, And don't see a problem with it or doesn't make them cringe, that they seriously reconsider why it doesn't and realize they're part of the problem.
However, if it doesn't add anything to the argument, and only hurts rather than helps, then I am more than a willing to admit I am wrong. And will edit it. I'm not here to make enemies. Well, not the wrong enemies.
Did exactly the same.
I'm English, so /mlp/ was the only place to get horse for a long while. Everything else was either inaccessible, or just didn't exist yet.
Wading through an ocean of fascist cheerleading to try and find a story about horses doing cute horse things was exhausting, and depressing.
Very occasionally there would be a thread that was almost normal, for a while. But it almost always got dragged into the mire of namecalling, racism, bigotry, and general "schoolyard" behaviour of edgy idiots trying to one-up each other.
And also "rape" literally everywhere.
I went there solely to find a thing I was looking for, then get out. Early on I learned that trying to debate or talk to these people was a losing proposition if you don't already agree with them.
It is one of the most toxic environments I have ever experienced and leaving it was like taking off a tight pair of shoes.
I 100% agree with what you're saying here and the sentiment behind it.
What is happening right now is wrong, and it is emphatically not a political problem. It goes far beyond that, into the realms of societal and legal.
And stay safe when you go out on your peaceful walks!
Agreed. Because those same dirty cops who go after people who aren't white, also after poor white folks for being poor & disabled people for being disabled, trying to screw them over in any way in any way possible. I should know I've been a victim of such Injustices for most of my life.
Thank you for this.
I don’t really like BLM. I think they’re a kinda dumb group for a lot of long drawn out reason that I’m both far too lazy to type on a phone and not articulate enough to properly express without spending days drafting my thought on it but I guess the easiest point I can criticize is that they cry out injustice that a cop killed a black man even though the cop was charged with murder. That is justice. It isn’t like if a white person commits a crime against a colored person they lose their rights to a fair trial and protections against cruel and unusual punishment. It wasn’t even a race issue until they made it one. It was about a cop who used the powers granted to him to unjustly kill someone. There’s a lot to say about this and all controversies BLM injects themselves into but it seems pointless to even try to discuss anything with a group who immediately call you racist if you try to learn about the situation and make a deacon based on what you’ve learned instead of blindly following them and saying everything is because of racism. BLM don’t know the difference between genuine hate crimes and things that aren’t genuine hate crimes, they don’t care to know the difference either. They just want to feel outraged and take it out on anything they can. Hate crimes do exist but BLM thinks anything and everything that happens to a person of color has to be because of racism and nothing else. I can’t take anything with a victim mentality like that seriously. When analyze something you should always look for the commentary or message it’s trying to say. The name BLM implies that someone said black lives don’t matter which isn’t really true. Yeah, groups like the KKK that are dying out say stuff like but BLM tries to act like American society as a whole acts on those beliefs which it most certainly does not. If you’re racist you’ll generally be looked down upon by the community in almost every part of the country. I think they’re just a mixture of people playing victim, virtue signaling, clinging on to the illusion of fighting against racism for person gains or just increadably naive and trying to genuine do good but not having any idea of what their actualy doing. I think you’re genuine about wanting to fight against injustice in the country Flutters, I think your just actions are just misplaced. Good luck supporting a group who have no actual way to achieve their goals in the race cases their goals are actually well defined.
5278181
I hope you have a good day
5278183
You too.
My word probably doesnt mean much when coming from those you know better, but you have my support priest. You laid it out beautifully, and anyone with a proper mindset will understand what you said, and how you are feeling.
I'd follow you twice if I could... but you wont lose the first.
Well, I'm not going to say you're wrong for having your thoughts on the matter, and as long as you're keeping the protesting to the peaceful variety that's protected by the 1st Amendment I'm not going to discourage you from exercising that right.
Now, the Army has told me I'm not supposed to be expressing my opinion, ESPECIALLY on matters that are political in nature. BUT, in light of recent events that have prompted EXTREMELY rare memos to be issued out of DC, I would like to express one sentiment: to all the people out there expressing righteous anger at despicable behavior by a couple bad apples in the bunch, DON'T do anything TRULY stupid.
My Reserve and Guard battle buddies are getting activated straight out of AIT to quell the riots, and if shit continues to go sideways then I can honestly see them sending us Active types into the mix as well. I signed up to defend our PEACEFUL way of life, fighting those who would see us stripped of our rights on their own soil. I did NOT sign up to carry a weapon on our soil and/or be ordered to turn it on my fellow Americans, whether with rubber rounds, blanks or (goddesses forbid) live rounds.
So please, PLEASE, heed my plea: hold your vigils, conduct your pickets, perform your marches, do whatever you need to do within the bounds of the 1st Amendment to express your grievances and get them redressed. BUT, do it peacefully. The violence, the looting, the arson... it all needs to stop. Nothing good can come of it, and the longer it continues, the more I fear the worst will happen.
Respectfully,
-M.T.
5276456
In a way, I think it is. Promoters don't want converts to truly look at those they hate - that might lead to understanding - and those who follow aren't motivated to truly learn about their targets as people.
Disturbed has some great, concise lyrics that I keep in the back of my head when I look around at all the racism coming out of the woodwork:
Racism is a learned trait, and it relies on ignorance. So, all we need to is pick a fight with ignorance.
*gulp*
5280454
Ignorance implies the ignorant either isn’t aware or chooses not to be aware. I’d say those are fully aware of what they are doing. They are just rationalizing to justify their actions. I never really been to 4chan so I can’t comment on that site. I came through the creepypastas. But those that continue racism chooses this path are either ignoring the racism , ignores the act of racism or embraces it for you have to be aware of it in order to ignore it.
People chose to go to /POL/. People chose to hate. People chose to love. People choose to hurt
Where do we draw the line and say this is enough? This is unacceptable? Where do we see the humanity in the person? We have more control over our lives than we give ourselves credit for. I’m kinda curious as to where do we go from here. To quote from Dead Kenndys
-Chickenshit Conformist.
5280784
I was not saying that racists and bigots are ignorant of their actions, or the effects of such. I was saying racists and bigots are ignorant, whether happening to be or willfully, of their targets being people. Because if they fail to realise this, or can block it out, then it becomes much easier to justify to themselves what they're doing.
5276391
It's weird to hear that both of you were involved with Chan at all, since of all the people I follow on this website, you're both so unabashadley left. My first involvement with the fandom were clips on YouTube, and Equestria Daily. Now I pay attention to Fimfic, Deviantart and Tumblr for pony content. All tend to lean left, at least to accommodate the same-sex shipping. Of course, I had known there WAS a prolific Pony community that got it's own /mlp/ board. But I thought it had totally dried up outside of low effort memes and shitposting, as MLP stopped being the hot new thing. The blogs I follow didn't mention it until a week ago.
5281291
I was a different, but not that much worse, teenager. /pol/ was a zoo for weirdos and unironic nazis and we would go there and laugh at it and forget later. I mostly hung out on /u/ and /a/ /tg/ and /v/. I went to /co/ sometimes, and we all whispered about the darkness lurking in /b/ tho were were kids and it was a thing we rarely looked at but enjoyed as an urban legend that if you were on at the right time you'd find all kinds of stuff.
5281006
One of the reasons apartheid was so successful in South Africa was because those in power used opposing native tribes to police each other. Since they hated each other it was easy to control the marginalized people while those in power profited. They exploited the hostility to their own advantage. And if you look outside of USA this racism is actually pretty common Its not just centered of America. The purge of Pol Pot. The Spanish revolution. What we call extreme are actually pretty common behaviors I feel. We are all Schizophrenic, we are all Bi polar, we all have the capacity to kill and we all have had a suicidal thought at least one time in our lives. Its just us being human. We acknowledge it and we try to be better people through empathy and understanding.
Also if you would like to continue this discussion you should pm me so Priest of the Flutters does’t get pinged every time we talk. ^^
5281291
5281349
And from my perspective, I felt like /mlp/ was special. Different. And I'd be lying if I didn't say that I didn't still think/feel it was still "not as bad" as some of the other areas. Like, the folks here were more joking than serious.
It still has problems. Serious ones. I dunno. It's tough to put that sort of 'attachment' in words.