The Newer, Angrier Fimfiction · 5:17am Jun 8th, 2020
I'm not around much anymore, so I'm not hip to the latest trends. I dip in every so often to check messages, and about once a week I look at my notifications.
Wow. Wow! So many political opinions and so much anger. Not that I disagree. I'm mad, too. I'm just not used to seeing it here. We've got the Jetfire situation and so many people supporting Black Lives Matter, which I also support. It can't be said enough. All lives can't matter until black lives matter.
The last few years have been exhausting, especially if you're on the left end of the political spectrum like I am. I imagine that the Obama years were similarly exhausting for those on the the far-right end, though I firmly believe that they've been fed a steady diet of lies.
That's one of the things that the most tiring: Who even knows what truth is anymore? You think that you do, but what does it matter if no one that doesn't already agree with you will accept it? In this time, we are allowed to pick our own reality, and I think that is incredibly damaging.
But I can't stand Trump, anything he stands for, or the horrible people in his orbit. The thought of what they are doing to the country distracts me. It makes me ill to think how much work and effort will go into trying to right this ship once he's gone. I worry that we will never find the course again, or that the people in power will never pay for all of this.
Meanwhile, I have all of these people crowing about how wrong I am to believe what I believe. I'm pretty sure I'm right, but there's always that shred of doubt. Honestly, I'm super busy. I don't have the time to research and fact check the way that I used to. If I'm being truthful, I have to say that I trust my sources a lot of the time, and that feels dangerous to me.
Back in the day, I didn't become a brony because of the show. I'd never joined a fandom before. I just liked various media and did it in a private manner. I became a brony because it seemed like they were trying to do something about the increasingly toxic internet culture. Sure, it started out in a trollish way, but there was a time when bronies were actually trying to be nice on the internet and promote positivity. I was all about that. I still think that we need it very, very badly in these times. And I watched as people relentlessly beat back that sentiment. On the various pony sites that I used to frequent, I saw fans mocked for daring to believe we could be better people. Others fought back against the trolls and nay-sayers, but over time, the trolls and nay-sayers got louder and the defenders faded away.
Now it seems we are just a fandom like any other. Admittedly, I don't see a lot of the brony sites anymore. I stopped going to them years ago because they mostly transformed into what a lot of the internet is: Useless arguing and toxicity. I still think that most brony sites are overall more pleasant than your average fan site, but not by a lot, and certainly don't seem to be the places that they once were.
I always wish that I had taking screenshots when I talk about this stuff because people inevitably tell me that it's mostly rose-colored glasses. I'm sure there's some of that, but I genuinely believe that this fandom was a special place for a while. We were making an actual difference for just a bit, but we got talked out of it. That still makes me sad.
I'm not really sure why I'm writing all of this. I'm just so very tired of trolls. I'm tired of hate. I'm tired of uncertainty. I'm tired of wondering if our government is ever going to answer for taking children away from refugees and then fucking losing track of who they fucking belong to! I'm tired of wondering what happened to my country. The country that was once the envy of the world, now reduced to a punchline.
I'd like to have 2012 back. I felt like we were on track then, and cute, fun, and lovable ponies entered my life and made me feel good. They made me feel like the future could be a better place. Now, I rarely feel like tomorrow will be a better day. I'm tired.
This.
This is how you're supposed to put your opinion out.
There is no need to insult your opposition, declare them your moral and intellectual inferiors, and decree that as such their opinion is invalid.
Because, as you so rightly said, not only might you be wrong, but the information sources we're supposed to trust have become wildly unreliable.
Thank you for not spewing hate filled incoherent rage all over my screen.
There are still people who believe we can be better.
Both in the fandom and in the country.
I wasn't around in the early days (joined at the tail end of S2) so I can't really speak with any authority on what said early days were like. I wasn't there. I mean, I've seen Derpygate mentioned in several places as "the day the innocence went out of it" or similar -- perhaps a bit of a stretch for a fandom that got its start on 4chan, but even so.
However, from my personal experience as a forum moderator (not here, of course) over most of the time I have been in the fandom, from about spring 2013 onwards, the rough progression has been:
2013-2015: Busy, loud, creative, but with some wearying rows (Twilicorn being the largest) and a small but noticeable collection of very unpleasant people in the shadows. I can remember someone being ejected from the BUCK convention in 2013 for harassing and spying on female cosplayers, for example. I can remember having to deal as a forum mod with a serious case of harassment that stopped only just short of getting the authorities involved. I can't speak for 2011 -- but 2013 probably had more problems than we at the time were willing to admit to ourselves.
2016-2018: Gradual decline, with many of the horrible elements going away but a lot of the good people doing the same too. Argument after argument about Starlight Glimmer. This to me was the fandom's lowest ebb, and looking back it seems also to have been when some of the nastier elements we have now took advantage and moved in. I don't know for sure, but perhaps if the fandom at the time had still been more active, the pushback would have been as well. I feel that people like me who've stayed active all the way through this period were a bit neglectful.
2019-2020: Stabilisation. With FiM over and done with, anyone who's still here is likely to be here for the long haul. I think those of us still active have come to terms with the end of G4 (okay, after Pony Life) and that most of us are looking forward with interest to G5, not just dreading it. I think that is a reason why we're finally seeing more people stand up and say, "Not in my name" when it comes to the fandom. And wider society of course, but it applies to the fandom too. Black Lives Matter is what's getting the attention, and rightly so -- but I really do think things are moving on the fandom front as well.
I do think the fact that I'm in the UK has a bearing here. Compared with that in the US, our fandom is smaller, quieter and -- because of those things -- has never attracted attention-seekers in quite such numbers. The attention isn't there for them. So I've been at least partly shielded from the worst excesses over the years. We also don't have the culture of elevating free speech above all else that the US does, which means that you can't (at least openly and legally) spout outright Nazi lines in the way you can there. I say this bit to acknowledge that I may be being unduly optimistic when I say this last bit.
But I actually feel more optimistic now about the future of the fandom than I have done for quite a few years. I think we've probably hit rock bottom but are now putting in the effort to climb back up. We won't get back to 2011 for all kinds of reasons, not least its shrunken state -- but can we make this fandom something to be proud of again? Yes. I really, truly do believe now that that's possible.
Speaking as a conservative, I have adamantly avoided talking politics in general these past two years because they are just so heated. It's like nobody has a cool head anymore. My personal fear is that the government political pendulum is going to sway further and further in either direction every election, each new administration going deeper and deeper into insanity until, at last, one of them snaps the chord entirely. Whichever direction the pendulum goes flying in, we the people lose. All because people don't know how to have a calm, rational debate anymore (I stopped doing those too, because I'm terrible at them) and vote with their emotions rather than their heads.
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I try my best to be open-minded and fair, but I'll admit that it's getting to be very difficult at times. It seems way too many people are into creating strife just for the sheer fun of it. That's one of the great problems with the internet. It takes away the cost of trolling. If you never have to see the real human cost of what you do then it lessens the negative side. Sure, some bullies will always delight in making someone cry, but a bunch of would-be bullies used to see how their behavior impacted others and decide that didn't feel so good after all. Now we get to do that all over a safe distance. The person that you've just wounded is now reduced to a few capital letters on your screen, and it's ha-ha-hilarous to see how you've caused them to be upset. I'll be happy when troll culture fades, but I fear that it might never actually go away.
Anyway, I feel like we could do with more listening and empathy, though at a certain point, you have to be able to tell people that you aren't going to put up with their nonsense.
5280395
I'm certainly happy to see how people are reacting to all of the chaos going on right now. I'd like to see more people taking COVID-19 seriously, but it's encouraging to see how many people are rising up against police brutality and the overall thuggish nature of our current political climate. I certainly hope that they continue the momentum through voting and beyond.
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I think that you're probably right that a lot of the attention seeking ne'er-do-wells have moved on. With the original size of the fandom, you inevitably get people that just want to be part of something, and a subset of those people that want chaos/victims/drama/whathaveyou.
Now, things seem much more quiet, and that's pleasant in a way. However, I really miss that time when bronies were all over the internet and speaking up for being kinder. It did cause a lot of drama, and undoubtedly that why some people did it. Lots of other sites hated us. However, I witnessed many, many threads turn from hate-filled arguing to measured, interesting discussion after bronies calmed things down and just explained that we didn't need to go for each other's throats all the time. We could disagree and still love one another. It was an amazing thing to see. It certainly didn't work all the time, and bronies themselves were to blame for a lot of it. 4chan bronies are still from 4chan, after all, but I did see a lot of neutral passers-by that were thankful that people were trying to make internet interactions something better than they were.
Starlight Glimmer. Oh, how guilty I am about arguing about Starlight Glimmer. I did come to like her quite a bit, but I still HATE her backstory and I think they lost much more by reforming her than they gained. She could have been such an interesting counter-point to Twilight and Celestia, especially if Trixie was with her. Oh, well. She still ended up being a fun character.
5280405
For what it's worth, the American conservative/libertarian/constitutionalist sort of culture has recently become about the only political thing I have much of any real interest any more.
In 2016, an American I know asked me why I was so interested in American politics (in a well-meaning 'please butt out' kind of way) and I didn't have an answer for him at the time. Now I get that it's because it feels like the only country still having a serious discussion about freedom and liberty. It's a discussion that doesn't seem to exist in the UK in the same way. I'm gaining an ever-increasing respect for what the founding fathers laid out.
But I can't lie, I finally flinched and let my Facebook feed have both barrels of how I was really feeling last night. I am fed up with seemingly endless parade of people making claims to things they can't know and hurling baseless accusations of every -ist, -ism, and other buzzword that can be found on the internet. There's only so many times I can stand being called a racist just because I don't think Black Lives Matter is a good thing, as if no other rational position can possibly exist. But I bet if Juggs and I had a chat about it we'd agree on most things in that regard, despite the difference in our positions.
But such curiosity was always in short supply and and been stretched well past breaking point this last week. I'd had enough of internet bullies and I lashed out. I'm not disappointed at myself for doing so – no-one should have to just take that kind of abuse – but I'm disappointed that it even becomes a need. I'm good at logical reasoning, but not so hot with dealing with hot-heads that want to hurl insults. I wish I were a better, more capable person, but I'm not. I just try and go where the facts are, and right now facts seem to upset a lot of people.
On the bright side, people are taking the lockdown a bit less seriously now and I've been able to catch up with some friends and vent some steam. A little normality goes a long way.
As for the fandom... I never joined. I was just here. I suppose I never really understood what 'joining' really meant to begin with.
–M
5280405
I feel for rational conservatives in this climate. I mean, I have no idea what your political beliefs are, but I'd find it very tough to be a conservative right now. The party in control doesn't look like they have many values that seem like traditional conservatism to me.
I believe that there are many roads to the same place. We can get to the future with liberal or conservative ideals. One side or the other won't get some of the things that they want, but both have pros and cons associated with them. The other side isn't necessarily literally satan. There's value in both philosophies.
However, I can't in any way support what has gone on since Trump took office. It's not conservatism. It's authoritarianism, and I can't believe roughly 40% of the country is cool with it. That upsets me quite a lot. I've been waiting for conservatives to finally reject it, but it's slow in coming. That depresses me.
One of the problems with a subject like politics is that the field is - once you scratch the surface - both incredibly dynamic and incredibly complex.
It's a topic of the humanities, arguably one of the social sciences too, and as a result is one of those subjects right at the edge of our best understanding. After all, it's the product of millions of human minds, only one of the most if not the most complicated structure(s) in the entire universe (that we know of).
Not only is it so mind-bogglingly complicated, but it's changing all the time too. For one thing, the reasonable political philosophies of one era become the obsolete fads of another. Technology's at the forefront of those changes too, especially in recent decades. Naturally, there will be a lot of uncertainties, a lot of difficult cause-and-effect relationships to untangle, a lot of guesswork and careful examination.
And yet, it's a field that attracts the strongest opinions, the greatest certainties, the scary lack of open-minded cautiousness. If anything, being cautious makes you very unpopular and "wishy-washy".
Because people put so many stakes in the outcomes, wishful thinking takes over. That's rarely a good sign for anyone seeking rational enlightenment. It's deleterious for anyone hoping to approach the topic as honestly as possible.
I think that's why, if anything, we need to be extra-cautious about making any firm statements in politics. We're still struggling to gather statistics and understand them on an international basis, and the last thing you need in that situation is people coming along and either being ignorant of how much data is needed, or stating with great emphasis and confidence what that data "means". You only have to look at how people treat, say, crime statistics to wonder what the dialogue would look like if people had any idea how hard it is to actually shape policy with this stuff.
That's one of the reasons I absolutely prefer civil discussion, or independent research (thinking for yourself, I dare say), over heated debate and outright mudslinging. (Quite apart from the fact the latter is unpleasant in itself). Once you stop thinking of information as a way to learn, and start thinking of it as a way to win, you've gone beyond rational debate and into more damaging territory.
And that's the sort of thing I'd like to see in the fandom. People being cautious and courteous or at least tolerant and respectful of other people's views. Which means being respectful of other people. That's a basic requirement of civilized conversation.
Especially in such murky, busy waters, nothing gets cleared up by stirring it up further.
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I think that complexity is one of the most difficult things that we collectively deal with in this era. It's frustrating. People want solutions, but societal interaction has always been complex, and in today's globally interconnected world, it's harder than it's ever been. Every path has drawbacks and every plan has winners and losers, and it's all been researched by different factions and offered up to the public via the internet. Your average person has so many choices and it's hard to know which is the right one.
In the face of this, I think people have rebelled mentally and are actively seeking easy, understandable solutions even if they are illogical. I think that's one of the reasons that populism is surging around the world. People are tired of politicians telling them that things are very complex and that the things that the love are somehow harming other people that they will never meet. They want to go back to a time when they didn't sweat this stuff and it seemed okay.
When it comes to arguing on the internet and differences of opinions, I try to remember that most people have some kind of reason for believing what they believe. Sure, there are trolls out there who are saying whatever they can to get a reaction, but I think that they are a minority. Most people who are arguing genuinely believe that they are correct. They might not be, but I think that their position deserves a level of respect. Well, depending on what it is. I won't entertain certain opinions no matter what, but when it comes to whether it's better to increase taxes and pay into a collective pool or reduce taxes to allow the individual to purchase what they need as they so desire, well, I prefer the former and understand the appeal of the latter. I try to remember that that person doesn't disagree with me because they disrespect me as a person. I'm arguing against a core tenant of their personal philosophy. I try to tread carefully and respectfully around such topics, but man, some people do make it difficult, especially when they take a personal opinion and state it as iron-clad fact. That's one thing fandoms drive me bonkers with.