Do they realize that this is a solid argument in favor of getting colored hair?
They are literally microns away from getting the point and yet they still miss it so hard they end up destroying their own arguments completely.
"oh noo my hair makes dipshit anti-SJWs not want to interact with me whatever shall I do 😔😔😔"
This also applies to art as well. Creating art with trans positive, anti-fascist, or even benign "don't be a dick" messaging will cause the nazis in your audience to flee like roaches after you flip on a lightswitch. No further action is necessary.
Particularly in the pony community it becomes easy to feel like you're chained to an oppressive audience.
But you can cultivate a community of people who are there for you as an artist just through the art you choose to create. That is the greatest moderation tool you have.
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While on the surface, the decision to simply remove all nazi content from the site may seem like a simple one, there was one issue:
They had waited so long to act on the issue that many users and even mods were pro-nazi. This resulted in them panicking and reversing the decision
But it didn't end there! The flip-flopped AGAIN and decided "okay we maybe need to ban SOME nazis". The admin who had tried to take a pro-nazi stance quit, and a site-wide shakeup commenced.
A compromise was reached. They decided to remove SOME of the nazi stuff.
Many pony fans are feeling hurt, confused and upset by the news that an apparent nazi brony committed a mass shooting. There's an urge to get defensive, to state "this isn't who we are!"
But that attitude doesn't actually address the problem or do anything to solve it.
The truth is, the top sites in this community are guilty of allowing this sort of ideology to fester in our community for ages.
From EQD taking a laid-back attitude to political opinion posts, to Derpibooru reversing its decision to get rid of nazi content. This is US.
While trying to satisfy "both sides" we only allow violent extremists to infiltrate and spread fascism throughout our community.
Let me be clear: this is not the fault of your average pony fan. This issue starts at the TOP. Site admins and moderators I'm talking to YOU.
Yeah, that's part of how it works. It sorta sounds like a reasonable argument. You don't want to stereotype poor Rainbow Dash don't you? Not all tomboys are gay!
Not this one, and not this one, and oop sorry not this one either, and DEFINITELY not that one...
Once you start letting people dictate the correct way to be LGBT you're already playing a rigged game. Who the fuck cares if its "too obvious"? That in and of itself is a way of conforming...making sure you're a "good" gay that isn't "too stereotypical".
I have zero patience these days for straight people trying to dictate what the right, accepted way to be LGBT is. Fuck entirely off with that noise. Let people be a stereotype. As long as they're happy what does it matter to you?
This sort of thinking is so pervasive because taken at face-value it sounds vaguely reasonable. The ponies can't be gay because their would be too much backlash from concerned parents.
But the further you dig you realize there's no actual evidence to back that up.
The reasoning also states that "its just not normalized enough".
But...showing these characters in shows like this WOULD normalize it. it makes no sense to say "its not popular" while then ALSO saying you shouldn't attempt to change that.
Soon enough you start realizing that it almost seems like they just don't want any LGBT characters in their cartoons. All the arguments overlap and form this circular logical. And the moment you realize that it all crumbles like paper, revealing standard, plain homophobia.
I've been looking through EQD's Community Soapbox articles and I found someone in 2017 arguing that RD can't be a lesbian because that would please "close minded" people.
Is it any wonder the community turned out this way? He got top billing lmao.
Perhaps having "apolitical" straight white guys running the fandom's largest sites was not the greatest idea. Do they vet these things? Do they have any PoC or LGBT staff at all? Hell I'd do it for free.
I like to call this "TVtropes homophobia".
She can't be gay because it would either "be too obvious" or "not make sense for her character". Make some OTHER character gay, not a main character. Sorry, there's just not enough REASON for her to be gay, those are the rules.
This part of the story has been buried for some reason. It doesn't appear in the main article being shared around with updates on the shooter. I only recently had to find out through an eagle-eyed twitter user.
Seems like the hitler worship should maybe be the lead?
I'd be interested in seeing the content that was posted on those facebook pages. What is being generally described as "pony content" might have some political messages in them that a normal reporter might miss.