brony

The School VS the Bullied Victim…Again

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Here we go again, this time with schools not only ignoring bullying but worse, punishing the bullied. Once again, the target is a BRONY.
Fortunately, this My Little Pony fanboy spoke up rather than ending up seriously injured. But the schools response was appalling. “Leave the My Little Pony backpack at home” was the gist of the response.

Excuse me? All the other kids can choose their own backpack character but Grayson Bruce can’t? If you pick a ‘girly’ them you are asking to be bullied? More than one commenter on the numerous articles and posts says this is like telling a girl she was asking to be raped. I agree. In the same way, girls are bullied for liking boy stuff, and toy companies and retailers show they are complicit by marketing only to one or the other. Contrary to popular belief, their are girl heroes in Star Wars (Ahsoka, Padme, Leia) and Marvel Avengers related movies (Black Widow, Pepper Potts, Peggy Carter) and My Little Pony has boy ponies and other boy heroes (Spike the dragon, Big McIntosh – Applejack’s brother, Shining Armor – Twilight Sparkle’s brother, Flash Sentry, Dr Hooves – now become a sort of My Little Pony ‘Dr. Who’ mix) That’s not a solution. That’s a cowardly dodge!

If boys have any advantage at all it’s that the Brony community is highly supportive. I don’t recall that from all the other fandoms, where sometimes boys act like girls are an intrusion. I’ve not seen girls getting defensive about the girls liking My Little Pony. Then again, with the invention of the internet, it’s easier to get in touch with and find other fans.

But what we really need is for the other fans in that specific area to stand up for each other, no matter what the fandom. Because together, they will outnumber the bullies. And different fandoms should put aside their rivalries to defend each other’s choices. For instance, Star Trek and Star Wars fans may be rivals, but they have something in common: a passion for something, and the moral of many of these fandoms include respect for others. Courage to stand up to bullies is part of that respect. Whether you love My Little Pony or Transformers or Sophia the First or Voltron, it should’t matter whether you are a boy or girl. What matters is you are a fan. And you are special, no matter who you are!

Support For Grayson! by CARTOONFANATIC3 on deviantART

References and Links:

Updates on Michael Morones

Sheriff Office Still Investigating Michael Morones Suicide Attempt

Boy bullied at School for carrying My Little Pony bag and Bag gets banned instead of Bullies.

Change Petition against the school demanding a crackdown on bullying and allowing Grayson Bruce to bring his backpack::thumb440142106:

My Little Pony Power VS Bullies and Prejudice

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I came into the story of Michael Morone late, since I was late checking my email. But it quickly got my attention.
I have a few random, thoughts swirling in my head after I read about his suicide attempt after being bullied over being a Brony (Male My Little Pony fan)

I’m female. When I was a kid, I played with both My Little Pony and Star Wars. I was bullied, but not particularly over them. I disliked boys, because several were bullying me. Now that I see reports of what goes on at some of the comic conventions and the ‘white boys club’ mentality, I wonder if some small minded ones were jealous. Maybe they thought I was intruding on their turf. Girls didn’t see why I disliked them, nor why I stayed with My Little Pony and Star Wars (and horses in general) while they were growing into makeup and fashions. I don’t know, perhaps I just saw, and still see, that there are more important things than how you look. More to the point, I notice there is still a big gap in mentality. Some people just can’t see past the ‘kid’ label they have on things. Why do adults watch a  kid show or collect teddy bears or dolls? Well guess what naysaying adults. Some of us do. There is a whole industry supporting it. You don’t have too, but you have no right to deny the rest of us either.

That poor kid must have felt very alone. Did he really have no friends, no support? For in this age of the internet, it seems to me it should be easier to connect to other ‘Bronies’. Did no one know how bad it was? Did no one, even someone unrelated to the ponies say, ‘let me help you find the others?’ It would not surprise me if they didn’t, for no one helped me. Finding so many like minded souls on the internet wouldn’t come for many years.

Another thought is more disturbing. This kid is already being used to chase agendas. Seriously. just from the search terms that cropped up on the internet I can tell. Saying things like a gay boy attempted suicide and homophobic bullying caused it. Nowhere does it actually say the boy is gay in any of the stories I’ve read. It just says he loves My Little Ponies! So there you go. Not even conscious to answer questions and already labeled. Whether he is or not is his own business, in my opinion. But I find the automatic label disturbing because it does imply just because he loves My Little Pony he must be gay, in spite of the broad male fan base. God forbid someone go against the marketing only to female strategy (just as Star Wars is marketed to males.)

On the flip side, as much as I dislike bullies, I have to note that no one writing these articles is a mind reader. The slurs and taunts the bullies used appear nowhere in the articles. Maybe it had nothing to do with homophobia and was just jealously. Perhaps they had nothing they were so passionate about and envied his having that joy over something. They don’t have it, therefore they will tarnish it. It isn’t just fear that causes bullying. The worst of it is, apparently it hasn’t stopped. At least, I haven’t been able to find the web site supposedly set up for him and his Facebook page has vanished. I’m assuming negative comments from people who have too little heart and too much time on their hands caused it to be taken down.

I hope and pray this boy wakes up, healthy and well, no matter what the odds. If an outpouring of love can help, I’m sure he’s covered. For every bully there is a My Little Pony lover to counter, whether a ‘pegasister’ (female eqivalent of brony) or the brony. My Little Pony fans are a generous lot of all ages and the outpouring of MLP art, funds and tattoos in his name should tell him he’s not alone. Wherever there is a My Little Pony lover, he’s got a friend.


For Michael Morones by Astringe on deviantART

For some inspiration on how others are trying to reach this comatose boy, check out this page full of art, just for him. ‘Art for Michael‘.

Here is an interesting vid on the My Little Pony and Brony issue, dispelling some common misconceptions and even explaining how they came about.

Video by : Pinkie3point14