Exactly. There are certain boundaries which, when crossed, make it okay to hate. I think that these boundaries are obvious.Unfortunately, people hate too easily. Dislike is understandable but hate is a very strong emotion that shouldn't just be thrown around like it is today. The world is imperfect. There's no doubt about that. But there's no point hating everything until things get better. People need to make a difference. This is where the love and tolerance thing comes in. By showing love to others, you open the small possibility that others may admire your values and change for the better. By tolerating, you ignore the harshness of the world and focus on the better things. This starts to make the world look like a better place. By loving and tolerating, you're not technically making the world a better place. You're making your perception of the world better (which is all the really matters to you anyway). Unfortunately, like YOLO, everyone is starting to forget what "love and tolerate" really means (assuming that the original meaning of YOLO actually means to make the most of your life while you can). It's just being thrown around as much as hate is. Talking the talk is one thing, but walking the walk is different. I can't say that I'm a perfect example but I do try. I've just got to work on the "love" bit more. Although most of the members here seem to exhibit these qualities anyway.
The trick isn't to force yourself to agree to opinions you don't like. In fact, you should never even do that. The trick is to respect the opinions of others regardless of wether you like them or not. Doing just that would make the world a better place already.
Because the whole went over so well. Didn't see much respect on either side. I know what you're gonna say "Echo, you didn't respect my opinion?" the answer is no, no I don't, mostly. To the people that said "we ain't no furry" That I didn't respect as an opinion. The "We're like a subgroup" That got a some. Now the next thing I say is perfect. This is all my opinion on how others should treat others opinions. It's like some sorta crazy inception thing. Anyway this is how I feel right now, with a massive headache and being very tired. I may wake up and thing this post is stupid, OR find it to be that best I've ever made. The suspense is killing me.
I think it's sad when I see perfectly good arguments fall apart into back-and-forth insults. Most of the time, it seems like someone will post something -that they consider to be either just their opinion or just a fact- that is actually offensive to someone, and the person who is offended responds harshly. In such a situation, I think both parties are at fault. Well, slogans are often misleading. I don't worry about what "Love and Tolerance" means anymore. I try to be a good person, and I base my definition of good on my own values. Acting respectful in general is a good thing, I must agree.
I think some of people here are missing the point if this topic. Whoever didn't read whole OP, but is discussing in this thread, please, go to OP and read it again. Thank you.
First I want to say that I wasn't paying much attention to the brony fandom back in the pause between S1 and 2, as I was just a new member of the community, as well as being busy catching up on the episodes. That being said, I do agree that something feels like it's been lost in the community. I guess that can't be avoided in a fast-growing community like this... In a way, those feelings of friendship you felt back then might be challenging, if not impossible, to attain among the entire brony fandom today, if not only for the sheer size it has grown into. Your vision is admirable! It might be utopic, almost naive, but I agree that it would be awesome! In the end, I refuse to believe it's a group problem. I've interacted with several other fandoms before (Even though this was the first one I took part in) and I've met people who truly embodies the spirit of your message, Yetione, as well as complete jerks, and I believe the Brony fandom is no different. In the end you can only act in the way you would like the majority of the community to act, and you've done your part in moving it in the right direction. It's common decency to respect other's opinions, as well as refraining from using insults even if you disagree with said person, and I hope that everyone are doing their very best at being decent. In other words, I agree with Dilly Star on this. EDIT: I should mention it's late, so we'll see in the morning if I have to take anything back or not
Exactly what im saying, we will keep making progress, its just that to reach the definite end is impossible as no definite end could be known or proven. Well we have more then 6 bronies now don't we? If we did this wouldn't be as hard but with an unknown census you could never know when the goal is complete for everyone, even if we shrink it down to EP, it is too vast for the goal to be met by everyone. I completely agree that when people try to solve things by saying giant hug fest, it solves nothing. You can't change someone by saying be happy, you change them by having them change themselves, it can't be forced upon someone. And when you say you go for the bronze because you don't want the gold? because you know you can't get the gold? Whats the reason for it?
Here is my take on Love and Tolerance: Tolerance: Putting up with, not reacting angrily and violently to something (Case in point, Middle East with the anti-Muhammed video), or letting a debate turn into an argument, which is something that is very easy to do. Love: Love and CARE for those around you, be charitable, be kind, be helpful, be courteous. It's all common sense manners if you truly get down to it, but what the problem is, is that either people take it far too literally and cling to it too tightly, or do the polar opposite and completely toss it out the window like it means nothing and overlook its potential benefits. This is a very common phrase of mine, "Everything in moderation." Almost anything used in moderation is good, but too much or too little throws it all down the drain.
This is kind of depressing. These threads always turn out this way. Yeti I think you made one a long time ago about bringing up brony spirit. Only that time I was one of the people causing trouble. Here's my 2 cents. I think that.......nevermind, there's no point. I'd prefer to just keep things simple and not pretend like I know everything. 100% honesty is not a good thing though. When I heard the quote "The bitterest truths are better than the sweetest lies" from MIB3 it got me thinking. That quote only applies to facts, not opinions.
This exactly but the only thing is I think tolerance is more of tolerating other peoples thoughts and opinions. If someone is a vegan, don't yell at them for that, it is their own choice. It is when people try to change others by force or derail others ideas and beliefs that problems start. Its fine to say, I disagree and I think that is stupid but once you get to "that is stupid, don't do it, what you believe is wrong" (unless it is something truly stupid like drinking or texting while driving, other bad stuff) you have gone too far.
Yeti, you're a great guy and I know you have the best motives, but I don't think it's practical to think in terms of the big picture when it comes to these things.
Here's my point through example. Let's say your wife asks if her dress makes her look fat. Now it's true that it does bring out a more wider side of her just a bit. You can give her a detailed analysis on how her dress does make her look indeed chunky, and it would waste time and ruin the evening. Seeing that it's not a major problem, you can simply tell her that it does not. You 2 would be on your way and enjoy the evening together, and it probably wouldn't be on your mind that her dress makes her look a little fat. No one is going to come up to her on the streets and say "that particular dress makes you look fat." I don't like hurting people's feelings, and it's very easy to do that with words alone. I tell little white lies all the time so I don't hurt people's feelings. Seeing other people happy makes me happy. It's a compassionate and logical choice. I guess if someone were to have everything taken away from them at once, it could be hard to care about anyone besides yourself, like if your x-girlfriend cheated on you and you still love her, but you can't have her. I've seen people change for the worse because of a negative relationship. It happened to my best friend.
