The Thing That Ate Seattle

Musings of a boring, nerdy, unsociable, half hipster nobody.

In response to the Parasprite Invasion of #BecauseOfMLP

Good early morning, #Twitterbronies! I’ve never done this before, but I feel compelled to write something directly addressing you all in a formal manner.

You may be aware of the #BecauseOfMLP hashtag. It was started as a means of simply professing how My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic has bettered one’s life. The trend took off faster and farther than expected (Andrea Libman, the VA for Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, tweeted that she was reading them!) and many Bronies joined in. I sat there reading them with a huge grin on my face. The stories were all simply touching. I almost never cry, and they very nearly brought tears to my eyes. Incredibly heartwarming stories out there. I encourage you to look through them if you have the time.

As is often the case for us, though, it was overrun by Parasprites. At first it was merely the occasional one drowned out by the touching stories, but eventually it became an outlet of mockery of us.

I remember reading through them feeling twinges of anger. It took a vast amount of self control to not blow up at them, which is what pre-MLP me definitely would have done. Were they even reading what had been said? Couldn’t they see it was helping poor souls through some of the toughest points in their lives? Did they even care?!

I gave myself a few minutes to think and calm down. It was during that time I started thinking about many of the things I and others had said about love and tolerance. Getting angry about it only voided everything I had said before. If I became angry, nothing would change for me or for the situation at hand.

That was when I stopped thinking of myself. I realized I was angry over the insults thrown at me, when the ones who would most likely be affected were those going through much harder times and only getting by because of MLP. I wasn’t angry at the Parasprites anymore. I was sad because of the pain they were causing the others, though I have to admit I was still very disappointed in them for causing that pain.

Then I released a series of tweets under that hashtag directed at the Parasprites. The intention of those tweets was to tell them we were going to love and tolerate them, the Brony mantra. I was thankful when I noticed many Bronies following suit.

Should we take what the Parasprites said to heart? Easy answer: no. But will some of us? That answer is a resounding yes. I’m guilty of doing just that. Haters are always going to hate. We can’t control that. What we can do is control how we react. We can either focus on the Parasprites or we can focus on what the intention of the #BecauseOfMLP is: to thank the creators of this wonderful show by telling them how deeply it has impacted us.

If any score is being kept, I declare tonight a win for us. All the #Twitterbronies who participated in the spreading of the hashtag should take pride in the hope it instilled in those who read it. Ignore the haters! Tonight, we accomplished something wonderful! We showed all who read it how tight-knit a community we are! We showed our fellow Bronies that they are not alone, that we love, care for, and are grateful to know each and every one of them! Tonight was an amazing night for me, all #BecauseOfMLP and all because of #Twitterbronies. You all have changed my life for the better.

So the next time you encounter a Parasprite, and start to get a little down. Think about what you read on #BecauseOfMLP. Take it to heart. You are not alone. You are not a freak. You are not a freak. You are a beautiful creation who is loved and cared for, and no one can take that away from you.

With love,
-DanielTheBrony

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