Apparently the spree killer in Indianapolis was also a “Brony”, a follower of My Little Pony as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
We are in our pandemic (l)anguish, even more confused by a sad shape for online culture. Not unlike the infantile imagery used by Boogaloo Boys, racism and sexism filter into the rationalizations for their actions, what some refer to as hyperstitions, or types of self-fulfilling prophesies.
Among the intersections are spaces colonized by those in need of help who also seek easy access to firearms, and are even deluded in some cases, by accelerationist political fantasies. Right-wing ironism manifest with cosplay situated in cartoon violence has taken catastrophic form in real life performative outrage.
“Brony online culture has displayed elements of far-right and white nationalist extremism,”
A fan of the show “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic”. Often male, but female fans are not uncommon. (plural: bronies) Bronies usually show a want to be accepted as normal people, but don't appear to realise that to be treated the same as anyone else, they need to stop making sure everyone knows and remembers that they are abrony at all times, without fail.
While the fan group is mostly made up of those who genuinely like the show, it has also drawn out paedophiles and white supremacists who share hate messages via fan art.
Assistant media-studies professor at the University of Georgia, Anne Gilbert, told The Atlantic in 2020: “This is a fan community that has prided itself on a permissiveness and pushing boundaries and cloaking themselves in irony and the idea that they can make the mainstream uncomfortable. That has been a source of pride.”
As the show came on air, many members of the subculture had links to the military.news.yahoo.com/…
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On the Indianapolis shooter being a brony and how admitting we lost the battle against extremism online is the first step in trying to meaningfully fix things.https://t.co/k9RPnQgItWpic.twitter.com/5zrnuAiL4Q
Over the weekend, theWall Street Journalreported that the 19-year-old whokilled eight peopleat a FedEx facility in Indiana last weekwas obsessed withMy Little Pony Friendship Is Magic.
Shortly before carrying out the attack, the shooter wrote on Facebook, “I hope I can be with Applejack in the afterlife, my life has no meaning without her.” According to the internal memo from Facebook that theWall Street Journalviewed, his account was full of content associated with the brony subculture. The Facebook memo describing the shooter’s account also reportedly mentioned how bronies are often associated with far-right ideology. It’s unclear howMy Little Ponyfactored into the attack, if at all, of which four of the victimswere Sikh.
On Saturday, Equestria Daily, one of the largest and oldest brony-based websites,wrote aboutthe Facebook memo. “Facebook and TheWall Street Journalcouldn't find any actual motive behind the attack from either of the pages; just ponies,” the post reads. “Be prepared for some potential blowback once the news starts breaking out into the wider internet. TheWall Street Journaldid bring up the ‘far-right’ side of the fandom that caused a stir last year, though they could not find any correlation between the two.”
[…]
Followingan excellent pieceby Kaitlyn Tiffany inThe Atlanticlast summer, theentire internetbeganasking ifbronieswereracist, with many outlets framing it as some kind of Trump-era reckoning with race. But My Nationalist Pony was active as far back as 2011, less than a year after the show premiered. The violent white nationalist contingents of the brony community have been there since the beginning. And the toxicity of the brony community wasn’t just an online phenomenon either, therewere reportsof rampant racism and sexism happening atMy Little Ponyconventions as far back as 2012.
Breaking News: The gunman in the FedEx shooting legally bought two semiautomatic rifles months after a gun was seized from him over his mental state, officials said. https://t.co/V1khDJ9JAL
“You’re not mopping fast enough. (Laughter) That’s a socialist mop. (Laughter and applause) Grab a mop — let’s get to work.” – Barack Obama (2009); “Soyez réalistes, demandez l’impossible!”
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