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Requisite pony thread (No creepers)

firefossil said:
Ayn Rand raised the point of 'altruism' forced via social obligations and peer pressure not being true altruism, and likely discouraging true altruism. Such is indeed a valid point, and the point that the episode was making. The problem was that Ayn Rand then went on to conclude that we should act on "rational self interest" instead, while many of her purported followers seem to have conveniently forgotten that she was speaking about the obligations of social conservatism as much as she was about collectivist government. And so was this episode.

You guys are on the liberal end of the spectrum, so how about this. Imagine a socially conservative small town. Imagine that everyone knows each other and everyone is polite... but god help you if you don't conform to their standards or neglect your obligations or are just an out-of-towner whose 'different'. Full of loving and hospitable family and friends...conditional on you living your life the way they expect you to. Would you like that? No? Well then you might agree with Ayn Rand more than you might think... and the S5 premiere town is very much akin to those places, which do exist.
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Actually, the person's claim was that the villian of the episodes was a typical Ayn rand villian, and the Main Six were acting and talking exactly like Randian 'heroes', and that it was clearly Randian propeganda to make little girls Ojectivists.

And then he complained about how Fluttershy isn't a good character anymore and how taking away a Pony's cutie mark shouldn't do those things :p.
 
I believe that the town was actually based on Jonestown.
The speaker system, the Insane leader, the false utopia, like in Jonestown.

Personally this was the most creepy and scary episode in all of MLP. Because this has (or is) happening in real life, this is true evil of our world.

Starlight Glimmer shows also how real evil people are. They don´t think that they are evil,they dont say that they are evil ,they just believe that their evil is necessary.
 
lordhasen said:
Starlight Glimmer shows also how real evil people are. They don´t think that they are evil,they dont say that they are evil ,they just believe that their evil is necessary.
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These two bits seem contradictory. Folks like Starlight Glimmer perform acts that are evil, but they don't think they're doing evil. That is what makes her and her beliefs so unsettling.
 
I think this episode did a good job setting the theme for what S5 is going to be about. The main villain was an ordinary pony, who was stopped by ordinary ponies. No demigods, magical artifacts, or cosmic forces, and no deus ex machina to stop them. The Mane6 have graduated from students of friendship to teachers.

This does two good things. First off, it means the Mane6 can keep their character development, rather than be forced back into the same flaws in order to induce conflict. Though as Fluttershy illustrates it can still be somewhat bumpy. They can still learn as they teach, as well as needing to learn how to teach. Second off, it means they can put more focus on other characters than the Mane6, other towns than Ponyville.

Overall this approach seems like a great way to avoid the show ending up in a rut.
 
@RK_Striker_JK_5 , @schpeelah

I remember you two making some comments a while back on the nature of Cutie Marks.

RK_Striker_JK_5 said:
In other words, cutie marks can be really interpretative. And their 'special talents' are not always inline with them. Nor do, IMHO, special talents 'dominate' like how some people I've seen think about them. If so, well, Rarity would be in a mine. Twilight would be at a fireworks company. Pinkie Pie would be in the air even more than usual. So on and so forth.
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schpeelah said:
Cutie marks being one's life's purpose is really just a cultural tradition. They pop in at a moment of great elation for a pony of a certain age, often after gaining a special skill, and their look is connected to that moment. But when Cheerilee can use interpretation to make flowers stand for teaching, anypony can claim their mark stands for whatever they decided to do in life.

And then the comics just go full hog and Cheerilee didn't think of teaching as an option until many years after her mark.
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Out of curiosity, how does what was shown the Season Five premier affect this?
 
Having just finished watching the S5 premiere (albeit after having recorded a rerun of it), I have to say:

Starlight Glimmer is an evil communist cultist who must suffer for her transgressions.

And something else I would like to note about the 'Equality Town':

By taking away all of their Cute Marks, they made themselves 'equal' all right - all equally suck. Absolutely every single pony in that town completely sucked at their jobs: the baker couldn't bake, the clothsier had no fashion sense, whoever made the window drapes had no taste either, and so on. They all were at an equal level of expertise in all fields, and given the limits of how far anyone can be good at everything... the bar was set pretty damn low. Meaning they all had exactly zero competence at anything; if you can't make everybody great at everything, then it's easier to just make everyone suck.

This, however, is incredibly, incredibly stupid economically speaking. Specialization is a necessity for any successful society: someone needs to cook, someone needs to make clothes, someone needs to build, someone needs to fight, etc. You cannot dedicate all of your resources to make everybody proficient in every task - it's simply more efficient to delegate specific tasks to individuals, and have them train to be the best at their specified crafts. In that way, you optimize your ability to utilize limited resources for the biggest gain for the whole community.

What Starlight did here, though, was flagrantly violate that one principle in her mad quest for 'equality'. Said 'equality' not applying to her, anyways ("Some people ponies are more equal than others"). Even freakin' Communists understood this principle - "To each according to their ability, to each according to their need" did not mean what this is, Starlight you idiot: Communism wasn't about equality in ability, it was about equality in need; you can excell as much as you want in whatever talents you have, but that does not mean you should hold yourself higher than others because of that. Your exquisite food should not be limited to just the wealthy elite; your beautiful artworks should not be restricted to private galleries; your brilliant inventions should not be held only by profit-driven corporations; all of the fruits of your talents should made available for everyone to enjoy. That is what equality is truly about: that regardless of your station in life, you all share in the benefits in each other's talents.

Starlight Glimmer, your vision of 'Equality' is a gross bastardization of that vision. I hope the Mane 6 hunt you down and drag you before a Royal Canterlot Tribunal, and for you to be punished for your transgressions against the true ideals of Equestria as envisioned by Princess Celestia.

HAIL CELESTIA! HAIL LUNA! HAIL EQUESTRIA!
 
tankdrop24 said:
Out of curiosity, how does what was shown the Season Five premier affect this?
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Not really. Look at how Pinkie lost the ability to fun. She still can get enthusiastic, but then the equal sign sort goes bwoo and she loses her happy. So the spell is actively suppressing major positive qualities of the target, not merely removing the mark.

There are people who take the spell to be just CM removal. They then criticize the episode for making cutie marks absolutely ridiculous.


And now, the news.








 
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Loved this two-parter, but dear God was it creepy.


On the "Starlight is a communist" thing... I wonder what she'd think of Stakhanov. :p

firefossil said:
Ayn Rand raised the point of 'altruism' forced via social obligations and peer pressure not being true altruism, and likely discouraging true altruism. Such is indeed a valid point, and the point that the episode was making. The problem was that Ayn Rand then went on to conclude that we should act on "rational self interest" instead, while many of her purported followers seem to have conveniently forgotten that she was speaking about the obligations of social conservatism as much as she was about collectivist government. And so was this episode.

You guys are on the liberal end of the spectrum, so how about this. Imagine a socially conservative small town. Imagine that everyone knows each other and everyone is polite... but god help you if you don't conform to their standards or neglect your obligations or are just an out-of-towner whose 'different'. Full of loving and hospitable family and friends...conditional on you living your life the way they expect you to. Would you like that? No? Well then you might agree with Ayn Rand more than you might think... and the S5 premiere town is very much akin to those places, which do exist.
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Ayn Rand kinda went a bit further than that. Her idealized society, "Galt's Gulch", had completely abandoned the concept of gifts - if a friend asks you for a quick favor, you charge him for it. She also dedicated a chapter for ripping into a guy who went bankrupt helping others, saying he should be despised for not turning a profit.
Rand had some legitimate points, but you have to dig for them through caverns of crazy.
 




Well, that escalated quickly. The premiere was dark so they figured villain backstories should be too.

Also, Tirek's kind confirmed to be called centaurs.
Notice the Rainbow of Darkness bag on Tirek and several more like it on the old sorcerer. Somehow I have a feeling Sendak will be eating Tirek's magic or vice versa.

Edit: Wait a sec, is there an eclipse going on in the first panel?
 
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schpeelah said:




Well, that escalated quickly. The premiere was dark so they figured villain backstories should be too.

Also, Tirek's kind confirmed to be called centaurs.
Notice the Rainbow of Darkness bag on Tirek and several more like it on the old sorcerer. Somehow I have a feeling Sendak will be eating Tirek's magic or vice versa.
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Tirek is the most metal centaur ever. Someone get him a motorcycle for quadrupeds.
 
Actually, one of Chojomeka's posts on the SB thread just made me realize something: Starlight Glimmer's not a communist... she's a Scientologist.

FUCK PRISON FOR HER, THEN - DEATH SENTENCE FOR THE BITCH!:mad: EXECUTION BY MATTER-ANNIHILATION!:mad::mad::mad:

SUFFER NOT THE SCIENTOLOGIST TO LIVE!:rage::mob::rage::mob::rage::mob::rage:
 
WhiteDragon25 said:
Actually, one of Chojomeka's posts on the SB thread just made me realize something: Starlight Glimmer's not a communist... she's a Scientologist.
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Explain?





Looks like Equestria's Classical period.
I can't tell whether the crossroads are in the middle of a sparse town or in between close settlements. It's weird to me.
It's interesting that the Sirens seem to have no expectation of having any kind of trouble due to their race.
 
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schpeelah said:
Explain?
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Scientology? The crazy evil fucking cult that engages in child slavery, kidnapping, brainwashing, bribery, extortion, trafficking, money laundering, and (suspected) murder, among dozens of other crimes, yet somehow gets away with it thanks to law enforcement, legal, and political corruption, and manipulation of news media and propaganda to cover up and whitewash their misdeeds?

Starlight Glimmer is definitely reminiscent of Scientology in methods and motives. She's power-hungry and greedy, and is a manipulative liar and hypocrite, yet at the same time has drunk so much of her own kool-aid that she ernestly believes her own insane ideology despite her own hypocrisy. She has engaged in brainwashing, fraud, kidnapping, theft, extortion, and attempted assault/murder. The only thing left out here is escaping justice through abusing the system; the only reason why she's managed to get so far is because of her little cult town's remoteness. Once actual government authorities (i.e. the Mane 6: Princess Twilight and the Elements of Harmony) came in and busted it up, things quickly fell apart for her, and she was forced to flee.

By now I expect her face and butt-tattoo to be plastered on every Wanted poster in Equestria.
 
Alert: Alert
  • Staff Post
    • WhiteDragon25 said:
    Actually, one of Chojomeka's posts on the SB thread just made me realize something: Starlight Glimmer's not a communist... she's a Scientologist.

    FUCK PRISON FOR HER, THEN - DEATH SENTENCE FOR THE BITCH!:mad: EXECUTION BY MATTER-ANNIHILATION!:mad::mad::mad:

    SUFFER NOT THE SCIENTOLOGIST TO LIVE!:rage::mob::rage::mob::rage::mob::rage:
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    alert I don't really think this kind of behaviour is helpful. Stop.
     
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