Catholic teaching on...these...people?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Nate8080
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
N

Nate8080

Guest
So, in case you haven’t heard, there exists a group of people on the internet, grown men to be exact, who are die-hard fans of the little girl’s cartoon show, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. These are known as Bronies. Why bring up a random ****-corner of the internet? Well because, it has become pretty big, near 12 million members to be exact.

Google images link: (google.com/search?q=bronies&biw=1280&bih=605&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=vNFGVMKiKOrm8AGLqYDYCw&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ)

Now before you pull up google and start researching, don’t waste your effort, I can tell you from personal experience that these people are manchildren. The question is, are they actually doing anything wrong, according to Catholic morality and teaching? I mean, these grown-*** men legitimately obsess over this child’s show, immature…but I just wonder what a real philosopher would have to say about these people in terms of right and wrong?

Thanks
 
I read - and reread - certain children’s books. They were a big part of my childhood and I still enjoy “escaping” into them. Some people prefer television to books. 🤷
 
Well, I’m guessing there’s nothing more “wrong” with bronies than there is with the contempt you’re showing them by your use of expletives to describe them. 🤷
 
Via Wiki:
Ellis [Professor Emeritus from Penn State University], speaking at the 2012 AnimeNEXT convention, considered that both bronies and otaku fans are “psychologically and developmentally normal” and are simply "non-majoritarian" in their choice of active interests. Ellis noted that fans of both groups often are ridiculed for their interest in media targeted for the opposite gender.
Click to expand...
Source.
 
Bruised_Reed said:
Via Wiki:

Source.
Click to expand...
I would wonder why he is shown as making those statement at an anime convention. WOuld he say anything different? Maybe if he were saying things within a well known scientific journal…

For the record, there are people who are functional ‘bronies’ and there are people who have a sexual fascination with a children’s show.
 
Hobbes42 said:
I would wonder why he is shown as making those statement at an anime convention.
Click to expand...
He was invited?
WOuld he say anything different? Maybe if he were saying things within a well known scientific journal…
Click to expand...
Why not?
For the record, there are people who are functional ‘bronies’ and there are people who have a sexual fascination with a children’s show.
Click to expand...
And the former are the majority.
There’s undeniably a barrier to get through before one can accept the Bronies, and it probably has a lot to do with the earnestness with which they fawn over My Little Pony. They are truly fans. Like, big fans. They think it’s the greatest thing, and they think that authentically. As a culture, we’re perfectly accepting of fandoms of embarrassing, slight, or silly things, particularly when they go against others’ perceptions of what you might like. Are you a physics professor who loves Real Housewives? How fun! But only as long as you call that fandom a “guilty pleasure.”

The Bronies, however, aren’t guilty about it. Oh my, they are *so *not guilty about it.
Click to expand...
😃

I find them fascinating.
 
Nate8080 said:
So, in case you haven’t heard, there exists a group of people on the internet, grown men to be exact, who are die-hard fans of the little girl’s cartoon show, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. These are known as Bronies. Why bring up a random ****-corner of the internet? Well because, it has become pretty big, near 12 million members to be exact.

Google images link: (google.com/search?q=bronies&biw=1280&bih=605&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=vNFGVMKiKOrm8AGLqYDYCw&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ)

Now before you pull up google and start researching, don’t waste your effort, I can tell you from personal experience that these people are manchildren. The question is, are they actually doing anything wrong, according to Catholic morality and teaching? I mean, these grown-*** men legitimately obsess over this child’s show, immature…but I just wonder what a real philosopher would have to say about these people in terms of right and wrong?

Thanks
Click to expand...
“And said: Amen I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3)…? 🙂

Or, perhaps, “To avoid rash judgment, everyone should be careful to interpret insofar as possible his neighbor’s thoughts, words, and deeds in a favorable way” (Catechism, paragraph 2478, vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P8K.HTM)…? 🙂
 
MPat said:
“And said: Amen I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3)…? 🙂

Or, perhaps, “To avoid rash judgment, everyone should be careful to interpret insofar as possible his neighbor’s thoughts, words, and deeds in a favorable way” (Catechism, paragraph 2478, vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P8K.HTM)…? 🙂
Click to expand...
I’m going to copy, paste and print the one from the CCC and tape it to my computer. 👍
 
Bronies are into a harmless hobby.

I’ve heard criticism, not that they are immature people, but that they have blurred gender lines by liking a cartoon that was geared for girls.

As long as they are not taking money from important things (like rent) to support their hobby, and as long as they act in a moral way collectively, there isn’t a problem.
 
MPat said:
“And said: Amen I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3)…? 🙂

Or, perhaps, “To avoid rash judgment, everyone should be careful to interpret insofar as possible his neighbor’s thoughts, words, and deeds in a favorable way” (Catechism, paragraph 2478, vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P8K.HTM)…? 🙂
Click to expand...
Yes, indeed! And I would add, to not go out of one’s way to criticize another’s harmless behavior or likings.
 
MPat said:
“And said: Amen I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3)…? 🙂
Click to expand...
That’s an absurd use of scripture, which even your smiley face can’t redeem. Here’s one that is more apt ( from 1 Cor):

“When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.”

OP, The obesession over a little girls show by grown men is odd in the extreme, but would not be sinful unless their love for the show overshadows their love for God when it would become an idol, violating the First Commandment.
 
Nate8080 said:
So, in case you haven’t heard, there exists a group of people on the internet, grown men to be exact, who are die-hard fans of the little girl’s cartoon show, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. These are known as Bronies. Why bring up a random ****-corner of the internet? Well because, it has become pretty big, near 12 million members to be exact.

Google images link: (google.com/search?q=bronies&biw=1280&bih=605&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=vNFGVMKiKOrm8AGLqYDYCw&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ)

Now before you pull up google and start researching, don’t waste your effort, I can tell you from personal experience that these people are manchildren. The question is, are they actually doing anything wrong, according to Catholic morality and teaching? I mean, these grown-*** men legitimately obsess over this child’s show, immature…but I just wonder what a real philosopher would have to say about these people in terms of right and wrong?

Thanks
Click to expand...
You have an interesting use of *******. I wonder if you have any opinions concerning grown men who obsess over statistics concerning a boy’s game (baseball), spend hours with little pieces of paper (stamp collectors), can name hundreds of species of butterflies, or have any one of hundreds of other harmless hobbies that don’t involve beer advertising. Precisely what kind of “teaching” would you expect the Church to have in the matter of hobbies?
 
I watch cartoons with my young daughter, so I can always be sure what she’s watching. (My wife does too).

She likes to watch “My Little Pony - Friendship is Magic”. And while some of the plots are a little too advanced for her; I have to admit that they actually do a good job of storytelling to keep a parent entertained. There are other cartoons like this too: “Sophia the First”, “Doc McStuffins,” etc.

Then there are others which are simply garbage or pointless.

I think Bronies are no different that people who attend and dress up for Star Wars, Star Trek, or Comic book conventions.

God bless
 
Why would anybody care?

Live and let live!

We will be unable to soon enough.

ICXC NIKA.
 
Dang, and I thought my life was boring, but I suppose that if a guy wants to watch “My Little Pony”, and isn’t hurting anyone who am I to tell him he can’t?
 
Am I the only one who is a bit surprised to find the responders on this Catholic forum so universally find it of no importance that this isn’t simply a child’s show that men are obsessing over, but a girl’s show? I’d find it strange and worrisome if my young sons were into watching My Little Pony, I certainly wouldn’t find it less odd if they did so as adults.

I’m not saying the “Bronies” are being sinful (I made that clear in my post above), but I must admit to being dismayed at how many of my fellow Catholics have “drank the Kool-Aid” of “gender theory” which ultimately is terminating in “gay marriage.” One commenter even asked why obsessing over a girl’s show is any different than obsessing over baseball stats!

May I recommend a palate cleanser (and refresher in the basic Catholic understanding of sex)? From The Catholic Encyclopedia:

“The same essentially identical human nature appears in the male and female sex in two-fold personal form; there are, consequently, male and female persons…there is no neutral human person without distinction of sex. Hence follows in the first place, woman’s claim to the possession of full and complete human nature, and thus, to complete equality in moral value and position as compared with man before the Creator. It is, therefore, not permissible to take one sex as the one absolutely perfect and as the standard of value for the other…The fact that there is no sexually neutral human being has, however, a second consequence. The sexual character can be separated from the human being as something secondary only in thought, not in actuality. The word “person” belongs neither to the soul nor to the body alone; it is rather, that the soul informing the body constitutes the full conception of the human personality only in its union with the body. It is in no way, therefore, permissible to limit differences only to the primary and secondary peculiarities of the body…These distinctions can be diminished or increased by education and custom but cannot be completely annulled. Just as it is not permissible to take one sex as the standard of the other, so from the social point of view it is not allowable to confuse the vocational activities of both. The most manly man and the most feminine woman are the most perfect types of their sexes.”

I wonder how many of my fellow posters would feel comfortable asserting that last line?
 
Is the Catholic Encyclopedia infallible? What we consider here in the US to be masculine or feminine behavior is not necessarily true in other parts of the world. So perhaps we are getting more universal in our acceptance of people being what they are instead of needing to pretend to be what they are not.
 
PietroPaolo said:
That’s an absurd use of scripture, which even your smiley face can’t redeem. Here’s one that is more apt ( from 1 Cor):

“When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.”
Click to expand...
Yes, the verse I used does not really order the Catholics to become bronies. But neither does your verse forbid that. The difference is that I did indicate that the verse was not used completely seriously by a smile and you did not.

And if you insist on your interpretation of the verse you cited, please show that the Church interprets it in that way, and not just you.

Now, the correct interpretation of that verse might be indicated by Haydock Bible Commentary (haydock1859.tripod.com/id174.html): “Ver. 11. When I was a child. I, like you, formerly judged of the goodness and excellency of these spiritual gifts by the advantages the procured; but after the Almighty had bestowed upon me his particular light, my opinion was far otherwise. Prophecy, and the gifts of languages are certainly very estimable gifts, yet charity is much more excellent. (Calmet) — It is by charity we approach near to God, that we become his true image. Can we, then, wonder at the magnificent praises, glorious prerogatives, and surprising effects St. Paul gives to this all necessary virtue?”…
 
“most manly man and the most feminine woman are the most perfect types of their sexes.”
Click to expand...
And how are those adjectives to be defined? By some stereotype of gender roles in a given society? Which one?

ICXC NIKA.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top