FOB newsletter #002 12/21/12

  Hello, everypony, Silvermane here, and I'm proud to present another installment of the weekly (or semi-weekly), FOB Equestria newsletter, editorial column, and other fun stuff. Let’s get right to it with: The Stable: Brony Study

Section 1, THE STABLE 

   
As was mentioned in the first issue, this section of the newsletter, ”The Stable”, will be an article discussing one aspect of the military brony community, or the brony movement in general, including the public perceptions of bronies, and media statements concerning bronies as Silvermane finds them or thinks them up.  

    One of the great things about being a brony is the diversity of people encountered in the brony community. The community is made up not only people from all walks of life, but also all age and gender groups. One of the most fascinating thing about this is how such a varied group of people can come together in friendship and tolerance over what is basically a cartoon show.

     In an effort to find out why this is so, I have spent the last few weeks data-mining the Internet looking for a “common denominator” shared by all bronies. I couldn’t find one, but what I DID find, however, was a psychological study conducted to find out what makes us tick, and which, (if any) stereotypes are actually based (somewhat) on fact.

   First, let’s take a look at those stereotypes. First of all, there’s this, from the magazine “BetaBeat” dated 7/12, authored by Jessica Roy. This is the article that referenced the study that  we are going to use. Jessica Roy says this;
  

"It’s a question that has plagued us during many sleepless nights: What is a brony, really? We already know that fans of the rainbow-ridden My Little Pony series enjoy attending conventions and having public cybersex on Twitter, (I will reserve comment on this) but little else has been scientifically revealed about the psychology behind the mystical brony culture."

    Anyway, enough of the Intro, on to the survey itself. The survey was conducted by Dr. Patrick Edwards and Dr. Marsha Redden. Dr. Edwards has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the university of Georgia, and his bio page says this;
    

“He has taught for over 25 years at the graduate and undergraduate level and has trained Master degree researchers and clinicians. His research interests include: Health Psychology, Behavioral Medicine, the structure of Love Languages, Factors Influencing patient's responses to therapy, and most recently Factors influencing the development and expression of the Brony Fan Phenomena.

Hmmm.

     Dr. Marsha Redden has a PH.D. in education from LSU. Her CV has this;

“Dr. Redden retired from private practice in 2008 after 31 years and then has served as adjunct professor at a small liberal arts college. She has taught classes which include research design and methodology, as well as psychological testing”.

     The URL for the complete report can be found at the end of the newsletter, but for now wants to concentrate on one aspect of the study;  “Provide information that might confirm or disconfirm myths/beliefs about the Brony Community (Fandom).”

 The report then goes into two major memes concerning the brony community

·         Many bronies are gay or LBGT 

·         Bronies have a higher unemployment rate than the general population 

  Here’s the study results for both points;

“Sexual Orientation: 84% of the Bronies described themselves as heterosexual, 1.7% described themselves as homosexual, 10.3% described themselves as Bisexual and 3.8% as Asexual.” [The study goes on to conclude that]  “No significant differences existed between the two groups (using Chi-square tests) for level of education, the region of the world in which they reside, their employment statue or their self-identified sexual orientation.” [Underlining within the original]

Now, there are a few other findings in this report that  are interesting, personality-wise. First of all, it seems that a higher percentage of bronies just want to get along, and are more “agreeable” than the general (read; non-brony) population. Here’s what the study said;

“Given the MLP theme of “Love and Tolerance” it is not surprising that the Bronies scored significantly higher on the measure of Agreeableness (wanting to “just get along” with others). In addition, many Bronies report that the positive “feelings” generated by the show represents an important reason for their interest in the show. These feelings and their general agreeableness may help to explain why they become fans.”

     This also ties into ANOTHER stereotype, that bronies are plagued with issues like depression and anxiety (We MUST be nuts, why else would we watch a show made for little girls, right??) Anyway, as  FOB Equestria readers will be glad to know, this is also false. In fact, bronies as a group have a LOWER incidence of neuroses than the general non-brony population. (At least amongst those surveyed.) Here is a quote from the report again;
 

“It is important to note that the Bronies displayed a lower level of Neuroticism, which means that they are likely to report generally lower levels of anxiety and stress in their lives. This result when added to the lack of any differences on the PAQ-Emotional Vulnerability scale would appear to directly challenge the validity of the often repeated myth about Bronies displaying problematic levels of mental health problems (like depression and anxiety). Whether this score relates to their general optimistic nature and/or is in part a positive reaction to being a Brony is unclear at this time!”

      I will weigh in here and say it’s a combination of both causes… A certain outlook on life is “de regueur” to become a fan of MLP. Again, it comes down to having an optimistic and positive outlook on life. Also, watching the show DOES create positive feelings, as shown in the report itself;

“Many Bronies report that the positive “feelings” generated by the show represents an important reason for their interest in the show. These feelings and their general agreeableness may help to explain why they become fans.” 

That’s about all that can be reasonably mined the report this time around,  plans are in place to use a few other findings as a basis to explore other facets of the brony cultures in later newsletters. Finally, here, as promised, is the URL for the report itself;

                                               www.bronystudy.com/id1.html

The “BetaBeat” article mentioned at the beginning of this section can be found here;

http://betabeat.com/2012/07/study-weve-all-been-waiting-for-explores-the-psychology-of-bronies/

                                                    

On to Section 2...

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RANDOM MUSINGS 
  

• General consensus seems to be that the song “Raise that Barn!” is the catchiest since “Winter Wrap-up” or “Bad Seed” Any dissenting opinions would be welcome in the next newsletter
• Lauren Faust, speaking on Everfree Radio Saturday (Dec. 22), made a comment that Firefly is possibly RD’s mother. Interesting tidbit, but since MS Faust is no longer directly involved with the show, is this still canon?
• Also during the show, several listeners raised the subject of AJ’s missing parents during the reunion, and the fact that they have never been shown in the 3 seasons so far. This led to the conclusion that they were probably passed away, but it was too difficult a subject to bring up in the show. However, alert watchers noticed that when “all Apple family members” was mentioned, two meteors streaked through the sky. Two more also appeared at the end of the show when the family was looking through the photo album. Could this be AJ and AB’s (and Big Mac’s) parents, showing up in spirit, as it were? The Everfree hosts seemed to think so, and with that endorsement, we'll call it canon.

Applejack's parents make a cameo appearance

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SILVERMANE’S CULTURE CORNER

  

 

So much culture you'll end up in the hospital!

For this week’s culture Corner we're going back to S.1 and highlight a few things from “A Dog and Pony Show” First of all, “Diamond Dogs” was originally the name of a David Bowie album. 

Here’s a picture of it;

Second, the scene where Rarity is dragged underground by the Diamond Dogs, is an homage to a scene in 1960’s “the Time Machine”, where helpless Eloi victim Weena is dragged underground by the hideous Morlocks.



Finally, the whole show is an adaptation of O. Henry’s short story; “The Ransom Of Red Chief”, where two men kidnap a kid for ransom who is so whiny and demanding, that the kidnappers finally end up paying the father to take the kid back. You can read it, if you so desire, here; 

www.online-literature.com/donne/1041/

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

 Well, there aren’t any as yet, but I have high hopes that some will be arriving soon. Until then, stay frosty, and as always;

Semper Filly!