Well it looks like society’s race to the bottom has officially begun.

Just a few weeks ago, a story broke out on the web about a content creator working under the screen name of Zamii070, who under the criticism of her work by individuals within the fandoms of "Steven Universe" and "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic," was harassed, degraded, and threatened by other members of the fandom to the point that she not only considered deleting all of her accounts and abandoning her craft, but was actually driven to such a state of emotional instability that she attempted suicide. For anyone lacking the time to read the bulk of this article, Tvtroupes.org user "Sayonara, Monty Olm" sums up the absurdity of what I'm about to explain quite nicely in a single jpg image. An image which can be found here, and which apparently would result in the site suspending their account amid a torrent of what they believe to be false user abuse reports and inappropriate content flags brought against them out of retaliation for their statements.

At the peak of the affair, there were reportedly over forty separate blog threads focused on attacking and harassing this individual at any and all hours of the day. Of the countless unfounded and spurious charges made by these individuals against Zamii070, the most common were claims of corrupting the cannon of the universe in which the series’ narratives took place, in addition to claiming that the content creator was “trans-misogynistic” for her use of terms such as “dude” and “man” in her fan-fiction during character interactions.

When it came to her art, the insults would manifest in the form of those crying foul for her apparent cultural appropriation of MLP characters for her rendering of a character as being Native American. Never mind that the creation of such characters as well as the reinterpretation of canonical characters in a variety of alternative roles, genders, and moral alignment are not only common, but what makes the fan communities for these shows so appealing and successful. In time, she would also be charged as having enforced negative body images for the artist having depicted the character Rose-quartz as being
thin when she is originally depicted as having a larger body type. She is also famously accused of attempting to "white wash" persons of color from the two shows respectively because of her depiction of what appears to be a African American character without "afro hair."

Please remember, all of this bitterness and outrage is over an intellectual property in which these individuals have contributed literally nothing to the development and creation of, but still feel some divine justification to rabidly defend, because the fan art of another content creator threatens the clean and neat little bubble in which they choose to live, using equality as a mask in which to hide their intolerance and ignorance. It’s becoming an increasingly problematic trend, mostly fueled by micro-blogging platforms such as tumblr and twitter, in which certain groups develop and rally themselves behind a self-appointed sense of entitlement in terms of their interpretations of reality having a greater validity and value than others. The most vocal of these groups proclaiming that shows such as Steven Universe and MLP "belong to the women, trans, and non-binary communities" and that "we will drag you to the bottom of the sea to defend it" all while refusing to acknowledge any criticism suggesting that their behavior is in no way different to widespread acts of bullying and outright emotional terrorism.

The blanket term given to these individuals is an acronym belonging to a subculture of society known as SJWs or Social Justice Warriors, who in the last few years have been earning quite a reputation for themselves as being just as petty and intolerant as the individuals or groups whom they accuse of exhibiting the same behavior. This army of keyboard warriors will not hesitate to find the most inane and trivial issues, and in some cases manufacture such issues within society, as well as the appropriate terms required to classify such issues, in order to condemn and raise awareness against these perceived injustices. And just what happens when these individuals don't get their way and are eventually confronted by the greater community regarding their behavior? They make excuses for themselves. Even now, these same users are already trying to find ways to discredit Zamii's suicide attempt as a hoax, labeling it as a childish grab for attention and as a get out of jail free card for her "transgressions" against the fandom.

Even when most of the threads attempting to deface Zamii were taken down by both their respective users as well as members of the tumblr staff, attackers were still trying to discredit and harass zamii by labeling her content with hashtags such as #fatphobia and #zamiihate, with some even creating tumblr accounts such as zamii070receipts which for the last year has operated under the expressed intention of "collecting evidence of problematic things" the artist has done. A blog, which in the fallout of negative attention brought to their doorstep in the wake of this controversy still refuses to acknowledge any wrongdoing whatsoever in the labeling and singling out of the content creator, instead choosing to fervently defend their actions and accuse the community at large of using the situation as a long awaited opportunity to halt their efforts to bring attention to the issues currently facing minorities, exclaiming "Yall having a blast...now you can s*** all over people fighting for justice and rights and calling out things that have affected them saying they’re in the wrong." (Feel free to read the full post here.)

The heavy influence of these individuals via social media outlets has become increasingly more problematic in recent years as the complaints and outrage of such individuals have begun to influence and shape the creation of art and media on a much larger scale than that of simple fan made content. Examples include mediums such as film and television, in which writers are being pressured and harassed on a daily basis by fans who often use their own work against them, threatening such actions as boycotting and protest against them if they choose to produce content that does not align with what those fans feel is socially or canonically appropriate (The "If Daryl Dies We Riot!" movement of AMC series The Walking Dead comes to mind). This has grown to such an extreme that some members of the industry face the daily reality of death threats and graphic descriptions of what enraged and disturbed fans will do not only to themselves, but their children and families as well. Some even go as far as to threaten acts of rape in retaliation and openly encourage people like Zamii070 to kill themselves all while refusing to show any form of compassion or responsibility for what might result from their actions, such as a user operating under the tumblr handle Tara, who trumpets that Zamii is a "literal racist" and "Who cares if she f****** dies? Holy S***!".

What many of these users don't realize is that in most of the United States, making such a threat either in person or through any other medium of communication at the very least is considered criminal harassment, which is considered a felony. However, in some states such as California, similar forms of harassment carries a potentially hefty $25,000 fine and if the person actually goes through with the act of suicide under your instruction or prompting, you can be charged with manslaughter and forced to serve at least a 10 year prison sentence. However, none of these individuals appear to care in the least and for that matter, why should they? Despite having a strict user agreement and a terms of service that supposedly condemns such actions by its users, very few if any of these tumblr users and other individuals on social media will ever face any consequences for their actions and all the while being praised as “heroes” who wrap themselves in the warm cloak of self-importance and delusion as to whether or not their intervention actually changes a single thing.

Whenever confronted by those who don't agree with their ideas, most if not all of these users start throwing around all kinds of terms such as "ablest" "racist" "bigot" and "oppression" while promoting hashtags such as #onlyfansmatter and even having the audacity to accuse the creators of these intellectual properties themselves of promoting and endorsing the triggering of deeply emotional and personal issues experienced by their individual fans and communities simply based on their unwillingness to endorse these insane and twisted points of view.

So what do the embattled creators of these intellectual properties actually think about all of the backlash and outrage being created by these individuals in their name? Well the makers of Steven Universe are actually incredibly appalled and disappointed in their respective fandom, taking to social media condemning the behavior. Not that it did much good however, considering that most of these misguided individuals simply turned their hate onto the creators as well, quickly accusing them of propagating many of the same things that Zamii herself was accused of and treating any of the positions taken by the respective content creators which are contrary to their own as direct endorsements of inequality and prejudice and oddly enough, even pedophilia. A claim which is apparently in response to what some users feel is the implied sexualization of underage characters through the promotion of an intentionally ambiguous and provocatively suggestive art style as well as the unfortunate revelation made by those attacking Zamii that one of her fans who commissioned a piece of art from her several years ago would later go on to be convicted of child molestation.

Rather than throwing themselves to the wolves in a similar fashion, the creative team behind MLP:FIM apparently gave a very clear and straightforward message to this particular brand of fans and it is delivered masterfully through the show’s season 5 premier, which was recommended to me through a political science professor who felt shocked that such an innocuous children’s show would be brave enough to tackle such a complex and hot button topic in such a tactful and chillingly actuate social model.

In a two part episode called “The Cutie Map” the four main characters of the show are sent to explore a remote town in which an individual by the name of Starlight Glimmer rules over her village with the message that equality, not individuality is the key to happiness. When asked to explain, the main protagonists are told, “they have given up the things that make them unique, because uniqueness causes animosity between ponies, and thus discord.” Instead of having the individual marks which once adorned the flanks of every character as a means of identifying their individual and unique traits, all of the citizens of the town instead wear a black equal sign.

This is where things get a little too Orwellian in terms of how close a children’s cartoon hits to home with the parallels it draws to the current trend of politically correct tyranny that is sweeping our nation. In his piece for the federalist titled "My Little Pony To Children: Marxism is Not Magic", columnist Brandon Morse refers to such behavior as being the unfortunate result of “the so called ‘equality’ movement that emanates from today’s academia-washed social-justice warriors” citing the episode’s cutting criticism of the current state of society, which “references everything from Stalin’s Russia to attacking today’s need to fit in.”

The four main characters are quickly trapped by the town’s leader, who throws them in jail for “re-socialization” until they have accepted what is described as “the correct way of thinking.” Meanwhile, in the town everyone goes about their lives, always monitored and having their speech and actions policed in the name of keeping everyone “equal.” For example, there is a baker in the town who was once one of the best bakers in the region, but now in the name of equality she is forced to burn and ruin her goods so that the quality of her shop is exactly the same as everyone else, namely the worst baker in town.

Another chilling detail is the loudspeakers posted throughout the town, which blast Nazi style propaganda nearly twenty-four hours a day, spouting phrases such as “you are no better than your friends” and “difference is frustration.” However, the real parallel to the destructive influence of SJWs is the manner in which the leader of the village uses guilt, shame, and outright farce to frighten and bully members of the town into going along with her plans. The most unsettling of which involves a scene of outright public shame on the four main characters for not supporting her twisted philosophy before throwing them back in jail for another round of reeducation. Starlight Glimmer institutes all sorts of rules and restrictions, all while excluding herself from following them. According to Morse “her tactics go so far as to include forcing celebrities to promote her cause, organizing marches, and singling out for ridicule anyone who drifts too far out of bounds.” However, after she is exposed by the main characters as being a hypocrite, the members of the town chase their former leader deep into the mountain where she is never seen or heard from again. The villagers regain their individual marks and life becomes peaceful once again.

I have to say that I have yet to be made more uncomfortable watching a cartoon in my life, not because of who its intended target audience is, but rather because of how deeply the themes which are present within the episode ring true. Taking all of these factors into consideration, there is only one conclusion to which the creators of the show wish to point their viewers:

There is absolutely nothing equal about equality. It is a blanket term that robs people of their identity and ultimately only leads to a society conforming to the Utopian ideals of a single tyrannical individual or group.

While tolerance and respect for others is important, so is recognizing the individuality of those around you and at times agreeing to disagree rather than imposing the will of an individual or group upon those who don’t share the same beliefs. Forcing and shaming people into believing the things you want them to, is nowhere near the same as someone making informed decisions for themselves and in time will accomplish little if any real social change. While surrendering your ideals and individuality to appease the masses might bring happiness and relief from the constant pressuring of others, at the end of the day it is a hollow existence.

It’s actually quite refreshing to see such an industry leading series take such an unpopular stance in the current social climate. Not only does such a statement give a relevant and contemporary example of the potential danger posed by individuals such as SJWs to society, but it makes a clear and blatant condemnation against the behavior of such individuals in a way which cannot easily be twisted, spun, or turned to champion their own cause, not that they haven't tried. One can only hope that other content creators will follow the example of MLP and find similar ways to condemn and impede the development of such behavior so that we as a society might one day come to our senses before it's too late.