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Check it out! I’m a commie now!
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That isn’t the point. The point is that the stagnation of the society is literally damaging it because things are falling apart because the residents’ respective ‘special talents’ are what make things work. And given that the town clearly existed prior to Starlight’s having taken control over it, it is reasonable to believe that the damage had accrued (in civilization terms) rather quickly.
You seriously believe that suppressing the traits which grant the ponies power over their world (and therefore increase their chances of survival in it) is not a problematic worldview? Is your problem with identity and/or diversity really that severe?
She has complete control over her town. Every aspect of their daily life is carried out according to her will. What part of this is difficult to understand?
Fluttershy was demonstrating remarkable cowardice, and Starlight’s probably held absolute power for so long it’s gone to her head. Also, again, there is an inherent lack of successfully hidden ulterior motives among ponies. In fact, I don’t think I’ve seen a non-unicorn in possession of one. That’s one of the things that killed the suspension of disbelief for me regarding RD’s infiltration of Cloudsdale’s Weather Factory in Tanks For The Memories: she’s about as subtle as the finale of a fireworks show.
The study of psychology does not appear to exist in Equestria.
These are horses we’re talking about. They’re typically easier to control in the company of what they consider to be familiar faces, due to their herd instincts. That’s why some people have taken to putting mirrors in horse stalls so the horses don’t feel like they’re alone.
I don’t care. I didn’t pay for your keyboard. Anyway, this is derpibooru. If it isn’t ‘the best place to gush over my waifu’s rote memorization of obscure facts’, assuming that’s what I was doing, I don’t know what is.
In any case, you seem to have been too offended by the fact that I offered praise to Twilight to even fully grasp what I was praising her for having accomplished, so I believe we might be at an impasse. Unless you come to terms with the remarkable ability Twilight displayed, you will never understand the improbability of Starlight’s failure being a result of it.
On an intellectual scale, Twilight has few peers: Starswirl, Celestia, Moondancer, Sunset, and now Starlight. This is out of all the ponies yet revealed in the show, major, minor, or extra. Well, and Chrysalis, but she wasn’t a pony. Anyway, if Twilight and Starlight had engaged in an actual duel of intellectual power and social control, it would: still be going on, have gone way over the heads of the target demographic, bored most of the periphery demographic, and generally not be a very entertaining show for people who are not interested in political games.
Starlight’s defeat was not arbitrary. She had established a self-destructive system, and was in fact (however unintentionally) saved from having to deal with the results of her oppressed citizens snapping and basically cornering her into exerting her will through force, which would in turn completely unravel all semblance of control she has over her situation. In human societies, this typically results in the ex-tyrant being assassinated, but this is a show for kids, so that obviously wouldn’t happen. But she probably would still have been run out of town. And then, in absence of the Mane 6 (which looks like it was going to be fatal for its targets), would have demonstrated her capacity for violence with that spell Twilight would otherwise have deflected, and in so doing probably condemn herself permanently.
might have to disable “post anon by default”.
Do you honestly expect a small village in the middle of nowhere to become a metropolis in the blink of an eye?
That is a problem with a lack of necessary materials and know-how at the time, not a problem with her worldview.
Is avoiding the simple closing of one’s curtains really worth the risk of some late night walker stumbling on this incredible secret by accident? Especially when someone of questionable trustworthiness is out of locks? Come on.
A cursory knowledge of psychology tells us that a group with its own view will be far more resistant to change to another view when they can communicate and confirm their view amongst themselves. Even if their ability to plot is discounted, it’s still common sense to isolate them for the sake of successful brainwashing.
I think I’m going to vomit. Is this really the best place to gush over your waifu’s rote memorization of obscure facts?
Yes, however as is illustrated by the village, the absence of those differences causes damaging stagnation.
The problem is that she didn’t actually eliminate those differences, only suppressed them. That was what led to the flaws in her drone society that provided room for Twilight & Co. to exploit.
It was nighttime. The whole reason behind Luna going Nightmare Moon was due to the fact that ponies were simply not awake at night. Especially given the only ones outside her totalitarian micro-regime were prisoners who couldn’t see anything, Starlight had no reason to believe there was a chance anypony might see her.
It appears she had not experienced a precedent case of anypony resisting her brainwashing. Also consider that ulterior motives (and possibly, ponies with the intelligence to maintain them) seem to be extremely rare in Equestria, and even then, with their talents gone the Mane 6 really couldn’t be believed to accomplish anything beyond planning.
Twilight showed incredible intellectual prowess by being able to remember the exact number of artifacts an ancient archmage had, plan both an infiltration using her own friend and one involving turning one of the townsponies completely against Starlight (who terrified him), all while being subjected to a proven-effective brainwashing process. Twilight defeated Starlight by, via mental capacity and a (social) ferocity unnatural to ponies (possibly from her time spent as a human), being a ‘what if’ scenario so astronomically unlikely that it would have been insane for Starlight to give it serious thought, let alone planned for it.
One example: Differences that create conflict do, by definition, get in the way of harmony; and the most efficient way of rectifying this is to eliminate those differences. You could well argue that there are more important things than harmony, and that the pursuit of harmony should be strained by some ethical framework or another, but that’s not what Starlight is concerned with.
That may well be true, but there are common sense things like “keep your curtains shut when you have something important to hide” and “don’t give a group of infiltrators ample opportunity to plot against you in a secret place where nobody’s listening” that simply were not done.
Is that so? Could you name an example, please?
You seem to have mistyped ‘because she lacks experience with individuals as intelligent as herself and whom she lacks control over’.
You can’t blame the writers of a children’s show for distilling worldviews into their most basic forms. Starlight Glimmer’s ideas are no more rudimentary than Twilight Sparkle’s. It’s actually one of the show’s most intelligent episodes, and that says a lot for a post-Season 2 episode. M.A. Larson is an excellent writer.
That said, Starlight has a lot more right than Twilight, and she only lost because she was given the idiot ball more than a few times.
On the writers’ part or on Starlight’s? Because the implications behind many of Starlight’s interactions with Twilight indicate that she certainly thought this one out.
Shake’s a bit of an idiot, so he’s justified in not knowing (or not caring, in his case). Frylock, however, is more concerned about where he got the tattoo.
It’s social communism, the variant worse than economic.
(sure, [adult swim] has done and will do much worse, and… okay, the show can be funny, especially if you’re high I’ve heard, but I just really hate Master Shake)