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The Bronies Get Their Own Charity
blackbearnh writes "There's a long history of media fandoms organizing fundraising campaigns, donating blood, and doing other charitable activities. However, even large and well-established groups such as Trekkies/ers and Star Wars fans usually work with established non-fannish charities like the Red Cross or Toys for Tots. Some may see them as a plague on the Internet, the Brony community has taken their charitable endeavors to the next level by going to the trouble of creating a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt public charity. The Brony Thank You Fund received word from the IRS last week that, after nearly a year of work, they had been granted tax-exempt status. The Fund is currently raising donations to endow a permanent animation scholarship at CalArts, and is the same group that made news last year when they became the first fan group to purchase commercial time on national TV, for a 30 second spot praising My Little Pony and encouraging donations to Toys for Tots."
Non obsessives don't call themselves Bronies, or Trekkies, or Whovians, they don't define themselves based on what they like, they say "I like Star Trek" or "I like Doctor Who" (I presume that's what a Whovian is) or "I like My Little Pony".
When any interest(and that includes more socially acceptable interests like sports, sex, and alcohol) starts to define you, you're at the very least verging on engaging in some seriously unhealthy behavior. This is even more true when you're dealing with what might be considered socially unacceptable interests, because the sort of low level border line people tend to be pushed the other way by social pressure, but the social unacceptability of the interest isn't really the issue.
Personally I don't really give a crap if you like My Little Pony. I'll admit that I think that adults liking children's television shows is a little bit weird, but different strokes for different folks. So long as you're not hurting other people I don't really care what you do. However, calling yourself a "Brony" and giving people "Brohoofs" in all likelihood indicates some rather serious issues, sadly not uncommon issues, but issues none the less.