My Little Pony: Capitalism is Magic

[harbl_the_cat]

Hopefully there's some other "brony" silver stackers out there.

You won't find a television show with a more wholesome, kid friendly message with awesome animation, talented voice acting, great stories, amazing music, great character development AND very strong libertarian and capitalist undertones than My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

Every week, I write an article called "Capitalism is Magic" focusing on the capitalism and libertarian undertones. I intend to homeschool my children and I hope someday when they are born/old enough to understand the show that I can use these as lesson plans to teach them why socialism is evil, the only legitimate roles of government, what sound money and free markets are, and a broad range of other socio-economic and inter-personal issues ranging from racism, faith, perseverance, paranting, and of course, friendship.

There's been 45 episodes over 2 seasons, but I've only started blogging about them midway through the second. If anypony's interested, my archive is here:

http://deadkittybounce.blogspot.com/2012...onies.html

Now, if you've never heard of MLP:FIM, I know what your thinking... how can a grown man be a huge fan of a show for young girls?

Let me tell you, I asked myself the same question when I first heard about it and even though I only started watching it to bond with my then 9 month old daughter, I assure you as a perfectly sane "manly" man, I cannot recommend this show enough to ANYONE.

If you have an open mind, you will not regret watching this show. Well you might, if you enjoy it so much you watch the whole series 15 hours in a row and are tired the next day... which a lot of people have (I haven't though - my wife would be very upset if I did).

If anyone is interested in joining the herd, you can find every episode on Youtube. Here's the first:

[blacksmithden]

Seriously buddy....you're creeping us out with the "My Little Pony" stuff. LOL !

[Mojofabulous]

I tried watching with an open mind. I made it maybe halfway through and all i saw was a little girl's show with a singing pink pony talking about friendship. Maybe the awesome message was at the end but uh, not worth it sorry. Are you sure you arent under some sort of mind control? I know when i accidentally found myself watching teletubbies, i found it very hard to break out of the trance, lol.

[Dudesome]

Haha watched the whole first part. I am openminded big time, but I expected to see some metaphor on todays economic situation. Probably the bad pony is supposed to.be the regulators regulating day and.night.
Yet, mate I would argue when you call socialism evil. Socialism is a great lesson for this ciilization. It teaaches us about what eventually happens when economy gets regulated. Socialism teaches us how to maintain capitalism in an appropriate manner. The founders of Socialism (Marx, Antonio Labrioli, Lenin and Trockiy) knew.that very well. They never intended for socialism to be a final state of things. They knew how unnatural that idea was. If anything socialism was meant as an experiment.
Most ppl dont know that cause they have never really studied the subject. How can you call a lifetime lesson an evil thing? You should be grateful.

[harbl_the_cat]

As the series develops it gets VERY good, with a lot of subtle messages particularly on the role of government and how markets work.

The concept of friendship itself is of critical importance to capitalism, as capitalism cannot work in the absence of voluntary, mutually beneficial, interpersonal relationships. Where two parties do not have friendship and good will towards one another, there is no way for any transaction of goods or services between them to be voluntary or for either party to come to a personal assessment of such a transaction being "fair".

If a transaction is not done voluntarily and if the individuals involved do not believe the transaction they made is fair by their personal standards - it's not a freely made transaction, and thus not a transaction a free market would facilitate or encourage. It's not an exchange based on friendship, but an extraction based on hostility.

This is why the western world's model of "capitalism" isn't capitalism at all. It's a "dog-eat-dog" system where every participant, both producers and consumers are constantly on the defensive, out to extract what's they feel entitled to first with no respect for the well-being of anyone else.

This itself is a by-product of a general attitude of narcissism and selfishness that is pervasive throughout society, that itself is a by-product of manipulations and interventions into the economy by the government and the crony's that prop them up.

That is the most dangerous part of the system of governance that exists in much of the developed world.

Groups and individuals who buy completely into the notion that success hinges on the ability to extract the most they can from others are able to manipulate the government to allow them to extract even more than they by their own abilities would be able to. Those in government, who themselves accept the notion of extraction, are happy to oblige, as by securing themselves a position in government - they also are positioned to extract more from others than they themselves could by their own abilities.

This culminates in a system of unsustainable disparity and inequality that fuels the notion of class warfare, which eventually erupts into a full-blown collapse as those on the bottom of the pyramid revolt against those on the top. The problem though is in a system where everyone from Corporate CEO to the destitute labourer does not have any notion of friendship or good will for anyone - a successful class revolution will result only in an inverted pyramid where the same inequalities and disparities that existed before still exist, only those on the top and bottom switch places.

This, ultimately is why every philosophy of collectivism fails, whether it's crony capitalism, socialism, or communism. Collectivism is a reaction to the unavoidable consequences of interpersonal hostility (or an absence of friendship). In the absence of interpersonal hostility, there is no driver for collectivism.

Even then the interpersonal hostility that ultimately drive collectivists systems are magnified by the systems themselves until it reaches a point where it becomes impossible for anyone to interact with anyone else. When it reaches that point, the whole thing falls apart - usually with disastrous consequences.

On the other hand, when a spirit of friendship and goodwill exists every transaction can be settled and resolved in a voluntary and mutually satisfactory fashion. Friends do not need to be coerced by friends to do something or to give up anything. They freely do so because as individuals they respect and care for the well-being of one another.

This is why capitalism is magic - because it only truly exists when people interact with one another personally and in a spirit of friendship.

Genuine friends would never interact with one another as any collectivist governmental system does. They would never forcefully take from one another to bail out an individual who acts irresponsibly. They would never forcefully redistribute and equalize the property of individuals. They would never forcefully abolish all individual ownership between each other and claim everything is the collective property of the group. These are not concepts based on genuine friendship, but on disrespect.

If you watch the show, you can see that's a theme repeated over and over again. Because that message is intertwined in the show with it's very high production value and with a mane-theme that is wholesome and universal is the reason I like the show a lot.

[Dudesome]

I totally agree with everything you wrote about true capitalism!! Today trust is built upon bureaucracy and not humanbeings. Paper this paper that. Even the so called legal tender for trade is nothing but paper. They want things to ..be oficial not effective.

Gonna watch some more haha. The first part wasnt bad at all.

[harbl_the_cat]

Well - the show itself isn't an anti-collectivism hack piece either. It's very tasteful and quite entertaining.

The producers know there's a large, adult, male following and there are lots of easter eggs they throw in that the "brony" audience enjoys, and it's still age appropriate for young girls.

There's also a LOT of entertaining fan made material too; these are some of my fav's

[Dudesome]

Damn you harbl!!! Im now addicted to this show

[harbl_the_cat]

(03-10-2012 12:40 PM)Dudesome Wrote:  Damn you harbl!!! Im now addicted to this show

MUH HA HA HA!

First victim

JK...



One thing that's really interesting is after the 4Chan bronies first caught wind of the show, one of them identified a pegasus pony with google eyes. They named her Derpy, and her popularity among bronies became known to producers of the show.

They started putting very brief cut scenes with Derpy as a "Where's Waldo" kind of Easter egg for the bronies. In most episodes, she appears very briefly... probably the most fun part of the show is trying to find her:

[Dudesome]

(03-13-2012 01:49 PM)harbl_the_cat Wrote:  

(03-10-2012 12:40 PM)Dudesome Wrote:  Damn you harbl!!! Im now addicted to this show

MUH HA HA HA!

First victim

JK...

Oh noes!!! You brainwashed me entirely

[harbl_the_cat]

(03-13-2012 01:50 PM)Dudesome Wrote:  

(03-13-2012 01:49 PM)harbl_the_cat Wrote:  

(03-10-2012 12:40 PM)Dudesome Wrote:  Damn you harbl!!! Im now addicted to this show

MUH HA HA HA!

First victim

JK...

Oh noes!!! You brainwashed me entirely

If you make it to season 2 - when you see this episode, you'll understand: