Tag: John Joseco

It seems that Hasbro was involved in taking down “Ask Princess Molestia.” This isn’t certainly the first time Hasbro has given the C&D to pony fan work, but Pinkiepony’s e-mail that is credited for initiating the C&D is worth examining:

Minor note: The destination e-mail address reads “HasbroBrandPR,” which is assumed to be HasbroBrandPR@hasbro.com based on Hasbro’s contact webpage. This address is supposed to be for the press (“Only inquires from press will be returned.”), which probably explains why Pinkiepony never got a response. As for the proper contact address, I think “Corporate Social Responsibility” would’ve been the best, but I’m not sure.

Pinkiepony states in the first paragraph that “one very popular one [fan work] has become so popular that children find it when searching for your products.” This echoes her original reasoning for starting this movement (reblogged by me). But I conducted a similar experiment to the one I conducted concerning My Little Pony Rule 34 in general: I searched “Princess Celestia” on Google with SafeSearch. I couldn’t find any Molestia. I’m really starting to wonder exactly how the girl she talked about found this content.

She also refers to another blog, “The Fall of Equestria,” which seems to be set in some alternate (post-apocalyptic?) universe with various mares as sex slaves. That blog is still up as of the writing of this post, even though it’s much worse than “Ask Princess Molestia” in my opinion. Did Hasbro not get around to that, or what?

So I just found out that Ask Princess Molestia was taken down.

I never really liked the blog. I didn’t think the jokes were funny. Plus, I’m not into video games, so Gamer Luna wasn’t for me, either.

But when Down with Molestia came up, I thought it was well-intentioned but too extreme. Right now I’m inclined to draw a comparison between John Joseco and Phil Robertson of the television show “Duck Dynasty.” If you haven’t heard, Robertson was suspended (for a short while) from the show for making comments about how homosexuality was sinful.

Now, I (along with many others) believe his comments were hateful and misinformed. But I didn’t feel that he should have been suspended for his comments. He did exercise his right to free speech, and he didn’t directly incite any illegal action. The same goes for John Joseco. His sort of humor in “Ask Princess Molestia” is objectionable to many people (to me? I haven’t seen much of the actual blog, so I don’t know), but it is an exercise of free speech, and it doesn’t directly incite illegal action.

Certainly people have the right to heavily criticize both Robertson and Joseco for their expressions, and they can demand apologies or the like. Concerning Joseco, it is acceptable to ask (read: demand) that he take down the blog. But he initially just brushed off the whole movement. The next step is not to get the blog removed by force. (To me it’s not clear if that’s what Down with Molestia is trying to do.)

pinkiepony:

bronydramarecorded:

mlpdaily:

As of 3:00 EST, the infamous MLP Fan-Tumblr, […] "Ask Princess Molestia" is gone. The url http://askprincessmolestia.tumblr.com/ returns a notification, that there is nothing to find. 

[…]

“Ask Princess Molestia” has recently been the target of a campaign known as “Down With Molestia”, spearheaded [pinkiepony] who notoriously [has been fighting rape cluture and JJ’s blog], as she has stated many times in her postings.

POSSIBLE LEAKED JJ CHAT CONFIRMS HASBRO IS RESPONSIBLE

Assuming the following transcript is true, there may be larger and even more nefarious forces at work beyond [DWM]. […]

[I will keep this post updated] (via HORSE-NEWS)

~*~

It is pretty clear at this point that JJ has shut it down for good and it was due in part to Hasbro sending a C&D. (Here is another link supporting this conclusion). 

I contacted Hasbro on Jan 9, I had enough.

It is very possible Hasbro listened and took action. If so, thank you Hasbro. They didn’t reply to me. 

Original post from pinkiepony on her message to Hasbro.

mlpdaily:

As of January 17th, 3:00pm EST, the infamous MLP Fan-Tumblr, “Ask Princess Molestia” is gone off the internet. The URL for the blog returns a notification that there is nothing to find. The blog’s URL cannot be taken, indicating that the blog has been suspended. 

Art by frogbians

“Ask Princess Molestia” has recently been the target of a campaign known as “Down With Molestia”, spearheaded pinkiepony who notoriously has been fighting rape culture and JJ’s blog as she has stated many times in her postings.

JJ CHAT CONFIRMS HASBRO IS RESPONSIBLE

Assuming the following transcript is true, it seems Hasbro was involved with the take down of the blog, JJ saying “I got to big” and it was suspended by “tumblr becasue of hasbro”

bronydramarecorded wrote:

It is pretty clear at this point that JJ has shut it down for good and it was due in part to Hasbro sending a C&D. (Here is another link supporting this conclusion). 

but in the end, it was pinkiepony’s doing. She posted this email on her bog to prove that her efforts though e-mail finally proved effective.

~*~

/t/post/58704416542/discussion-down-with-molestia-free-speech

sheeparts:

heartlinda:

I’ve seen many responses to the “free speech” argument for “Ask Princess Molestia” to the tune of, “It trivializes rape and harms rape victims.” I get that. It’s offensive and harmful.

However, that has no bearing on free speech. Free speech protects even offensive speech, as long as it does not…

Free speech also covers our criticism of the blog and our calls to have it taken down. It’s a really, really broad concept.

Of course. I’m sure some would want WBC to stop as well, but neither of these should be forced. If you manage to convince John Joseco to take down the blog, that’s great.

jaunty-cavalcades:

heartlinda:

Here’s how I think DM should ideally treat supporters of “Ask Princess Molestia”:

“You should stop supporting APM because it normalizes rape.”

Instead, what I see is this:

“If you support APM, you support rape culture.”

The difference between the two is that the first allows people who support APM to reconsider, without accusing them of supporting something that they probably don’t. Some people might like APM but not realize that it might support rape culture.

If this is supposed to be about awareness, the first one does a much better job without inciting accusations.

What’s with the tone police? Why are you telling DWM supporters how they have to behave. Most of us are being calm(ish), patient with the same arguments from hundreds of people and having to answer rudimentary questions again and again, and so on. While Molestia supporters are spouting hate, making death threats, and being general pain in the patooties. Why are you telling us how to show our support to someone who is fighting the patriarchy?

This reminds me of white people telling oppressed POC that they should be nice to white people when they get death threats from them. Like, what? Why?

I apologize for not making this clearer, but I meant initially. I just think DM might not have gotten so much flak if people worded these charges differently; I’m not “policing.”

I’ve found some posts under #Down with Molestia that cite statistics that show that rape jokes are correlated with rape culture (blaming the victim, trivializing, etc.). I’m not doubting that. But does this really justify action against “Ask Princess Molestia”?

Think about this question: When someone gets raped, who’s to blame? The rapist, of course!

This blog and other rape jokes are not to blame for rape, and I think John Joseco is trying to draw the comparison to campaigns to limit fast food in #354. That is, just as fast food is not to blame for obesity, APM is not to blame for rape.

Of course, that does not mean nothing should be done about rape culture (or “fast-food culture,” for that matter). I would encourage people to speak out against rape culture, just as I would encourage healthy-eating campaigns. But shutting down a blog or a fast-food place isn’t the solution.

irlponies:

Okay. I didn’t really address the hypocrisy you might be able to pull from me saying to stay of my blog, when I call out icky behaviour, and when we talk about the problems with the Molestia character. I am saying to stay off my blog if you don’t want me to critically analyze something through a feminist lens. DWM is saying that the Molestia character, especially the APM blog are harmful to society as a whole because it normalizes a problematic way of thinking. We aren’t trying to take down the blog. We are trying to show people that it is harmful and maybe make the creators address said problems.

If this is what DM is really about, then that’s good. But with a name like “Down with Molestia” that doesn’t really get this across.

sheeparts:

HeartLinda: Discussion: Down with Molestia (Accusations)

heartlinda:

Here’s how I think DM should ideally treat supporters of “Ask Princess Molestia”:

“You should stop supporting APM because it normalizes rape.”

Instead, what I see is this:

“If you support APM, you support rape culture.”

The difference between the two is that the first allows people who…

If you support APM, you support rape culture because it normalizes rape. These aren’t unrelated.

It also encourages rapists by trivializing rape.

http://rajsivaraman.wordpress.com/2013/06/05/a-scientific-case-against-rape-jokes/

(I will never not take the chance to link this)

This is the sort of attitude I think DM should try to avoid. You’re not giving people an opportunity to consider why “Ask Princess Molestia” supports rape culture, because people might not realize it at first.

Here’s how I think DM should ideally treat supporters of “Ask Princess Molestia”:

“You should stop supporting APM because it normalizes rape.”

Instead, what I see is this:

“If you support APM, you support rape culture.”

The difference between the two is that the first allows people who support APM to reconsider, without accusing them of supporting something that they probably don’t. Some people might like APM but not realize that it might support rape culture.

If this is supposed to be about awareness, the first one does a much better job without inciting accusations.