I can't even talk about politics anymore

EDIT:  For anyone wondering about all the hidden comments below, there was an unnecessarily long and heated exchange with someone who was trying to debate me but got way too irrelevant and annoying about it so I asked them to stop but they wouldn't so I finally just said what I needed to say and then they got all pissed off and I realized they were a radical.  I hid the comments not to censor anything but because I want to avoid any drama it may cause and I know it can be used against me.  It can't be labeled "hate speech" now that the entire world cannot see it but it wasn't hateful to begin with, just me pointing out some historical facts they were not able to deal with.  To that person, relax and let this die.  I'm not worth your time.

I haven't been vocal about this yet on DA but someone has been harassing me lately both on this site and Twitter due to political differences.  He's even gone as far as trying to contact several MLP convention staff via Twitter to keep me from attending the event or at least being a vendor.

I'm not sure if it's the same person but a while ago someone came to me in early January doing something similar.  It started with him telling me that I am not wanted at any cons because I'm a bigot or something and then went on to say that it is the reason why a certain VIP has blocked me.  Withholding that VIP's name, I searched Twitter to find that this is indeed true and that person HAD blocked me.  I was horrified.  Through talking with this guy (he was diplomatic enough at first to send me a private note and we discussed the situation) as well as a mutual friend of the VIP, I discovered that the VIP had blocked me apparently due to some heated conversation we had in the DMs on Twitter.  I'll have you all know this is a brazen lie.  I literally have never spoken to this person on Twitter via direct messaging and even if I did, I never would have said the things they claimed I have said.  I don't even send fan-mail to famous people on Twitter because I'm sure they won't see it amongst all the other messages they get and probably don't have time for me.

Anyways, it got bad enough that my mutual tried to tell the VIP that I did nothing wrong but they blocked him too and now both me and my friend have been affected by this and I feel especially bad for him.  Again, I am NOT going to give away the name of this VIP or even state their gender because I don't want to start anything.  I am sure this is all just a misunderstanding and they are still a good person but they obviously have me confused with someone else.  It's even possible that they might have come across an impersonation account made by Sepulchre from not too long ago and he just started talking with them in the DMs using language I would never use.  Sepulchre has the ravings of a Neo-Nazi so this is not much of a stretch but still only a theory.

Well in the past week, someone has contacted me on DA and once or twice on Twitter doing the same crap over and over again.  He's clearly stalking me.  I warned him to not contact me ever again and it got bad enough that I had to report him on Twitter.  He even managed to get the attention of someone working for one of these cons but thankfully that person just told them that they don't judge based on political opinions and that we are all here for the Magic of Friendship and to keep the politics out of it.  I am thankful that this con-staffer had the sense to see it that way but I am still very much worried about the fact that this is all happening to me and who it could affect next.

I know I should probably not be worried because we should expect that all con-staffers in this fandom are as mature as the one I spoke of earlier and know how to handle situations like this, but I was framed somehow and a very talented VIP that I once admired was poisoned against me in the process.  This troublesome person is not the one who got the VIP to block me in the first place, but they have talked to one another and that VIP seems to believe what they are saying.  I wouldn't be surprised if he is lying more about me to that VIP right now. 

As the title implies, it's gotten to a point where I can't even mention anything political anymore, like at all.  You may have noticed I haven't done it much lately on my DA, well I practically can't say a word on Twitter now because of this.  This trouble-maker even got offended by a joke tweet I made about something Trump said a while ago and now thinks I'm "racist" or something because of it.  Yes, it's gotten this ridiculous.

I know I can be a bit jerkish about things sometimes, but have you noticed that when I do it, it's because I'm criticizing someone else or a group of people for being bigger jerks?  I've made journal entries before about how badly people behaved after the election and I do sometimes mock or criticize similar events or tweets on my Twitter but the good thing is, you can either mute someone or you can turn off their retweets or, get this, YOU CAN JUST NOT FOLLOW THEM.  I don't know how many people following me on Twitter might have done some of these things but I honestly won't feel that insulted if some did because quite frankly I've found myself doing it.  The only thing we're missing is an option to turn off likes appearing in timelines because once you follow someone, you can't turn them off and there are times I would rather not totally unfollow someone cuz they are either a close-enough friend or it's just not bad enough that it constitutes unfollowing them.  I swear, Twitter is just rigged to cause drama.

But the real problem lies with the toxic attitude I'm seeing displayed towards people just because they have a different political opinion.  I've literally had someone on here tell me they've been physically threatened at a university because they were pro-Trump.  This needs to stop.  We need to stop attacking and defaming people out of disdain for their opinions.  When I come across a person who has beliefs that I deem to radical, I either deal with it or I just stop following that person, plain and simple.  I don't even like starting conversations like this and I wouldn't go on a campaign of harassment and tell con staff left and right that this person needs to be banned or denied vendoring just because they might be too extreme, that is pointless.

You don't do this, guys.  You just don't.  It already happens too much in the real world, we don't need it in the brony fandom.  We see people getting fired or getting beaten just because they voted this way or they believe this thing.  What ever happened to the phrase "everyone is entitled to their own opinion?"  It's become "Only people I agree with are entitled to their own opinion, everyone else should be shunned or beaten and put in the Gulag because muh microagressions!"  That's not how it works.  If you have a problem with what someone believes, just leave it be, even if that person is extreme to you.  Now if they start to become dangerous, that's when you might want to speak up, but having opposing viewpoints does not qualify for this.

Remember, in this fandom we practice openness and acceptance.  We just saw the S8 premier give an example of what happens when several characters come together despite their differences and become friends.  I may be different from other people and have unpopular opinions but I can still be friends with people who are on the opposing side of the political spectrum.  I already am.  Yes, it is possible.  Don't try to block people out from taking part in the friendship just because they are different or you might disagree with them.  The Princess of Friendship wouldn't do that and she wouldn't allow it in the Friendship School so knock it off.

To the guy who has been harassing me: sir, I know for a fact you are stalking me so you can see this but back off now.  I get that you don't like what I have to say but you don't know me and I am not a "bigot" just because I might have insulted your beliefs or whatever.  Feel free to hate me but if you continue to contact me on any website (and believe me, I know when it's you, you're making it extremely obvious), I will report you for harassment because it is strictly against the rules to contact someone after they have blocked you once.  If I find you have been contacting more convention staff trying to get me banned, there will be even harsher consequences.  Keep it up and you might end up being the one that gains the bad reputation.  If you really care about the message of this show, you will stop.

To everyone else reading this, thank you for sticking with me.  I know I can be hard to deal with sometimes when I say certain things but I don't want anyone to feel threatened by me.  I have strong opinions but I NEVER go directly to someone forcing it on them and I invite you all to practice the same.  This fandom has done a good job of being politically-neutral, let's keep it that way.

Friendship is Magic.