@FrustrationInExcelsis  
False dichotomy between what?

@FrustrationInExcelsis  
That strikes at the heart of the episode as well. The other changelings didn’t dislike Pharynx for being strong, they didn’t like being pushed all the damn time. They didn’t want to be bullied. And Pharynx was an insufferable bully.

@Flummoxed Phoenix
 
That’s a false dichotomy. A bunny on a rampage is no threat to a dog. The same cannot be said for a rampaging dog facing a rabbit.

@Meanlucario  
A bunny can go savage.

@Flummoxed Phoenix  
and the sheepdogs can still go rabid.

@FrustrationInExcelsis  
Sheep, Wolves and Sheepdogs

@Flummoxed Phoenix
 
That’s… a big over-generalization, I feel.
 
On the one hand, I fully understand where you (and Orwell by extension) are coming from. In order for peace and tranquility to exist and be viable, and for people to live in peace, you need the presence of people who are willing to fight and do violence to preserve this peace. That’s inescapable.
 
However, I also think it’s – in all honesty – a bit naive to think there’s no reason beyond stupidity or envy to explain why “the weak fear the strong” (however we’re defining “the weak” and “the strong”, which are pretty nebulous terms. Combatants and noncombatants? Something else?)
 
If you just want to look at how things worked out historically, the strong forcing dominance over the weak is how every feudal and caste system – European feudalism, Chinese feudalism, Japanese feudalism, Spartan society, the Hindu caste system, even slavery in antebellum America for that matter… – in history has ever worked. They started out admirably – a class of people dedicating themselves to fighting, warring and handling the “rough” matters of running and defending a nation to ensure that those who didn’t or couldn’t could live in peace and ease – but they inevitably ended up with “the strong” doing whatever the hell they pleased and “the weak” having to deal with it. More importantly, it also ended up with the people in charge denying everyone else the ability or chance to develop strength of their own, usually by means of the same violence that was originally meant to protect the people it was now used against.
 
And that’s before getting into the reason I’m personally suspicious of this kind of wording – every form of social darwinism and associated practices relied on favoring whoever that particular philosophy deemed strong over whoever they deemed weak, usually in ways that involved practices like eugenics.
 
Now, I really need to emphasize here that I absolutely agree that shunning and ostracizing those people who choose to lead hard lives in order to allow others to live pleasantly is ungrateful, immoral, short-sighted and naive – it is denial of reality, plain and simple. It is pretending that the world works in a way it doesn’t, that you can just pretend your problems don’t exist and live in self-satisfied innocence. And that is what the changelings were doing in the episode – they didn’t want to admit that they still needed to fight and be ready to defend themselves in order to protect their new idyllic lifestyle, and preferred to pretend that they could live in carefree, unconcerned innocence forever. That was, as the episode made clear, short-sighted and self-destructive. In order to live in peace, they needed those like Pharynx who were ready to fight and lead violent lives to allow them the luxury of not doing so.
 
But I think that saying that “the weak” fear “the strong” (again, however we’re defining these terms) out of stupidity or ignorance alone falls into the same trap. There is plenty of precedent for situations where societies based on “rough men ready to do violence on [other people’s] behalf” ended up with those selfsame rough men ruling oppressively over everyone else. Assuming that those who don’t fight might be wary of those who do out of nothing but meanness of character is just as detached from reality as the idea that you don’t need to be able to fight to defend your peace. Yes, the fighters and combatants should not be scorned, but power always, always corrupts. Anyone who holds power over others, officially or unofficially, should be looked at warily and should be subject to checks and limitations. This applies to “the strong” just as much as it does to anyone and everyone else.

@Ardashir  
Yes, Orwell. It’s always annoying how the weak fear the strong, even when the strong are protecting them. Not sure if it’s stupidity or envy.

@Flummoxed Phoenix
 
“Why do you fight?”
 
“So that others will not have to.”

@Flummoxed Phoenix  
Orwell, right?

@BellyButtonsAreMagic  
throrax is a cinnamin roll x3

Sheep, Wolves and Sheepdogs
 
Originally I thought this episode was gonna get all faggoty on us (you will be assimilated into the gey) but it turned out to be a very poignant message and one I quite agree with in spite of all the recent happenings in our society.
 
<3 MLP FiM

God, this looks so good…

@ViperBits  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uQ76qrlK78

IMHO the new changelings are so ugly and stupid, just sayin` >_>

@FrustrationInExcelsis  
Really everyone in this episode was at fault for something, which I found pretty interesting.
 

@Starswirl
 
Which is also a very fair point. Pharynx’s issue in the episode did strike me as being less one of message and more one of attitude.
 
Even if you’re right from an objective point of view, being that hostile isn’t really going to make people very eager to listen to you.

@FrustrationInExcelsis  
At the same time, being a soldier does not give you the right to treat everypony else like underlings and push them around.

“People sleep peaceably in their beds because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.”

Si vis pacem, para bellum
 
“If you want peace, prepare for war.”

I have to say, I really the morals MLP has been tackling in the last few seasons. Peace must be defended, and you shouldn’t just abandon and ostracize the soldiers that protected your society when the fighting stops.

“Shun the non believer, SHUN!”  
“SHUUUUUUN!”

Beautiful interpretation of the episode. I could easily see this as a title card, if cartoons still did those these days.

The edge, it burns!!
 
But good art either way.