Hay, everypony—
We have been watching MLP:FiM together every Saturday for just under a month now, and next Saturday we'll finally be starting season 2. Two weeks after that, i.e. three weeks from now, we will reach the batch of episodes that includes S2E14, "The Last Roundup".
The only problem is, there are two different versions of that episode: the version of the episode as it originally aired, and a later edited version for reruns, official downloads, and streaming. The changes made to the episode concern the scene immediately after the intro — a scene which was criticized for its depiction of an intellectually disabled character.
I hold that the original version of the scene; the context behind the original version of the scene; the backlash to the scene, and the resulting changes to it; and the brony fandom's backlash to the changes to the scene in turn; are all important to acknowledge as a part of the history of ableism and ID representation in children's media, and an important but uncomfortable part of MLP:FiM and the brony fandom's history — in the same vein as we didn't skip "Bridle Gossip" and "Over a Barrel" just because those episodes are fucking racist. So all in all I would like for us to experience the show "warts and all", and to be critical of our own nostalgia for it.
However, this still leaves the question of whether we actually watch the original or edited version of the episode, and how (and for how long) we cover "Derpygate" after the episode. I'll leave that one up to you all.
Are we arguing or is one or both of us misreading the other's intent? I'm already on board with you that many of the fandom's depictions of Derpy are genuinely great and affirming for people with disabilities, and that the edit of the episode erases a disabled character, and that it's better in any case to watch the original version of the episode. I was not particularly concerned with whatever role AKR vis-à-vis the editors and other staff had in making the scene as it aired, nor the purity or goodness of the intentions of any party involved in the production, nor how offensive the name Derpy is. My issues with the scene, for that matter, really hold up regardless of whether Derpy's disability is only intellectual or only physical or if we're being honest both at the same time.
I figured it might've been that, but it can be hard to read intent sometimes...