No hate against furries, but there's a big difference. People don't actually believe they're Cloud Strife.
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Denver furry convention canceled: Unpaid taxes, neo-Nazism, and sex offender
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No hate against furries, but there's a big difference. People don't actually believe they're Cloud Strife.
Furries don't believe they're animals. That's otherkin. Completely different.
Snowybreak
Member
How many times does this need to be reiterated.
spootime
Member
Sorry, I'm not trying to be a dick. But "texas furry fiesta" is fucking hilarious.
Do you really think I'm dumb enough to believe I somehow biologically turn into a goddamn five foot tall yellow yorkshire terrier when I put my suit on?????
EDIT: On top of that, what about this dude we just had a topic on? Or what about the guys who literally get plastic surgery to have their face reconfigured like Superman and stuff?
Okay I'm sorry I misspoke with the wrong word, but I think my point stands. There's a difference of dressing up for one day, and taking on a whole new persona. I'm not trying to shame or anything, I just think the comparison is off.
Ever play Dungeons & Dragons?
Snowybreak
Member
We don't mentally turn into other things either. It's just a community held together by various artistic strings and our love of a certain subject: anthropomorphic animals.
MiddeSummer
Banned
Furries dress up for a couple conventions or for a few photo ops a year if they dress up at all, and the overwhelming majority don't. We don't believe we're anybody but our human selves. You're drawing arbitrary lines in the sand, friend.
First of all, do you think cosplayers spend thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of time researching, shopping, crafting, and sewing just to "dress up for one day?" (Hell, in what world do these cons last for only one day anymore?)
Second, do you honestly think that people who do more general cosplay cons do not actually engage in character acting or "taking on a whole new persona?" That the Deadpools aren't wacky, that the Jokers aren't quick witted, that the Overwatch characters don't pose and spout catch phrases?
They just dress up for a day and don't engage in character or a new persona?
Serious question: Have you ever been to a con?
Your distinction between fursuits and cosplays is completely arbitrary.
EDIT: Saw the second post. I mean, yeah, some people out there probably make wearing their fursuit a lifestyle or some shit like that, but it's basically nothing more than cosplay centered around original animal characters, and an excuse to act like a goofy kid for a weekend before we get back to the grind of the real world like "going to work" and "playing video games." =P
Nope. You're drifting into otherkin territory there. And while all otherkin are furries, the large majority of people in the fandom see it as akin to roleplaying. Most furries I've met at cons are all Silicon Valley engineers, or doctors, or lab researchers that have interests in roleplaying games or acting or entertaining people. Not to mention the large number of artists and writers that use the anthropomorphic medium to make a living.
Yes, there are socially awkward weirdos who live through their keyboard vicariously, but that's not the majority of people in the fandom, as loud and as vocal as those types of people tend to be.
Red The Hunter
Member
Everytime I see this it reads less like an actual news article and more headline mad libs
Don't tell them that we've infested basically every career field as responsible adults! You're supposed to let them slowly figure it out and then watch them go insane!
I've always thought it amusing people think that basement dwelling social recluses are capable of spending between $3 to $10 thousand dollars on a costume.
Like, yeah, you can make a carpet monster out of your own materials, but those aren't the costumes people link to when talking about furries. (generally, there are exceptions) People always post the costumes that cost more than a few thousand dollars to own.
Hell, I work as a Lab Tech for NASA, and I'm still too much of cheapass to buy one and learned to make my own XD
SinCityAssassin
Member
That whole article was a ride.
Secret Character
Member
As somebody who has gone to a lot of (anime and comic) conventions, you can easily tell the difference between the ones made from premium materials and craftsmanship and the ones that were made with little of both. It's like looking at cheap cosplay versus cosplay that costs a fortune.
I don't know about you but I can feel the passion of the person who made this outfit:
This particular furry help make movies like The Nice Guys and Captain America. Furries have infected all your favorite movies and infiltrated Hollywood, just though everyone should know. Your movies are tainted.
Not a furry. I just hate assholes who think it's ok to shit on people for doing something that isn't harming anyone. I don't understand the love of sports either but whatever floats your boat.
I'm not sure I'd say that. I saw a webpage of some one who was sure sephiroth was her BF. I think that has more to do with some people get unbalanced over what fandom they are a part of. (And I will admit I fantasize over fictional characters but I know they are fantasies).
Oppo
Member
forever.
'cause your distinction between "otherkin" and "furries" is lost on most people. and you can't blame them one bit for that, either.
even in this very thread you see some folks talking about the "headless lounge where you don't break character" and at the same time other folks saying "it's not like we think we are animals".
I don't think people should give consenting adults a hard time. but at the same time, any condescension you might have for people who don't understand the supposed vast gulf of distance between "perfectly normal" furries and "awful deviant" otherkin is deeply misplaced. the whole thing IS weird. super weird. as in, unusual. gotta own that. the whole thing is ridiculous. you too can be poked fun at.
Snowybreak
Member
The problem is that we do acknowledge it, and then people get down our throats about the fact that we still are weird after realizing we're weird. Otherkin is in the standard internet vernacular. People know what that is. But everyone mistakes furries for otherkin because they actively looking to put the fandom below them.
I think if enough people know what otherkin are, they should be able to understand the difference.
2Smashed4U
Banned
I'm not disappointed I didn't have to scroll down that far for this, LMAO
Give me a break.
GAF has a real and wide-spread self-loathing problem. While GAF be a haven for some, the insecurities of others in their own niche compel them to assert a position away from the bottom of the social niche hierarchy, so they attempt to place other communities below them. The obsession, conscious or not, with this sort of social mobility allows people to say "well, at least I'm not like that" and thus stave off feelings of guilt and ostracization. It also leads to some displays of hypocrisy:
Posting on GAF can sometimes be an arms race for normativity. It's unfortunate but not unusual with any niche community -- particularly those that intersect with other niche communities.
More to the topic at hand, fuck Nazis and fuck fascism.
I honestly never heard heard term otherkin as a different distinction of furries before today. I've also been on the internet since it's inception and have some pretty crazy shit. Has there always been a distinction between the two, or is it a more recent thing? (Recent as in the last decade). To me it Furries were otherkin, nothing wrong with that but that's what I've alway seen them.
This is a weird point to make your argument with. Do you also criticize theater actors who don't break character when they're on stage? The headless lounge is backstage for fursuiters; they pull their costumes apart, relax, and take a break from the performance that is walking around a con floor and interacting with people.
We don't think we're animals, but just like you don't want actors breaking from characters during a play, furries don't want their characters to break character on a con floor, which is why headless lounges exist. To take off your costume head.
It's weird, yes, but not any more weird than a roleplaying session or cosplaying.
There's been a distinction since at least 2007ish. I'm not a historian on these matters, but I've seen otherkin as a term used since at least then.
So its ok for people to be condescending if they don't understand something? I'm not sure I'm getting what you're saying.
Seems like a problem of not asking questions or just Googling stuff. I mean, I thought GAF at least had a penchant for expecting people to come into niche' discussions armed with at least some basic knowledge, if not as a written rule then as a general social expectation.
Do you also think the Tigger at Disneyland believes they're a stuffed animal come to life from the magic of a child's love too, hence why he doesn't ever take his head off where you can see him? Well, I think you've grown up now, and I think it's time to break it to you that... Tigger is just a sweaty underpaid intern covered in upholstery foam and fake fur. He's not real, Nerfgun.
Being poked fun at =/= tolerating self-imposed ignorance and outright hostility. Sorry to burst your bubble if the condescension and meanness from the furry weirdos is too much or is seemingly misplaced, but it's the Year of our Lord 2017 and we don't really care too much to be infinitely patient punching bags by nerds with even bigger problems not even making a minimal effort.
And the thing is, it's excessively easy to learn about this without getting pushback from us. Plenty of folks did it the last time we talked about the shitty Nazis, and we had some good fun doing it too.
Dude Abides
Banned
I didn't think it was possible to look like a smug douche while wearing a fox costume but this fur-Nazi somehow managed to pull it off.
We're about to set up another Colorado con anyway, and we're cheering the ruination of a place that was remotely tolerant to Nazis. We'll be fine!
Oppo
Member
Like I said, I don't think people should give you shit just 'cause. Obviously. Like, i think a lot of stuff is weird or disconcerting but my go-to is not to berate them. So I'm with you on that. But I disagree that "if enough people know"... it's probably not going to happen, and my greater point is that furries need to be the ones with patience for this.
Ok so it's a performance. Your example is a bit off since you are conflating a paid performance, i.e. one that sells tickets, for a nominal impromptu live "performance", more similar to LARPing I suppose (who also get mocked, and yes it is funny. again, there is a difference between acknowledging your weirdity with good humour, and getting defensive and pissy).
Ok but you look down on otherkin, yes? why?
Not that. Furries are unusual. People don't tend to encounter "the fandom" in many walks of life. That's what I meant. The nuances are not exactly out there.
Not talking about GAF, talking about the greater public.
Noted?
You had better figure out a way to deal with it then. Pissy furries aren't going to go over better than patient ones.
So you say.
Ah, sorry I jumped on you.
We also have a more chill mini-con in the summer (figuaratively and literally -- you try fursuiting in the August heat in Texas) called Texas Furry Siesta. Fun times. Two years ago, the hotel double booked our con and some sort of event involving the Prime Minister of Uganda. I'm not sure what he and his crew thought of us.
I'm an assistant underwriter at an insurance company. Next time you're filling out forms to get hail and windstorm insurance for your business, remember the person on the other line might have plans this weekend that involves a hyena costume.
The wonders of the internet are at their finger tips and it takes less than 5 minutes to google all this stuff with wikipedia pages on it and everything. So once again I ask you, people can be condescending and shitty because they're ignorant?
So all theater actors get paid? Uh...not sure how to break this to you, but there are a lot, and I mean a lot of theater programs out there made up of actors that are not paid for their work. They don't sell tickets, and money isn't generated. Are all instances of unpaid theater work or acting weird?
And I don't look down on otherkin, I stated they're two separate things. When people make the error of combining furries and otherkin I'm perfectly within my right to correct them and tell them they're wrong. I'm not looking down on otherkin by stating that I and most furries are not otherkin.
Karsticles
Member
It is. They're just giving it a new word so it doesn't sound as weird.
MiddeSummer
Banned
Hey, furries worry about breaking character almost entirely because there are often kids around and we don't want to upset them.
There's a difference between poking fun and calling furries terrifying, lowest-rung, mentally ill degenerates, which is what's been said in this very thread.
Most furries aren't lifestylers.
I don't much care if it "goes over well," because if I cared as much about what other people think as is implied from this I probably wouldn't be in a fandom with such baggage at all.
I think it's just amusing that I as a person who periodically puts on dog suit have the self confidence to clown on people who think they can stroll up and shit on my hobby- particularly in instances like this where we chase out the deplorables while those doing the shitting have yet to contend with their little Gamergate problem, that thing I keep pointing out that no gamer in this topic or the last has been able to explain away or defend. It's the elephant in the room, pun not intended.
And it's especially more amusing considering the whole bonkers idea of there actually being a nerd hierarchy at all (probably made up by someone high in the hierarchy who was nonetheless insecure about their own hobbies). If such a thing really does exists, it pretty much means every snap back to a non-furry means they inevitably fall a lot farther than I ever can against any yiff comment or eye-roll worthy ideas that we are inherently worth all derision that stops short of assault (although even then that didn't stop people from laughing at a gas attack), and that standing up for ourselves means we- the people who dress up in dog costumes- are the real ones without a sense of humor. I mean, after all, as a Furry I'm basically on the floor right? That means I have little to lose by being pissy.
You Normies have no power here. 8D
Oppo
Member
Again I say, no, people should not be shitty to each other, of course. Ignorant? Man, tell me about all the subclasses of every fandom out there. C'mon, you can google it. Of course they "can be ignorant"; it's not an interest for them! But you can perhaps explain it better than what comes up on a Google search, which we both know probably won't be flattering, right?
Of course I don't, because I'm pretty sure amateur thespians outnumber furries by about a hundred million to one. People understand acting. People don't understand the desire to dress like a mascot for fun. But this is a strange road you are going down.
Ok. You know the prevalent attitude - correct me if I'm wrong about this - in furry "fandom" is that Otherkin take things "too far", right?
Pretty sure you've already had your mind made up about this stuff, so why are you even here?
Hey, why don't you quit assuming you have the right or position to make claims for what people like myself think.
I don't need you to speak for me or my emotional processes, thanks.
Lol, you know the answer to that mah boi.
You know I know that, but it's always fun to see the mental gymnastics of people trying to find a way to shit on a group of people while pretending to be ignorant about them.
Dressing up as a mascot is acting. You're putting on a costume. It's an act. You're being pedantic by trying to create a difference between the two.
No? People in the fandom get frustrated when people just assume that they actually think they're dogs, cats, or dragons. The majority of us are professional people who hold well paying jobs and own homes. Being told, "Actually, since you like to dress in costume and act in a community of like minded people, you must think you're actually a dog" all the time is irritating.
Oppo
Member
Discussion. I'll leave you to it now, though. I was addressing... hang on...
.. I was addressing the haughty quip of "surely they should understand the difference between otherkin and furries" and I was pointing out that, no, to a great many people, they are one and the same, which explains at least some of the reaction, since much the furry fandom itself seems to share that opinion about otherkin.
I wish you furries a good afternoon, don't let the man get you down. Please don't think I have a low opinion of furries, I don't. I think they can get a little bubble-reinforced and defensive because they eat a lot of shit, of course. But its your lifestyle. If that is the word.
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