Article About Furry

[giza]

http://www.laalternativepress.com/v02n01/features/williamson.php

This one wasn't so bad. It went to considerable lengths to talk about some of the sensationalism that has taken place in articles about furry. Here's a quote from the end

The average furry is a lot like the average Trekkie: he just likes his fictional humans crossed with animals instead of Vulcans. Furry is simply a camaraderie based on mutual interests. Just as Dungeons and Dragons gamers love orcs and trolls, Pagans love faeries and nymphs, or as alterna-nerds love every band on Sub-Pop, Furries love their fox- and tiger-men. And when a glossy magazine reports that Furry is only about perversion, it misses the target in the same way that stories about things like raves and Burning Man typically do.

Comments

[rigelkitty.livejournal.com]

Everyone seems to be practicing selective reading. All these quotes that people love are prefaced by statements like these:

"These conversations are typical of what one will find at Furry conventions, scheduled alongside social events like dances and talent shows. Scattered here and there in private hotel rooms, one might also find places like “The Nursery” — where adult babies can get diapered — and Fursuit dry-humping orgies, or Plushie parties, where people who disdain or can’t find human sexual partners stick their organs into an SPH (strategically placed hole) torn into a carnival prize raccoon."

It's the same game as always, they're just hiding behind the guise of pretending to defend us.

[giza.livejournal.com]

Whoa, I missed that one!

I didn't perceive them as "defending us", though. I thought it was a more balanced article (as opposed to past coverage), which is generally an indicator of good journalism, IMHO.

[rigelkitty.livejournal.com]

If, by categorizing all furries in the category of either fetish freaks or "disenfranchised nerds," the result is good balanced journalism, then I really have to wonder what I, neither a fetish freak nor a disenfranchised nerd, am doing among the lot of you all.

[giza.livejournal.com]

You're balancing us against the likes of Foxwolfie Galen. *twitch* *twitch*

"Not surprisingly, the media always seem to get it wrong." (Not always; but in this case, yeah.)

[xydexx.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, this article just replaces one variety of sensationalism with another.

"[T]he media have earned the Furries’ mistrust by getting a lot wrong."

But don't worry... an article portraying Furries as "disenfranchised nerds" will certainly get their trust back. -:)

[unciaa.livejournal.com]

Suiters, posing with ther heads off? This is suuuuuuuuuuuch a big nono... I think Croc would linch them. :p

[crocodile.livejournal.com]

*laughs*

Actuallyly, my first thought at seeing the picture was "at least the costumes aren't embarrassingly bad". You're right though. I would never ever pose for a picture with my head off unless the picture was for myself only and I was playing some high-profile or special character.

I have to agree with xydexx's comments about it though. I think some people are seeing it as "better" because it's not quite as embarrassing as much of the media coverage has been. That doesn't mean it's more set in truth, but more that we know from experience that it could have been a lot worse.

[unciaa.livejournal.com]

Yeah, lesser evil and all that. And bar having a much higher knack for depression [either 50% of furs out there suffer from depression or they just all flock to me :p] I'd say your average fur is quite normal. I mean, look at humanity as a whole and tell me it's any more sane? Just open the newspaper [the same one that wrote that article maybe]; I'll take being open about funky sexual kinks over violence and intolerance any day.

[shockwave77598.livejournal.com]

What did you expect someone to say? That all furries are perfectly normal people with average lives who never do anything out of the ordinary except enjoy cartoons as an adult? Show me one of those - I dare you. I'm probably the most white-bread of the furry crowd and I couldn't even say that about myself!

The article _was_ balanced and I thought rather honest about things, the good and the bad. If you want a spokesman to ignore the reality of the fandom and only say what you want said, well, I hear Baghdad Bob is out of a job now...

[giza.livejournal.com]

>I hear Baghdad Bob is out of a job now...

He's on LJ now. His username is alsahaf. :-)

[cjthomas.livejournal.com]

What did you expect someone to say? That all furries are perfectly normal people with average lives who never do anything out of the ordinary except enjoy cartoons as an adult? Show me one of those - I dare you.

Right here.

Next question?

Regards,
-Deuce of FurryMUCK