>>7
Mr. Anonymous,
I recently read your post,
>>7, and found it to be rather entertaining and well written. There is one problem that I have with an otherwise fine article:
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Why can't you all just IGNORE THE WIERD FUCKS?
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As a fur, I found this to be very insulting. It's apparent that you are mis-informed about the furry community. This is not surprising, because the media has decided to single out some of the worst of our culture and use that to stereotype the rest of us. Please allow me to give you some brief information about the true furry community.
If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me , or for a much broader response, post a message to the alt.lifestyle.furry newsgroup. (Access to newsgroups / Usenet should be available through your Inernet Service Provider. If they do not carry the alt.lifestyle.furry newsgroup, ask them to. I'm sure they will be happy to help.)
Though I have tried to come up with my own interpretation of what being 'furry' is, I have found that the alt.lifestyle.furry FAQ document handles this quite well:
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1.1) What is a furry?
Furry is a word which has probably been asked to do a little too much work. It has numerous meanings, and it's not particularly easy to find two people who agree on the precise definition for any of them. The original two definitions we supplied in the first version of the FAQ are:
1. an anthropomorphic animal character. i.e. an animal with human characteristics.
2. a human who relates strongly, in whatever way, to the idea of the characters outlined in the previous definition. This may involve anything from a person who simply enjoys viewing furry fanzines or films, to someone who actually desires to be a 'real' furry, or believe that they are literally a non-human trapped within a human form.
But not all ALF regulars are interested in anthropomorphics. Some are largely unaware of the 'furry fandom,' or are simply uninterested in it for a variety of reasons. Most of us who created ALF were 'fans' of one kind or another, and this coloured our view-point perhaps more than we realised.
So, after much discussion, we'd like to add a third definition, one that tries to include everyone who has made ALF a home.
3. a person with an important emotional/spiritual connection with an animal or animals, real, fictional or symbolic.
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As you can see, there is no mention of sexual fetishes or fantasies of any kind. While it IS true that there are those who use the furry community as a vehicle for their sexuality, a large majority lead relatively normal lives. The problem that has occurred, and one that the community is very concerned about, is that the news media has decided to single out those with furry-related fetishes and used them to portray the group as a whole.
Your description of furries as a 'fetish' is most likely a result of this poor journalism, and because of this I forgive you. Everybody makes mistakes, and, as you know, the television media especially has a tendency to promote the most outrageous for the sake of ratings, regardless of the consequences it has on others. All that I desire from you is that, if possible, you edit your article to reflect this. The entire community is suffering a great deal of stress due to this negative and false stereotype, and even a short comment like yours will perpetuate the problem.
-Jonathan D. Miller