I just don't get it. . .

nailah dionne (spelling perhaps wrong) i have to meet you in-world when the servers are back up lmao, perfect addition to my friends list ;-P

^.^

Normally hang out at TeaZers, working towards my instructor-ship.

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Anyhow, continue with the discussion

i know this was what i wrote, i quoted it over again and wanted to remind everyone that im part human basically a human

im human/vamp and have dragon blood in my veins (look up dragonblood in groups) thats my race, and anyones welcome to join ;-P i also have a very thick and very deep fetish for neko's ;-P and i just realized i cant mow the lawn, no gas and i have about 2 cents to my name till tomorrow ;-P

:/

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To go off Ceera's example, it doesn't have to be a direct offense to be taken badly. Try telling blond jokes to a militant lesbian. (or any number of unsolicited remarks) Now, the gal in question may tell the same jokes herself, but coming from a man she thinks he's being a jerk, or angling to get something from her, or just being a general bother. The offensiveness just got multiplied by the source it's coming from.

Now, amplify that by the individual's social ineptitude factor, and you get the furry response. You'll never see a carefully-reasoned discourse on why they don't like you, it'll be "lol u suk". I don't have insights into other social groups but I imagine they're similar, scaled to how superior they consider themselves for being in that elite group (socially inept, again), or how obviously different the offender is.

I have to admit that I'm a little guilty of giving human-types a cold response, but part of that's simply not knowing what I should say to them. Chalk it up to that social deficiency, I guess. Showing active hostility though? Yeah, that's being a twat.

It is the right of all individuals to hate and be hated in equal measures, regardless of what you or your avatar looks like. The same applies to love, respect, fear, etc.

I have noticed that some individuals are incredibly touchy with regards to comments about their avatar, going instantly on the defensive at the slightest hint of attention. Perhaps said individuals ought to consider that being different, whatever that means, draws attention.

Well, it seems the thread has derailed - but honestly it's something I've got to try to deal with every day...

Yeah, we run the first and one of the more popular 'furry' areas on SL... I really *try* to lay down the line that we'll have none of that - (harrassment from either 'side') - I'd much rather Luskwood be a place where there isn't a "barrier to entry" if you want to hang out...

But we -have- had instances where someone (usually not a regular) on the platform will start screaming "OMG HUMAN!" when someone like uh, i dunno, Ben Linden or FlipperPA shows up.

I generally try to take them aside in IM and explain that we don't really... operate that way here. But if they've come from one of the more 'insular' communities in SL, (there are a -lot- of sims out there now...) they may not 'understand'.

So I guess in summary, there a lot of 'furry groups' who dont really care who or what you are, but of course there are going to be some who do.

Everyone's free to their own behavior, right or wrong, and hopefully people won't see such exclusionary behavior as representative of a locale just because someone with a weird (anti-human) idea happens to be sitting there at the time.

A lot of times, people will speak for an area or a group without really having authority to do so.

If one furry says 'oh yeah we all hate human avs', that holds about as much water as me saying as a resident of the Western US, that everyone west of the Mississippi just can't get enough Rodeo. It simply isn't true.

I will say, however, that the sentiment is by no means universal.

Maybe. But it actually isn't your right to harrass someone because of it. In most free countries, even where freedom of speech is paramount, you actually *can't* get in someone's face and berate them incessantly.

The right to verbally assault someone is not part of that protection.



And I've found that these 'comments' are usually not 'slight'. Nor could they be considered 'constructive criticism'. I've never been told, "Hey there, stranger, your right ear is slightly asymmetrical, you may want to fix it."

No, usually its "******* furry, do you **** goats lol"

The latter I consider to be a bit beyond 'the slightest hint of attention'.



That's a very thin line. Different may draw attention, but different does not mean that harassment is deserved, or that others have carte blanche to do it.

Often those who do berate others fall back on this "I have the right to do it, because you're asking for it by being different" attitude.

To that I say, I'd hope you haven't ventured much beyond the default male or female avatar upon login. Because people's ideas of "different" vary from observer to observer, and you may very well find yourself on the end of the "well you're asking for it" equation at some point.

yes, Pol. But you make it hurt so good.

Sorry for being bothered by it, but I should correct you on this. The image of 'social ineptness' of furries in general is as far fetched and predjudiced as the 'all furries yiff' idea.

Yes, some of us are a bit as you describe here, but most of us aren't at all. The furries aI personally know, are highly intelligent people, with well payed jobs in the entertainment industry, IT, etc. etc..

Anyone in the street could be a furry, you wouldn't be able to tell from their behaviour or social skills.

And to goive my ideas on the OP's question: I think it has to do with being at the wrong side of ridicule and hate too much for some. So, they'll see any non-furry as a possible threat... and as we all heard Yoda explain, "Fear leads to anger, Anger leads to hate... Hate, leads to suffering".

Very wise words for a muppet.

This topic reaks of troll stinch...
And dead kittens.

a mental illness,is all i could say about the real life "furries"

Well I'm with Tsu Goodliffe on this one.

Furries who hate humans...are people who are a bit sick in their mind.
They want to be real furries and not humans irl.

I think furries are kinda cute.

But not when they're getting all sexual...that's when i start to feel very uncomfortable between furries.

People who want to be like THIS irl are kinda sick tho.

By that standard, windozer, any child under 10 qualifies as mentally ill. If you ever imagined you were some kind of animal as a child, raise your hand!

I do not consider myself a furry, but I do look with great dismay at a world full of people intent on killing each other. I can completely understand someone's desire to disavow themselves of the human race and fancy themselves a furry spirit in human form. Of course, many species of animal are quite violent themselves, but then there are many reasons why someone might wish to associate themselves with the qualities of various animals besides merely the disavowal of violence.

Many of the world's religions are founded in the holiness of animals. Most of the ancient Egyptian gods were symbolized in animal form, and many animals are actively revered as holy in modern India. You can disparage religion as well, if you like, but using the term mentally ill to describe religion makes the term meaningless, since essentially 90% of the world's population would qualify. If its the norm, how then is it an illness?

The human organism is quite complex and there are so many things we have yet to comprehend. We are nowhere near a comprehension of the mind. It is the diversity of life, of spirit, that makes this world such a wonderful and fascinating place for me. Each day is like opening up a new book, with pages and pages of exciting new adventures.

As for real life furries and sex, I personally have no desire to have sex with an animal, but I have found some images of people in their fursuits to appeal to the kinky side of me. I don't see it as any different than having a fetish for men in uniform or women in high heels.

In all these forum postings I've perused, I've managed to learn 105 times more about people's prejudices against furries than about furries themselves. Seems like quite a lot of hullaballoo about nothing. In the end, it stumps me how preoccupied some people are with the business of others.

Also remember that furriness extends far beyond SecondLife, it's been around and still exists in forums/newsgroups/IRC/Real Life Meetups/conventions/whatever else I forgot to mention.

I discovered the furry fandom in the middle of 2002, hanging out in the IRC and such. Of course, for me, it was the most amazing thing ever, just as amazing as SecondLife was when I first started playing, simply because I knew that there was a group, an entire fandom dedicated to something that I thought I might have been completely alone in.

Now, I speak for myself and only myself when I say that a lot of what drew me to the furry fandom is the notion of being inhuman. Ever since I was little too, if I was finished with my work at school, I might have spent some time daydreaming about what would happen if I suddenly morphed into some creature or another.

Also, it was always quite displeasing to me when I was spending time in my happy little paradise of furry IRC, where it was understood (in the chat channels I hung out in, at least) that whether we were role playing or not, we were always our furry characters... not sure if I explained that to well, but it's not that important. Oh, what displeased me is when someone walks in, and I ask what kind of creature they are, and the answer is "human".

The point I'm leading up to is that there may be others who were attracted to the furry fandom for the same reasons as me, those who simply do not enjoy humanness. And personally, I tend to view SecondLife as an extensions of those furry chat places I used to hang out in, where it was understood that we were "in-character", even when we weren't role-playing.

I mean... I'm sorry, but I'm one of those ones who goes "Icky humans! x.x", ......... well, maybe not in those exact words, but that's what I'm thinking at least. So I guess... the point of this post is to point out that according to this thread... I'm a twat? >.>

Or, anyone you're talking to on a forum who doesn't have an avatar set.

No, we aren't *all* that bad. No group is really ever subject to blanket statements. Some members of any given social group are bound to be idiots of varying intensity, that's pretty much the bounds of what I meant.

One unusual aspect that furries definitely have is a really weird sense of uniqueness. They want to be different from everybody else. But then they want everybody else to be different in the same way, so they can relate. If that makes sense?

Again, that's not all of them. Now that I think about it, maybe it's not even a furry-specific thing, just something I've observed that seems odd.


Well, yeah, kind of. I mean, rationally ask yourself what's wrong with someone else having a different ideal?

sigh.. ok, i very rarely actually paut down a concrete opnion.. but anyone that dislikes someone for being who they are (as long as it is not hurting another) is just plain illogical.. I really really really strive to be understanding of another's view point and believe that everyone has a right to it..

hmm.. i read that and not sure what the point is.. maybe we all should strive to be better people, and if we all did this it would be a mote point.. (did i spell that right?)

now i have to think of something rude to say.. hmm.. uhmm.. i think all of you should be banned or.. it would help if some of you reflected instead of being so self absorbed that all you can do is gripe at each other... hmm yup thats about it.. LOL

no, it means you are a bigot.
that is the correct term for someone that doesn't accept someone for something they can't help, right?

I'm pretty sure those people would get arrested. And seporated to keep them from doing that in jail too.

Hmm.. I'm not sure if this is really coming across as the way I'd intended, sorry- Posting at work and too many thoughts getting crossed.

So to simplify, here's my opinion AS A porn-hoarding, MU*-dwelling, public-yiffing, con-going furry MYSELF as to why the OP's problem occurs:

-Furries are just too darned serious and defensive about their identity.

That's all really. But it can also be combined with the fact that people as a whole can have the bad habits of:
-Saying they want diversity, but really just want to segregate
-Wanting to feel superior to others, through any means
-Just generally failing to give their actions/beliefs/attitudes/etc a healthy shot of self criticism

So it's only marginally a 'furry' disorder, more of a problem with real-life flaws sinking through to the virtual.

The furries I've met in SL have all been quite nice.