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.::Dear Furries- Do yourself a favor and..::.
12 years ago
...strive for self-improvement. work to improve the human condition.
this is to go along with the journal that Dragoneer posted yesterday, and to the influx of comments on my journal from months ago regarding the treatment of woman and straight couples in the furry fandom:
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/3908319
There is a lot of my mind right now about the actions I have seen people take in my short time among you all. I have met some of the mot fantastic individuals. I have seen people lie and steal and cheat people out of their money. I've heard terrible rumors about people that turned out to be completely false. I have friends who scarified time and money to help me get on a bus to see the woman i love, while at the same time, they were persecuted for being straight. I know people with varying disorders who do their best every day to rise above it and overcome it, but then I see those who choose to use a disability as a crutch and an excuse for asspats.
we are people just like everyone else, furry or not. nobody is above or beyond the simple goal of improving oneself.
"I'm perfect, I don't have anything left to improve."
You can start with improving that attitude and getting your head out of your ass.
"Who are you to tell people they need to improve?"
Nobody. In truth, I am nobody. I have no place to tell anyone to improve. But that's not what I'm saying. I'm only suggesting that you TRY. What would it hurt to try?
I go to a leadership conference every summer in Elizabethtown, PA. The program is called The Lifeskills Conference, and is sponsored by the Pennsylvania Masonic Youth Foundation. I am NOT a Freemason, I am simply involved in the program for its benefits, and to see the wonderful people I've met there year after year, and to pass on the gift that I was given my first year of attendance to those who are new every year. What is that gift?
Being a human being.
The Conference goes for a week, and you are assigned a team based on your age group. I am currently at CIT (counselor in training) level. We focus on team-building activities all week. You share your personal stories, you dry each others tears, and form a relationship and a team with these strangers that last. I have people who I met back in my first year in '07 who I still talk to.
At the end of the week, the man who runs the program, Thom Stecher, who I see as a surrogate father, gives the same speech every year. He tells us that this program has equipped us with the tools we need to pass on all that we have learned that week. He is not sending us into the real world; the real world is within the Conference. Because we have experienced true kind human nature, and it is hard to find outside this place. It is our job to use what we've learned to make a positive change in the world.
Those words always stick with me.
I'm no saint. I'm actually an unbearable cunt a lot of the time, I know that. But I like to think that I try my best to try and be a good person out there in the world. Being a person is hard, because of all the opposition that life throws at us. But we can all choose to rise up and meet the challenges head-on.
What do I want you to take from this journal?
I want you to take a minute or more to think about yourself. Think of all you've done, and all you have the potential to do. I don't want any of that "wahhhh I'm not good at anything, I can't do anything" bullshit. EVERYONE can do something. If you can't see any potential in yourself, than YOU are your biggest bully in life. Out in the world, nobody is going to pity you for being hard on yourself. Frankly, I have no respect for people who won't help themselves, especially when they seek pity for it. I have no pity for you. If you decided to whine in my comment box on this journal but refuse to help yourself, I will NOT hesitate to throw it back in your face.
Read the two journals I linked above. Look closer into the fandom. Pick out the ridiculous hypocrisies and all the senseless drama. Avoid them. Do what you can to make a positive change among our kind.
In the words of Jerry Springer; take care of yourself, and each other.
--arle
POLITE discussion and comments are welcome below.
people need to stop being assholes, and accept others for their faults
BTW lady..can you make us kissy face icons pwease?
oh wait I forgot..a male and a female..who are married..with a family..OMG NOT REAL FURRIES!!! RUNWAY!!!
hugs hun
You know you said what I see alllllllllllll the time...le sigh
Consider this point: Many of us wouldn't wear a tail/ears/etc. to work for various reasons, and even if we could an overwhelming majority of employers wouldn't allow it. Suiters are a public curiosity and misconceptions run rampant. The sum of this is that the majority of what is "furry" lies beneath the surface of contemporary culture with only a small visible element, much like an iceberg.
This status, in combination with the fact that the fandom potentially appeals to a large number of people (from fans of anthropomorphic art to the kinks who like to flex their presence around here) creates a population with a wide range of interests outside the public consciousness. It's a wide open world with no hard rules, where prevailing sensibilities are somewhat weakened...
It's a perfect escape zone.
Misunderstood artists, victims of bullying, individuals with sexual affiliations that meet intolerance in the general population flock to this fandom and others because it presents an opportunity to change things in their favor. And oftentimes, once they do, they adopt the same traits that put them in their previous positions.
The objectification of women is nothing new, however sad it may be. The fandom has a strong art culture which allows this to flourish as, physically speaking, all fursonas are creations of their owners/players/etc. Because a large part of the fandom is an online culture as well it's easy to dehumanize furs and focus on fantasy. You can see this problem with anime and videogames in the form of the porn you can find literally ANYWHERE.
As for any discrimination against straights it's simply an inversion of norms in the outside world, a comeuppance if you will. The rest of it is just held over from that culture.
Sorry for the rant... Guess I had a big opinion.
see my post below XD