To a lot of my closer friends, I probably already shared this with you all. I've for the past couple of months at least been going through a bit of inner angst and depression.
A few of you are aware that I'm also on Facebook, though I use Facebook (FB) for more of my personal life and keeping in touch with family and old friends from high school, but I'm to the point where I'm giving up on FB. I've been on FB for maybe 15 years, maybe a little more, a lot longer than DeviantArt or FA. As an artist who just wanted to be noticed I just wanted a place to share my creativity, my passions and life experiences with the people in my life. There are a lot of cases where I don't feel like I make much difference in my family, I don't get a lot of recognition in real life; and why should I? I don't drink like a lot of the guys in the family, I don't jam on the guitar like they do, and I don't have a tendency of acting all goofy like a lot of them. I'm an introvert at family parties, I find it difficult to interact socially. I mean - don't get me wrong, I'd love to do so, but it's always been difficult for me. I just want to share my creativity and experiences with family and friends and that's what I saw useful with Facebook, but over the years it's not really a platform anymore for sharing experiences, it's getting more political and becoming a platform for who's politically right and wrong.

Now some of you might have heard this story a few months ago during the 2022 midterm elections: some Republican (I forget their name or which state or office for which they were running) started a rumor about furries as kids in school or people in general declaring themselves as cats, dogs, etc. and using litter boxes in public instead of toilets and eating out of dog bowls instead of plates.

Now first off that's bullshit, that person's a dickweed trying to spread rumors to crazy conspiracy theorists to build their base; I couldn't trust a Republican nowadays if they told me the grass is green and the sky is blue (I mean I don't like to think I trust Democrats either, but I trust them more than Republicans). What's bothering me about this is that I have members in my family who are hard core conservative, and despite fact checking it - and coming up with nothing - they actually believe that rumor.
A few months back, a couple of them, at least, have posted that rumor on their own FB page. I mean they don't mention furries in a nutshell, but they were nevertheless quoting that rumor almost word for word. Lord knows how far it's spread among family and friends and by now.
I've been officially declared a furry for 12 years now, and during that time, I've posted on FB furry art; con pics from Furlandia, ANW, BLFC and MFF; and even selfies of me in my fursuit; I don't exactly go around spoon-feeding it to everyone like: "Hey everyone! Look, I'm a furry!!!" no, I soft-peddle it, I share my experiences and let everyone figure it out on their own. My point being, anyone who watches me on FB should know by now that I am a furry - if they know anything about furries, that is.
What's really depressing to me is how people in my family actually believe that crap when I've been posting furry art and pics for years!
I've always had faith that family and old friends were happy for me, even if they didn't see eye to eye with me on the matter, they would be happy that I found a group which not only do I feel like I fit in, but aspired me to move forward with my art and creativity, that got me out into the world and meeting people, especially the people online who I really love. None of that would have happened for me if not for the furry fandom; and yet it only takes a little rumor from a Republican to change their views on furries.
All I wanted was a place to be able to share my creativity and experiences with my family and not be afraid, but now I feel more afraid than not. :'(