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Respect
12 years ago
General
I have debated for the last few weeks about this journal... but I'm going to throw it out there.
We all know that we, as furries, have to fight the stereotypes, the ridicule, the assumptions, and the hate that comes from some people in the world. For the most part though, people don't even know what furries are, what we do. When a group of us gets together in a public setting, we are often the first exposure many of the non-furries around us are getting.
This is where my concern arises...
At a recent meet-up, several of us were in fursuits, several came along to handle and hang out. The event was a Christmas lighting festival in a small tourist town; Leavenworth, WA. Now, as you would expect in a small town, at a Christmas event, there was some religion brought into the program. Completely expected right?
Well, let me give a little more background. This is a small town festival that brings in thousands of people. Traffic was stopped 5 miles from the edge of town as we were trying to get there. It took us over an hour to find parking, and when we did, it was about 5 blocks away in a neighborhood side street. We suited straight from the car with the intent of heading to the public restrooms near the meet-up location. It took us forever to get to the restrooms due to people stopping us to take pictures with us. By the time the program part of the festival started, we were literally trapped in the middle of a crowd. We were surrounded by people on all sides for a very long ways. Luckily, almost all of the furs there were together in a group with those of us in suit, made for some comfort with our lack of visibility.
People liked us, some even loved us! It was a great event to suit at, we kept warm, we had great handlers, we enjoyed the crowd as much as they did us. I had an amazing time!
Now, back to my concern mentioned earlier. The people we saw had no prejudice against furs, they had no preconceived notions, no distrust or dislike for us. But some in our group hurt that in my opinion.
I recognize that everyone is entitled to their opinion on religions of the world. I am also not one to get involved in religious, political, or other conversations of the type. I see no point.
However, I do think basic respect for other's beliefs makes for much better interactions. At this meet, I was very disappointed and embarrassed by the lack of respect that came from the mouths of a few of the furs that were there. Like I said before, it was a Christmas Festival, religion is bound to come up. If you aren't religious, then just be respectful of those around us that might be. The things that were said, in an attempt at humor, were inconsiderate, rude, and overheard by many many people around us. Those words could have done more damage to the opinions people have of furries and fursuiters than media ever has. People seeing us in person are going to develop their own opinion, are going to take home the memories we helped them create of the day, and might even go to bat for us if they ever hear someone say something bad about furs. Those few heckling calls, those intolerant words can and probably did change a few people's opinions that day. I am deeply saddened by this.
I spoke out from behind my mask at least three times, asking those that were saying inappropriate things to stop, to be respectful, but I was ignored.
For those of you out there that want respect for the fandom, help us earn that respect! Be smart about who might hear your words. Be aware of your actions in public. If you go to a meet, you are helping the entire group represent furry to the public.
I doubt the hecklers will read this, and I wasn't even going to post anything about it. But after talking with some other local furs that were also disappointed in this happening, I figure it is worth putting out there for others to think about.
Thanks for listening to me vent, and if you see/hear furs making us all look bad, say something.
Love and Huggs,
Taf
We all know that we, as furries, have to fight the stereotypes, the ridicule, the assumptions, and the hate that comes from some people in the world. For the most part though, people don't even know what furries are, what we do. When a group of us gets together in a public setting, we are often the first exposure many of the non-furries around us are getting.
This is where my concern arises...
At a recent meet-up, several of us were in fursuits, several came along to handle and hang out. The event was a Christmas lighting festival in a small tourist town; Leavenworth, WA. Now, as you would expect in a small town, at a Christmas event, there was some religion brought into the program. Completely expected right?
Well, let me give a little more background. This is a small town festival that brings in thousands of people. Traffic was stopped 5 miles from the edge of town as we were trying to get there. It took us over an hour to find parking, and when we did, it was about 5 blocks away in a neighborhood side street. We suited straight from the car with the intent of heading to the public restrooms near the meet-up location. It took us forever to get to the restrooms due to people stopping us to take pictures with us. By the time the program part of the festival started, we were literally trapped in the middle of a crowd. We were surrounded by people on all sides for a very long ways. Luckily, almost all of the furs there were together in a group with those of us in suit, made for some comfort with our lack of visibility.
People liked us, some even loved us! It was a great event to suit at, we kept warm, we had great handlers, we enjoyed the crowd as much as they did us. I had an amazing time!
Now, back to my concern mentioned earlier. The people we saw had no prejudice against furs, they had no preconceived notions, no distrust or dislike for us. But some in our group hurt that in my opinion.
I recognize that everyone is entitled to their opinion on religions of the world. I am also not one to get involved in religious, political, or other conversations of the type. I see no point.
However, I do think basic respect for other's beliefs makes for much better interactions. At this meet, I was very disappointed and embarrassed by the lack of respect that came from the mouths of a few of the furs that were there. Like I said before, it was a Christmas Festival, religion is bound to come up. If you aren't religious, then just be respectful of those around us that might be. The things that were said, in an attempt at humor, were inconsiderate, rude, and overheard by many many people around us. Those words could have done more damage to the opinions people have of furries and fursuiters than media ever has. People seeing us in person are going to develop their own opinion, are going to take home the memories we helped them create of the day, and might even go to bat for us if they ever hear someone say something bad about furs. Those few heckling calls, those intolerant words can and probably did change a few people's opinions that day. I am deeply saddened by this.
I spoke out from behind my mask at least three times, asking those that were saying inappropriate things to stop, to be respectful, but I was ignored.
For those of you out there that want respect for the fandom, help us earn that respect! Be smart about who might hear your words. Be aware of your actions in public. If you go to a meet, you are helping the entire group represent furry to the public.
I doubt the hecklers will read this, and I wasn't even going to post anything about it. But after talking with some other local furs that were also disappointed in this happening, I figure it is worth putting out there for others to think about.
Thanks for listening to me vent, and if you see/hear furs making us all look bad, say something.
Love and Huggs,
Taf
Preach it, brother! You speak truth!
But I do much agree on the respect, we go out and most times, us furries get crap from at least one person. I can say that the festival was finally a meet where I didn't hear anything negative about us, but then the disrespect was spat out and I was sure it was down the drain.
I'm all for having fun and making jokes, but you always have to be aware of your surroundings if you think your jokes could be offensive to someone. The thing with "jokes" now days, for some reason, offensive is funny. I don't understand, and I know our group sometimes falls into this, but offensive shouldn't be funny, it shouldn't be a joke. But because it's the "new norm" we all tend to do it. But when in a crowd such as this it's best to think about what you're going to say before you spit it out!