With the recent events involving discord's moderation team and public perception involving the fandom, I feel that we need to talk about an incredibly taboo subject:

Cub Art

For those that are unaware, it came to light over the week of 02/04/2019 to 02/08/2019 that, though discord's terms of service explicitly ban pornography of children, including drawings, moderation staff have argued vehemently that furry Cub Art does not fall within this ban.

Similarly, cub art on Furaffinity, though supposedly not allowed, has been posted in increasing quantities on this site without moderation staff looking into the issue or correcting it. Similarly, several individuals that are patrons of Cub art have been let back onto the site despite this being their fifth or sixth offense.

Now, I'm not going to go into the specifics of squick and the like. I'm going to assume that, for most of you here, you understand that a lot of people find Cub art distasteful. My goal in this journal is to help explain -why-, as well as to explain why the fandom is seen as a hive of degenerates.

See, it all comes down to whether or not we see the furry characters as human; Do these characters possess a human will and motivation? Can they empathize with others? Can they consider functions beyond that which is immediately apparent? Can they defer gratification for a greater reward later?

These are all things that people tend to impart on their characters, and so the main view people have of furries, if they aren't immediately aggressive, with mild acceptance. They're human, just in a different shape.

This is why Cub art creeps most people out. If we're applying the laws of logic, and therefore baseline cultural morality, to any individual furry character then it should stand to reason that people will be disgusted if they see an adult furry character lewding a four year old, just as they would an adult lewding a fourteen year old.

The common defense that supports this behavior comes in two major flavors:
1. It's only art
2. It's fictional characters / not human

The first item does not apply in this case because certain graphic depictions are considered illegal in the US.

The second item, however, is far more disturbing when someone reasons further than the initial claim. If all the art on this site features creatures that are not human, that they are not capable of rationalizing the world around them in a similar way to the way we are, then that is the only true way that they would not held to our own standards as human beings. Considering that the overall appearance and behaviors of some characters points at them sharing traits with the animals they're based on, this in turn implies that everything on this site can be considered equivalent to bestiality.

As a result, this defense Cub artists and patrons often dive into only serve to push us backwards.

Worse, this proves 4chan right.