FA+
Shop
Fender's "Fake Hate" Journal
5 years ago
Fender's "Fake Hate" Journal 4/17/2020
WARNING! SELF INDUCED FURRY DRAMA. SENSITIVE FURRIES NEED NOT READ FURTHER.
[Forgive me, I just needed to exercise my writing muscles. I haven't used them in a while.]
And the hate rolls on...
Perhaps, like me, you were bored enough to read the latest round of mind-numbing rules and refinements posted by the administration on "Fender's" journal "New Hardware and Policy Updates" dated 4/16/2020.
Thanks to your generous contributions, the administrators had the opportunity to upgrade the whole system.
And thanks to covid-19, they also had plenty of time to further enhance the police-state that is now Fur Affinity.
And finally, thanks to all of your generous "feedback", they were able to make these refinements, so they claim.
Right about now, you may be wondering: Feedback? What feedback? Commenting is routinely disabled on"Fender's" journals. Where is this feedback coming from?
Not that I am complaining about that pesky little impediment to the truth. No. Not at all. Don't turn me in!
It's just that... er... well... a little more thought might have gone into these... refinements. For example this one filed under "Questions" gave me pause for thought:
"...we have had a lot of feedback since our previous update concerning the usage of real hate groups, terrorists, and their symbols. Based upon this feedback, we have decided to remove these groups and their symbols from ALL content on the website whether that content promotes, denounces, or incidentally features these groups and their symbols. This includes Civil War Confederate Flag and World War II Nazi imagery. You may post content containing German soldiers, but not Nazis. You may post Civil War content, but it may not include The Confederate Flag on uniforms, etc."-"Fender"
So... we can post content containing German soldiers, but not Nazis. I'm just glad "Fender" wasn't directing "Shindler's List". Now don't get me wrong. I hate Nazis as much as the next person. There. I have now given my FA sanctioned obligatory statement of hate for Nazism, so now I can freely talk about it. My question is: Just what German soldiers can we post content about if Nazis are verboten? The Red Baron from the "Peanuts" comic strip?
Are you kidding me?
I don't want to get into it. Moving on:
We may also post Civil War content but it may not include The Confederate flag on uniforms, etc. (How quaint that "Fender" is clearly directing these barbs at Americans, clearly not the Hutus and Tutsis, or South Sudan or Syria or anywhere else that had a civil war.) No. This is for naughty Americans. Now don't get me wrong. I hate the Confederate Flag just as much as the next person. There. I have given my FA sanctioned obligatory statement denouncing the Confederate flag. Now let's dish.
Apparently, "Fender" hates the Confederate flag, but gives a free pass on the Confederacy itself. How comforting. My question: How do you post Civil War content without the respective flags? Perhaps you know the difference between the blue and the grey, but Civil war buffs know that often times, Southern soldiers did not have uniforms to identify them. (We won't get into the stereotype of Southern poverty here.) Hence the need for other identifying symbols. You know, to... identify them as Southern soldiers. I know I have lost you. But I appreciate you hanging in this long. So before the South rises again, I will head for my point, if there is one.
All this crap isn't really about hate, at least not the hate you think.
And FA is hardly alone in doing it, that is to say, the systematic removal of this "hate."
No, my dears, something far more sinister is going on... something insidious placed under the banner of... well, let's call it "sensitivity", for lack of a more accurate word.
Why, just this week, an instance of this occurred at a company called "Land O' Lakes." (I am sure many Americans have heard the news.) Apparently, for over ninety years there was a depiction of an actual native American indian on the cover of their butter. And yes! I am as disgusted by that symbol of hate as you are. All reminders of repression and exploitation must be removed! Therefore, Land O' Lakes has finally relented and announced proudly the imminent removal of this offensive image of hatred for native Americans. Good! Now, no one ever need be reminded of the history of the... ahem... white people who treated the natives with such contempt. Um... ouch.
Did you catch the point?
By the way, the "racist" flag where I live also depicts a native of the land. There has been talk for years about replacing it. Personally, I never viewed it as racist, merely one of the few remaining... "evidences" of the land's provenance. You see, it wasn't enough the earlier inhabitants of the land were mostly wiped out by the arrival of the newcomers. No. Any reminders of those horrors must also be removed. Essentially, a new wave of "ethnic cleansing" is going on under the guise of "sensitivity". The rewriting of history by the victors, the removal of the... inconvenient truths of the past, until all memory of them is erased forever. Sinister, isn't it? And nothing new.
The ancient Egyptians would chisel out the names of hated kings from their palaces and temples, leaving modern generations to piece together who did what.
The Bible purposely left out Pharoah's name so that down to this day we don't know for sure which ruler pursued the Hebrews at the Red Sea.
Various sports teams have wrestled with the removal of their native American names or symbols. These are arguably racist, but the end result is the same: The removal of any acknowledgement of the existence of native Americans. Done surreptitiously with the aid and encouragement of these native Americans, who seem blissfully unaware that in the process, they are helping to erase their own history. After all what replaces those racist names and symbols? More "white" stuff.
I believe someone important once said: "If you forget history, you are doomed to repeat it."
And forgetting is just what we are trying to do. How fortunate that our nanny state, Fur Affinity, provides policy codes and rules for conduct to cradle the babes in a welcoming and safe environment- so we can all forget about the cold, cruel world out there! Thank you, "Fender". Why, I'm so glad that someone else is there to cherry-pick what is good and bad for me so that I can remain in my perpetual innocence. It's just like being in the Garden of Eden. Sciggles!
If I may make one suggestion to add to these codes. I find "Fender's" sky-blue tie offensive. It reminds me of decades of turbulent history here on FA. The times I was censured, blocked, treated like a second-class citizen and hounded mercilessly by those who abused their power here. "Fender's" tie is a dreaded symbol of hate and should be removed. Don't get me wrong. I love "Fender", just not his tie. Therefore I suggest that any photo or drawing of "Fender" wearing the sky-blue tie be removed from FA. immediately, and all future photos and drawings of "Fender" posted must be free of said tie.
I realize that we might not recognize "Fender" without the tie, but that is the price we pay for removing symbols of "hate". Things get sanitized until they become hard to recognize for what they really are. But not all is lost. "Fender's" journal helps us to differentiate between "real" hate and "fake" hate. Let's read:
"Why use the term “real” hate or terrorist organizations?
It is important to differentiate between real organizations and fictional ones such as Hydra (Marvel), COBRA (G.I. Joe), The Foot Clan (TMNT), or the Death Eaters (Harry Potter.)"
In our unflinching quest to stamp out "real" hate, we seem to be in a "hate vacuum". Without enough real hate to go around, we now turn to fake, manufactured hate so that we can remain safe and welcomed in the victimhood of our own choosing. (Cough, Jussie Smollet, cough.) How kind of "Fender" to bend the rules to allow us to indulge in our fake hate.
Remember darlings: Real hate is out, but fake hate is just fine.
Love, -D.
WARNING! SELF INDUCED FURRY DRAMA. SENSITIVE FURRIES NEED NOT READ FURTHER.
[Forgive me, I just needed to exercise my writing muscles. I haven't used them in a while.]
And the hate rolls on...
Perhaps, like me, you were bored enough to read the latest round of mind-numbing rules and refinements posted by the administration on "Fender's" journal "New Hardware and Policy Updates" dated 4/16/2020.
Thanks to your generous contributions, the administrators had the opportunity to upgrade the whole system.
And thanks to covid-19, they also had plenty of time to further enhance the police-state that is now Fur Affinity.
And finally, thanks to all of your generous "feedback", they were able to make these refinements, so they claim.
Right about now, you may be wondering: Feedback? What feedback? Commenting is routinely disabled on"Fender's" journals. Where is this feedback coming from?
Not that I am complaining about that pesky little impediment to the truth. No. Not at all. Don't turn me in!
It's just that... er... well... a little more thought might have gone into these... refinements. For example this one filed under "Questions" gave me pause for thought:
"...we have had a lot of feedback since our previous update concerning the usage of real hate groups, terrorists, and their symbols. Based upon this feedback, we have decided to remove these groups and their symbols from ALL content on the website whether that content promotes, denounces, or incidentally features these groups and their symbols. This includes Civil War Confederate Flag and World War II Nazi imagery. You may post content containing German soldiers, but not Nazis. You may post Civil War content, but it may not include The Confederate Flag on uniforms, etc."-"Fender"
So... we can post content containing German soldiers, but not Nazis. I'm just glad "Fender" wasn't directing "Shindler's List". Now don't get me wrong. I hate Nazis as much as the next person. There. I have now given my FA sanctioned obligatory statement of hate for Nazism, so now I can freely talk about it. My question is: Just what German soldiers can we post content about if Nazis are verboten? The Red Baron from the "Peanuts" comic strip?
Are you kidding me?
I don't want to get into it. Moving on:
We may also post Civil War content but it may not include The Confederate flag on uniforms, etc. (How quaint that "Fender" is clearly directing these barbs at Americans, clearly not the Hutus and Tutsis, or South Sudan or Syria or anywhere else that had a civil war.) No. This is for naughty Americans. Now don't get me wrong. I hate the Confederate Flag just as much as the next person. There. I have given my FA sanctioned obligatory statement denouncing the Confederate flag. Now let's dish.
Apparently, "Fender" hates the Confederate flag, but gives a free pass on the Confederacy itself. How comforting. My question: How do you post Civil War content without the respective flags? Perhaps you know the difference between the blue and the grey, but Civil war buffs know that often times, Southern soldiers did not have uniforms to identify them. (We won't get into the stereotype of Southern poverty here.) Hence the need for other identifying symbols. You know, to... identify them as Southern soldiers. I know I have lost you. But I appreciate you hanging in this long. So before the South rises again, I will head for my point, if there is one.
All this crap isn't really about hate, at least not the hate you think.
And FA is hardly alone in doing it, that is to say, the systematic removal of this "hate."
No, my dears, something far more sinister is going on... something insidious placed under the banner of... well, let's call it "sensitivity", for lack of a more accurate word.
Why, just this week, an instance of this occurred at a company called "Land O' Lakes." (I am sure many Americans have heard the news.) Apparently, for over ninety years there was a depiction of an actual native American indian on the cover of their butter. And yes! I am as disgusted by that symbol of hate as you are. All reminders of repression and exploitation must be removed! Therefore, Land O' Lakes has finally relented and announced proudly the imminent removal of this offensive image of hatred for native Americans. Good! Now, no one ever need be reminded of the history of the... ahem... white people who treated the natives with such contempt. Um... ouch.
Did you catch the point?
By the way, the "racist" flag where I live also depicts a native of the land. There has been talk for years about replacing it. Personally, I never viewed it as racist, merely one of the few remaining... "evidences" of the land's provenance. You see, it wasn't enough the earlier inhabitants of the land were mostly wiped out by the arrival of the newcomers. No. Any reminders of those horrors must also be removed. Essentially, a new wave of "ethnic cleansing" is going on under the guise of "sensitivity". The rewriting of history by the victors, the removal of the... inconvenient truths of the past, until all memory of them is erased forever. Sinister, isn't it? And nothing new.
The ancient Egyptians would chisel out the names of hated kings from their palaces and temples, leaving modern generations to piece together who did what.
The Bible purposely left out Pharoah's name so that down to this day we don't know for sure which ruler pursued the Hebrews at the Red Sea.
Various sports teams have wrestled with the removal of their native American names or symbols. These are arguably racist, but the end result is the same: The removal of any acknowledgement of the existence of native Americans. Done surreptitiously with the aid and encouragement of these native Americans, who seem blissfully unaware that in the process, they are helping to erase their own history. After all what replaces those racist names and symbols? More "white" stuff.
I believe someone important once said: "If you forget history, you are doomed to repeat it."
And forgetting is just what we are trying to do. How fortunate that our nanny state, Fur Affinity, provides policy codes and rules for conduct to cradle the babes in a welcoming and safe environment- so we can all forget about the cold, cruel world out there! Thank you, "Fender". Why, I'm so glad that someone else is there to cherry-pick what is good and bad for me so that I can remain in my perpetual innocence. It's just like being in the Garden of Eden. Sciggles!
If I may make one suggestion to add to these codes. I find "Fender's" sky-blue tie offensive. It reminds me of decades of turbulent history here on FA. The times I was censured, blocked, treated like a second-class citizen and hounded mercilessly by those who abused their power here. "Fender's" tie is a dreaded symbol of hate and should be removed. Don't get me wrong. I love "Fender", just not his tie. Therefore I suggest that any photo or drawing of "Fender" wearing the sky-blue tie be removed from FA. immediately, and all future photos and drawings of "Fender" posted must be free of said tie.
I realize that we might not recognize "Fender" without the tie, but that is the price we pay for removing symbols of "hate". Things get sanitized until they become hard to recognize for what they really are. But not all is lost. "Fender's" journal helps us to differentiate between "real" hate and "fake" hate. Let's read:
"Why use the term “real” hate or terrorist organizations?
It is important to differentiate between real organizations and fictional ones such as Hydra (Marvel), COBRA (G.I. Joe), The Foot Clan (TMNT), or the Death Eaters (Harry Potter.)"
In our unflinching quest to stamp out "real" hate, we seem to be in a "hate vacuum". Without enough real hate to go around, we now turn to fake, manufactured hate so that we can remain safe and welcomed in the victimhood of our own choosing. (Cough, Jussie Smollet, cough.) How kind of "Fender" to bend the rules to allow us to indulge in our fake hate.
Remember darlings: Real hate is out, but fake hate is just fine.
Love, -D.
I still ain't sure about much of the why of the what I may be doing right
&
Allot What of the which why that I see others doing that I ain't supposed to do
I however am still here but on the whole less oftentimes than I was
Well... yes, actually. The actual Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen, was a member of the Imperial German Army's air corps, the Luftstreitkräfte. The Imperial Germans in World War I were snappy dressers. It's where the iconic stahlhelm comes from. The Reichswehr during the Weimar Republic also looked pretty nice. In fact, apart from the Hugo Boss-designed SS uniforms, the uniforms worn by the Wehrmacht Heer (Army) were pretty much just the Weimar Republic's Reichsheer (Imperial Army) with Nazi symbols slapped on. So the argument that you can't draw decently-dressed German soldiers without also drawing Nazis/those who served under Nazis is fallacious; you've got all of World War I, the Weimar Republic and the years immediately following World War II to choose from without needing to ever touch the Swastika or the Nazi version of the Reichsadler (Imperial Eagle).
I agree with you that post-World War II German soldiers may be depicted without direct reference to the Swastika or the Nazi version of the Reichsadler.
As to who would be interested in depicting post-World War German soldiers on Fur Affinity, I have no idea.
This brings us to Imperial Germany/World War I, and again, I imagine the audience for these soldiers would be somewhat limited. I realize that's not the point but worth mentioning.
Oh, I didn't want to get into this.
You may have inadvertently made my point for me by mentioning that the respective army uniforms are nearly identical without the Nazi symbols slapped on. This leaves the viewer to hunt for context, especially for those not familiar with World War I symbolism.
An interesting example on Fur Affinity would be "Rudek and the Bear". The comic strip gets around the thorny Nazi question by depicting the Polish army, rather than the German army. An occasional SS uniform slips in here and there. For those unfamiliar with Polish World War II uniforms... well, the strip can be confusing, even about which war is being fought.
As to whether World War I German soldiers or their respective symbols will continue to be allowed on Fur Affinity, I don't know. In Mein Kampf, Hitler drew upon World War I/Imperial German imagery for inspiration.
The Nazi flag, a Hakenkreuz or hooked cross surrounded by a white border on a red background, bears more than a passing resemblance to the German Cross flag used by Imperial Germany in World War I. The Anti-Defamation league notes that because Nazi memorabilia is often banned, neo-nazis often display German World War I images as a covert means of identification. You might say that FA simply hasn't caught up to it.
My fallacious argument stands.
Why did I stop that.
I mean, I really have no idea why i was going that, i was not super big into uniform wear anyways. I do remember some people on deviantart way back in the day who were influencing me in that direction. They made it look edgy and cool. I imagine thats why i was drawn to it.
Also at the time I was listening to a lot of extreme music that touched on nazi imagery too for powerful effect. I used to argue to myself, that the thing one could teel about that music is they must be REALLY dedicated if they were using such controversial stuff.
At my core, everyone knows im a queer decadent. I love sexual stuff and furriness and all that junk, I love gay sex. etc.. blah blah. I think things tarted to really chance to more and more i listened to these artists or musicians. In the shock and awe, i kept seeing more and more lyrics and wrttings abotu how much the loathe the fags, wanting to cleanse the degeneracy... And many times expressed with calls to violence. This was not shock and awe, I could see they really really wanted this, so much contempt for queer sexuality. I eventually started to decouple from this nazi fetish and nazi music scene. I began to feel that i had a need tio protect who I am and the kind of lifestyle i find most enjoyable. And i wanted no longer to enjoy this kind of thing anymore.
Thanks to my experience there.
People are not waving the confederate battle flag her on FA as a testament of historical events. THey are not battle reenactions taking place online. They are using this to make a personal statement, to identify themselves as a reactionary opposition to something. Thats is not a historical use. Its not defensible to claim that it should be allowed on FA because its a piece of history that must be preserved. No there is a different use of it here. And what is it in reaction to? Well to be honest, it does often have something to do with the subject of race does it not?
My family was pretty racist. my dad told really sinister bnigger jokes and they wore obscure nazi symbols or dixie flags just because they wanted to piss off people they didnt like. I adopted their ideology by reflex. But then I grew up gay and was rejected for it. Then I also spent 2 years doing daily community service with African Americans. Those experiences gradually changed my opinions. and i decided a while back i did not want to be a racist.
I realized something out of that, That ive never ever felt like I loathed myself for being white, nor did i hate the heritage I had from my German ancestry and all the classical culture tied to it. Im glad to be that and Ive always liked those things.
But I dont fall into the mental trap to think that any self analysis of my cultures heritage and acknowledgement of the bad things of systematic racism, colonialism, and slavery was a betrayal of my identity or nmy culture.
Think like a moral person. A moral person acknowleges their mistakes, not denies or tries to make excuses for them, or insist it has nothing to do with them anymore. A wise person cannot do those things, for it shows they still refuse to accept an unpleasant truth that they did something incongruent with their values. The pride of such a person is not sustainable, because anytime the spectre of their past evil acts is brought uup that pride comes apart and they react very aggressively and emotionally.. THe moral person accepts their history that was wrong, even recognizes how it still informs them to that day. They look into themselves and think, how can I be better like the imagined goal of who I want to be. Most of all, they dont just listen to only themselves to know how to grow personally. They realize that by listening to others as well they will grow their own selves too and escape the trap of a self-centered world view.
This is how i approached the issue of racism. I foudn i didnt have to hate myself and my culture to be progressive or open to social justice. I never worry abotu that, because i know and acceot, and I listen to others too, and i see the reasoning and similarities. And its all because i am honest about self-criticism.