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'The Fandom' Documenatary Thoughts! 🧠
5 years ago
I apologize for the lack of journals recently! I tend to use Twitter for sharing my more general opinions. However, a high production value furry documentary dropped this week titled The Fandom over on Youtube via Ash Coyote's channel. Immediate red-flags are drawn, as most of the producers and contributors listed push a leftist political agenda online, blocking anyone who disagrees with them and getting belligerent at conventions towards conservatives.
Regardless, any major coverage of the fandom deserves attention and fair criticism:
[Pros:]
• Well produced, great coverage on the origins and history of the fandom.
• Explains in great detail the trials and tribulations of the 70's, 80's and 90's
[Cons:]
• Falls apart upon reflecting on modern times.
• Second half of the documentary fixates on Identity Politics and completely skates around any major controversies surrounding the fandom in the last 20 years (Rainfurrest, STDs, Pedophilia, Antifa, Political Activism etc) To obsess about Trump and the 'Alt-right Nazis'.
• Claims LBGTAA+ furries are still oppressed in modern times while simultaneously showing the facts that they actually hold the majority at 80% of the fandom in the 2016 study.
• Not a single major adult artist was given an interview despite being a quote 'Sexual Community'.
• The gender of a Conchair is stressed multiple times to implicate feminism. Tokenism extends to trans people and other minority groups.
• Uncle Kages anti-sex rhetoric is pushed throughout the second half without much rebuttable or perspective, insisting we look the other way.
It's like the producers went into the documentary wanting to leave the viewer with a positive outlook on the fandom and implying it's grass-roots nature still applies today. In reality it's become a corporate safe space for left wing political extremists. We have personally met some of these contributors in person and they are incredibly rude, cliquey and toxic towards who they deem their oppressors such as 'Cis white straight people'. The majority of which utilize block chains and silence dissent towards towards anyone who dares challenge victimhood narrative, seemingly for profit. We are fortunate in which we have a business independent of the existing corporate structure, but what about new and smaller businesses who rely on revenue generated from conventions who face actual discrimination if they don't sell and celebrate LBGTA++ content? Most of my content is gay, most of my wifes content is gay and yet we are still demonized for being evil straight people. How queer you are has become the measure of value in this fandom, which I feel is a huge mis-interpretation as to why Confurence was made in the first place.
Being a furry to me means the freedom to express imagination, creativity and sexuality without discrimination. Everyone is equal, immutable traits such as gender and race should not matter. This does not absolve us of adult responsibility, accountability or self-evaluation when those core values are shattered for status, profit and political gain. We are ALL fans of anthromorphic animals, but not all of us are activists.
Regardless, any major coverage of the fandom deserves attention and fair criticism:
[Pros:]
• Well produced, great coverage on the origins and history of the fandom.
• Explains in great detail the trials and tribulations of the 70's, 80's and 90's
[Cons:]
• Falls apart upon reflecting on modern times.
• Second half of the documentary fixates on Identity Politics and completely skates around any major controversies surrounding the fandom in the last 20 years (Rainfurrest, STDs, Pedophilia, Antifa, Political Activism etc) To obsess about Trump and the 'Alt-right Nazis'.
• Claims LBGTAA+ furries are still oppressed in modern times while simultaneously showing the facts that they actually hold the majority at 80% of the fandom in the 2016 study.
• Not a single major adult artist was given an interview despite being a quote 'Sexual Community'.
• The gender of a Conchair is stressed multiple times to implicate feminism. Tokenism extends to trans people and other minority groups.
• Uncle Kages anti-sex rhetoric is pushed throughout the second half without much rebuttable or perspective, insisting we look the other way.
It's like the producers went into the documentary wanting to leave the viewer with a positive outlook on the fandom and implying it's grass-roots nature still applies today. In reality it's become a corporate safe space for left wing political extremists. We have personally met some of these contributors in person and they are incredibly rude, cliquey and toxic towards who they deem their oppressors such as 'Cis white straight people'. The majority of which utilize block chains and silence dissent towards towards anyone who dares challenge victimhood narrative, seemingly for profit. We are fortunate in which we have a business independent of the existing corporate structure, but what about new and smaller businesses who rely on revenue generated from conventions who face actual discrimination if they don't sell and celebrate LBGTA++ content? Most of my content is gay, most of my wifes content is gay and yet we are still demonized for being evil straight people. How queer you are has become the measure of value in this fandom, which I feel is a huge mis-interpretation as to why Confurence was made in the first place.
Being a furry to me means the freedom to express imagination, creativity and sexuality without discrimination. Everyone is equal, immutable traits such as gender and race should not matter. This does not absolve us of adult responsibility, accountability or self-evaluation when those core values are shattered for status, profit and political gain. We are ALL fans of anthromorphic animals, but not all of us are activists.
I have better things to waste my time on :)
I find myself always being simultaneously frustrated at detractors for completely pigeonholing members...often for entirely different things...one person says furries are all nazis and the other thinks they are all snowflakes...bottom line is they don't like us lol... But on the other, I think there a definite problems in the fandom...as with any large community. People like Kage miss the point by trying desexualize the fandom. I don't think it as low as people report, but the majority of folks in the fandom are not degenerates like me, and are in it for purely non-sexual reasons...But hey, people like porn...big deal?
I think Kage and a lot of furries have the constant psychological baggage of being accused of the dreaded "b word" when we all now its not the case at all.
Meh, I've been talking far too long. I appreciate the appraisal, and it's nice to know what to expect if I decide to watch. It sorta sounds like I expected...but doesn't necessarily sound like a waste of time. Could not agree more on the last point.
I've honestly thought about leaving the fandom because I am male that has a preference for the opposite gender, and I have my own opinions. My sona is a wolf not a parrot, I'm not going to repeat what everybody else is saying. lol.
Keep up the good, I enjoy your artwork and your games.
There were quite a few Furry Republicans in the Fandom, myself included, most have left due to the literal witch hunts that have occurred here on Fascsitaffinity..
As an LGBT+ person it offended me tbh.
They made it seem as if we all have this huge victim complex and "ohno I'm a furry so I'm opressed and sad" like no, wtf.
That was the impression I got from the first few minutes alone.
It also made me feel like they were trying to pass of "being a furry" as being on the same level as being LGBT+ and having to come out.
It was just a whole trainwreck.
Reading through this made me feel both glad that I hadn't watched all of it as well as curious to see and experience it for myself.
Thank you for bringing light to it tho. <3
They dont look at themselves in a negative light, it felt like propaganda not documentation, they just provide positive narrative while acting as victims and dont reflect any issues that the fandom has created.
It would take a lot of time and cooperation with many different people but at that point who would even bother going that far?
As a result however, she's grown thicker skin and wised up that none of those individuals act in good faith. They do not want her online career to prosper, but to flatten it to facilitate a Marxist agenda. Extreme politics has no place on her content.
Like you detailed in your review of the furry documentary a lot of people attach to such a mob for political, monetary, power/sexuall gain and or gratification.
I do not see "facilitate a Marxist agenda" anywhere here however. I don't think the majority of the mob are cancelling people to promote some secret Marxist plot to destroy x country/civilization. That seems conspiratorial to me. Why exactly do you think that's the case? I'm genuinely intrigued I hear this a lot but never any serious evidence/arguments for it.
The episode I watched did confirm that there were those that were like me in the fandom (Christian furrys), just very scarce. Which is no surprise to me. Regardless, I felt like I had renewed hope that I could be socially active in the community with those individuals that were of the furry fandom, I just need to keep looking for the right group.
I'm a fan, not an activist.
98% of the people I speak to on here are wonderful and interesting and generally accepting of all of us being here to enjoy whatever content and community we're here to enjoy. The ones who are rude or looking to start fights, I just 'walk away' and it seems to keep things rolling. Honestly, I didn't even realize there was a lot of political nonsense going on in the fandom - I just don't really see it, I guess.
I've "walked away" from a few furry discord servers in my time, all for reasons stated previously. I will try to hold out hope for a furry group (social media or otherwise) that I can converse with. Of the Discord servers that I've was a part of, I've managed to befriend a small circle of furrys that accept me for who I am and still DM me to this day. Sharing videos and stuff.
So in essence, there is hope for me within the furry fandom. I wish the same for others who read this. Thank you for your words of encouragement.
Side note: I'm not much of an drawing artist per say, rather a photographer hobbyist.
I've always appreciated gay people and I have some good friends who are gay, and I have absolutely nothing against gay people. But I do have a problem with this. Gay people want to be accepted but wont accept straight people.
Like, I'm "sorry" that I was born just how i am? Its "my fault" I'm a straight white male? I got called a cis white straight Male so much I had to actually look up what it meant and basically if I'm right, im a white straight male who identifies with the gender I was born with.
But back to the point, please stop demonising straight people. It's not our fault we "Aren't gay" but you cant force us into a sexuality we aren't.
I watched 15 minutes of it and just went "..I have more important shit to do than be sold identity politics bullshit".
That's part of the reason I took a Hiatus from uploading art was because I couldn't take the attacks. But that doesn't mean I won't come back, I just need a break. But soon, I will return. Just don't know when but certainly before this year is over. So let's stay strong, especially for Amorous 2 I can't wait for that and darling Lovely Skye again.
Ugh.
The section about the Burned furs was the most egregious to me. It went from "the movement to have less sexual content in the furry fandom was a good thing" to straight up calling them homophobic and implying that they were motivated entirely by opposition to gay furry art. It then insinuates that the burned furs somehow lead to the alt right furs despite the burned furs largely leaving the fandom in the late 2000s and the alt right furries being a thing from 2017/2018. Like, how does anyone reach that conclusion?
Also, how are you gonna have a section about the closure of RMFC but completely ignore the closure of Rainfurrest? Rainfurrest was a much bigger convention and its closure had a bigger impact on the fandom at the time. That glaring oversight is made worse by the bias: the RMFC section blames the alt right furries for getting RMFC cancelled instead of factually representing events: both sides threatened each other on twitter leading to a rise in security costs for the con they couldn't afford, then it coming out that the con isn't paying its taxes.
And it was pretty consistent in the latter half that facts were going to be pushed aside if they got int he way of the narrative which isn't something a documentary should do. Documentaries don't try to push the viewer to one side or another, they lay out the facts as they are known, any opinions are to be formed by the viewer. it came off as overly preachy and off putting.
What did you expect? Did you see who made it? Half of their entire clique is groomers and abusers.
And how do you not interview adult artists? The economics of adult furry art alone are worth making a documentary about! Art is the only reason I'm here, tbh.
Of course, just like Hollywood action movies must have sex scenes for the producers to jerk to, couldn't be a documentary without including politics.
When it comes to community segregation, I hate to name drop but this problem is only escalated by people like Chase, who claims to have a criminology degree, but works for a moving company(?) goes out of his way to hunt down furries that are bad. Dragoneer also escalates the problem of segregation by also implementing rules that doesn't really apply to a fandom.
The reason why this is a problem, as it just moves it away. Fixing the problem is not hiding it under the rug. I can imagine them attempting to solve a bed bug infestation, by hiding the bed bugs, then wonder why the problem isn't going away despite not seeing it.
For anyone wondering how to solve problems of racism, sexism, hatred, here is some adult advise: You must include those people, you must interact with them, treat them as you want to be treated. They are bad people, there is no denying that fact, but if you want to change people, you have to not be a lazy shit, and actually try to change them. They were changed to believe something bad, then you change them back. Not everyone can change and will take their beliefs onto their gravestone, those are the people you outcast, it's a very small minority that we always want very small. But we won't get that goal with internet furry police trying to ban stuff and hope it goes away.
______________________________________________
It's definitely visible that there is a lot of furries that want to witch hunt and set their own fantasy rules, ignoring their own hypocrisy. I would love for someone to draw a side by side comparison cub porn of two characters, right next to them a character is committing rape, bestiality and snuff porn, while a character in the background pointing at the cub porn screaming "THAT IS WRONG!!". Despite... you know, ALL OF IT SHOULD BE WRONG BUT IF YOU HATE ONE BUT FINE WITH THE OTHER YOUR MORALS ARE CLEARLY SHIT.
But eh, you know, for the longest time a penis in the movie would give it a rating of X, but murder was okay for kids watching Disney movies. Knowing your morality vs. told your morality.
I'm Homosexual, Republican, 1A and 2A advocate and I detest the LGBT after how they handled the Pulse Shooting in Orlando Florida.
Straight up threw the victims under a bus to protect Islam because the shooter was Muslim.
I donated as much blood as they'd allow me, Chic Fila A even did a drive and at the time they were ANTI LGBT.
But today's Leftists have me hoping for a second Civil War.
Murders, Assaults, wanting destruction, Racism and discrimination.
And it's all applauded by Leftist Representatives.
USED to be.
Politics never actually became a thing in the Fandom until the Tublrtard exodus after their site was nuked for CP.
After that Community basically "merged" with ours it went straight to hell.
I never had an issue with Politics before that merger.
At sites like deviantArt, there was unpopular drama within the "shipfic" or relationship fanfiction community, where fiction writers would pair up their favorite fictional characters from pop culture in a relationship story. They were often extremely zealous and sometimes became unhinged when that fiction was challenged, such as the other writers putting the same characters in different relationships. In the furry fandom, that behavior began to manifest as people's choice of fiction was their fusonas, their characters, their own personal identity, and their perceived relationship between the world and all of the above. Some of the challenges to that fandom fiction included people snapping when other people's character was "too similar", when other people did not participate in that fiction, or reality checks arose like "You are not actually an [x], please stop doing [y], it isn't healthy, polite, considerate or moral". The conflict of challenging what someone did or who they thought they actually were became taboo, and the sort of atomization of personal identity happened relatively unchallenged and relatively early compared to the rest of the internet.
That sort of self-righteous "I'm angry at you, don't you dare be angry at me" attitude combined with edgy internet thrill-seekers attempting to find or create drama. It seemed to largely result in "brigading", huge numbers of people harassing a narrow number of targets. It seemed to largely go unchecked; there was no single institution to which the fandom answered. At most, websites could moderate themselves but often did not, generally either being out of touch with the fandom's niche, being lax, or being unable/unwilling to find a solution when harassment was coordinated and carried out across multiple websites and in many cases multiple sock puppet accounts. On brigading, I felt it was something like a decade ago when I saw 3 different brigades happen within perhaps a week, against the narrow crowd I followed. It was already out of control. Often, bad actors went entirely overlooked simply because they drew porn.
I had figured ages ago that socializing in the fandom with other people COULD still be a nice thing, but only within smaller pockets of sane people. The broader open-public aspects of the fandom seemed to keep declining in civility, with no will or way to correct itself. Often the way it "tried" to correct itself was more terrible rules/norms that don't apply to overlooked bad behavior.
At least, that's my take.
EDIT: this is pretty long, but I'm glad to get it off my chest.
If they can address very adult themes such as nazism, fascism and sexual identity, then they could tackle the deeper themes of this community.
Far left political extremists? OH NO! Trying to enact universal healthcare and a living wage! Won't someone save us from the leftists!?
So yes, won't someone please save us from the Terrorists that make up Left!
The Police Brutality argument!
Whatever shall I do!
How about this one?
Stop attacking people.
Stop setting shit on fire.
Stop looting.
Stop KILLING.
Can't say there HASN'T been death at the hands of the BLM and Antifa, so it's no longer Protesting.
It's flat out Insurrection and Terrorism.
Do as I say or I will hurt you paradigm.
Because what are you skinny jeans wearing pussies going to do when the people, who actually work for a living, start killing you guys for a change?
Call the police?
The Double Standard.
XD
Fuck the police, everything they do is deemed Brutality or Racist.
But if something goes wrong for YOU.
CALL THE POLICE!
Textbook Leftist.
Now you're trying to claim I'm Racist?
You do realize that's called Defamation and Slander, right?
Especially since I'm mixed.
Uh oh!
The Leftist just made a boo-boo!
They're hijacking the Peaceful Protests in the name of the protests.
That's why no one can tell them apart.
'We don't talk about that'
They are trying to paint a flowery safe space of the furry community and essentially sweep all adult influences under the rug, despite the 2016 study revealing that most furries consider content to be sexual, forming it's culture. There have been major scandals such as Rainfurrest completely glossed over to maintain the narrative. The average age of a furry has dropped to 18, that is dangerous if we continue to pretend the adult scene does not exist, hence the crackdowns on pedophilic furry rings on platforms such as Discord and wide spread STD testing at conventions due to a lack of sex ed or condoms.
When you frame it like that, it makes sense.
I watched the documentary in full after my comment and yeah, I had some issues with it myself.
Instead of talking about things like the trials and tribulations of conventions and online platforms (like Rainfurrest, FurAffinity, etc.), or anything else important, they focus on shit like "oh furry is not a fetish" (so much so that it looks like compensation) or the specter of the "alt-right" or "neo-nazis" in the community, as if that's even a thing at this point.
At this point, there's no saving the fandom from the monster it has become, so the only real solution would be to make small groups on platforms that aren't complete cancer (like making an instance on Mastodon, Pleroma, Diaspora, etc).
The whole topic of the furry fandom is honestly extremely tiring at this point, as conclusions are either never drawn or constantly changed, and no productive end is found to this ouroboros of a dialogue.
Quick note about "block chains", I think it's better to refer to them as "blocklists" or "blacklists" or something, because 'blockchain' is an actual word.
[Explains in great detail the trials and tribulations of the 70's, 80's and 90's
They did a great job showing essentially how the fandom came to be and what made it what it generally is today. Awesome history lesson that was a pretty clear view into the past.
Which is what makes its fall from that high point all the more painful. Like it was doing such a great job at showing how and why Furry is a thing, then it gets like, hung up? on all the LGBQ+ and political stuff. Like, they spent WAAAAaaayy to much time on the trans girl-man (i honestly don't know, plz don't hurt me), and the gay couple having a total self-pity party.
"No body had a problem when it was all female pin-ups" please, get over yourself.
TBH all the documentary pretty much did was label the Fandom as this exclusively Leftist, trans-gay club, which I do doubt was Ash's intention but it is what it is.
Not entirely related, but even I'm getting tired of how much of a crime not being gay-bi-trans is becoming. Like, fuck me for exclusively liking vaginas and boobs on woman and being perfectly comfortable in my male body I was born with irl.