strap in you butt ticklers, kongo, the not very known man is using his "make a big ass post" ticket
probably ten thousand plus posts combined from my old account so i have the right to finally speak my mind on something
Most "regular people" don't care.
These days there's been enough information by actual reputable sources about what furries are, that most people either realize a lot of the stuff out their about furries is either false, or they just don't care. These days, your average person who hates them are denizens of the internet hiding behind anonymity; either trolls, or the type of people who just have to have something to hate.
what "reputable sources" that an average person follows have explained what a furry is
the last news station i've seen even acknowledge the existence of furries was fox and that was only because two furries killed two other furries
the reason most people don't like furries is because
they are pretending to be animal people and that is - obviously - strange
trying to say the reason people hate furries is because they just want to hate something / are a troll is beyond dumb, if there's a mass amount of hate for something you can't deny that there must be something bad about it to the average joe
As a staff photographer for multiple conventions, and my state's (fairly large) local furry community group, I've witnessed plenty of interactions between fursuiters and the general public. Capturing these interactions is a large part of my role as a staff photographer
If online interactions are anything to make assumptions off, you would think there would be a lot of people approaching us, screaming "WEIRDO" "FREAK" or just generally causing trouble. And yet in the....probably 30-40 separate events I've been to, not once have I seen such a thing happen. Instead what happens is people are thrilled to see us.
it's almost as if near a convention specifically for furries there's going to be positive interaction between furries and regular people, just like at any convention or big event. why would people who hate furries be anywhere near a convention where there's going to be tons of furries? unless they're planning to drop a chlorine bomb i don't see any reason why they'd stop there
regular people aren't going to cause problems because regular people don't go in public to shout at other people and generally be an starfish
i don't like furries and i saw two that were - of course - in bright, cyan suits, walking right in the middle of the walkway instead of on one end, side by side, practically taking up the entire walkway, throwing their hands all over the place while recording it and generally being obnoxious at a renaissance fair this year
obviously i didn't walk up to them and be a rooster, instead i went down a different walkway nearby
because y'know, instead of starting conflict i did something easier. like most regular people would decide to do.
- We wander around parks or even downtown Minneapolis, and people come up to us to take photos of/with the fursuiters/get their kids to come up and interact
yeah and if i make a high quality soul calibur nightmare getup, people are going to be interested and want to take a picture
they probably won't know anything about nightmare or what he's from, but it's still a cool ass knight guy meandering around in a park.
- A local pet store is thrilled to have us coming back every winter and spring to help with their fundraiser for an animal shelter. Store employees/management take pictures with us
- Our local non-profit zoo loves having us every Halloween for their kid-friendly Halloween fundraiser
do you wonder why a pet store and zoo might love having people dressed as animals come to their stores and give them money, and then stick around to promote said pet store and zoo so other people give them money?
it's almost like it's helping the pet store and zoo - places about animals - to have people dressed as animals come down and promote them. crazy, right?
i could do the same thing in a full plate knight's get-up and - while obviously it wouldn't be "hell yeah we've got animal people promoting animals" - it would still be a "hell yeah the knight dude is here to give us money and tell other people to give us money". they're not gonna tell me to go away when i'm helping them, nor would they tell regular people to go away. they'd take pictures of regular people that stop by yearly too, like most fundraisers do.
being a furry only has the impact of "animal people helping animals", it's not like they're
strictly the kind of people the pet store / zoo wants to have at the fundraiser.
- Local bowling alleys have asked me to take a photo of the fursuiters standing by their logo, and send them the photo so they can post it
- Convention hotel staff love to watch main stage events, or even participate by throwing on something like an animal ear headband
it's almost like if any large group of interesting looking people frequent any establishment, the establishment would think "yo look at this we even got ANIMAL PEOPLE / COOL ASS BIKERS / PIRATES / WHATEVER coming to our place!! IT'S CRAZY!!!"
a group of regular people standing by the logo isn't as interesting as the thundercats standing by the logo
see below for the convention hotel people
And before somebody can say otherwise, yes these people know what furries are. The pet store and zoo employees refer to us as such. Hotel staff at conventions sure as stuff know what we are, there's no way to doub that. And from the general public, I've heard comments like (in an excited tone) "OMG FURRIES!" and "full suited furries are the cutest thing ever"
has it ever crossed your mind that, just possibly, these people DON'T know anything about furries, just the name, and the fact they dress up as animal people? i don't know anything about the history of vikings but i sure as hell think they're cool and by extension, people dressing as vikings at renaissance fairs are also cool
if you didn't know, animal people have been in media for a
lot longer than furries have existed, so a furry to someone who only knows the name, is just an animal person. they don't pay attention to the community, the kinds of people, what the community breeds, etc. they pay attention to the fact furries just look like thundercats but with mostly obnoxious coloring
i doubt most of the people that say "hell yeah furries" realize how much research and degeneracy comes out of the community, and as i've said, i don't have anything against furries, but it's undeniable that a whole lot of research and weird garbage comes from the general furry community. the stereotype of furries being research-buying weirdos didn't form out of thin air
Nobody (well, almost nobody) "thinks they're actually a dog-man". It's just fun to play a character occasionally.
Sure, it's pretty weird, I'll be the first to admit that. But your "average joe" doesn't connect "pretty weird" to be deserving of all the hate that furries get
i had to go on furaffinity to find a reference for aforementioned christmas present and there was a "species" tag. now i don't know about you but i think if the biggest furry website has an option to say "i'm a dog-man" and then most people use the option to call themselves a dog-man, that a lot of furries actually think they're a dog-man. not to mention the images that get posted in ycyl every so often of a furry standing in front of a mirror with their "fursona" in the reflection
of course the average joe doesn't think people dressing up as animal people should get lynched
but the average joe also isn't going to know the community and the ins-and-outs of furries
fun fact if you look up tony the tiger you get research. softcore and hardcore research. for a cereal box mascot. i could've just said that since it proves my point that furries are weird instead of making this gigantic post
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