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The New York Post likes us...but its readers don't :-((
2 years ago
General
Just a few weeks after the paper posted an article about Furry Planet they ran a story on Friday from another publication:
"I’m a teacher by day and a furry by night — here’s why you shouldn’t judge me." - https://nypost.com/2023/09/22/im-a-.....ldnt-judge-me/
Article was very straightforward, non judgemental - but I can't say the same for the comments. Except for 1 or 2 "let them do what they want," the rest - about 93 or so - were angry to the point of utter viciousness. (Public school teachers were subject to a lot of vitriol whether they were furries or not, and of course the usual "grooming" cries were included.)
Of course, I felt obligated to speak up for us; as of this moment my reply is at the top of the list, as yet to be attacked by any of the yahoos:
***
The Post has printed at least four friendly articles about the Furry community in the last few years - and as the author of Furry Nation and now Furry Planet, I've been quoted in three of them.
The level of misunderstanding and even anger in many of these comments is surprising. People have been "dres" or taking on animal identities since the beginning of civilization, and are even part of religious rituals for many indigenous peoples; likewise imagining anthropomorphic animals in ancient times as gods, and in modern times as cartoon characters or sports or product mascots. It's an instinct hard-wired into the human mind and furries are simply people who are more in touch with that instinct than the general population (almost all of whom enjoy the antics of cartoon animals - a minor touch of the same instinct that motivates furries).
I suspect the authors of many of the above comments have had the liberating, fun experience of becoming "someone else" on Halloween, liberating an alternate personality for a little while - we furries just get to enjoy it more often than most people. PS: only about 20% of furries actually wear those suits (including this occasional Komodo dragon!)
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by the way, "suprising" was originally "terrifying," but I softened it just in case the Post might have been upset I called their readers terrifying.
"I’m a teacher by day and a furry by night — here’s why you shouldn’t judge me." - https://nypost.com/2023/09/22/im-a-.....ldnt-judge-me/
Article was very straightforward, non judgemental - but I can't say the same for the comments. Except for 1 or 2 "let them do what they want," the rest - about 93 or so - were angry to the point of utter viciousness. (Public school teachers were subject to a lot of vitriol whether they were furries or not, and of course the usual "grooming" cries were included.)
Of course, I felt obligated to speak up for us; as of this moment my reply is at the top of the list, as yet to be attacked by any of the yahoos:
***
The Post has printed at least four friendly articles about the Furry community in the last few years - and as the author of Furry Nation and now Furry Planet, I've been quoted in three of them.
The level of misunderstanding and even anger in many of these comments is surprising. People have been "dres" or taking on animal identities since the beginning of civilization, and are even part of religious rituals for many indigenous peoples; likewise imagining anthropomorphic animals in ancient times as gods, and in modern times as cartoon characters or sports or product mascots. It's an instinct hard-wired into the human mind and furries are simply people who are more in touch with that instinct than the general population (almost all of whom enjoy the antics of cartoon animals - a minor touch of the same instinct that motivates furries).
I suspect the authors of many of the above comments have had the liberating, fun experience of becoming "someone else" on Halloween, liberating an alternate personality for a little while - we furries just get to enjoy it more often than most people. PS: only about 20% of furries actually wear those suits (including this occasional Komodo dragon!)
***
by the way, "suprising" was originally "terrifying," but I softened it just in case the Post might have been upset I called their readers terrifying.
Their editorial and management departments are likely to be much more intelligent and understanding about such things, but they know that in the end their job is to sell their paper, and they know that the fandom will attract eyes and be red meat and rage bait for their target audience. What they do isn't journalism, it's marketing for their brand directed at their base. They don't actually "Care" about furries, what you have to say, or really anything but getting eyes on and engagement with their product.
Your reply was way too intellectual and well reasoned for the average reader there, I'm afraid. Their readers, or at least the ones likely to comment on an article like that, are exactly the people that wouldn't "Get" something like the furry community and would be likely to trash it as opposed to actually thinking about it. Or even, Gods forbid, accepting the idea that people might choose to indulge in something they don't accept or wouldn't even think about trying to understand.
Yeah, it's sort of my standard "here's what we're about" speech; I'm not sure how to (or if it could be) dumb(ed) it down to the average Post reader's level. I have a feeling you're right - they ran it as "rage bait" and it certainly evoked plenty.
Just the sheer inchoherence of their anger was terrifying: "These freaks want to legalize sex with animals. AND children" - was one of the milder comments, but my favorite has to be "...public school indoctrination turning them into unemployable, narcissistic socialist sociopaths demanding a free ride." I mean...wow, just wow.
Funny, the Post didnt' put include a comments section on their Furry Planet article, just a thumbs up/down tally: 37 up; 5 so-so and 293 down. (Apart from the comments, the teacher article got a mere 2 thumbs up and 132 down.)
As I said, par for the course. Consider the source. I'm not the least bit surprised.
Furries are an easy target for trolling or trashing. Hell, I like to make fun of them myself, and I call myself one. I'll have to read the comments there some time. There were few if any when I read the article. As a proud "Unemployable, narcissistic socialist sociopath demanding a free ride", I'd wear those as a badge of courage.
My favorite reviews of bands I've been in were the ones trashing us.
My favorite was probably the one predicting a furry president.
Dominus tecum