Fandom ought to equal tolerance
Even though vt_komainu has already posted a link to this guy’s entry, I want to quote this paragraph from Lay Off the Furries, OK?
“Fursuiters aren’t hurting anyone. […] They’re role playing. I remember when more SF fans did this, and I miss it terribly. You know, maybe the fursuiters wouldn’t be so remarkable if there were more space pirates, jedis, elves, ninjas, wizards, androids, zombies, Vulcans, barbarians, Klingons, starship pilots, and bounty hunters running around, like we used to have in the old days. When I first attended my first science fiction convention over 20 years ago, it was explained to us newcomers that we didn’t have to create a fannish persona to attend. But we did have to do so if we were going to ever be accepted as one of the cool kids. Then fannish persona and consistent hall costuming declined precipitously, and now only the fursuiters and the anime cosplayers still do it. Well you know what? That doesn’t mean that they’re sick and weird. It means that the rest of us suck.”
Hear, hear!
Tags: conventions, costuming, philosophy
If you haven’t read it yet here’s the con report of Michel Gagne. Who seemed to have been quite wary of attending a Furry con at first.
http://www.gagneint.com/Final%20site/misc/conventions/Anthrocon/Anthrocon.htm
Stan Sakai also apparently enjoyed himself quite a bit, but sadly neither are making it next year because AC keeps falling really close to ComicCon. Oh well, maybe 2006 =)
(Oh and and I happen to be in one of those pictures if you look close enough ^_-
Hee, I saw you in that pic from another link. But that’s a nice article: “Hey, they’re just friendly, regular folk… in fursuits!”
Out of curiosity, having read that link and looked at the pictures, those are some darn nice costumes. Where in the world do people get them? Do most people just make them, or is there some sort of niche fursuit industry?
There are some creepy folks at the con, but what con doesn’t have them?
Heck, what street downtown doesn’t have them?
A little bit of all of the above. But from those pictures there, most of those were constructed by the person wearing it, or by another furry.
At this point it’s like… I almost don’t consider myself even a part of fandom. I mean, clearly I am because I’m not normal, but I’ve just seperated myself from that kind of fantastical role-playing so much that I hardly even understand it anymore.
Either way I will keep this in mind in future fandom interactions. I generally try not to mock anyone, understanding fully what it is to be mocked. But I have certainly heard the pervasive sentiment that “furry is just that one step too far”. I’ve heard it expressed in detached, more sympathetic tones and I’ve heard it expressed in the height of rudeness. But like many things I get an urge to feel some sort of judgement about, the most I will say is that I don’t understand it. And watch out for people who are condescending and rude about it.
This crap about “seeing the sickness in you” I don’t buy at all though. Sorry.
Some furries are undeniably creepy. I remember the one who quite calmly gave me fair warning that when the revolution came, all the hyoomans would be against the wall and shot to make way for the perfect furry world. But you can find that selection of disturbing people in any subculture. I just don’t think it’s right to say, “All these people who do ‘x’ are sick,” when, in most cases, the speaker hasn’t interacted with any significant sampling of that subculture – just a few of the noisier members.
I just wish fans would spend more time having fun and less time setting up pecking orders.
I guess for some people being mean is fun. Grr. 😛