"Well, I don't know if anyone can really be said to have won anything"
What happened was that the trolls made such a fuss on YouTube that they pissed the YouTube community off. The community told the trolls they were sick of it and didn't want to hear it anymore. The trolls couldn't get their jollies anymore and moved on. There was a Furry victory celebration video. And in the aftermath a memo circulated around the internet that bashing Furries was no longer considered cool.
Now when anyone starts to rag on us, they're told "Bashing Furries is so last decade."
As for what we won, we won a chance to finally have a happy community where fans can have fun being fans, if we can just get the fans to accept the notion that the persecution years are over so they don't go around stirring up more trouble.
"My feeling is that we don't sell the Furries to the masses; we sell the product."
We have a product? It would be nice if we did, but most of us aren't producing anything salable. Plus, even if we were, there's no market out there to sell it in.
Furry used to depend on the comics market. We did reasonably well there, but that crashed and is not likely ever going to make a comeback.
Animation is the only logical market for Furry with any vitality left in it. The day Furries make their own movie company and start producing marketable films we'll have a product. But I'm not holding my breath waiting for that to happen.
My idea would be to sell the object of the fandom. Produce a documentary about the history of anthropomorphic animals. Get them established in the minds of the public as a recognized field of the arts.
This I think would help us immensely, because most of the misunderstandings that exist stem from anyone who does any kind of piece on us avoiding an explanation of the object of the fandom like the plague, rendering us that weird fandom for . . . what? Itself?
Get the object out in front of the public. Let the object sell the fandom, like every other fandom on Earth does.
"There is an odd mixture of what would appear to be self-loathing (and probably often is) and self-pride in the way they hide their real selves in most "furry to furry" interactions, but expect the public to accept them for who they are. It's a paradox."
I don't think Furries expect anything from the public but to either leave them alone, or allow us to entertain them. Fursonas are generally used for communicating with other Furries who understand a person's need to be seen as a fox, or whatever.
Yes, there's self-loathing in the fandom. The fandom is attractive to people who find therapy in being relieved of their real world appearance and/or disabilities. But I look on that as a good thing.
If the fandom can function in a way that gives some semblance of a life to those who would otherwise not have one, then the fandom is more than a fandom. It's a service to humanity.
"your essay's assertation (which is common in the fandom) that anyone who likes anything with talking animals is a furry."
My essay doesn't say that at all. My essay says being a Furry is a choice. It defines Furry Fandom as, "The conglomeration of people around the world with a particular interest in Anthropomorphic Animals great enough that they would term themselves a fan of such."
"you don't have to be a furry to enjoy furry."
Ok, if Sonic is the only anthropomorphic title someone likes, that's a Sonic fan, not a Furry fan. If someone likes or writes a novel with talking animals, but otherwise is not into anything else anthropomorphic, that's not a Furry. Though fans will call anyone who writes a talking animal story a Furry author. But that's something different that does not imply the author is a Furry - just that they contributed to the genre.
To qualify as a Furry, the person's interest must be in anthropomorphic animals in general. It's when the Sonic fan says, "I think I'd like to find more animal characters like Sonic" that he has need of Furry Fandom.
Still, he can say I'm just visiting Furry to see what it has to offer. I don't consider myself a Furry yet. But he can't start saying "I'm a fan of anthropomorphic animals, but I'm not a Furry,” because that's all a Furry is.
Well, he can say it, of course. But everyone within ear shot will know he's a Furry in denial.
It's entirely possible for someone to come into the community, set up a FA page to display his anthropomorphic animal creations, and state that he is not a Furry, if he can profess to not being particularly interested in other anthropomorphic characters.
Furry is a title for extreme fans, not for the casual. Not for the person who says "I like cartoons in general, both Furry and non-Furry. I just come to The Furry Community because some of the toons I like are here."
Furry is for the person who says, "I come to the Furry community because I'm obsessively interested in the animal toons.”
Still, one always has a choice of what label they stick on themselves. One can avoid calling himself a Furry, even if he's the biggest anthropomorphics addict on the internet. But, via his interests, every Furry is going to assume he's a Furry. And when they casually refer to him as one of their Furry friends and he barks at them "I'M NOT A FURRY!!!" - a Furry will get all choked up and form big tear glazed eyes as he asks, "We like all the same things. Why don't you want to be my friend?"
"I myself would like to sell a furry movie; if a non-furry sees this movie and still has no desire to call his or herself a furry, that's okay with me."
Everyone who watches Kung Fu Panda is not a Furry. Everyone who likes Disney movies is not a Furry. The general public has been enjoying Furry movies since 1937 without developing a Furry addiction.
Well, most of them don't, I assume. I can't honestly say that was true for me. Disney hooked me for life on the stuff.
"I do not consider myself a Trekker."
I don't either, though I too have a box set. But here's a real twist. I write science fiction, but I don't consider myself a science fiction fan. I don't watch Star Trek and Doctor who for the science fiction. I don't watch Dark Shadows for the Gothic horror.
But I do watch My Little Pony because I like anthropomorphic animals. If it was My Little Human, it could be exactly the same story, and I'd have no interest in it. That’s being a Furry. But the Pokémon fan who can say "I only watch this show because it's Anime" is not being a Furry.
"Well, I don't know if anyone can really be said to have won anything"
What happened was that the trolls made such a fuss on YouTube that they pissed the YouTube community off. The community told the trolls they were sick of it and didn't want to hear it anymore. The trolls couldn't get their jollies anymore and moved on. There was a Furry victory celebration video. And in the aftermath a memo circulated around the internet that bashing Furries was no longer considered cool.
Now when anyone starts to rag on us, they're told "Bashing Furries is so last decade."
As for what we won, we won a chance to finally have a happy community where fans can have fun being fans, if we can just get the fans to accept the notion that the persecution years are over so they don't go around stirring up more trouble.
"My feeling is that we don't sell the Furries to the masses; we sell the product."
We have a product? It would be nice if we did, but most of us aren't producing anything salable. Plus, even if we were, there's no market out there to sell it in.
Furry used to depend on the comics market. We did reasonably well there, but that crashed and is not likely ever going to make a comeback.
Animation is the only logical market for Furry with any vitality left in it. The day Furries make their own movie company and start producing marketable films we'll have a product. But I'm not holding my breath waiting for that to happen.
My idea would be to sell the object of the fandom. Produce a documentary about the history of anthropomorphic animals. Get them established in the minds of the public as a recognized field of the arts.
This I think would help us immensely, because most of the misunderstandings that exist stem from anyone who does any kind of piece on us avoiding an explanation of the object of the fandom like the plague, rendering us that weird fandom for . . . what? Itself?
Get the object out in front of the public. Let the object sell the fandom, like every other fandom on Earth does.
"There is an odd mixture of what would appear to be self-loathing (and probably often is) and self-pride in the way they hide their real selves in most "furry to furry" interactions, but expect the public to accept them for who they are. It's a paradox."
I don't think Furries expect anything from the public but to either leave them alone, or allow us to entertain them. Fursonas are generally used for communicating with other Furries who understand a person's need to be seen as a fox, or whatever.
Yes, there's self-loathing in the fandom. The fandom is attractive to people who find therapy in being relieved of their real world appearance and/or disabilities. But I look on that as a good thing.
If the fandom can function in a way that gives some semblance of a life to those who would otherwise not have one, then the fandom is more than a fandom. It's a service to humanity.
"your essay's assertation (which is common in the fandom) that anyone who likes anything with talking animals is a furry."
My essay doesn't say that at all. My essay says being a Furry is a choice. It defines Furry Fandom as, "The conglomeration of people around the world with a particular interest in Anthropomorphic Animals great enough that they would term themselves a fan of such."
"you don't have to be a furry to enjoy furry."
Ok, if Sonic is the only anthropomorphic title someone likes, that's a Sonic fan, not a Furry fan. If someone likes or writes a novel with talking animals, but otherwise is not into anything else anthropomorphic, that's not a Furry. Though fans will call anyone who writes a talking animal story a Furry author. But that's something different that does not imply the author is a Furry - just that they contributed to the genre.
To qualify as a Furry, the person's interest must be in anthropomorphic animals in general. It's when the Sonic fan says, "I think I'd like to find more animal characters like Sonic" that he has need of Furry Fandom.
Still, he can say I'm just visiting Furry to see what it has to offer. I don't consider myself a Furry yet. But he can't start saying "I'm a fan of anthropomorphic animals, but I'm not a Furry,” because that's all a Furry is.
Well, he can say it, of course. But everyone within ear shot will know he's a Furry in denial.
It's entirely possible for someone to come into the community, set up a FA page to display his anthropomorphic animal creations, and state that he is not a Furry, if he can profess to not being particularly interested in other anthropomorphic characters.
Furry is a title for extreme fans, not for the casual. Not for the person who says "I like cartoons in general, both Furry and non-Furry. I just come to The Furry Community because some of the toons I like are here."
Furry is for the person who says, "I come to the Furry community because I'm obsessively interested in the animal toons.”
Still, one always has a choice of what label they stick on themselves. One can avoid calling himself a Furry, even if he's the biggest anthropomorphics addict on the internet. But, via his interests, every Furry is going to assume he's a Furry. And when they casually refer to him as one of their Furry friends and he barks at them "I'M NOT A FURRY!!!" - a Furry will get all choked up and form big tear glazed eyes as he asks, "We like all the same things. Why don't you want to be my friend?"
"I myself would like to sell a furry movie; if a non-furry sees this movie and still has no desire to call his or herself a furry, that's okay with me."
Everyone who watches Kung Fu Panda is not a Furry. Everyone who likes Disney movies is not a Furry. The general public has been enjoying Furry movies since 1937 without developing a Furry addiction.
Well, most of them don't, I assume. I can't honestly say that was true for me. Disney hooked me for life on the stuff.
"I do not consider myself a Trekker."
I don't either, though I too have a box set. But here's a real twist. I write science fiction, but I don't consider myself a science fiction fan. I don't watch Star Trek and Doctor who for the science fiction. I don't watch Dark Shadows for the Gothic horror.
But I do watch My Little Pony because I like anthropomorphic animals. If it was My Little Human, it could be exactly the same story, and I'd have no interest in it. That’s being a Furry. But the Pokémon fan who can say "I only watch this show because it's Anime" is not being a Furry.