The problem is that "it's about having fun dressing up as animals" is a) what people assume from glancing at the average meet/convention; b) immediately understandable and somewhat relatable (if unorthodox); and c) not as liable to cause people to call the police if you come within 500 feet of children - as opposed to portions of the messy truth:
…well, it's complicated - it started with comic artists in the '70s [let's not get started on funny animals], mixing with geeks at sci-fi cons who later ran these text-based multiplayer worlds at university; some had deep spiritual beliefs about being an animal, while others came for the sex or just liked pretending they were animals… oh, and the children's cartoons in the '80s and '90s got a lot of people in… then a few started making costumes; a lot of them were the bunny rabbit outfit kind, then rugs and mascots… but the art was the big thing - especially Omaha, that was huge, and they decided it wasn't even illegal eventually… nowadays there's lots of people making money from these suits, which is really cool, but plenty of artists make a living from it, too, even some writers; and there's a big market in porn of those children's cartoon characters… oh, plus we have huge community websites funded by the operators of a soft-core "3D dress-up and chat" client, and a company which crafts bespoke animal dildos.
There's minefields enough in "dress up as animals". Do people do it because they love creating characters; or want to entertain children, or each other? Do they want to be an animal? Do they find it hard to interact with others face to face? Do they want to get hugs? Get laid? Get laid as the spirit animal they believe they are? All explanations are 100% accurate for individuals who I've met.
Frankly it may have been in nobody's best interest to try to tell the whole truth, although I noticed Ed tried to open it up a bit. This was a segment on people dressing up as animals. It came shortly after the woman who spent her benefits check on a pet horse. But maybe it made mothers more comfortable about the meets their teenage kids were going to this weekend, and that's probably why they did it.
Come now, you can't say you don't like to dress up - I've seen your hat! And look, this one even has bunny ears. ;-p
The problem is that "it's about having fun dressing up as animals" is a) what people assume from glancing at the average meet/convention; b) immediately understandable and somewhat relatable (if unorthodox); and c) not as liable to cause people to call the police if you come within 500 feet of children - as opposed to portions of the messy truth:
So it's not the whole truth, no. But it's hard and awkward to get the real story across in a five-minute TV segment. Because of that, people inevitably try to simplify it, just as sci-fi is about AI robots gone bad in space (which also happens to be what anime is about).
There's minefields enough in "dress up as animals". Do people do it because they love creating characters; or want to entertain children, or each other? Do they want to be an animal? Do they find it hard to interact with others face to face? Do they want to get hugs? Get laid? Get laid as the spirit animal they believe they are? All explanations are 100% accurate for individuals who I've met.
Frankly it may have been in nobody's best interest to try to tell the whole truth, although I noticed Ed tried to open it up a bit. This was a segment on people dressing up as animals. It came shortly after the woman who spent her benefits check on a pet horse. But maybe it made mothers more comfortable about the meets their teenage kids were going to this weekend, and that's probably why they did it.