We should do something!

[anoni]

OK. The main stereotype of furries is that they are creepy, weird and like to do gross things to animals. We should tell people that furries don't do those things. That is the main reason that furries are hated on. And I hate to admit this, but before I became a furry I thought that furries had those characteristics. So....yeah, I had to get that rant off my chest. 

AHAHAHAHAHA oh, wow. We've tried to do this, and I have given up. let people think what they want, you can't argue with stupidity.

I disagree! you can argue with stupidity but not in the same way you'd argue with intellect. With intellect you follow on the same lines of logic and facts, with stupidity you do not. What does this mean? Simply, you can not prove anything to them, what you can do is disprove what they believe to themselves. Find plot holes, loop holes or paradoxes in their own logic, find something wrong with their logic, if you can't then maybe they're right

[MrRazot]

it is true that we can argue our point across, but then it would still have minimal impact.
even if we managed to change the mind of 10'000 people that wouldn't even be 0.0000001% of the internet.


unless we can make a global appeal, we have no chance against the haters.


besides, haters gonna hate, skaters gonna skate, potatoes gonna potate
you just have to learn to live with the fact that there is always someone that hates you for being you.

[anoni]

I agree but I also disagree.

I agree in the terms that our changes will have a small impact
I disagree in the terms that we shouldn't try to change people's opinions because of that

Even if we can make life just a little bit better for us, even if it's not much, I think it's still worth it

[MrRazot]

well i found a site of which is a furry hater site.
it's pretty much saying that they should hate us because we make it too easy to be made fun of.
also when i was in my "deep thought mode " i realised that being a furry is like liking twilight or justin bieber.
we can say we like it and no one can make us not like it, yet everyone will always ridicule you even though your friends will be more accepting than the haters.

i guess if you hate justin bieber or twilight then you should know that you are no better than the furry haters.
make people not hate justin bieber and twilight and then we can make people not hate us.

in the words of yoda "do or do not, there is no try"

[MiltoniusPrime]

I don't see why's it such a big deal letting people have negative opinions of something.  Perhaps there's folks out there who knew some bad examples of furs (inappropriate conversation, hygiene/appearance, something more private) who have a good personal reason for disliking them, even if those reasons don't apply to most of the fandom.

As long as someone isn't going out of their way to personally attack furs and make their life worse, people can think what they want to.  Someone stumbling across a few anti-furs on a site might upset that person, but it doesn't mean we need to swarm in and spread pamphlets on how amazing furs are.

~~~OPINIONS BELOW~~~
Being involved in the fandom is very much not like Justin Bieber or Twilight.  Those examples are too strict.  They're one entity, not even a genre or fandom (Twilight doesn't have enough of a mythos or history built up to denote a fandom, IMO).  Most people dislike them for one or two reasons: either they personally experienced and disliked it, or they can't stand how the fans act.  I don't know many people who get involved in the furry fandom because of fad status.  What is there really to gain from associating with furs, in terms of popularity?  I mean, you can make friends (always nice), but I wouldn't say furs are "in style".  The closest thing I've seen to latching onto furry trends are places like Hot Topic and online shops selling hats with ears, or those fluffy animal-style caps with the long droopy parts on the sides.

[MrRazot]

i cant say i've ever been too good at examples


i don't care that people hate us because there will always be haters and that was my point.
rather worry about the bigger things in life

[anoni]

Well for me, mainly, for me to dislike something I resort to reasoning. For Justin and Twilight, I don't hate the people who like those, I just have a differing view to them. For people who say that Justin is the best music, I'd say I thoroughly disagree and state my reasoning, in which case instead of stating their reasoning to why justin is better they just call me a hater (even though I never said anything personal and simply stayed to the facts, never mentioned the actual person once.)

  Either way, for me, saying that "we stop making people hate Justin and twilight before we stop making people hate furries" is like saying "We can stop global warming and recycle after we kill Kony" why can't we try to do them at the same time? or only do the things that matter to you mostly. For me any action towards the cause is a good action, even if it's small

[Vine Tabris]

I think what a lot of people are missing is that most of the Internet aren't making fun of furries because of some cosmic misunderstanding or lack or furry education, they do it because it's funny. For some people, they just really don't care about finding out facts or knowing how a fandom really works, they're just out to get their kicks, so most people who hate furries are doing so for entertainment.
So, in general, that means that it doesn't matter if you try to reeducate them or not, they're just out for entertainment at others expense and have no reason to change, so I don't think it's a fight worth fighting. I don't really think its anything to really worry about either, just have fun with other furries when you can; it's when people try to force their interests on other people that causes the worst backlashes. It's fine that some people hate a fandom, it's incredibly silly to expect or try to force everyone to like the same things.

[Luke White-Heart]

I think that if we at least eliminate the stereotypes about us, then the haters are at least informed. If there's one thing i HATE, it's people who hate things/people/ideas even though they know nothing about what they hate. i.e. uninformed haters. If we can just get the truth out there, then people can judge us however they want. I don't give a flyin frak what people think of me, as long as they know me.

[Vine Tabris]

No offense, but I think trying to fix the furry image would be like trying to fix Hilters image. I mean, you can tell people all about how Hitler miraculously improved the German economy, virtually erased the unemployment rate before WWII even started, and was a vegetarian and art patron, but all people will say is "yeah, but, uhhh......he's Hitler......"
It's too deeply imbedded, and there's tons of people out there who will continue to damage the furry name, so of course people are going to see the bad rather than the good, because the bad is more interesting and entertaining.

[Daemon]

No offense, but I think trying to fix the furry image would be like trying to fix Hilters image. I mean, you can tell people all about how Hitler miraculously improved the German economy, virtually erased the unemployment rate before WWII even started, and was a vegetarian and art patron, but all people will say is "yeah, but, uhhh......he's Hitler......"
It's too deeply imbedded, and there's tons of people out there who will continue to damage the furry name, so of course people are going to see the bad rather than the good, because the bad is more interesting and entertaining.

Even though it's hard to compare anything to hitler. The bad is more interesting and entertaining is quite correct.


Which is why a local newsstation will ALWAYS be less popular than a Fox station that delivers to teh people of the same area. It's because bad/missinformed/exciting/paranoid news gets views and ratings.


for example
"How escalators can kill you."
One example of news that sells


"Man wins lottery of 100,00"
News that does not/local.


Either way, news outlets will still focus on the negative aspects of the furry fandom, like the ones into zoophilia and cub, or, even though it's not even a 10th as bad, the fursuiters and people who act like animals.


Even though completely "normal" people can be pedos/zoophiles, it's more exciting to pin it all on a minority.


"Just look at dem furries squirm!"

[Eibhleann]

Usually what I do if I'm confronted by someone ignorant about the fandom is point out that old, classic cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Roadrunner, Daffy Duck, etc are technically "furries", i.e., animals with anthropomorphic features, and they were never involved in anything that could be considered scandelous or sexual. If they've seen (which they definitely have unless they've been under a rock all their lives) at least one of any of the classic cartoon characters, and enjoyed them, they can be considered a furry.

[legolyle]

No offense, but I think trying to fix the furry image would be like trying to fix Hilters image. I mean, you can tell people all about how Hitler miraculously improved the German economy, virtually erased the unemployment rate before WWII even started, and was a vegetarian and art patron, but all people will say is "yeah, but, uhhh......he's Hitler......"
It's too deeply imbedded, and there's tons of people out there who will continue to damage the furry name, so of course people are going to see the bad rather than the good, because the bad is more interesting and entertaining.

sir, you have invoked godwins law
even though I agree xD

[MrRazot]

The Godwin's law strikes again!


maybe we should brainwash the masses, worst case scenario is we have a slave army.


on a realistic note, people will slowly come to understand that we aren't all what they think we are. We at least have the common decency not to judge others so blatantly and that is where the advantage lies! 

[Vine Tabris]

The funny thing about Godwin's law is that, given enough time, the chances of ANY subject appearing will increase.
If you replace the description of Godwin's law with "furries" instead of "Nazis" it'll still be the same.
The whole thing is silly.