Yet another negative publicity hit for the fandom.
Posted by jadedfox (J Strom) on Tue 1 Oct 2002 - 11:20 — Edited by GreenReaper as of Sun 16 May 2010 - 16:46
And no, I'm not talking about this comic. It's today's news. PVP (also known as Player vs Player) is a gaming oriented web comic strip, one that generally receives quite a bit of hits on a daily basis. Yesturday, Scott Kurtz had a negative strip for the fandom, from the character in his strip that is most known for being a close minded idiot. It was a very simple gag strip, that likely would have been shrugged off (see the fact that Dutch supported it) if it hadn't been for the reaction from fans. Judge for yourself and follow to see if the storyline continues at PVP Online.
About the author
jadedfox (J Strom) — read stories — contact (login required)a video game quality assurance specialist from Fremont, NH
Comments
Oh Noes! Somone has made the funny at Furry! We must Fight!!! If only we had super defence against this attack, the one wise ones call 'Sense of Humour'!
(Pegla who does not have his password handy):
Oh come on, please. The same "problem" we had with the comic Angst Technology at Inktank. So he made fun of furry. The reason we get in a bad spotlight all the time is often caused by the somewhat extreme responses some people give to the puns.
We are a big community guys, and big communities, especially "different" communities are often made fun of, like Star Trek, Star Wars, and so on.
Some people need a sense of humor indeed.
Aw just shaddap and don't be childish. I'm getting so tired of all those pathetic brats getting all defensive about a simply 4 panel comic (And i found them both rather funny) And i am serious. ACT NORMAL.
Honestly, agreed.. Sarcasm aside, the strip(s) are awesome, and shows Kurtz has a great sense of humor. My point was NOT the negative in the strip, it was the negative news about the emails he's been getting. Meh. I tried to keep personal opinion out of the submission and keep it newslike. If it hadn't been for the negative email feedback, my post would have been far different. More a glowing post that someone has a sense of humor. Folks need to lighten up.
(I personally feel this strip was a response to something Tycho said on Friday's Penny Arcade News. But meh again.)
Frankly, it's beautiful! Definitely another reason why Rabbit Valley will soon have the PVP paperbacks in stock. A very funny, very beautiful commentary on the furry and comic book artists fandom.
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I agree. I'm just disgusted by the responses he seems to have gotten. I personally emailed him as a long time fan and congratulated him on a hilarious strip. If folks read my entry. I'm not negative on Kurtz, I'm negative on the folks that replied to him.
Ummm, The "negative publicity hit" was the fact that everyone attacked like a swarm of hornets because the evil gaming strip dared to breathe an evil word about the precious fandom. Gee, I wonder where this awful stereotype comes from about furries being a bunch of weirdos with no sense of perspective who demand acceptance for every single aspect of who they are, no matter how far it strays from the rest of society.
Look folks, I'll boil it all down to this: If you put on ears and a tail and go walking in public, someone will laugh. You can either shrug your shoulders and be yourself, or you can do some type of angry, angsty, whiny defensive behavior. If you get defensive not only will you be laughed at even more, but you make it more difficult for anyone who might do the same later. If you're the type that gets pissy at every perceived slight, quite frankly you deserve to be picked on.
When I do that, I laugh along with them. I consider it a good thing to have added humor to someone's life simply by doing what I like--wearing my tail.
And it is funny, when I think about it. *giggle* *WAHAHAHA* *heh* Okay, I'm done. }=)
Smile! The world could use another happy person.
Seriously, you can't mean this actually bothers you. Furry is a culture that some consider odd and even more don't know it exsists. Of course they will say things. But, don't take comments from people who don't know what they are talking about too seriously.
I LIKE the comics. It's the reaction I'm upset about and consider the negative hit.
I didn't make that clear enough. As I said in the first line. "I'm not talking about this comic. It's today's news." Kurtz saying he got flames from furries about it ticks me off. ESPECIALLY seeing how Dutch approved of the use of Misty Mouse.
People need to get up and get over themselves. Mr Kurtz obviously doesn't take himself too seriously with how often he insults himself in his comic, neither should we. It's a FANDOM people. That means we like this as a hobby, it's nothing to get up in arms about. We just need to do what we enjoy and to hell with the negativity.
There I've said my peace.
Ok, I'm gonna jump in on this:
Personally, I think Kurtzman's just being a bit of an idiot here, jumping on an already-overcrowded 'let's poke fun at the furries' bandwagon. It's starting to stink of overkill.
Hey jadedfox, you call this a hobby?! what you smokin'? Furry is life, the rest is just details!
Now I'll shut up.
Tlaren }:=8}
The only thing I dislike about this fandom is that many furs are overly sensitive to stuff like this.
While the reasons for the sensitivity are obvious, it is still not needed.
That original comic and today's are obviously intended as JOKES. Everyone gets made fun of in the name of humor once and awhile, and most of them don't ***** about it.
The difference between this and the Penny Arcade thing back in april is simple, this was a joke while the PA thing was meant to piss us off and put us down.
It was funny, what would we be as a subculture if we can't laugh at ourselves everyonce in a while? :)
>It was funny, what would we be as a
>subculture if we can't laugh at ourselves
>everyonce in a while? :)
About where we are now.
Those were pretty funny. Really.
I deliberately try NOT to get upset at negative press anymore, but this hardly qualifies. One ought to see the difference between cruel "laugh at the freaks" humor and good-natured "laugh at ourselves" humor. The former's meant to ostricize, cause hurt (or would cause hurt if read by the target), use the victim as a punching bag. The other is... well, not.
We are still a young and tender community, but we really must learn to laugh at ourselves. Scott Kurtz can laugh at his own - we can too, if we try. It doesn't hurt, and is a sign of confidence, maturity, and growth. Some of the best humor out there pokes fun at the comedians themselves.
Lighten up, furs. Is it doin' any harm? Then for gosh sakes step back and let yourself chuckle at the absurdity that is us. After all, if you won't, someone else will.
Umm...
This isn't "laugh at ourselves" humor. Kurtz isn't a furry.
Is it doin' any harm, you ask? Well... it does perpetuate the "furries are sick deviants" lie.
Surely you jest?
His comics are making fun of the judgement calls his CHARACTERS make, poking fun at his OWN community, and ours, but in the same vein and spirit.
Case in point: "That would be like suggesting that all comic book artists secretly want to have sex with big-breasted women dressed up as superheroes." Then he pauses because he realizes, theoretically, that it is true.
Is it really? Of course not! But he's poking fun at his own using the stereotypes of his own community, comic book artists. Are comic book artists up in arms? Are they beating down his door to retract his insinuation? I doubt it.
The supposition that all furries are intersted in "f-cking animals" is only as true as the supposition that all comic book artists are interested in f-cking superhero chicks. Both carry the same amount of absurdity tinged with truth that creates, well, humor.
I could have sworn this wasn't worth explaining... oh well.
It doesn't matter if you're a furry or not, the jokes are still in the same spirit. Furries can produce derogatory and inflamatory humor (case in point, Shawn Keller) as much as non-furs can produce humor we all OUGHT to be able to laugh at. Saying Kurtz can't create "laugh at ourselves" furry humor is like saying I can't tell blonde jokes that aren't insulting. It is the spirit of the joke that counts, not the narrator, and while Kurtz may not be furry, he IS fannish, and fans of all genres, I would like to think, share a certain perspective that enables us to extrapolate what other fans experience, and thus tell jokes about groups not their own that are not offensive.
And now I have done waaaay too much extrapolation of humor. As has been said, if you have to explain it, it's a lost cause.
There's a difference between insinuating that some people like to f-ck animals and others may want to f-ck superhero chicks. Animals exist.
Morality and law dictates that having sex with animals is both wrong and illegal. The same wouldn't be the case if superhero chicks existed... except for perhaps a few States in the US. :XP
Benjamin
S t r i p e y M a n e y : A Liger's Anthropomorphic Animal Art Gallery
*cough*
"Big-breasted women dressed up like superheroes."
Must remember not to shorten terms for sake of brevity when I am being watched by people bent on misinterpretation.
Sheesh.
Sexual roleplay is still far more legal than zoophilia... at least in most US states. :XP
I'm sure some people find it insulting that someone insinuates that they're a zoophile. :XP
Benjamin
S t r i p e y M a n e y : A Liger's Anthropomorphic Animal Art Gallery
...oh god, not again...
I was tempted to write the author and apologise for Furrydom,
but by this point, what's the use? I mean, you can't really blame us
for being oversensitive, we get it from all sides no matter what we
do, don't we? It's hard to have a sense of humour after that stupid
Vanity Fair article, and the Penny Arcade thing, and all the Wired
articles, and so on, and so on... Surely it's not paranoia if they
really are out to get you !
But no, it doesn't help. Well nothing does, does it?
Personally, I'm resigned to being a f*****g freak in the public eye
and just trying to keep it off me.
D'Otter
Am I the only one who didn't find the strip in question funny?
P.S.
Indeed, am I the only one with the nagging suspicion that many of the other furries who found the strip so hilarious are just in some kind of denial? That subconsciously they're afraid to say they don't like it?
I for one don't like the strip, and am not afraid to say so. I read PvP on a regular basis, and I usually like it, but this strip disappointed me. Yes, I do think all the people flaming on the forum and in email overreacted. But then so did Kurtz himself, with his whiny "Oh I guess I'm a Neonazi" comments. Yes, there is a lot of lightening up needed all around.
But in the end... I still don't see what's so freakin' hilarious about that strip.
Amen, all this fandom-bashing's starting to stink of overkill.
Tlaren }:=8}
Gee, so, because I found the comic funny and apt, that means there must be something wrong with me...
Oh, no, wait maybe it means I'm not a furry...
ROFLMAO! It's all true! I'm in denial! I just can't admit it when I don't find something funny! I'm hiding behind the defense of being laid-back and unaffected by something that should cause me to go into paroxysims of rage!
;P
Well, the first strip may have been a bit humorous, seeing as it was supposed to be an "honest mistake" from a bigoted goof... then the second strip was perhaps a bit funnier, but today's... seems rather lame to me. Yeah, he's pushing the whole "freedom of speech" schtick that so many Americans pull in order to cover their asses, but there are times when even that can't cover up for a lame sense of humor. Quite frankly, he should stop hiding behind that philosophy and grow some balls of his own.
Also, from his original "joke" regarding furries, it's not like he came up with anything new, witty, or incisive. It's old hat that we've heard before time and time again, and quite frankly, it's a bore. Spouting ignorance like a parrot only goes to show how unoriginal and unthinking he is as a comic artist. If you want to be on the leading edge, don't use old news for your sources. :XP
Benjamin
S t r i p e y M a n e y : A Liger's Anthropomorphic Animal Art Gallery
http://commanderkitty.com/
And check todays October 3rd, 2002 PvP.
Maybe there was a severe over reaction?
Of course there was an over reaction. We're talking about furs here, aren't we? ;X)
As it is, Kurtz was out of his genre/theme when he decided to make a pot shot at furries. It's probably ultimately a publicity stunt anyways, seeing as if he knew anything about furries, he would have known the sort of reaction he'd get from them. :XP
Benjamin
Well know he's stretching thisng abit.
2 comics was fine, but even I am getting a little irritated now.
I feel as though its time for Kurtz to put up a comic with a different focus this time.
And yes the fandom overreactes as a direct result of the Vanity Fair article the MTV thing and other such media coverage. But it still doesn't justify the lack of a sense of humor in many furs.
We need to learn to laugh at ourselves, how do we get this messsage across? Flayrah.com is not that widely read...
http://www.mistymouse.com/images/Misty20021002.jpg
Hopefully the humor here is understood?
I understand the humor there.
And hopefully most furs will too. Although there is a higher chance of them understanding since it is after all Misty Mouse.
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