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Hello Everyone! 

We open tonight's show with a discussion of whether or not you should go on witch hunts to expose underaged furries. What potential ethical and legal issues might arise if you dox an underage fur, and what responsibility do you have when you discover an underaged fur is posting or consuming adult content? As always, we are not lawyers and this does not constitute legal advice!

Our main topic concerns how to negotiate power exchange relationships. What exactly is a power exchange dynamic, should you ever rush into one, what should your relationship terms look like, and what should you expect from each party in such a relationship?

We close out the episode with a question about how to negotiate with a monogamous partner when you are polyamorous and also in existing power exchange relationships. 

For more information, including a list of topics, see our Show Notes for this episode.

Thanks and, as always, be well!

FA 022 Negotiating Power Exchange Relationships - What is a power exchange relationship and how should you set yourself up for such a dynamic? Also, should you dox underaged kids on the internet? (The answer is no)

First Second Books have a new full-color graphic novel for young readers: It’s called Hippopotamister, written and illustrated by John Patrick Green. According to a review over at GeekDad, “Hippopotamister is the tale of (you guessed it) a hippo and his friend, Red Panda. Tired of living in the rundown city zoo, they run away and seek jobs in the human world, where Hippo must become ‘Hippopotamister’ to get by. Hippo excels at each job, but Red Panda keeps getting them fired. Longing for his home, Hippo goes back to the zoo and discovers he can return the place to its former glory using his newfound skills. But can he do it without his friend Red Panda?” The article includes several sample pages from this hardcover book.

image c. 2016 by John Green

The [adjective][species] Philosophy Survey is an investigation into what furries think of the world, morality, and knowledge, amongst other things. No prior knowledge of philosophy is needed to complete the survey, and most of the questions will be ones that most people have thought of in their spare time anyway. What we are particularly interested in is if the answers given have any correlation, both with one another, and with the fandom’s demographics: Do older furries tend to hold different views than others? Does one species lean more towards scientific explanation than others? This survey hopes to give insight on these questions.

Overall, the survey will likely take about five minutes or less, though participants are encouraged to think about each question as they go. The results will be anonymous, and used in visualizations. Various comparisons with the general views of society will also help to understand if furries have any majorly varying ideas to the general public. Additionally, where applicable, the results will also be contrasted with David Chalmers “What Do Philosophers Believe?” survey, which gathered the beliefs of professional philosophers from across the world. The survey will run for 2 months, after which, after some time for analysis, the results will be made public (though no personal information will be given, and all results will forever be anonymous).

Thank you for your time. This is an area of furry that many of us wish to explore deeper, and the data from this survey will go a long way to analyzing the community at a deeper level.

You can take the survey here.

When you write a first draft, you shouldn’t be thinking about scene-level editing. There are times when you might think, “oh, I want to write this scene but I probably won’t use it,” but go ahead and write it. At the worst, it’s an exercise in writing. It might reveal something about your character that doesn’t come up elsewhere, but that you’ll know. At best, you might find a place for it in the story and it might add new depth.

But how do you know? You won’t know until you know what your story’s about, what the character journey is and what you want to convey to the reader. Then every scene in your story should advance character or plot (ideally both). In science fiction and fantasy (and furry stories sometimes) you can get away with a scene that is mostly worldbuilding, but it’s best to work the worldbuilding into plot or character advancement.

A great way to figure this out is to summarize each of your scenes in a sentence: “Lee discusses his future job prospects with his former boss.” Then figure out how each of the scenes connects to the others. Trey Parker and Matt Stone of South Park use that method, and they say that in every case, the word connecting your scenes should be either “therefore” or “but.” If you can only connect the scenes with “and then,” that means that the previous scene isn’t flowing into the next one, and you’re going to lose some of the story’s energy.

For example:

“Lee discusses his future job prospects with his former boss.”

THEREFORE

“Lee contacts some people but gets a lot of rejections.”

THEREFORE

“Lee goes to see his boyfriend to cheer himself up.”

BUT THEN

“Lee’s boyfriend is unsympathetic because he’s preoccupied with his own problems.”

Those scenes all flow nicely into each other and connect well. You can then look at the overall theme: is this story about Lee’s job or his relationship? If it’s more about the job, then maybe going back to his boyfriend and going down that road isn’t the right way to go; it’s putting too much weight on the boyfriend. At that point maybe you’d want Lee to talk to another co-worker instead, or maybe visit something else related to his job. Maybe you could have him discover that he has worth beyond his job, or find another way to do his job. Whatever your story’s about, every scene should play into that somehow.

So how do you decide whether the scene is important to the character or the plot? Well, every scene should start with your character wanting something, having a goal that’s important either to the plot or to the character development. At the end of the scene, the reader should know if they reached that goal or not. For example, in the above scenes, Lee wants to get a new job. So in the first scene, he gets some contacts from his former boss. In the second, he wants interviews, so he calls a bunch of people, but doesn’t get any interviews. In the third, he wants to feel better about himself, so he goes to look for external validation from his boyfriend. Now, you can look at the wants in those scenes and say, “Is this the way I want the story to go?” For example, if we want the story to be more about Lee’s relationship to his job rather than his boyfriend, we could say, “wanting validation from his boyfriend isn’t important to the story I’m telling right now.”

(It’s also possible to have multiple storylines going on, and so a scene might follow directly from one a few scenes ago. That’s okay as long as each scene has one of those causal relationships to a previous scene. Readers can keep multiple stories in their head, but cluttered stories with scenes that go nowhere make it harder to care about them.)

Ideally you want all your scenes to advance both the plot and the character journey. In the above example, you might decide that actually showing Lee getting a bunch of rejections isn’t necessary to the plot. Then you could skip directly from the conversation with his former boss to going to visit his boyfriend, and drop the information about the rejections into his conversation. “Well, my boss gave me three names and I’ve got three rejections. How was your day?” (for example).

Or you might use the rejections to show Lee’s shift in mood, where he starts the first one happy and upbeat and has gotten beaten down by the last one. This could explain why he’s more snappy than usual when he visits his boyfriend. Maybe one of the people he calls says something prejudiced about foxes that sets him on edge. You have to decide what is most important to the character and the story.

Editing isn’t an easy process, and often you’ll find yourself having to toss out scenes you like a lot. Post them on your site as a deleted scene and explain why you cut them, or just keep them for future reference on your drive. It’s important that they not remain in your story if they’re getting in the way of the story, though. I will say that in general you should err on the side of cutting out scenes, because you are already biased toward keeping all your precious words. Also, your beta readers (beta readers are very important) are much more likely to tell you that something is missing and needs to be added back in than that a scene is unnecessary and needs to be cut.

So examine each scene, ask what it does to advance your plot and character, and if the answer is “not much,” consider cutting the scene and delivering whatever information it provides within another scene. This might be very hard at first, but the more you do it, the more you’ll find your stories are engaging from beginning to end, packed only with scenes that make the reader want to go on to the next one.

An earlier version of this column appeared in Kyell’s April 2016 newsletter.

4th week in a row! Lots to talk about, including sexual harassment work seminars & gay fire departments. Join our telegram chat, and don't forget to come to our live recording at Anthrocon! https://telegram.me/draggetshow ep 119 - Weeeoooeeeooo - 4th week in a row! Lots to talk about, including…

This week on KnotCast, Savrin and Fuzz talk about their convention adventures, Zootopia on Blu-ray, people mistaking being vanilla for non-sexual, and people taking bizarre ownership of characters in art or fiction. Also Savrin links a poll. Want to help support the show? Hit up our Patreon - patreon.com/knotcast - That’d be awesome~ Episode 318 - Delete Your Account

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Timbuktu; A Novel, by Paul Auster.
NYC, Henry Holt and Co., May 1999, hardcover $22.00 (181 pages).

It can be argued that Timbuktu is the opposite of an anthropomorphic novella. It is about a dog, Mr. Bones, whose beloved human companion, the pseudonymous Willy B. Christmas, a homeless East Coast “street poet” is dying. Timbuktu does an excellent job of portraying the despairing thoughts of a mostly unanthropomorphized but exaggeratedly intelligent and loyal dog. He understands “Ingloosh” more than most dogs, but still from a canine viewpoint.

“Mr. Bones knew that Willy wasn’t long for this world. The cough had been inside him for over six months, and by now there wasn’t a chance in hell that he would ever get rid of it. Slowly and inexorably, without once taking a turn for the better, the thing had assumed a life of its own, advancing from a faint, phlegm-filled rattle in the lungs on February third to the wheezy sputum-jigs and gobby convulsions of high summer.” (p. 3)

“What was a poor dog to do? Mr. Bones had been with Willy since his earliest days as a pup, and by now it was next to impossible for him to imagine a world that did not have his master in it. Every thought, every memory, every particle of the earth and air was saturated with Willy’s presence. Habits die hard, and no doubt there’s some truth to the adage about old dogs and new tricks, but it was more than just love or devotion that caused Mr. Bones to dread what was coming. It was pure ontological terror. Subtract Willy from the world, and the odds were that the world itself would cease to exist.” (p. 4)

Willy is aware that he is dying. As he and Mr. Bones wander the streets of Baltimore, Willy tries to prepare the dog for life after him. He rambles to him about “how to avoid the dogcatchers and constables, the paddy wagons and unmarked cars, the hypocrites from the so-called humane societies. No matter how sweetly they talked to you, the word shelter meant trouble.”   Mr. Bones is a sweet but ugly, smelly, adult mongrel. “No one was going to want to rescue him. As the homeless bard was fond of putting it, the outcome was written in stone. Unless Mr. Bones found another master in one quick hurry, he was a pooch primed for oblivion.” (p. 5)

But Mr. Bones isn’t sure that he wants to survive with a new master after Willy. He is aware that Willy is searching for his old high school English teacher, now retired, whom he hopes will take Mr. Bones in. Unplanned things happen and Mr. Bones goes on the run. Is he looking for a new human master, or for a life without humans? He doesn’t know himself. In Mr. Bones’ dreams, he has long conversations with the now-dead Willy, and they both talk in Ingloosh:

“‘I was desperate. How could I know his father would turn out to be such a louse?’

‘Because I warned you about such places, didn’t I? The moment you saw what you were getting yourself into, you should have cashed in your chips and run.’

‘I did run. And when I wake up tomorrow morning, I’m going to start running again. That’s my life now, Willy. I run, and I’m going to keep running until I drop.’

‘Don’t give up on men, Bonesy. You’ve had some hard knocks, but you’ve got to tough it out and give it another try.’” (p. 118)

Before his death, Willy had rambled to Mr. Bones about his sometimes-unorthodox ideas of Heaven, which he called Timbuktu. Mr. Bones wonders whether he will be reunited with Willy in Timbuktu after his own death – or if dogs are allowed in Timbuktu.

“If there was any justice in the world, if the dog god had any influence on what happened to his creatures, then man’s best friend would stay by the side of man after said man and said best friend had both kicked the bucket. More than that, in Timbuktu dogs would be able to speak man’s language and converse with him as an equal. That was what logic dictated, but who knew if justice or logic had any more impact on the next world than they did on this one?” (p. 49)

Paul Auster is a respected author who has won over twenty literary awards and who has been translated into many languages. Timbuktu was adapted into a puppet play in Zagreb in 2008. Timbuktu exhibits his mastery of wordplay and his skill at mixing existentialism with mundane themes, seen here in showing a small portion of modern American society from a dog’s perspective He keeps the reader guessing until the end whether Mr. Bones will find a happy fate, or what a happy fate means in this case.

The first edition of Timbuktu reviewed here is long out of print, but there are several current hardcover, paperback, Kindle, and audio editions. There was an illustrated abridgement by Julia Goschke in September 2008.

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon
• Buy the Illustrated Edition on Amazon

Back from CaliFur, and there’s lots to talk about! Over at Cartoon Brew they have an article about the first trailer for the upcoming live-action film Monster Trucks. “The film, based on Hasbro’s Monster Trucks toy line, has been covered here on Cartoon Brew because it is the live-action directorial debut of Ice Age director and Blue Sky co-founder Chris Wedge. Wedge directs from a story by Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger (Kung Fu Panda, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, Trolls) and Matthew Robinson (The Invention of Lying), and screenplay by Derek Connolly (Safety Not Guaranteed, Jurassic World).” The story follows a high-school boy named Trip who discovers a gelatinous, tentacled, very toothy — yet very friendly monster. Said monster (Trip calls him “Creech”) has the strange ability to meld himself (itself?) with Trip’s pick-up truck — hence the film’s title. Adventures and hi jinks ensue. The film has been delayed several times in its production history: Originally set for release in May of 2015, Paramount is now hoping to have it out in January of 2017.

image c. 2016 Paramount Pictures

Furclubbing: “A repeat/regular nightclub event by furries for furries.” It’s a New Thing that’s been spreading since the late 2000’s. This kind of dance party is independent from cons. This builds on the growth of cons, and takes things farther. It’s more ambitious than events that happen once, house parties, or informal meets. Those can stay inner-focused for friends who already know each other. This brings partnership with new kinds of venues, and new supportive interest in the kind of events they host. It crosses a line to public space. A stranger may walk in off the street to discover their new favorite thing. It encourages new blood, and crossover to other scenes. It makes subculture thrive. It’s a movement!

See the list of parties at The Furclub survey.  Any party that gives a Q&A will get a featured article. Featured here is a new event in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It’s yet another one inspired by Frolic in San Francisco, the seed for many new ones across the USA. Organizer Rachel introduces the party:

Suit Up Saturday (2016) ____________________  

• Website: www.suitupsaturday.com
• Twitter: @suitupsaturday – “Minnesota’s First and Only FURRY Club Night”
• Facebook: fan page
• See also MNFurs on Facebook

My name is Rachel, that’s my real name and furry name too. I’ve been a furry for about 15 years now, and I recently moved back to Minnesota from San Francisco, where I lived for 10 years and went to college. When in San Francisco I frequently went to FROLIC, which is run by some friends of mine, and I began to miss it.

While Minnesota has an amazing team running all the PG, all ages events (mnfurs.org, and DRAKE in particular)… There was nothing serving the adult, kink or 18+ community.  Up until that point, any kinky or adult events were held in private homes or we would loosely organize a bar event. Even so, events were sporadic and lightly attended, as there wasn’t even a good way for kinky furs to even connect with each other in this state.

At my current job I do club promotions and events occasionally, so I had a few contacts. I picked a bar that most reminded me of the STUD in San Francisco (where Frolic happens every month), a bar called the EagleBolt here in Minneapolis. I spoke with the owner and manager and they allowed us to throw a trial basis party on January 31st. If that went well, they would be willing to host us every 5th saturday, or more.

The run up to the party was nerve wracking. I decided immediately that I didn’t want to do it alone so I brought Cam, DJ, Mau and AJ on as partners.  The five of us consist of Suit Up Saturday.  They were a huge amount of help as they consist of graphic designers, web designers and a logo designer, as well as people that have deep roots in the kink and fur community.

I also got help from K0mplex, the guys at Frolic, and the Disaster Dogs in Seattle before they disbanded.  We had DJ Caz and Dj Othenio spin, two local furry DJs.

Furs around the country have been really nice about giving me advice and helping this event come together. We got a website and twitter account up, added a facebook event and fan page, and printed fliers. We handed out fliers at fur meets, told EVERYONE we know and posted about our event on every furry page we could find. We also put an ad up on FurAffinity. We basically did everything we could to get the word out.

We also talked to some local and some far away people for sponsorship, and we regularly raffle off fur and kink items. Some of our best sponsors have been Bondesque, Leather and Latte, and our favorite, the Dogs BolloxX in London.  They sent us a giant box of swag to give away at events. Its’s been a fun way to connect with other furs and furry businesses.

For our first party, people were excited, but also hesitant.  There were some local furs who were upset with the idea that we were throwing an adult party. People were saying that we would ‘ruin’ furry by making it adult, and that the local scene had tried really hard to make fur not a ‘fetish’ and were trying to be mainstream.

Well, we disagreed. We wanted just ONE space where furs could come and be ANY type of fur they wanted. There was a huge misconception- people assumed that because we were kink friendly that it was going to be some kind of crazy, sex fueled naked BDSM party. I wish! Nope, we were just a club event, with normal club rules. Some people came in fetishwear, but most people came in fursuits. Plenty of people came in regular clubwear. Our point was, anything you wanted to be was fine. We have no judgements. We got some of the local pup boys from the local kennel club to show up and they loved us! They were so happy to meet a different kind of ‘pup’ and that made me ridiculously happy, At our last party we even had the local leather sir show up. My goal was to bring different types of people together with furs- and it worked.

The fur community can become so insulated from the rest of the world- but I wanted to show furries that plenty of people like our vibe and want to party with us, and we should let them!

The vibe, as the bar owner described it, was ‘high energy’ and happy. Lots of dancing, a bit of drinking, and people meeting new people left and right. We filled the bar to 3/4 capacity, which exceed our goals. After the first party the kennel club decided they loved us, so now we have a decent mix of pup boys, rubber pups, and kinksters who join us for our parties. It’s still mostly furries, but it’s maybe the only event in MN that specifically invites other groups to furry events.

Some furs, of course, have told me they will  ‘never’ come to a bar, never come to something even loosely related to kink, and they haven’t, even though they might dance the hardest at a con dance. That’s ok. I’m not trying to push anything on anyone, and if you don’t want to expand your mind that’s too bad for you. Suit Up Saturday has been an awesome adult experience and we’ve had people drive in regularly from several states away. We are clearly filling a need in the fur community, and we plan on continuing the party for as long as people will have us.

As far as profit, we’re not really concerned with it. We of course, do charge a little bit at the door ($5 in fursuit or fetishwear, $7 everyone else) but we have to get flyers printed, pay our DJs, and stuff like that. Our last two events were profitable, but if you split it 5 ways we’d probably make about $2 an hour for the work we did.  We’ve decided not to ‘pay’ ourselves, but to keep the money in a pot, so we can use it in the near future for a bigger and better event.

We are tentatively considering doing a furry camping event, and we’re also trying to find a venue that will let us keep the kink but have an 18+ crowd instead of a 21+ crowd . We’ve already branched out to other types of events with a Zootopia showing.  Our goal is to expand the frequency and types of events we do. We get some help from some from the guys at MNFURS which has been great. Our Zootopia showing was done in conjunction with them and it went great.

The next party is on July 31st, and it’s set to be even better than the last. We’ve got a 5 screen video bar, a list of DJs who want to spin, furry drink specials, giveaways, photo booths, and more! If you like to party and want to let your furry freak flag fly, you should definitely come by.

Credits for pics go to CAM and Rachel.

And if I can recommend, check out www.thedogsbolloxX.co.uk.  They have a great story right now about their owner FELIX being banned from local fur meets because people there don’t think the kink community should mix with furs.

– Rachel

Since Rachel sent this introduction, Suit Up Saturday gained a new 18+ venue for their next party on July 23.

Yep, its growing fast!

http://www.vice.com/read/photos-of-the-fastest-growing-furry-convention-in-america

The stigmatization of furries, the online taunting and trolling, is something that's plagued the community (known as the furry fandom) since it began popping up in mainstream media and on TV shows like CSI, ER, and Entourage in a consistently ruthless "look at these perverted freaks" sort of way. But, in reality, furries are some of the nicest, fun-loving, and respectful people—people who just happen to feel more like themselves when roleplaying as anthropomorphic woodland creature in custom-made fursuits.

As with most underground social groups, the best place to see all your like-minded friends is the convention scene, and Biggest Little Fur Con (BLFC) in Reno, Nevada was no exception. Every year, nearly 50 furry conventions take place across the US, and BLFC is the fastest growing con on the circuit, tripling its attendance in just three years. This year, from May 12 through 15, approximately 3,500 members of the furry fandom attended BLFC, making it the third-largest furry convention in the US. According to the organizers, some estimate that the four-day event brings in upwards of $3.5 million to the city. Nervous and excited, I hopped on a plane to America's biggest little city to meet up with Martin Freehugz, a furry friend who got me more interested in the subculture, for my first ever furry convention.

Upon arrival to the resort, I was greeted with a wave of fursuiters strutting on patterned casino carpets, together representing species that spanned the entire spectrum of the animal kingdom. If you can think of it, you can fursuit as it. Dragons, lizards, deer, wolfs, foxes (lots of foxes), eagles, and even some original animals the furries have made up, like the Dutch Angel Dragon and other adorable fairytale creatures come to life.

At BLFC, the emphasis on fun, cuteness, and creativity was everywhere. There was life-size Yahtzee, go-karting, video games, board games, and copious amounts of dancing. At night, a series of fandom fave DJs blasted the crowd with EDM and trance. Getting lost in the lights and lasers among a crowd of fuzzy, wide-eyed animals on two feet was an overwhelming experience. I found myself dazed and half-crying, but also overjoyed in a way I hadn't expected.

I roamed the halls with Martin/Freehugz in his blue wolf suit, who seemed to know everyone. In fact, everyone seemed to know everyone—you couldn't go 20 feet without seeing an attendee gleefully stop a fursuiter for a hug and a picture. It became apparent that the fursuiters were the local celebrities of the scene, and certain suiters were extra famous, with huge online followings.

The other celebrities of the con were the artists, the people who draw your chosen furry charterer's representation, or fursona, in a variety of mediums and scenarios, such as homemade accessories, badges, comics, and more. Free of corporate sponsorship, the "dealer's den" hosted artists and makers selling their wares to a crowd more than ready to spend. The organizers of the event even told me the dealer's, collectively, were expected to make somewhere in the $100,000-200,000 range.

After a night of dubstep, hugs (furries love hugs), and spiked chocolate milk, it was time for the highly anticipated Fursuit Festival. While most fur cons have a parade of fursuiters, BLFC opted for a Festival of Fur, where nearly 1,500 fursuiters gathered for a giant group photo before breaking out into dancing, games, and a plethora of organized photoshoots. An announcer could be heard over the loudspeakers saying things like "Predators vs Prey photo shoot at station four, Blue Fursuiters at station one, Malamutes on five." Two parents and their fuzzy little offspring, all in fursuit, skipped by me and my heart grew two sizes. I watched as they disappeared into a sea of neon fur. See more photos from the convention below.

Visit Zak's website here to see more of his photo work.

Yep, its growing fast!

http://www.vice.com/read/photos-of-the-fastest-growing-furry-convention-in-america

The stigmatization of furries, the online taunting and trolling, is something that's plagued the community (known as the furry fandom) since it began popping up in mainstream media and on TV shows like CSI, ER, and Entourage in a consistently ruthless "look at these perverted freaks" sort of way. But, in reality, furries are some of the nicest, fun-loving, and respectful people—people who just happen to feel more like themselves when roleplaying as anthropomorphic woodland creature in custom-made fursuits.

As with most underground social groups, the best place to see all your like-minded friends is the convention scene, and Biggest Little Fur Con (BLFC) in Reno, Nevada was no exception. Every year, nearly 50 furry conventions take place across the US, and BLFC is the fastest growing con on the circuit, tripling its attendance in just three years. This year, from May 12 through 15, approximately 3,500 members of the furry fandom attended BLFC, making it the third-largest furry convention in the US. According to the organizers, some estimate that the four-day event brings in upwards of $3.5 million to the city. Nervous and excited, I hopped on a plane to America's biggest little city to meet up with Martin Freehugz, a furry friend who got me more interested in the subculture, for my first ever furry convention.

Upon arrival to the resort, I was greeted with a wave of fursuiters strutting on patterned casino carpets, together representing species that spanned the entire spectrum of the animal kingdom. If you can think of it, you can fursuit as it. Dragons, lizards, deer, wolfs, foxes (lots of foxes), eagles, and even some original animals the furries have made up, like the Dutch Angel Dragon and other adorable fairytale creatures come to life.

At BLFC, the emphasis on fun, cuteness, and creativity was everywhere. There was life-size Yahtzee, go-karting, video games, board games, and copious amounts of dancing. At night, a series of fandom fave DJs blasted the crowd with EDM and trance. Getting lost in the lights and lasers among a crowd of fuzzy, wide-eyed animals on two feet was an overwhelming experience. I found myself dazed and half-crying, but also overjoyed in a way I hadn't expected.

I roamed the halls with Martin/Freehugz in his blue wolf suit, who seemed to know everyone. In fact, everyone seemed to know everyone—you couldn't go 20 feet without seeing an attendee gleefully stop a fursuiter for a hug and a picture. It became apparent that the fursuiters were the local celebrities of the scene, and certain suiters were extra famous, with huge online followings.

The other celebrities of the con were the artists, the people who draw your chosen furry charterer's representation, or fursona, in a variety of mediums and scenarios, such as homemade accessories, badges, comics, and more. Free of corporate sponsorship, the "dealer's den" hosted artists and makers selling their wares to a crowd more than ready to spend. The organizers of the event even told me the dealer's, collectively, were expected to make somewhere in the $100,000-200,000 range.

After a night of dubstep, hugs (furries love hugs), and spiked chocolate milk, it was time for the highly anticipated Fursuit Festival. While most fur cons have a parade of fursuiters, BLFC opted for a Festival of Fur, where nearly 1,500 fursuiters gathered for a giant group photo before breaking out into dancing, games, and a plethora of organized photoshoots. An announcer could be heard over the loudspeakers saying things like "Predators vs Prey photo shoot at station four, Blue Fursuiters at station one, Malamutes on five." Two parents and their fuzzy little offspring, all in fursuit, skipped by me and my heart grew two sizes. I watched as they disappeared into a sea of neon fur. See more photos from the convention below.

Visit Zak's website here to see more of his photo work.

Up until this point, there has been a lot of discussion around furry; on what it means to be a furry, how the identity interacts with the way we see the world, etc… However, it is often beneficial to reflect upon the things we have said, and the way in which we use words. I believe, and will attempt to show in this essay, that we hold an incomplete grasp of words within the context of furry.

I’d like to start by saying that I shall be adopting a metaphysical Externalist perspective. To begin with, I believe it is important to clarify what that means.

A metaphysical Externalist holds that for something to be a thought, it must in some way be connected and formed through an outside object. Traditionally, thought is painted in a “mental images” sort of way, but the Externalist argues against this. For example, if you want to think of a tree, then it would not be enough to simply have the image of a tree within your own mind. Instead, that image would have to come from an actual experience with trees, from which, the thought forms.

Hilary Putnam gave one such argument for this. In his essay Brains in Vats, he asks us to imagine an unlikely scenario. Imagine an ant is walking along the sand, leaving a line behind it as it goes. As it continues to walk across the sand, that line intersects with another, and another, until the ant has eventually left a perfect semblance of Winston Churchill in the sand. This image has complete likeness to the historical figure, down to the smallest detail. However, that does not mean that it is a representation of Winston Churchill.

The reason for this seems obvious; the ant has no idea who Winston Churchill is. By accident, it simply left those impressions in the sand. In order for something to be a representation as opposed to a resemblance, there must be intentionality behind it. If we draw a picture, in order for that picture to carry meaning, we must be able to grasp what it is that we are drawing in order for it to represent anything. The way in which we acquire such a grasp, however, is through experience with an external object. This is the difference between the ant scraping a resemblance in the sand, and somebody who is aware that a real Winston Churchill existed and has drawn a picture of him; one has intentionality due to knowing about Winston Churchill, and is thus able to represent him. The other does not. This same principle applies to words, too. In order for our words to mean something, they must also be about something. If I were to say “tree”, that word carries meaning due to the fact that it is able to represent the trees which I have experienced existing externally to me.

To further this point about words, there is no difference between a word written on paper or spoken, and a word in our head. Somebody could know how to respond in Japanese, for example, to other Japanese speakers, yet have no idea what the words which they say mean. They could have no clue as to how the words they said connected to the external world, and thus they would not be able to represent anything in Japanese, despite seeming to be fluent in the language. The words themselves may make sense to somebody external to the speaker, but that would not mean the speaker themselves would be aware of it. For our words to have meaning, they must connect in some way to things which are external to us.

Lets apply this to furry. When we use certain words within furry, I do not think we know what it is we are grasping at times. We may have some idea in some cases, but in many, I doubt that we have a hold of anything external.

I will say that some words do definitely hold meaning in furry, before I move onto talking about how others don’t. “Fursuit” is a very good example of a meaningful word. We know what it is, we have mental imagery, we have experienced fursuits existing external to us (if even just through pictures), and we can quite easily define what they are. Thus, such a word has meaning. Oddly enough, the word “yiff” is actually one of the more meaningful words furries have; we all know what it means, and can all grasp what it represents.

However, we can then move on to more complex words. “Fursona” is particularly hard to define. We definitely know that “fursonas” exists external to us, and we have experience with something, yet it is almost impossible to put out fingers on what that is. The word “fursona” can only carry limited meaning, due to the fact that it is not clear what it represents, outside of a very broad framework. That is, not until we know what the external object we are representing with the word is.

We then move on to words that I believe are so elusive, and so difficult to define or grasp externally, they do not represent anything at all. Though controversial, “postfurry” will be my example in this article. My question to any postfurries, before they carry on with whatever they have to say, would be to explain how exactly they have been able to experience such a thing existing outside of themselves. Can anything be pointed to and have people say “that is what post-furry represents?” My argument here is not that postfurry does not exist, but that in its current state, it is not a real thought and carries no solid representation. In order to make the word mean something, then I would say that the postfurry community needs to work more on grasping what exactly it is referring to, and what it is externally.

I am not picking on postfurries, either. I believe that many words used in furry discourse suffer from not being able to grasp exactly what they are referring to.

An objection to this may be to argue that terms such as postfurry, community, etc., are subjective, and dependent upon each individual. Such a word, though, would be meaningless. Wittgenstein’s private language argument can be used here to show why.

The private language argument says that, if a word has no public use, then we cannot know if we are applying it properly. If there were a word than only one individual knew, and had no known correspondence with reality, then how could we know that such a word was used correctly? The issue is that if the word has no public use, and it is used once, we need to know that when it is used again, it refers to the same thing. If that word has no rules, and no way for it to be wrong, then it can never be used in the right way either. If a word has nothing that it represents, then it becomes a meaningless word.

If we want the word “furry” to carry meaning, we must accept that there is a correct use for it, and an incorrect use for it. Just because some people may think that it means something different, that does not mean a definition is under threat, somebody may just be wrong about it. Meaning comes from words being able to publicly represent things, if a word can mean anything, then it cannot be of any use.

Overall, I believe that this criticism can be applied to much of what has been said about furry. We, as a community, do not know what we are referring to. Many of our words carry little meaning or are vague. If the community is to have meaningful discussion and thoughts, then those discussions must use words that represent real things, and those thoughts must be actual thoughts, not just buzz words that we get into the habit of saying without understanding. This may be a large task, but it is my belief that a better grasp of our own terms – and understanding how furry actually exists – is essential if sites, such as this one, are to string together letters in such a way that they communicate representational content. This is, of course, the entire goal of our words.

​hello papa bear. my names Red the shapeshifting wolf knight 

well befour I ask my question I need to let you ( and the readers) know that my wrighting and spelling is a bit off so im very sorry about that

well I need some help and a bit of advice I join the fandom in 2012 I first learn about it by watching videos on youtube and artworks on deviantart so I been enjoying it and enjoying other things besides just furries. 

I wanted to tell my family about me being a furry but I always been very shy and worred about thare reactions and worried about what they think of it and not accept me.

one day my younger sister found out about it on her own and by telling me this she shown me an episoad on my "my strange addiction furry episode" and told me furries wear thare fursuites 24/7 and been quitet about it until 2016 when last tusday she was upset and told me furries like sex and are perverting people. 

as my older brother also found out while in an anime convetion that I was not around but told me furries are into sex and porn and also told me "your not a furry! you have to have an fursuite to officialy be a furry" and "furries are shy people they rater act normal in sute thin they are as a human"

and my dad I told him and was sore of ok with it but freaking out about fursuites thinking they are creepy and worred if someone was inside they try to kill me or worse. 

but my older brother and sister said they are both trying to protect me from the fandom.

im asexuall and im not into the adult side of the fandom just enjoy artworks and ideas and meeting new people but everytime I try to explain that they just ignore it. 

I have told my mom but dose not know half of it and I want to explan it befour dose not accept me.

so at this point I don't know what to do and I need some advice and what should I do? 

please reply soon: Red 

* * *

Hi, Red,

Okay, let me pass along some quick information here:

• Only 20% of furries have a fursuit or partial fursuit. Most do not for several reasons: it's expensive, it is very hot and uncomfortable to wear, and for many it just is not something they are interested in.
• It is literally impossible to wear fursuits all the time. The temperature in a fursuit can be 120 degrees Fahrenheit or hotter. You would literally die of heat stroke if you wore one too long. Just ask anyone who has ever worn a mascot outfit.
• Furries are no more or less into sex than anyone else. In fact, do you know who watches the most porn? Including gay porn? People who live in the Bible Belt. 
• Furries are not out to kill you or have sex with you. We are very nice people, but your family won't know that unless they actually meet furries in person.
• Many furries are, like you, not at all into the adult side of furry.
• Many furries have Christian and other religious beliefs.
• It is not even a requirement to have a fursona to be a furry.
• This is not a club; you don't need a membership; you don't pay dues.
• Furry is, pure and simple, the enjoyment of art and fiction featuring anthropomorphised animal characters.
• Furtopia has earned $1 BILLION dollars so far, and DVDs and BlueRay aren't even out yet, so this indicates that many many many people love anthro animals, not just furries.
• Anthropomorphic characters have been in mythology and religion since early human history; they are nothing new.
• Your family is not trying to protect you; they are trying to control your life and who you are. This is because they are ignorant and fearful of anything that is not deemed "normal," which is how most people in the world live their lives. Don't buy it.

So, what do you need to do? Nothing. Just be yourself and don't let others, especially your family or peers at school, tell you who you are. There is only one rule you need to know, and it comes from the Bible. It is called the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. In other words, be kind to people because you would want them to be kind to you.

You are now in a part of your life that is quite hazardous. It is a time of life where you can either give in to family and peer pressure, do what society says is "normal" and live your life pretending to be something you are not, OR you can take the path to discovering who you really are. To do this, you must disregard what others tell you you have to do or be (other than don't do things that hurt other people; see the Golden Rule above). The people who are the happiest in life are the ones who define their own lives and who know who they really are.

Know thyself.

Hugs,
Papabear

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Special Feature, by Charles V. DeVet.
NYC, Avon Books, June 1975, paperback 95¢ (176 pages)

Special Feature is a terrible s-f novel about terrible characters. It is hard to tell which are the more unlikable, the humans or the cat-people. But taken as a noir thriller in which the reader is gradually brought to sympathize with some seriously flawed characters, or as a funky “how many things can you find wrong with this s-f scenario?” quiz, Special Feature is an unusual and fascinating page-turner.

Pentizel, a cat-women from the banned planet Paarae, has stolen a spaceship and flown to Earth. Due to the icy climate of Paarae, she chooses St. Paul, Minnesota in winter in which to secretly hide.

Although her goal is pointedly kept mysterious (except for being given away in the cover blurb), she is immediately identified as arrogant, cruel, and contemptuous of humanity:

“Once inside her room [in a slum hotel], she locked the door, drew in a deep breath and let it out. Her whole body relaxed with the expelled breath. A world lay within her eager grasp, a world in which to lose herself. And a billion decadent weaklings to be maneuvered in any way that suited her.” (p. 8)

Unknown to Pentizel, St. Paul is completely covered by surveillance cameras, in seemingly every street and almost every room of every building. Howard Benidt, manager of TV station RBC, sees the cat-woman’s assault and stealing of a pedestrian’s clothes, and her checking into the flophouse in disguise. Benidt decides to make a “Special Feature” out of this alien invasion of Earth, to boost his channel’s ratings and his own prestige among its management:

“The room was getting warm. Benidt took off his coat and hung it on the back of his chair. ‘Now I want a top-grade build-up on this. Play up strong the potentiality of violence: assault, murder, blood. Make it good. Start cutting in immediately — on whatever program’s running on the channel now – with tantalizers. Don’t tell them exactly what the feature will be. Let them use their imagination. Build up their curiosity – and impatience – for the start of the biggest, live thrill show in the annals of video.” (p. 15)

If you are wondering how Benidt can get away with this, keep wondering. It is not until page 60 that the commissioner of police tries to claim authority to stop the TV special and capture or kill Pentizel because:

“‘Killing that salesman outside the Holiday Inn was too much. As you are well aware. The old plastic surgeon was an ex-felon with demerits a yard long – and with no relatives to complain. We let that pass. But when you allow a reputable citizen to be killed, it has to stop.’”

Benidt quickly phones an RBC executive with political pull, who is very pleased that, “‘We’ve topped all previous ratings – on any network.’” He gets a reprieve for the program, and the cat’s gory continued freedom, to go on. Other questions such as how or why a TV station has been able (both technically and socially) to install cameras throughout the city to rival those in Orwell’s 1984; or how Earth has acquired colony planets around several stars to which one- and two-man spaceships can fly in just a week, while St. Paul seems unchanged (except for the omnipresent TV cameras) since the 1970s (there are references to “Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing”; how long has it been since anyone called that company by its full name instead of “3M”?), go equally unanswered.

The serious questions are what Pentizel and, later, her mate Marror are up to in St. Paul; whether they can accomplish their goal while having been turned without their knowledge into a TV spectacle by Benidt; and, after they find out and vow vengeance against him in particular, whether Benidt can escape:

“Benidt had no illusions now. His life – melodramatic as the expression may sound – hung in the balance. Unless he could outmaneuver the cat female and do it soon, she would kill him. He had to do what he could to defend himself, without waste of time.” (p. 114)

Special Feature is what is known as an idiot-plot novel. If any of the characters exhibited any common sense (including the background characters such as the security forces who operate compounds surrounded by high fences with tree branches conveniently overhanging them), the story would fall apart. But despite knowing this, DeVet has written a gripping suspense story that will hold the reader to find out what happens next.

Pentizel and Marror talk and plan strategy in several scenes, but they are not anthropomorphized as much as portrayed as super-intelligent felines with an instinct to toy with their adversary before killing him. Whether this will give the increasingly desperate Benidt the chance to survive is for the reader to find out.

Special Feature is unusual in having a cover by George Wilson, best-known for hundreds of painted covers for Gold Key comic books and covers of paperback novelizations of such newspaper comic strips as Flash Gordon and The Phantom, but not for original novels.

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon

Tonight on UnFurled join Vox, Tal and Adoom in discussing zoo happenings and some problems with TeamViewer Episode -34 - Monkeying around

​Dear, Papabear,

Before I get to my question I would like to give my sincere condolences for your mate, and I would like to say I know what it's like to lose someone you love. Also I am really looking forward to the furry book coming out, it is on my list of books to read, right up there with Harry Potter and The Cursed Child. 

Now onto my question, while looking for my fursona because I just found the fandom a few weeks ago I found something that I was suspicious about but not certain of, I was gay. I am still in the closet with my family but I told my friends because I trust them more than my family. I had told my mother about a year ago of my suspicions and I thought I could trust her but she went and told the rest of my family, including my grandmother who is a pastor. Next time I saw my grandmother she gave me biblical reasons as to why homosexuality is wrong, as a person who thinks Christianity is a bunch of poppycock and is questioning everything I have ever been taught I almost called her out on it but did not. My whole family is homophobic and they absolutely despise furries calling them freaks who need to be committed to a psych ward, so as a homosexual furry that is the worst place to be. What do I do?

Sincerely,

Austin Persing 

* * *

Dear Austin,

​Hello, and thanks for your patience. Thanks, too, for the good wishes.
 
It's fine that you respected your grandmother and her beliefs enough not to lash back at her homophobic stance.
 
Many people who espouse Christianity are very misled. Somehow, for many (but by no means all) Christians, it has become a testimony to their faith that they should hate certain people. Lately, that seems to mean it's okay to hate LGBT people.

I will say that I'm not a Christian (duh, right?), but I do believe in many things the Bible says and I believe that many of the things Jesus supposedly said are wonderful and should be followed by Christians and non-Christians alike (the Golden Rule being at the top of the list).

Jesus was about loving your fellow humans, even (and this cannot be stressed enough) your enemies. He was not about hatred, rejection, and prejudice. Pretty much everything about religion that goes beyond “treat other people nicely and love God” is extraneous, unimportant, and added by religions in order to give priests jobs, build elaborate churches, and start religious wars (to send hate mail, write to: Grubbs Grizzly, 555 Bear St., Getoveryourself, CA 90000).
 
So your grandmother the pastor gave you “biblical reasons” why being gay is against God and Christianity. You already disagree with her, but if you want some ammunition, here you go:
 
1. If she quotes Leviticus, you can point out that the Old Testament laws are overwritten by the New Testament (after all, that’s what Christianity is supposed to be about), and then continue by noting Leviticus if chock full of ridiculous rules (well, some might have been practical thousands of years ago, but are not now), including prohibition of eating rabbits or shrimp, prohibitions of growing crops next to each other or wearing linen and wool together, and prohibition of eating raw meat (no sushi for you!), among other things.
 
2. If she talks about the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, saying the cities were punished for, among other things, gay sex. That’s not true. They were punished for being greedy people who treated others badly. Now, there is a scene where a bunch of Sodomites were coming to Lot’s house to have sex with the angels who were his guests. But this wasn’t sex for the purpose of fun; you see, back then, gang raping people was one form of punishing them through humiliation. Thus, the Sodomites were coming to brutalize and punish the angels, not have a fun gay orgy.
 
3. I defy your grandmother or anyone to find one single quote by Jesus in the Bible saying homosexuals are wrong or evil.
 
4. In fact, there is a story in Matthew in which a Roman centurion goes to Jesus for help. This is an important scene often cited by gay men to point out the true nature of Jesus and how the original Greek text is often mistranslated and misinterpreted. The centurion comes out of desperation to a Jewish religious leader (that he does so shows his desperation), Jesus, to cure his ailing young lover (a man he has purchased). In those days, it was quite common for older men of means to buy others as “slaves,” who were really bought for sex. Now, in many cases, these men were beloved by their purchasers. Many scholars have shown that the proper interpretation of the Greek text is that the young man whom Jesus shows no qualms in curing, is gay. Jesus would have known this, being a man of the times and familiar with Romans. Therefore, Jesus must not have had a problem with it. Why? Again, because God ain’t about hate!
 
I would like to suggest you visit the Gay Christians Network site at http://www.gaychristian.net/ and read up on what they have to say about talking to your family about being gay.
 
As for being furry—well, I would say it is more important to talk to them about being gay first, rather than tackling both things at once. I’ve talked about this issue many times on my website. You can also have the family watch a couple movies that are out there: Fursonas is a 90-minute documentary directed by Dominic Rodriguez, and Furry is a half-hour documentary by Eric Risher. Of the two, I rather prefer the shorter Furry because it takes less time to watch and doesn’t try too hard to convince people.
 
The bottom line is this: you can quote Bible verses and show people movies and give them all kinds of empirical evidence to support your case, but chances are you will not convince them because people don’t like their beliefs to be challenged or, worse, threatened, and they certainly don’t want to hear arguments from someone who is “only” 17 because parents and other elders “know better.”
 
My advice? Don’t try. A day will come very soon for you when you will be able to lead your own independent life the way you want to live it, and if that means that some—or even all—of your family will reject you, then so be it. Who wants family like that anyway? I want family who accepts me for who I am, don’t you? In the meantime, you are, likely, dependent on them, so lay low, don’t push your identity in their faces, and ride it out until you are free.
 
Be Strong,
Papabear

Zootopia’s Blu-ray/DVD release is June 7, 2016.

Dogpatch Press welcomes Furry fanfic writer Alex Reynard.  See also Inquisitr.com: “Is Zootopia a modern version of Animal Farm?”  

Join the party

ZOOTOPIA has been out for a while now.  In that time, I cannot count how many times I’ve seen it called “propaganda”.

Left-wing propaganda, right-wing propaganda, commie propaganda, gender propaganda, race propaganda.

It’s ridiculous. And it’s unfair to what the movie actually is.

I’m gonna assume that we, being furries, have all seen the film a kazillion times by now. If not, then this is me HONKING THE SPOILER HORN. TOOT TOOT. I want to start this with a synopsis, so I can talk about how the themes of this cute animated children’s film are really really important.

Themes in the movie.

A political parable.

Judy Hopps is a little bunny kid who wants to grow up and make the world a better place. A foxboy named Gideon bullies her, but this only makes her more determined. After many years of hard work, she achieves her goal and becomes a cop in Zootopia: a city where Predators and Prey live side by side. She encounters Nick Wilde, a con artist fox. She tries to treat him as a fellow furson and hold no prejudice towards his species. Eventually, after many adventures, the duo discover that several Predator citizens have gone missing and/or reverted to primitive violent behavior. The Mayor is implicated and jailed, and the Assistant Mayor, a meek sheep named Bellwether, becomes the new Mayor. But Judy eventually discovers that this was all masterminded by that meek little sheep, who in actuality, was drugging the kidnapped Predators specifically to create an atmosphere of distrust among the citizenry that she could use to rise to power. After enduring years of mistreatment by the thoughtless, self-obsessed former mayor, Bellwether felt justified, on behalf of all Prey, to get revenge on the whole world’s systematic discrimination.

For as much as people have been talking about Zootopia’s handling of racism and sexism, what’s damn-near-miraculous is how it has insight enough to call out both prejudice AND overreactions to prejudice. In the film, we see that Bellwether is treated like sheep dip by Mayor Lionhart. She certainly has a right to feel victimized. But the movie makes it clear that she becomes a bad guy too when she uses her sense of outrage as justification to ruin other people’s lives. Her ends do not justify her means.

That’s pretty morally-complex for a cartoon. This movie never falls into the binary of either/or. It condemns bullies on both sides. Being a victim of one is no excuse for becoming one.

Speaking of bullies, we need to contrast Judy with Bellwether to see where the movie’s message really lies. Like I said, in the beginning Judy is intimidated, insulted and beaten up by a fox kid. Later when she grows up, there’s a scene where she goes home and her bully pops up. Here’s the part where, in a less thoughtful movie, we would have had The Big Comeuppance. Judy would have slapped him, then he’d say in a cowed tone, “I deserved that.” Except that doesn’t happen. Gideon sees her and immediately apologizes. And Judy forgives him with just as little hesitation. Then everyone’s happy and they all get pie.

There’s another scene where a chubby cheetah cop called Clawhauser calls her ‘cute’. She winces and says, “Bunnies can call each other that word, but when someone else says it, it’s not okay.” Clever joke, and it lets the audience know what the movie’s really getting at. But the next line’s important too: Clawhauser apologizes, saying how embarrassed he is since he’s been stereotyped himself. And Judy doesn’t start throwing a tantrum and berating him. She doesn’t call him a bigot, or part of a system of oppression, or anything like that. He apologizes, and that’s that. They’re friends from then on.

There’s a dozen more scenes in the film using animals as metaphors to explore moments of racism and sexism, and it’s astonishing how balanced the film is, trying to see things from every side. The good guys have bad traits and the bad guys have good traits. No one’s perfectly wrong or right. No one’s a strawman.

Interpreting from outside of the movie. 

Something isn’t “propaganda” just for being against bigotry. Political groups may vigorously latch on to social issues for their own ends, but no one has a monopoly on fighting unfairness. Nowadays, it can be hard to speak out because the waters have been muddied and poisoned. We don’t want to get dragged into sides, as if having an opinion means you must think in lockstep with Political Figures A, B & C (plus now you’re automatically enemies of Figures D, E & F).

I’m talking in generalities precisely because speaking the very names of groups can fill the comments with people defending or attacking those groups.

Zootopia is not about groups. It is about ideas and behaviors that are universal to all of us, because we’re all people.

That’s why the film isn’t propaganda; because it takes such pains to not choose sides.  Choosing sides and being ‘US vs THEM’ is part of the problem. Everyone from Group A will view Group B as irredeemably evil and refuse to associate with them. Vice versa for B towards A. Both dehumanize the other because they’re so certain they’re in the moral right. And all this ever accomplishes is bitter gridlock. No progress can occur when both sides know they’re Right with a capital R, and the other side is Wrong.

Zootopia shows that it doesn’t take hate to cause this mindset.  Many other stories about bigotry paint blunt, black and white metaphors.  One side is clearly angry, evil and wrong, while the other is a blameless victim.  In real life, we only wish things were so simple and morally-unambiguous.  Real life, as Judy explains, is messy. We’re often cruel without realizing it.  Not because of hate, but because of thoughtlessness and fear. People focus on their own pain to the point where it becomes someone else’s.

Bellwether exemplifies this. It’s not enough to get revenge on her bully; she wants revenge on everybody who looks like him. She blames his species instead of him as an individual. She thinks only of how much she’d been downtrodden, and that’s justification for doing the same to Preds. She creates a culture of fearmongering to get other Prey to believe they’re unsafe, and that’s when the city begins to fracture.

There’s a scene where Judy is on the subway and sees a handsome tiger sit down across from her. In the same seat, a rabbit mom looks horrified and pulls her child away. Judy reacts with revulsion. I wonder how many of us have been in Judy’s position, or the mother’s, or the tiger’s. I know I’ve been him sometimes.

Judy’s parents are consumed with fear for her. Some of it is justified, as being a police officer is a dangerous job. But some of it is fear of Preds as a whole, which turns out to be unfounded. When they realize it, and begin to trust Gideon, the result is a mutually profitable and friendly new business.

That has been my own experience. Most of the time when I have taken a risk to trust others, my trust has been rewarded in ways I never expected.

Fear is easy. Trust is hard. Zootopia shows what our choice ought to be, but shows the consequences of each.

The movie’s meaning for real life.

The movie makes clear metaphors for white and black, or male and female, but it is not on any one group’s side over the others. If it takes any side, it is pro-forgiveness and anti-fear.

That’s the real dividing line for a conflict. People on the opposite side can still be worthy of respect. It’s the distinction between opponent and enemy. An opponent is someone whose hand you can shake, thanking them for a good game.

Most of us just want our particular group to be treated better.  That’s fine… until someone within your group becomes less interested in seeing your team win than seeing everyone else lose. That’s how things escalate and everyone forgets about peace. Treating others as enemies just gains more enemies.

On the other hand… We don’t want enemies, but we don’t have to be doormats either. You don’t have to forgive anyone who has done nothing to earn it. At the end of the film, Judy doesn’t just forgive Bellwether and they all hug and have a happy ending. She sends Bellwether to the freakin’ slammer. She showed no repentance, and Judy likely just walks away and forgets her, and that’s healthy. Unlike Bellwether, Gideon apologizes and earns his happy ending.

Zootopia avoids binary thinking. Many of the characters display gray morality. Judy and Nick’s relationships with others don’t always slot into a tidy box of ‘friend’ or ‘foe’.  Manchas attacks them, but they know it’s not him in control of his actions. Bogo obstructs them, but in time they gain a degree of respect for each other. Judy’s neighbors are obnoxious, but she shrugs and lives with it.  And when Nick and Judy lose trust in one another, it’s easy to see in the scene beneath the bridge that they’re eager to apologize and rejoin. Because they know the other is worth it.

Zootopia’s moral is that we can never truly know one another at a glance. Some animals act like their species’ stereotypes, others are the opposite, and others are a mix of both. The only way to get to know someone is to get to know them. Wherever it is you stand, don’t look at the other side and see only monsters. Give others the benefit of the doubt that they have the same heart and mind you do. Let them show you who they are. Not just for their sake, but for your own.  Be willing to compromise, agree, and forgive. Let hope balance outrage, and only fight battles that need to be fought.

All this from a cute Disney film. Who knew?

And if you think I’m over-analyzing, remember the movie’s very first word of spoken dialogue. The filmmakers were foxy enough to reveal the true villain in the opening line:

“Fear.”

– Alex Reynard

 

In one of our most timely episodes, Roo and Tugs are joined by Haku, Panda, and Syn, as they discuss FurAffinity. They start with the origins of the site, how it became popular, and discuss the recent security incidents on the site. We also have Space News, Get Psyched with Dr. Nuka, and an old timey ad for you to enjoy. So, without further adieu, we'll get out of the way and let you listen!



NOW LISTEN!

Show Notes

Special Thanks

Haku Panther, one of our guests.
Panda, one of our guests.
Syn, one of our guests.
Timid Grizzly, for the ident.
Dronon.
Kira the Kitsune.
Smokescale Aquatos.
Mfalme Lion.
Commander Wolfe.
Leo the Artist.

Music

Opening Theme: Husky In Denial – Cloud Fields (Century Mix). USA: Unpublished, 2015. ©2015 Fur What It’s Worth and Husky in Denial. Based on Fredrik Miller– Cloud Fields (Radio Mix). USA: Bandcamp, 2011. ©2011 Fur What It’s Worth. (Buy a copy here – support your fellow furs!)
Space News Music: Fredrik Miller – Orbit. USA: Bandcamp, 2013. Used with permission. (Buy a copy here – support your fellow furs!)
Get Psyched Music: Fredrik Miller – Universe, USA: Bandcamp, 2013. Used with permission. (Buy a copy here – support your fellow furs!)
Closing Theme: Husky In Denial – Cloud Fields (Headnodic Mix). USA: Unpublished, 2015. ©2015 Fur What It’s Worth and Husky in Denial. Based on Fredrik Miller – Cloud Fields (Chill Out Mix). USA: Bandcamp, 2011. ©2011 Fur What It’s Worth. (Buy a copy here – support your fellow furs!)

Next episode: It's the Season 5 Recap! Tell us your favorite moments of the 100th episode season by June 15, 2016! S5 Episode 16 – Fur Infinity? - In one of our most timely episodes, Roo and Tugs are joined by Haku, Panda, and Syn, as they discuss FurAffinity. They start with the origins of the site, how it became popular, and discuss the recent security incidents on