I now know what it feels like to be a reporter

You know something? I really need to make my mind stop thinking about something weird I came across lately, because now it's making me sick to think about the same thing over and over. It's not that I want to keep thinking about it. It's just that my brain won't let me stop. And I know how to fix this. I really honestly do not want to post this, but it's the only way to make my mind just shut the hell up so I can get on with my life. Before you begin reading, keep in mind four things: I only found out about this thing by accident, I don't want anyone who reads this to be offended, I have carefully studied this issue from the haters and the lovers, and no, no, no, I AM NOT ONE OF THEM! So, now you've got those guidelines in your head, you can start reading.

If you had asked me about three months ago what a furry was, I would have stared you down and asked you if you’ve recently taken a fall down a stairway. You would have sounded crazy to me. A furry? What is that? Some sort of new stuffed animal crazy? Perhaps you don’t even know. Well, I was in the same boat until recently. I’ve been following a movie named Cloverfield for a long time, and after sharing my movie theories with several other movie fans on a news site one day, I headed over to Youtube to see if anyone had put any connections together between the movie and the viral marketing campaign in a video. After watching one or two videos, I scrolled through a list of seemingly related videos. I came to a stop when I noticed something weird - a picture I couldn’t quite make out in my head. So I clicked the video. It was some sort of tribute to a cartoon called Princess Sally Acorn. After watching several artists’ renderings of Sally, I had no idea who she was. So I looked it up on Wikipedia. Sally was an anthropomorphic character, meaning she was an animal with human characteristics. But at the time, I didn’t know the meaning of the word anthropomorphism, so I looked that up to, and it led me to a page called Furry Fandom. I read the page, and now, after much research on the topic of furries, I have finally come to an opinion on the issue.
The Furry Fandom, apparently, is a group made up of people who have named themselves "furries". I was given a link by wikipedia to WikiFur, a wikia for furries, explaining who they were. Furries are people who have a great love for anthropomorphic characters. But that’s barely a slice of what furries are about. Furriness varies in each furry. Some just really like characters like Bugs Bunny. Some associate themselves with an animal, wishing they were such an animal. Others have a sexual attraction to anthropomorphic characters. They like to make art featuring these creatures, and start creating stories with an anthropomorphic character that they consider their alter ego. Some like to go to furry conventions to meet others like them, and dress as animals. Then there are the furries that believe they are actually animals trapped in human bodies. These are called Otherkin.
To put it lightly, I was surprised that these type of people existed. And irritated that I hadn’t known about their existence before. To me, the furries were a unique, interesting bunch who loved the person they were. But then I accidently closed down the window. So I brought it back up, and typed "furry" in google. I saw the site I had just been looking at, and then noticed another site. For my own religious purposes, I’ll let you type "furry" in google and see the site’s name for yourself. I thought to better understand the concept of furries, I’d better look at this from both sides of the mirror. It was only fair, true? So I clicked the link, and... wow. My perception of furries has just been bombed, I thought. It was furry hate site, committed to exposing furries as the most evil, disgusting, disturbed people on the planet. The despise poured from the web site like fifty - foot waterfalls. It shocked me at first, and as I read more and more, their opinions began to sink in. The furries’ perfect world had just been incredibly de - glorified. What I previously had thought was just another of the world’s unique groups had been turned into something evil, putrid, and disturbing. E-mails from furries sent to the web master was displayed and torn apart verbally by the web master. After going to several other hate sites I thought it was enough. I felt pretty disturbed, to wrap it all in a nutshell. And after closing down the hate sites, I sat and thought for a long period of time about the furries. Misunderstood or evil? Happy and unique or breeders of a new disturbing religion? After much battle between the two sides within my own mind, I have reached a conclusion.
Furries aren’t evil. And I have only one reason to support that statement: Furries don’t choose to be furries. I have read enough stories about furries "finding their tail" to firmly say that furries are born the way they are or are made that way by life - altering experiences; furries do not choose to be different. I personally believe many of the world’s furries wish that they were just like any regular human, like you or like myself. It’s not that they aren’t proud or have low self -esteem. Furries have seen their opposition, and the hate that flows from them, their harsh words and opinions like whips across their backs. They are just scared to be revealed and hated for being something they never asked to be. Furries are a small and despised group, so they hide away and hold secret lives, only sharing that life with other furries. It seems pretty sad that they are hated so much. Despite the efforts, the hate sites didn’t make me a furry hater. I actually have a lot of sympathy for furries now, even though I’m not a furry myself.
I never did see furry haters explain why they despised these people on their web sites. Perhaps they have had life - scarring experiences at the hands of furries, and a grudge built up over the years. Maybe their closest friends revealed themselves as furries, and they felt betrayed. Or they could just be Hitler clones in the making. I do not know. What I do know is that history has repeated itself. And guess what, world? It’s happening as I type. Did the African Americans not fight for their rights? Did they not win? Who do we know that have been fighting for equal rights recently? Homosexuals. And they’re winning their war. So who’s to say the furries aren’t next in line to rise up and make their presence known? Who can say that within the next twenty years furries won’t be treated as equal as African Americans and homosexuals?
As my final thoughts, I share a discovery that crept into my head while thinking about this entire issue. I am not a furry, I know that for sure. But things that possible have made furries who they are have been hiding in all places, and I found those things in my own life, shockingly. Books, to start. In my own library, I have discovered 36 books made up of only anthropomorphic creatures. It’s a complete shock that furry literature has been rolling around in my head since I learned to read. When it finally made me realize what’s been happening, I felt empty, then I almost threw up in shock. As I said, I am not a furry. I am a straight human. But now I see the things that breeds furries is ever present. And with literature comprised of just animal characters being so popular, I must except the fact that such breeding tools are here to stay. Disney, believe it or not, is creating furries, even if they do not know it. Anthropomorphic creatures are Disney’s movie gold mine. And naturally, the mascots of the food we put in our mouths. Tony the Tiger, the Trix rabbit, the crazy bird that promotes Coco Puffs. It may sound foolish, but it’s the truth.
When I went to wikipedia and looked up anthropomorphic animals, I had no clue what I was getting into. I am glad I looked at that page now. Ignorance is bliss? When it comes to furries, ignorance is unacceptable. And despising them because you don’t understand them is unacceptable also. These people are everywhere, and they are growing. And now, should I ever find myself associated with someone who I discover is a furry, I am armed with knowledge. Unlike the hate breeders, I will just accept that the person is a furry and move on with my life. Who am I to judge that person? That is God’s call, not mine. So now, I can finally put my mind to rest about this whole furry situation. The furries aren’t a bad people, and though I’m not one of them or particularly like them, they are God’s people too (animal or human). I’ll be watching the furries in their fight for equality when it happens. I say "when" because I know it’s going to happen. In 5 to 10 years, it may not be the homosexuals you see on the world news fighting for equality. It may be furries. So keep that in mind the next time you suddenly discover someone you know is a furry or see them out buying suits for their conventions. And chew on this as you go to sleep tonight: what if you were the furry being judged by the world?