There seem to be some people on Lemmy who genuinely believe that they are an animal. They say they are an “unperson” or discuss conversing with “animals” who “happen to be born in human bodies”. They see their struggle as on par with the struggle for trans people, and their right to be recognized as animals as a part of a broader societal struggle for queer acceptance.
Well, this is fucking stupid.
First of all, comparing “I’m a puppy uWu” to gender dysphoria trivializes what trans people go through. Furries are not struggling like trans people. They are simply mocking trans people (whether that mockery is intentional or not is besides the point).
Second of all, you’re not a fucking animal bro ffs. Being an animal isn’t a state of mind. It isn’t a vibe. It isn’t a social construct. It isn’t something you’re assigned at birth. It’s about DNA. You have 50% of DNA from a human mom, and 50% of your DNA from a human dad, so you have 100% human DNA (granted maybe you have like 0.1% Neanderthal DNA but whatever). So you’re a human. This shouldn’t be a hard concept to grasp.
If you can speak a human language, and have the mental wherewithal required to use the internet, then you have a HUMAN MIND. And if you “just so happen to be born in a human body” then you have a HUMAN BODY. HUMAN MIND + HUMAN BODY = HUMAN. IT’S ALL HUMAN. YOU ARE HUMAN. Just because you have a bestiality fetish does not make you a fucking bobcat ffs
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It’s endlessly both amusing and psychologically fascinating how you’re seemingly getting progressively more and more angry while just sharing your opinion before anyone has even had time to engage with you. It’s an objective fact that strong emotions cloud people’s judgment, so I can only wonder what it is that’s actually making you feel so emotional about it.
Clearly you’re not just a passive, distant observer to this but you’re somehow emotionally invested in it as well. It’s not really that I necessarily even entirely disagree with what I believe you’re saying - it’s just the way you’re saying it that makes me a bit suspicious about what’s really going on in the back of your head, whether it’s conscious or not.
It’s a cliché, but I feel like more often than not this kind of strong reaction to something that in no way affects your own life probably tells more about yourself than it does about other people or about what’s true in the world. I’m not sure whether you’re trying to convince us or yourself.
Edit: Okay, I read your other responses and I see what’s going on here. Bye.
Imagine not giving a fuck about what other people think or do as long as it doesn’t hurt others…
Hard, I know, but it’s how normal people should behave: what the hell does it change to you in your daily routine if someone likes to dress with a furry suit? Is there a furry near your house that keeps you from having breakfast every day? Or that keeps you closed in your house? Or that hits you when they see you?
Has a furry kidnapped your children? Has a furry stolen your job?
Every time I see someone minding other people’s lives, I instantly believe they are worried that somehow they’ll become that themselves. Are you furrychondriac?
Wonderful day!
Well, I do not and never understood it, too, of me being ~40 years old…
I cannot imagine my children to wish being animals… it would damage me… permanently… I believe…
It feels like a disrespect towards and devaluation of myself a human, my race, my family and parents who gifted me a life of a human…Absolutely… I do love to be a human… and I do love other individuals who adventure the infinitely magnificent world and share experiences to learn from each other…
And indeed… A human mind is so ineffably incredible that such is possible and this is how I do realize it. A person who considers themselves an animal may have desires more powerful and prioritized if compared to someone else who was raised differently and had a different life experience that did not develop such animal feelings in their mind that consume them to such a degree to stay focused on it, controllably or not.
And never I would ever consider myself anyone else but a human, and I am proud of being one! But I do also realize how incredible a mind can be, and a worldview of someone else is sure another world to discover…
There’s no chance I would ever tolerate it enough to stay always in contact with a person who believes they are an animal, where I would also be afraid it may damage my own beliefs and my plans to raise my children; and I do fear that I will make an accidental but critical mistake in such a relationship due to my lack of proper understanding of certain traits of worldviews of such people, considering my years and subconsciously rules and already developed instincts.
Meanwhile, I do also realize that there’s just 100 years maximum, and I haven’t met anyone yet who actually know the reason we appeared here. There’s a little knowledge of a human psychology and how certain life events affect people in long term to the point they find themselves better as animals. Perhaps they feel themselves safer or closer to the nature. It might be something deep that subconsciously suggests them animal desires to be into.
Not to mentioned that I do believe every single person is a whole another Universe, indeed… to always respect and celebrate their existence in the miracle known as life…
Hence, there’s nothing “stupid” in it I believe, but just us, people, being miracles and live the way we see it, striving, believing, and trying our best…
We inherit the earth, we inherit the war
I inhabit the wound, I dwell in the harm
Oh, how far we fall: we’re casualties of time
Oh, how far we fall: forgive existence~ Inherit the Earth - Silent Planet
-–
So here I float in salt water
How many times will I tell myself I’m worthy?
As I soak the salt water
I feel it sting the places I need it most~ Salt Water - Portair
-–
I’m holding out for something real
Something I can touch and feel
On the bright side of the moon
Looking for the bright side of the moon…~ The Moon - Cinders
Absolutely… I do love to be a human…
Ngl I kinda wanna just be a human mind in a body of a cat…
So I can look beautiful and also have intelligence
(also immortality so I don’t just die in about a decade… I’d run around as a cat and mess with people till the end of time xD)
Like maybe like a werewolf (were-cats?) ability, but I can choose to activate it at will… I can just live another life in case my human identity is fucked up, then I can just fake my death and live life as a cat (or rather, a were-cat)
If you enjoy imagining what life would be like as an animal person with intelligence… boy, have I got the fandom for you!
TIL I’m a furry 😳
Sounds like a plan, you can enjoy cleaning your arse with your tongue 😛
I dunno man, tonguepunching someone you’re into’s fart box is fun.
Humans have a lot of sexual hangups lol.
You should be fine since you didn’t bring up dragon kin
I applaud your appeal to rationality.
But most human believe in God. Rationality is beyond our grasp. We’re fucked.
So, I’m just throwin’ it out because I dont feel it’s shown in the post a whole lot. Most furries are not like that. I’m pretty deep in the fandom, the ‘head’ of several communities, and hangout in it all the time. Throughout all that, I can count on one hand, the number of individuals I directly interacted with who associated with those thoughts.
I ain’t gonna go in depth on the whole therian part, moreso just that furries as a whole aren’t individuals who see themselves as animals.
oh hell here comes the fun police
if anything will make me reconsider my position it’s being called the fun police
congratulation
Humans have had concepts of “spirit animals” and have admired and taken on animal traits going back literally all the way to paleolithic times
Humans just like animals, we think they’re neat. Some people identify with animals more than others do – humans always have, and they always will.
It’s only really a problem when it gets in the way of living a healthy, fulfilling life. Most furries are just normal people with a hobby or interest that they enjoy, and some are more passionate than others. Some people, particularly neurotypical people, make their favorite hobby a significant part of their life. Again, as long as it doesn’t impede them from living a happy, healthy life, there’s nothing wrong with it.
Some people are obsessed with sports, anime, games, etc. and enjoy cosplaying or dressing up/painting their faces/etc to identify with their hobbies or characters they love. Furries are similar in that regard.
I would say the number of furries who believe they actually ARE an animal is almost 0% of furries, and is probably some rooted in some form of dysphoria or dissociative disorder, and if I was friends with someone like that, if I felt like it was causing them discomfort or leading them to have problems in life, I might gently try to encourage them to consider therapy. But if they’re just having a happy, healthy life, socializing with others, and they just believe that they’ve got an animal soul trapped in a human body but it doesn’t bother them much, then ultimately, who gives a shit?
Ultimately, I guess what I’m getting at is, why are you so mad about this? Why do you care what hobbies people have, or how they identify? How does this impact your life?
I have had rather frustrating conversations with two different people, on two separate occasions, trying to explain to them that they are not, in fact, an animal. To me this is a rather absurd situation to be in. So that frustration probably comes through in my post.
My sister has schizophrenia and pretty regularly has pretty severe delusions. Back before she was diagnosed and it was a new thing, I really struggled with feelings of frustration - I couldn’t get through to her, there was no amount of logic or reason or explanations that could help her understand that the things she was experiencing weren’t real.
Over time interacting with her, I eventually learned that delusions come from something real, some genuine fear or memory or whatever. Directly telling her that things she was experiencing weren’t real got me nowhere. The best approach for me was to help her talk it out - what was she experiencing, how was she feeling, what situation led up to her feeling that way. Just talking, listening, and believing her - I know it sounds crazy, but just telling a delusional person that you understand and that you believe that their experiences were real to them - helps so much. A lot of the times the feelings of rejection and alienation are at the root of delusions, so validating their feelings helps them feel better. That would usually lead to her, unprompted, to realize herself that she was experiencing delusions, and then I can just validate it for her that yeah it probably was.
You’re probably wondering, why am I telling you all of this – it’s not your job to be a therapist for random people on the internet, after all. You’d be totally correct to feel that way, it’s not your problem to fix, and if you really want to help someone you feel is delusional, it takes a lot of empathy, understanding, patience, and mental flexibility.
Honestly, my advice would be to just not get into it with people you don’t know well, let them live their lives. None of us are responsible for the dysfunction of others.
Over time interacting with her, I eventually learned that delusions come from something real, some genuine fear or memory or whatever. Directly telling her that things she was experiencing weren’t real got me nowhere. The best approach for me was to help her talk it out - what was she experiencing, how was she feeling, what situation led up to her feeling that way. Just talking, listening, and believing her - I know it sounds crazy, but just telling a delusional person that you understand and that you believe that their experiences were real to them - helps so much.
This is interesting, thanks for sharing (I posted this response earlier but it didn’t federate for some reason so I’m trying again)
You’re welcome! It’s probably worth pointing out that that denying/rejecting delusions is a bad approach according to the broad consensus of mental healthcare professionals/resources too - you can find loads of resources online, but I’ll share this random Australian government health website since there’s not really a universal source - emphasis mine:
When supporting someone experiencing psychosis you should:
- talk clearly and use short sentences, in a calm and non-threatening voice
- be empathetic with how the person feels about their beliefs and experiences
- validate the person’s own experience of frustration or distress, as well as the positives of their experience
- listen to the way that the person explains and understands their experiences
- not state any judgements about the content of the person’s beliefs and experiences
- not argue, confront or challenge someone about their beliefs or experiences
- accept if they don’t want to talk to you, but be available if they change their mind
- treat the person with respect
- be mindful that the person may be fearful of what they are experiencing.
I hope you can understand what I’m trying to get at, here - not only is arguing with people about their belief that they are an animal unhelpful, but might actually make the problem worse. I still think the best approach is to just leave them be unless they’re actually your friend, but if you really want to help them, I hope you remember this advice.
Also, I hope you’ll reconsider your views on furries! There are lots of intolerant people out there sadly who like to punch down on us underdogs (pun not intended) for being a little outside the norm, and there are those who try and make out that the furry fandom is really fucked up and engages in really heinous things that furries are actually completely intolerant towards in reality. We don’t deserve half the abuse we get, we’re good folks on the whole - there are definitely some oddballs, like with any fandom, but the furry fandom is very accepting towards people who are different, that’s one of the things that makes it such a positive community.
Also, I hope you’ll reconsider your views on furries!
The person I was conversing said their belief they were an animal was a furry thing, so that’s the word I used in this post. Since then have been a number of comments here explaining the technical terms used to describe the different subtypes of furries. If someone just likes art of anthropomorphic animals then I don’t take issue with that
Have you considered that they were fucking with you because you are easy to get a rise out of?
I see - I can understand that. Are you guys close friends?
I have had rather frustrating conversations with two different people, on two separate occasions, trying to explain to them that they are not, in fact, an animal.
Did those people actually claim to be animals, or were you putting words in their mouth just like you’ve been doing here?
If those conversations were online, show some (anonymized) receipts.
I don’t think this could be considered an unpopular opinion. This is basically what the whole world thinks, minus a minuscule outlying group.
its probably secretly popular but i think a lot of people would be scared to say it because they dont want to be labelled a bigot
lol
its probably secretly popular
You think furry hate is secretly popular?
Ask 10 randos on the street what they think about furries. I really doubt they’re going to keep it a secret.
This probably varies depending on your location and social circles
I bet I’d get at least one “What the fuck is a furry?”
Don’t tell them about the furry-hater to furry bottom pipeline.
Its a tale as old as time.
LMAO thank god there are brave truth tellers like yourself willing to say the things everyone else is just to scared to say. No one has ever expressed a negative opinion of furries before.
You might be right in that it’s popular, but that doesn’t stop it from being ignorant.
The reason for my comment is because the name of this community is “Unpopular Opinion”, not “Ignorant Opinion”. I was pointing out that it didn’t fit the community’s entire reason for being.
the internet does funny things to some people
People were weird as hell long before the internet.
but if they wanted to wank at cartoon animal porn they had to draw it themselves
And many did.
Furries were around before the internet. Art was distributed in small pamphlets or zines. It originated in the 1970s and the term dates back to the early 1980s.
I guess what I’m saying is, people could look at non-self-drawn cartoon animal porn long before the internet. Just FYI. :)
Well, if you say that people who believe they are animals are human, then you must also say that trans people are their gender assigned at birth. Or can you elaborate the difference with more informative words than “stupid”?
Really appreciate op making the sacrifice so that everyone can Unite and explain so much about the furry culture and its sub cultures. I legit didn’t know some of these details. Very educational and fascinating.
It’s weird, but not something I really care about or would judge someone on, tbh.
It’s weird. If people were just being weird by themselves, that would barely worth any comment. But when people co-opt the language of social justice to justify their weirdness, and accuse you of being a bad person for not going along with it, then things have gone too far
If you’re trying to say they’re a troll, this meme template implies the opposite
Why do people find it so hard to believe that someone could take issue with trans-speciesism? Have you guys ever talked to someone irl before? Judging by the downvotes this is an unpopular opinion here, but 99.99% of the human population would agree with me about this
It hasn’t been studied enough to be able to conclude species dysphoria is bullshit. The human brain is fucking gnarly, tho. Ignoring the possibility is more insane than assuming a human might have a mental disorder that gives them a sense of dysphoria not having fur and a tail.
The engagement bait works wonderfully
its as legitamate as anything else and like anything it has a wide variation in how the people in the subculture view things. Im fine with people doing their thing as long as it does not hurt anyone else and they should not face discrimination but also not get exess. I don’t see why someone who gets leopord spots put all over their body and surgically made fangs and claws with some hair weave is not going to feel as every bit the animal they want to be as a man surgically being made to emulate female parts or vice versa. Its for them to be who they are and likely share in their community. Do I think they are what they think they are. no. but why does that matter. In other words live and let live.
