March has been the usual bad news month for furries. It started with The Dependent Magazine piece on Vancoufur answering the age old stereotypical over generalized question:
“1. They are a community who enjoy dressing up as, acting like, and celebrating anthropomorphized animals (read: animals with human characteristics).
2. It may also be a sex thing.”
Next came Adult Swim’s “Check it Out” where the much misinformed main host came out with, again usual stereotypical “anatomically incorrect fursuit” . Finally we have a from New Zealand comes “Fur fetishists ‘just nature lovers ‘” a fine example of press bias I have seen sine the Bush 2004 elections and miss-coverage of the tea party.
What one need to know the articles I listed above are just a sampling what is out there and should be an example what wrong with the media. There are a few areas of observation I would like to make, first how the media reports the story and furries weakness in dealing with the media and what can we do.
A lot what I have to say come from my own experiences as somebody who is an orthodox Christian, Pro Life, former Fundamentalist now reformed Christian and political volunteer. I see similar methods the reporter employs when reporting on furries to many political groups and causes I supported. It was my study media bias in reporting of furries that eventually drawn me into the fandom.