The Cure for Ignorance and Apathy on Furry YouTube.
by Patch O'Furr
Editorial with Sam Hyena in collaboration with Patch.
Ignorance and Apathy on Furry YouTube
Over the last 2 years with the demise of Vine, many Furries have started to migrate over to YouTube. Many have amassed groups of followers, hold regular livestreams on Twitch, or have Patreons. And some have used this platform as a guise to get away with borderline toxic or outright hateful behavior.
The platform makes every click content-neutral. Getting attention for any reason gets advantage over quality, so being edgy plays to the lowest-common-denominator. Lines get persistently pushed, and suddenly things that aren’t debatable at all get some asshole demanding a debate. Is the earth round, is evolution real, should racist altfurries get kicked to the curb after swatting Califur? Yes, yes, and yes, if we’re all telling the truth. But unending conflict between “sides” is a substitute for good stories, real jokes or having anything sincere to say. It brings the clicks that raise clout for edgy people.
While the line-pushers thrive on conflict, faux-“centrists” tag along and enable them, trying to play all the sides and turning definitions to mush. They do posing about freedom, but really have no side except mercenary selfishness. It’s a cooked-up conflict between people who act in good faith vs. people with none.
In this barrel-scraping free-for-all, there’s many examples of people doing it and it goes way beyond just furries. Let’s name names.
In 2017, JonTron did a livestream with right-wing commentator SargonOfAkkad in support of Donald Trump, which continued on social media and this video, where he promotes reactionary “white identitarianism” while denying that’s what it is. (They love disguising it as “both sides” centrism to cook up a “debate” that spreads the racist side no matter who “wins”.) The first step is calling white a race, for false equivalence between an arbitrary label and specific conditions – like being redlined or arrested for sitting in a Starbucks while black. It’s as disingenuous as saying that incident wasn’t racist because they served black coffee.
OH MY GOD pic.twitter.com/f84wkPulu1
— Lichqueen 👸💀 (@gwen_no_fear) April 25, 2018
We’ve seen that kind of ignorance across 2 Gryphon’s entire career. Newer furries such as Dojo Dingo imitate that model like empty suits anyone can get inside, seeking clicks from haters AND people they hate. It’s clear that they’re acting in bad faith, but their platform doesn’t just change if it’s demonetized while they also use Streamlabs or Patreon for money. Some of their fans are kids, not just “college kids” but 12-14 year olds or younger. They’re prime targets when they support and even idolize furry Youtubers, taking it as a character act (it’s not) and an excuse for apathy about demagoguery.
Demagogue: A leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power.
What’s really beneath excuses like “it’s just their opinion”, or “it’s a joke” or “they’re being sarcastic?” When they go out of the way to offend people for the sake of it, or enable ignorance while pretending to be unbiased and aloof – there’s no practical difference between hating ironically, and just hating.
Such ignorance on Youtube isn’t going to get improved by YouTube. Whether content is nice, hateful, well-crafted, or crappy, they profit from clicks no matter what. When it can just shift around to other platforms, general society isn’t so likely to improve it either.
But there is a choice on the ground level inside a self-aware, self-defined subculture. When people say “furries are fans of each other”, no other community has more power to choose what they consume.
You’re more than a consumer, you can be an active member of a creative community. It’s a 2-way street when content isn’t premade and blasted out by corporations. You can demand better, and that isn’t censoring or being an “SJW.” (The strawman about implacable offense is flipping the direction it comes from, when indifferent platforms are exploited by line-pushers). You don’t have to settle for crap, and a basic standard isn’t gatekeeping. It’s your choice, and that’s the free market. That doesn’t mean telling those empty suits how to act, it’s just expressing how you, as an audience, aren’t buying it.
For proof that you have power, cue up any 2 Gryphon rant and see what he blames for his faded career as a convention performer. Expect him not to name himself, his declining relevance or the hate he spreads. When selfish mercenaries won’t improve themselves, getting better starts with demanding better.
People who do that share beliefs with hate groups. The wink-wink kek flag isn't fooling anyone.
— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) April 27, 2018
TL;DR: It amazes me that people take meticulous care of their fursuits and yet have zero self-awareness how palling around with Nazis makes them look.
— Be Good 🦄 Have Fun 🦄 Launch Nazis Into The Sun (@XydexxUnicorn) April 26, 2018
That stain's gonna be hard to get out.
@SpicyFurryTakes @DogpatchPress on the subject of people like Dojo and Huscoon pic.twitter.com/cV69Xos01P
— Sam (@SamHyena) April 28, 2018
Response from Summercat:
Free speech is a good idea, and it’s predicated upon the assumption that all involved are acting in good faith. Those who are not acting in good faith by knowingly and intentionally spreading dishonest discourse, untruths, mis-statements, and any other forms of lying, are acting in a manner counterproductive to free speech. Here’s what poisoned discourse is like:
There are two pools. One is cleaned regularly. The other has toxins intentionally dumped in by people who hate swimming. Which would you rather swim in? Would you consider it to be free speech by those who hate swimming, if they point at the pool filled with toxins they dumped in and claim that swimming is therefore bad?
The rising potential of fandom to be better:
- Furry YouTubers You Might Not Have Seen – guest post from Pup Matthias.
- Furries are winning Emmys and Youtube Creator Awards – guest post from Arrkay of Culturally F’d.
Like the article? It takes a lot of effort to share these. Please consider supporting Dogpatch Press on Patreon. You can access exclusive stuff for just $1, or get Con*Tact Caffeine Soap as a reward. They’re a popular furry business seen in dealer dens. Be an extra-perky patron – or just order direct from Con*Tact.
Sometimes I feel like I am the only good conservative in the world because just about every conservative I know is either a racist, a fundamentalist, a conspiracy theorist, or a enabler of the above. I know that most conservatives are not like that, but they are the only ones I ever here about. They are all perpetuating the worst stereotypes about conservatives, and because of that liberals are becoming more and more fanatical in their hatred of us.
I worry about the future of America. Politics are getting more and more toxic. It seems like everyone is losing the ability to think rationally and disagree without hating each other, just because of the actions of a few toxic minorities. I am scared that liberals and conservatives will be calling for genocide against each other in a few years if this pattern continues.
It’s also unfortunate how the squeaky, obnoxious wheels tend to get the grease, so to speak–meaning, the thoughtful, balanced, ethical people on both sides don’t get as much (or any) air time, because the whackjobs and jerks produce better soundbites and evoke stronger emotions.
It is disappointing how conservatism has become a safe harbor for bigots, psychopaths, and jerks. Many prominent or famous conservatives these days really aren’t that conservative, frankly; they’re just using conservatism as a thin excuse for being mean, xenophobic, and greedy.
The GOOD news is that the average person on the street is much more moderate in their views and behavior than the screaming headlines would have you believe.
What worries me is that the screaming headlines are fueling excessive hysteria and extreme paranoia, to the point where people who COULD cooperate, dialogue, or get along in theory will preemptively take up arms because they assume their enemies are doing the same.
What additionally worries me is that a lot of centrists, moderates, and people who “don’t care about politics” don’t realize that *everything* humans create or perceive is fundamentally political, so to “opt out” is to basically side with the powerful or prominent voice (i.e., the status quo, usually), and this can potentially lead to gross injustices.
I also don’t think people appreciate how fascists in particular tend to mirror or echo the values and talking points of the status quo, and that this can make them dangerously appealing to the average person.
So basically what all you guys are saying is ‘only liberals get it, so get with the crowd or get out’.
Maybe I’m incorrect and that’s not what you mean. But it sounds suspiciously like it. I don’t agree with a lot of edge or extremist politics, and I’ve been in the fandom since about 2000.. but for some reason around mid to late 2000s near 2010, I feel like our fandom took the positive aspects of being accepting to anyone and turned most of that towards the sheer inanity that’s only found in extremist liberalist politics.
Centrists ‘dont care’ because many of them are simply sick to death of being beaten over the head with everyone else’s superiority complex about it. Essentially everyone else touting all their own politics are what CAUSED them to not care, myself included.
Mine was specifically brought about when I was told certain issues are EVERYBODY’S concern… Yet then I was also told that because I’m not gay, or trans, or black, or etc… My voice didn’t deserve to be heard… This is called a direct contradiction. That’s why I don’t buy in to any of these politics and have resolved to let both these sides hash it out when they both stop being retarded about it.
Just my two cents.
I’m going to point out the irony of calling things inane while doing a vague whinge (who said what where?)
The article names names and platforms, not sides. Conservatives aren’t criticized as a group. But this complaint seems to stem from some random dyspeptic comments with zero info about why it mattered or what power they had except “liberalists”.
Casually using a hateful slur doesn’t help. The article mentions ignorance but the critic says retarded, hmm… could it be the other people aren’t the problem?