Dogpatch Press

Fluff Pieces Every Week

Tag: cult

How furry fandom is rejecting neo-nazis, “Altfurs” and Furry Raiders who target kids for hate.

by Patch O'Furr

Get ready for a big topic about toxic behavior, the cult-like groups doing it, how they’re targeting kids, and how the fandom is cutting ties with it for positive progress.  This is a followup to last week’s article: “The Confederate fursuit incident shows how you can’t be a troll and a victim at the same time“. It focuses on the source of the problem:

  • At Anthrocon 2017, a troll provoked drama with defenders who claimed he was being unfairly censored.
  • The defense missed a basic point – he was an antagonistic outsider who was banned and didn’t register or support the con.
  • It showed how trolls twist facts about consequences for bad behavior, so they can pretend to be the victims.
  • Posing as victims requires a scapegoat (“SJW’s”). The misinformation is being spread like cult propaganda.

Anthrocon’s letter recognizes how the troll was pushing a “political message” on others.  It’s an example of recent fandom activity by alt-right altfurs and their enablers.  They do it with a twofaced pose that they want freedom, want politics out of fandom, and are just giving their side. But their side relies on false middle ground. (In other words, saying the earth is round doesn’t require Flat Earthers to give their side.  Newspapers don’t interview vandals to get their side.) The real goal is to exploit and undermine the fandom behind a false front of “freedom”.  That includes grooming and recruiting kids, trolling and harassing, dodging accountability, and worse things like welcoming literal neo-nazis (see below.)

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Rocky Mountain Fur Con backs neo-nazis, sex offender to intimidate critic for reporting threat.

by Dogpatch Press Staff

A Dogpatch Press exclusive report for community interest.

BACKGROUND: A neo-nazi cult-like group (the “Furry Raiders”) is agitating the Colorado Furries.  They recruit members with gifts, grooming, and manipulation.  It makes a classic appeal to people who are desperate to belong to a group. The Furry Raiders self-create an “us vs. them” situation by provoking others so they can pretend to be treated unfairly.   Their trolling includes assault, spreading hate speech, display of nazi-style apparel, refusing to honor meet rules, posting photos of people against their wishes, doxxing enemies to harrass them on the phone, and persistent straw-man attacks at “SJW’s”. In 2016, they provoked wider attention when they tried to gain power at Rocky Mountain Fur Con by interfering with the hotel room block.  In early 2017, they gained more mainstream news headlines.

There is a spotlight on furries and the subculture they love. This report, with participation of many concerned Colorado furries, is not to sensationalize the fringe so media can mischaracterize the rest. Their message is that they care enough to oppose malicious behavior, so protecting a superficial image is less important than making a good community.

Deo, a steelworker in the midwest, was upset about the trolls.  They were ruining what the furry community represents to her.

It made her connect current events to the problem.  She tweeted about punching Nazis.  It was a rhetorical comment in line with the patriotic spirit of entire generations of Americans since WWII.

A troll answered to threaten her.  It involved Rocky Mountain Fur Con.  Deo had never gone and wasn’t planning to go, but cared enough about other furs to notify police and hotel security.* Deo says: “It started when a Furry Raider member @Oliviameles threatened to bring a gun to RMFC – I contacted RMFC con security to warn them.  I never received a reply to my email.” 

(*Update: on 7/16/17, clarification was requested. Deo gave an accurate quote of emailing the con only. It was lumped with “hotel” the con was in, an editing error referencing the quote and email I saw. Deo didn’t contact the hotel or police in Colorado. I was told of consulting local jurisdiction about her safety but they wouldn’t pursue net activity.

In the below screenshot: 1) Deo’s 1/26/17 tweet is a meme joke about that week’s much hyped news of Richard Spencer being punched. 2) The chair and staff of RMFC confirmed that there were many threats before and after Deo’s tweet and the hotel did not act until March.)

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Between The Crow and Dark City, movie maker Alex Proyas had a lost project, revealed here.

by Patch O'Furr

Do those titles perk your ears up?  They had major impact on cult movies from the 1990’s to now.  The Crow won a new level of respect for comic-based movies, which had never been so dark before.  (The soundtrack alone was a gateway for countless black-clad kids.)  Then, Dark City created a visionary sci-fi dystopia world with only a handful to compare: like Brazil, The City of Lost Children, or Blade Runner.  It was stellar work from director Alex Proyas.  1994-1998 may have been his peak (so far.)download (2)

There was supposed to be a movie in between: an adaptation of Freak’s Amour, an obscure but highly praised cult novel by Tom De Haven.  It was optioned and scripted for Proyas.  The project fell by the wayside for two sad reasons.  One was aftershocks from the tragic death of Brandon Lee on set of The Crow. The other was critical success but financial failure for Dark City. Even though it’s called the best movie by Proyas, it hurt his career.  It was triumph and tragedy.  A year later, The Matrix came along (sharing studio and style) and won all the attention. Dark City has continued to influence movies like Inception.

Proyas followed up with 3 features that got mixed reviews.  There’s mentions of a number of projects in development.  The next one for sure is Gods of Egypt in 2016. (Hey furries, I wonder if there will be characters like Anubis?)

As far as I can tell, almost nobody in the fan world has talked about this lost movie project. (As a fan of the novel, I’d never known about it until now!) Stories like this are why I blog.

It’s an indirect topic for a Furry blog.  The anthropomorphism is Monster Movie style – not funny animals.  This is for sci-fi fans in general, especially ones for the niche called Body Horror. But it’s inspired by comics, and it’s relevant.

“…The story of Freak’s Amour is, in it’s own way, a story of body dysphoria.” – Dana Marie Andra, artist for the comic.

FreaksAmourCovers1

More about the underappreciated “Freak’s Amour”, by Tom De Haven- and what Tom told me about the movie project.

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