“He’s a Steve” – The Onion gets hip to the furry jive
by Patch O'Furr
I’m crying at this breaking news from The Onion.
There’s something funny about how they wrote it.
Check this out:
Dogpatch Press
Fluff Pieces Every Week
Tag: trump
August 11, 2020
Take the Furry Fandom 2020 Survey from author Tea Krulos.
by Patch O'Furr
If you’ve ever had to explain to an outsider what furries are, you might be a little weird. Or as I prefer, lovably eccentric. There’s a writer who gets the lovable part, and he wants your help to learn more about furries. You can be part of the research:
Click here to take the Furry Fandom 2020 Survey.
Tea Krulos is a freelance journalist and author who covers subcultures, weird news, and strange personalities. He also writes about local art and entertainment for a bunch of magazines and has his own weekly column. His books are about the Real Life Superhero Movement, monster hunters who chase Bigfoot, ghosts and UFO’s, cryptozoology and more. It makes me want to visit a whole book store just for that stuff — and help him make a new book.
Tea and I did an hour interview and he told me about his research. It was just before he led a weekly walking ghost/history tour. Last time I did one in New Orleans, I was happy to have a trusty guide to lead me on a leash. (It kept me from slipping in ectoplasm or Mardi Gras barf.) I think Tea’s research will make him a trusty guide like that. The survey is sociological and asks about a few debated topics, but I know there’s nothing wrong with writing about them from someone who is just learning and being into the same stuff as me. He says:
Hello furry friends — my name is Tea, I’m a freelance writer and author from Milwaukee, WI. As an eccentric punk rocker, I’ve always had an interest in subcultures, social movements, and fandoms and have written about them several times (including roller derby, paranormal investigators, Real-life Superheroes, music cultures and more) and I always approach the people I’m writing about in a respectful (but truthful) way.
I’m working on a future book that examines a variety of subcultures/ social movements that focuses on the years 2015-2020 under the Trump campaign/ administration. To write it I’m doing a lot of interviews and also surveys directed at different groups of people.
I’ve created a survey for the furry fandom that takes about 5 minutes to complete. Your personal info will not be shared. Surveys like this are helpful in getting some idea of who the group is and if their answers are mostly in agreement or split on issues. I hope you participate (and help share) and the last entry asks for contact info if you wish to talk further.
Thank you and a big thanks to Patch for his insight on the survey questions and for helping me spread the word. Hope you’re all well in this crazy year.
— Tea Krulos
www.teakrulos.com
November 12, 2018
Jello Biafra’s Incredibly Strange Interview and dance party with furries: San Francisco, 12/1/18
by Patch O'Furr
Info: Frolicparty.com or Facebook – Frolic with Jello Biafra
Are you a man or are you a mouse?
If you love your fun, die for it!
– The Power of Lard by Lard
Man or mouse: why pick just one? Furries can have their cake and eat it too. (It’s cheese cake, of course!)
That line jumped out of my car music on a drive to San Jose’s PAWcon, on the day after Halloween. Besides rocking my giant ears, I was geeking out about just doing a 45 minute phone call with Jello Biafra.
Jello is a punk legend, the singer for Lard and the Dead Kennedys, the founder of Alternative Tentacles (one of the longest running indie record labels)… and he’s friendly to this fluffy fandom. Is that punk? Well, will it annoy purists and/or make you laugh? Then it just might be. And will the average furry care? I’d say it’s cooler than the times when furries infested the White House and assimilated Insane Clown Posse. If you could put all those things together, and let the mayhem commence with cute animals and crazy clowns doing a coup on the Capitol lawn, it would only be half as outrageous as this amazing event.
Speaking of Halloween, that wasn’t just a date on the calendar. Halloween is a classic Dead Kennedys song, and Jello referenced it when I asked for his thoughts on furries. The song rages against social regulations and asks why people don’t express themselves like that day, every day? So, furries, you got compared to a classic punk rager by the legend who wrote it. (He also wrote Nazi Punks Fuck Off. By the way, Nazi Furs Fuck Off!)
See why I was so stoked? Getting in that spirit also reminds me of Ministry’s Every Day is Halloween; Jello’s band Lard is a metal/industrial collab with the guys from Ministry. And when I asked what his fursona could be, he gave the punkest answer:
I was just about to tweet that this is my all time fav Lard song. This EP sat next to my Dead Kennedys records all throughout high school. It blew my mind hearing Jello's vocals over Ministry's music, and done very hardcore punk style. Absolutely amazing EP.
— Midwest MonsterFest '18 (@TwitchDaWoof) November 2, 2018
May 17, 2017
Tempe O’Kun was on CNN while protesting ‘on the side of justice.’
by Patch O'Furr
Tempe O’Kun is a popular author of Paranormal Furry Romance, anthropomorphic-animal Westerns, and even game design.
Tempe writes in to share his recent appearance in the news, plus Q&A with me.
“I helped boo my Republican rep whenever he defended Trump-Russia. Normally, I don’t like having my real life intersect with furry, but these are exceptional times.” See Tempe in cowboy hat on North Dakota’s KFYR-TV:
Things got physical at a town hall meeting this afternoon in Mandan with Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D. Two people were escorted from the Coffee with Cramer event by police officers. Things got heated, when Cramer was accused of supporting tax cuts for the wealthy.
April 20, 2017
A false rumor about RMFC is repeating history from the Burned Furs.
by Patch O'Furr
Remember Rainfurrest? Bad behavior was blamed for the con’s demise. In 2015, vandalism caused a fatal economic issue between the con and its hotel. Popular attention focused on fetish activity, but the public didn’t care about it and the media was incredibly positive. That debate stayed between furries, but it was at least based on partial truth (the real reason was economic, not bad PR.) That’s different from dishonesty you can see below. It connects the long-dead 2000-era Burned Furs and the end of ConFurence, with falsehoods that exploit the closing of Rocky Mountain Fur Con. It shows an agenda to divide fandom. (You may ask: why is this still happening in 2017?)
ConFurence, the first fur con, drew criticism about bad behavior. Organizers were blamed for advertising in gay lifestyle magazines to increase attendance, supposedly attracting fetishists who had nothing to do with furry fandom. Then in 2015, a fur dug up the actual 1997 “ad” that people were citing without seeing it. It wasn’t an ad, and it didn’t come from furries. The obscure ‘zine publication happened at a time when it couldn’t have influenced anyone. The rumor was a false smear.
The rumor is almost 20 years old now, but it still exists:
“we still hear stories about the early ConFurence when the organizers allowed some BDSM people in to improve attendance, with horrible results” Ask Papabear, 4/12/17 (graciously modified after discussion.)
February 13, 2017
On February 17, don’t go to work – go fursuiting for a General Strike in the USA.
by Patch O'Furr
Furry buddies--let me make a point real quick.
— The Wombat Resists (@UrsulaV) January 29, 2017
Marches are about visibility.
Fursuits are real damn visible.
Political Animals.
What does Furry have to do with politics? Nothing. Or a lot. (Kinda like kink). It’s up to you. Maybe you just like talking-animal media. Or maybe you like media that’s inseparable from a culture that’s cracking apart.
This group is about talking animals, but it’s made of people, and we don’t exist in a vacuum. (The vacuum is just there to pick up all the shedding.) So for those who care… Let’s recap some previous stories that relate to this, then see what’s up now.
Start with the San Francisco Bay Area. It has the world’s most dense population of furries, and it’s the epicenter for a rent crisis. That big trend hit the local group when their premiere monthly event, Frolic furry dance was pushed out of it’s home.
Across the bay, on the day Frolic restarted, the Ghost Ship warehouse fire killed 36 fellow party goers at an electronic music show. It instigated a national purge of underground cultural spaces. This blog is written from one of those spaces, and narrowly escaped being forced out in a wave of evictions. Economic class issues are personal here.
Go back to 2012 and the East Coast. Money, sex and politics crashed into furry fandom in a mini-scandal of “fake news” with the New Jersey FurBQ Hoax. Looking back now, you might see some of the sparks that turned into 2017’s political dumpster fire. I’m talking about the way the group was split up by dishonesty and xenophobia, and manipulated as pawns for politics.
Furries got scapegoated for having a harmless party. It made me say: “Fun is serious business because it has to do with liberties.”
There’s some examples of how furries have long experience with fake news, they can be vulnerable as a subculture, and they can share a common cause with other marginal communities. (Don’t forget their sizeable queer membership.) You don’t have to agree about politics, but there are good reasons to pay attention. From anti-mask laws, to anti-LGBT legislation and anti-kink moral panic, furries will be part of many fights to come.
August 25, 2016
The Enough Already podcast made me look at furries vs. conservatives, Gamergate and Trump.
by Patch O'Furr
We're back! ‘Furry and Loathing in Denver’ https://t.co/gklbyUV4H1 @FingersMalloy @AsheSchow & I discuss furries, the campaign, UVA and pot.
— TLC (@TracyLConnors) August 17, 2016
On this podcast, host Fingers Malloy talks about his visit to Rocky Mountain Fur Con in Denver. It starts 20 minutes in. Thanks to Kieran for sending this.
It’s a gentle outsiders’ look. Fingers has a pastime of making fun of politics, but furries are spared overdone mockery. (“They’re not hurting anyone”, he says). He mentions past negativity and compares it to picking low-hanging fruit.
Enough Already is for pop culture and conservative politics. In fact it shares some serious connections to senators, governors, Fox News, etc.
There isn’t a big overlap with conservatives and furries. We talked on Twitter after the show, and they were curious to know why? I gave a very generic reason of demographics. There’s no politics about being a talking animal and we come in all stripes. But young and queer people tend not to be overly enamored with the right-wing or christian fundamentalists. That goes both ways.
