Umm why are the way we are?

[Fuzzum]

to me this is super deep but, why do you think were are the way we are like Furrys wise.
why do we like furrys and have a connection to them, and are drawn to others like us.

iv got more but thats personal and would make me sound a bit off i think. but thats the base of what im thinking of.
i just cant seem to think passed my own reasons why.

1. there different from the everyday human we see.
2. some kinda part of are Primal being and have shown it self more in furrys then Regular people.
3. we just have a natural understanding of what they are and what they Represent to our self, and sometimes others.
4. it just.......feels.......right
5. it just cant be helped.

[Neox]

Two threads which I believe have answers to your question:

http://www.bcfurries.com/forum/index.php?topic=4665.0
http://www.bcfurries.com/forum/index.php?topic=4679.0

Humans have always had connections to animals in a spiritual or companion-like way for as long as we've been sentient.  The native Americans were VERY closely tied (and some still are) with animal spirits and often identified themselves with animals, depending on the individual.  People who own and love pets typically do so because of a deep personal connection with animals--for some, they make us feel whole, almost as if we are vicariously embracing our animal side through them.

[Tef]

I really have to agree with the pets part. Another reason of animal spiritualism would be a sense of alignment with the zodiac, be it western or eastern.

I've got a way-out there reason...Sometimes I do wonder if I was a canine in my past life before being reincarnated as a human in my current life. It's way-out stuff, but I hope you follow my drift. xD

[Drake Wingfire]

I really have to agree with the pets part. Another reason of animal spiritualism would be a sense of alignment with the zodiac, be it western or eastern.

I've got a way-out there reason...Sometimes I do wonder if I was a canine in my past life before being reincarnated as a human in my current life. It's way-out stuff, but I hope you follow my drift. xD

In terms of spirituality, reincarnation isn't as far out there as you may think, its quite possibly one of the most common and more easily understood concepts. At least when looking at things beyond the common take of spirituality by our culture.


But as for Fuzzum's main question. Its true that it is a topic that has come up on virtually every furry forum, and of every time I have seen it, there is always a very noticeable pattern that pops up. In point form it looks something like this. (mind you this all doesn't apply to every single furry, just so I don't get flamed lol)

1: Furries admire animals due to the perceived care-free lives that they have. There are just no social expectations, rules, its a no-bars held life sort of.
2: Many of us feel something more deep inside, a connection to a certain species, we see ourselves as having the qualities of a certain species. (this one can be both spiritual and non-spiritual)
3: On a spiritual note, there are many forms of spirituality that incorporate animals, so it gives some of us more of a sense of a connection to our inner creature.
    but I hesitate to call them as a outright "furry" intensive thing. (the whole, furry is 1000s of years old and tied to everything always bugged me)
4: We look at humanity and how isolated we tend to make ourselves, how outright cold our species can be some times and it sickens us on a level.
    On that note it makes us see animals from a more peaceful and social perspective (this pretty much ties in with point #1)
5: Animal lovers, what furry doesn't love animals. For some of us its that love of animals that makes us feel a kinship towards them.

[Peli]

I think in my case it's because I like art of dog people.

I'm pretty deep and edgy.

[Fazar]

Even if you aren't furry, I think most people can say they love animals.  Dogs, Cats, Lizards, Snakes, Monkies even.  We think they are cute, adorable, majestic, beautiful, awesome.  There's a lot of traits we catch, and admire in animals, and have long before 'furries' existed.  Wether we took heraldic symbols for crests of kingdoms and countries, or we worshiped them as gods in Egypt, animals have facinated almost all of man kind.

Plus I think we as human beings want to be different, and belong at the same time.  You will see so many different subcultures break away from the 'main stream' to be 'cool', but these 'groups' still band together under a common cause.  Gigaloos, Hipsters, Punks, Trekkies, Furries, ect, ect.

You even see within the furry fandom this sort of splinter, and grouping into different categories or groups to identify yourself with.  I find myself actually finding little to nothing in common with a lot of furries aside from "hey you like anthro animal people too?  cool".  Cartoony, realistic, quadrapedal, taur, TF, Vore; you start to see how interests vary dynamically, but we still all kind of rally under one banner.

[Duffy]

I like trains.

[Pat The Fox]

One also cannot rule out the psychological factors in why we are all in this group.

Humans like having patterns, groups being one of them. We like to define ourselves in terms of in and out groups and always strive to be in what we perceive as the in group. Many fuzzballs have been pushed out from percieved in-groups so it is only natura when they can't fit in to one in-group the either find or create another to be a part of. A definite easy way is to find something that a lot of people like, animals, and create a group based upon that. Add in the fact that there is really a lax requirement to be fuzzy and it's easy to see why so many slip in to this group.

[Renwaldo]

Honest to god, I think everyone here is retarded and sociopathic - daddy issues and whatnot.
Part of it is a refusal or inability to grow up, another part of it is our subpsyche rejecting certain things about ourselves we feel make us human.  :-3

Those are the common traits everybody here seems to share. It varies for each of us of course.

I'd go into greater detail, however there's no way to do that without offending everybody. So I won't.

[professor whovianart]

I like trains.

to stay on the off-topic, lego rules, it not only has trains, but the landscape and mountains can be built out of same materials.


AND... now back to topic......


always have had rabbit like tendencies and habits, but not put it all together till last oct.

i see furries as the most hippie like of all the geek sub-cultures, being very free and creative and most accepting and welcoming of all others.

[Neox]

Honest to god, I think everyone here is retarded and sociopathic - daddy issues and whatnot.
Part of it is a refusal or inability to grow up, another part of it is our subpsyche rejecting certain things about ourselves we feel make us human.  :-3

Those are the common traits everybody here seems to share. It varies for each of us of course.

I'd go into greater detail, however there's no way to do that without offending everybody. So I won't.

Ah says pardon?  O.=.o  I like to think I'm rather well-adjusted and 100% content with my upbringing and how I got to where I am now.  I shed my teen-angst attitude when I turned 18 and feel as though I'm a functioning, happy member of society.  If I thought being a furry was simply spawn of the hormone-ridden emotions we all feel in our adolescent years, I'd have "grown out" of the whole furry thing years ago.  And I KNOW there are others, not just in the general community--but on this forum, who are equally mentally healthy and well-adjusted.

For a large number of people, Renwaldo might have a valid point.  But I want to ensure that it is known that it doesn't apply to everyone who considers themselves furries.  It's not a cry for attention, or a super easy way to feel accepted.  It's a fun, relatively harmless method of escapism for many of us... just like playing videogames or reading books.  It's a great way to exercise your imagination and cling to a fantasy, rather than letting the world turn shades of grey as we grow older.

[Drake Wingfire]

Honest to god, I think everyone here is retarded and sociopathic - daddy issues and whatnot.
Part of it is a refusal or inability to grow up, another part of it is our subpsyche rejecting certain things about ourselves we feel make us human.  :-3

Those are the common traits everybody here seems to share. It varies for each of us of course.

I'd go into greater detail, however there's no way to do that without offending everybody. So I won't.

Okay, you got me, i'll bite, that statement was just too full of either troll or derp to resist.

If you look at any group of people in this world ALL of them will have their members with issues furry by no means is some special exception to this. If you are gonna say that furries are mostly mentally damaged people then you might as well say "hey the entire human race has brain damage" because in a skewed sense its still right. there are liberals who are totally brain fucked and want to jail people for having cars, there are car lovers who are mentally deranged and wanna run people down, there are horseback riders with thoughts of genocide running through their minds, there are Guido fashion wannabees who think everyone who doesn't dress trendy should be drawn and quartered. See where I am going here? You find me a "normal" person and I will grant you eternal life, because both are equally impossible to do.

Call me a cheap shot here but let me put it this way for examples sake, your time spent pursuing trying to be fashionable could just as easily be seen as a mental issue by many other people, but does it truly mean that it is? "science" says yes, common sense and logic says no. Furries time spent enjoying anthropic creatures and subsequently not caring too much about falling into the roles society wants them to have (no-personality 9-5 drone worker alcoholics) once again, not fitting a norm is probably the lamest reason to call someone "retarded"

[Zetta]

to me this is super deep but, why do you think were are the way we are like Furrys wise.
why do we like furrys and have a connection to them, and are drawn to others like us.

iv got more but thats personal and would make me sound a bit off i think. but thats the base of what im thinking of.
i just cant seem to think passed my own reasons why.

1. there different from the everyday human we see.
2. some kinda part of are Primal being and have shown it self more in furrys then Regular people.
3. we just have a natural understanding of what they are and what they Represent to our self, and sometimes others.
4. it just.......feels.......right
5. it just cant be helped.

1: Everyone is different, but it could be based around feeling like an outcast and then relying on a fandom to give yourself a placebo effect against that loneliness. Despite it being somewhat counter-effective, as with some individuals (like Chris-chan on youtube.) it can lead to becoming even further detached from anyone outside of your clique.
2: Nope, thats basically going out on a limb on faith, unless it's attributed in reverse personification like a writer may do to describe someone.
3: People take things to represent themselves all the time, thats a redeeming quality, but manifests in different ways for some people.
Ususally through music, when you find that song that fits just right.
4&5: Can't really answer.

Also @ renwaldo: Yeah, lol. there's strong ties that people tend to overlook between our mental state and the fandom itself.
To remain healthy-minded, and not be massive troll bait, you have to acknowledge that you're a human being first and foremost, not an animal. You've probably all seen the facepalmitude of some furries who take the fandom far too seriously, and it leads to the persecution complex, which is partially why the fandom is so taboo.
Speaking of which, bronies have taken the same persecution complex on themselves, which i find hilarious- and part of why any mlp threads on *chans are instantly saged/spammed, and most furry threads are left alone.

i see furries as the most hippie like of all the geek sub-cultures, being very free and creative and most accepting and welcoming of all others.

Not so much, The fandom as a whole tends to lash out at any criticism, or if someone makes a guess without understanding much about furries, causing further misunderstandings.
Creativity is also debatable, as one look at deviant art will instantly kill that idea.
That and looking at names/characters for sale, which can really show how uncreative some people are, being willing to name their fox "red" or something, or buying some random pre-made character because you either cannot draw, or can't think up something uncommon and resonant with yourself.

[Neox]

Nice analysis, Zetta, I thought that was an informative read.  To add to your last statement, in reply to Prof. Whovianart, I think it's also important to consider that many... MANY people call themselves "furries" simply for the porn and outlandish roleplaying.  They have absolutely no inclination towards imagination and creativity; they saw a furry smut post on 4chan and it got them off. 

On the other hand, though, I'm also inclined to agree with Prof.  Short of delving into the world of videogame design and development, I think the furry community contains some of the most imaginative and creative individuals I've ever met.  Some of the artists I follow have quite unique talents in art and story writing.  Not to say that I haven't seen these talents outside of our community; but I do have to admit that we have quite an impressive collection of those individuals in our own little furry fandom.

[Renwaldo]

Is totally one of those shallow people who came for the porn. @_@



Stayed for the fun gatherings though.

That counts for something doesn't it?