One of the issues I have as a “writer”… well a blogger is that occasionally I have the urge to write a posting that may offend or hurt another person. Most of the time I let the urge pass as my reasons for blogging do not include embarrassing or hurting folks around me. I am smart enough, after two marriages, to ask for a blessing from Señora on posts that involve her. The Wee Dog can just suck it up. Besides, it is rumored that she cannot read anyway, but I am not sure I believe it.
I could not resist the urge this time to share this anecdote as it brings home an important point in the current cultural wars that are dividing my beloved country.
The other night Señora and I were invited to a small dinner party. We knew about half the souls there, leaving half that we met for the first time, including our host. It was one of those friends of a friend type of situations that expand your circle of acquaintances. Everyone there was very nice and agreeable, and it was a most enjoyable dinner and evening.
I do not know for a fact, but I suspect that most, if not all of my fellow guests and the host were college educated. I know that at least some of the party had advanced degrees. I bring this up as the story that a fellow diner recounted defies credibility. My initial response then was to grab my phone and look it up on Snopes.com or other fact checking site. However, I did not wish to offend folks I had just met, or annoy my host by causing discord. In my mind, the best manners involved my keeping my mouth shut. This is something that I find myself doing more and more, just to keep the peace. People are going to believe and think what they believe and think. Opposing parties having rational discussions about issues is one of the many things we have lost in the current iteration of American society.
As we sat there digesting, enjoying an after dinner wine, one of the guests began to talk about furries. My initial thought was that he was launching into a story about cosplay or perhaps a subcategory of human sexual expression. But no, this involved children that identified as animals, with cats being the most popular. He described how some children (with parent’s approval and money???) were having whiskers implanted. Apparently the real kicker was that schools were placing litter boxes in bathrooms for the furry kids to use. One person commented that surely that was not in the janitor’s job description to clean up such aberrations. There was no challenge, just more general murmurings about how awful it was.
Just to get you up to speed, here is a quote from an article on The Bulwark, Furrygate: A Litterbox of Lies:
“Ever since an episode of The Focus Group that made me aware of the great Furry Panic of 2022: an apparently widespread belief that children are “identifying” as cats in school, with said phenomenon being an outgrowth of the woke critical race theorizing / trans / groomer ideology that invaded American classrooms beginning January 21, 2021.”
Of course this has evolved from the great bathroom war currently occupying right wing politician’s talking points and the general fear – for lack of a better word – of transgender folks, especially transgender children. From the NBC News article How an urban myth about litter boxes in schools became a GOP talking point:
“As the number of people identifying as trans and nonbinary has increased in recent years, particularly among young people, so has the amount of anti-LGBTQ legislation from conservative politicians. The spread of rumors about litter boxes has grown alongside other extreme and baseless rhetoric accusing LGBTQ people and educators of “grooming” children through lessons and policies on gender and sexuality.”
I will admit to being occasionally uncomfortable around transgender folks and over-the-top gay men, BUT that is my problem. A while back I read an autobiographical story (that I cannot now find) about a person born male that felt female. He/she felt trapped inside a body that did not match his/her self-perception. The article made a real impression on me. It has got to be awful living your life like that. I presume that most folks are, are at least sometimes, uncomfortable with their body or body image. I know I am. Transgender dysmorphia would be a whole new level.
What I hope is happening is that our society is working through the issues of finally allowing people to be themselves. I certainly would not want to go back to Victorian times (or the 50s) where everyone had very prescribed ways of being. That is the most positive spin I can put on this particular facet of the cultural war, although I also believe there is a large segment of the population that like the prescriptions / proscriptions of yesteryear.
Live and let live, I say, but stop spreading patently false stories.
Just type “furries in school” into your favorite search engine to come up with more articles than you care to read. Here are a few I found:
Joe Rogan Claims School Has Litter Box For Girl Identifying As Cat (I am convinced this man will spout any bullshit to keep his ratings up)
From Snopes.com – ‘Furry Protocol’? False Rumors Circulate About Wisconsin Schools
How a viral hoax about furries became fodder for the GOP’s moral panic
And way too many more…
It’s like the argument put out by some ultra-religious as to why gay marriage shouldn’t be legal…that if they allow that, pretty soon people will want to marry their goat (cat, dog, tree…) They have to fall back on something ridiculous because they have no good reason.
It is a fine line to walk to stand up for what you believe without getting in someone’s face. I ran into a couple of “sounds true” but weren’t perceptions at a couple of gatherings this weekend. I try to stand up for what is Right without being an a-hole about it. I figure if the person telling the not-quite-true story can speak up, then I can speak up too. Cheers1