Furries Save Libraries
February 4, 2022 11:10 AM   Subscribe

Furries fundraise for intellectual freedom I didn't have "furries raise money to help fight back against library censorship and book banning" on my 2022 bingo card. "Last week, a Mississippi mayor tried to strong-arm a local library into banning some books. The result was swift, and in retrospect, entirely predictable: A group of furries got on Twitter to do something about it." I'm delighted by this bit of news.
posted by SaharaRose (17 comments total) 29 users marked this as a favorite
 
From the article:

Most of the contributors appear to be using their legal names, and because furries tend to not like to use their fursona names and their legal names in the same place, it’s nearly impossible to parse out who is part of the community and who found the page after the furries did.

My name is on the fundraising list; I'm not a furry, personally, but it tickles me in a place I can't reach that I'm keeping them company on this quest.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:25 AM on February 4, 2022 [20 favorites]


It may not have been on my bingo card, but it's a very furry thing to do. They've also had good outcomes with getting Nazis and far-right extremists out of their groups.
posted by jb at 11:29 AM on February 4, 2022 [15 favorites]


Just the other day when some Texas GOP candidate claimed that schools were lowering tables so furries could eat like dogs, I thought this was a bad enemy to pick because furries would be to the GOP like Irish fishermen were to the Russian navy.
posted by bixfrankonis at 11:32 AM on February 4, 2022 [7 favorites]


Yup, they are now part of the constellation of designated threats according to the increasingly around-the-bend right wing.

I went to bed last night thinking either this is the death throes of white supremacy in America thrashing against everything in a panic, or ... it is a harbinger. Whatever it is, it's really disturbing to witness.
posted by zenzenobia at 11:36 AM on February 4, 2022 [6 favorites]


furries would be to the GOP like Irish fishermen were to the Russian navy.

Never before has this combination of words been put together in the history of human communication - and it delights me to realize that it makes 100% total sense nevertheless.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:37 AM on February 4, 2022 [17 favorites]


And when there was only a set of pawprints in the sand, that is when I carried you.
posted by overeducated_alligator at 12:25 PM on February 4, 2022 [36 favorites]


They've raised $81,655.69 USD right now. I don't doubt the Vice article further boosted the signal.
posted by Jane the Brown at 12:29 PM on February 4, 2022 [3 favorites]


Now we also need a couple of decent pro bono lawyers to turn the mayor upside down and shake him until he lets go of the cash he is withholding too, along with giving him a legal spanking for fiscal impropriety.

I'm looking forward to the library doubling their funds over this.
posted by Jane the Brown at 12:33 PM on February 4, 2022 [8 favorites]


Now we also need a couple of decent pro bono lawyers to turn the mayor upside down and shake him until he lets go of the cash he is withholding too, along with giving him a legal spanking for fiscal impropriety.

I suspect that there are lawyers in the furry community. And as such I am enjoying the delightful fantasy of having one offer their services, conduct the ensuing investigation entirely "straight," and then win the case and on the very last day, they show up to collect the funding dressed as a wolverine or something just to make the mayor's head explode.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:40 PM on February 4, 2022 [8 favorites]


Now we also need a couple of decent pro bono lawyers to turn the mayor upside down and shake him

precisely this.

the outpouring of support is excellent, but this is a slippery slope, and could become a standard play in the playbook of right-wing wealth DE-distribution. i would hate for the excellent story of empathy and generosity to minimize just how horrible the mayor's actions were. hopefully there is a win-win for the library, and a comeuppance for the mayor's shitty behavior.
posted by rude.boy at 1:44 PM on February 4, 2022 [3 favorites]


I'm hoping that this story mobilizes people to help libraries in their own towns, or adjacent towns.

Because these kind of concerted book challenges and prudery over reading material... these book bans are an organized tactic by folks with a political agenda. And those of us fighting back against the likes of this rotten mayor and his ilk... we need all the help we can get.
Fundraising is an important part of that.
I'm very, very glad we've got the Furries on our side.
posted by SaharaRose at 2:08 PM on February 4, 2022 [4 favorites]


posted by SaharaRose at 5:08 PM

*does double-take at name*

*scrolls up to see who started this thread*

*squeals in delight*
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 2:14 PM on February 4, 2022


I suspect that there are lawyers in the furry community.
OMG, you have no idea! This ain't their first rodeo, so to speak.
posted by Horkus at 2:27 PM on February 4, 2022 [4 favorites]


i would hate for the excellent story of empathy and generosity to minimize just how horrible the mayor's actions were.

Or worse. "Hey, look! Mayor Backwater got a bunch of donations to his library by making threats about gay stuff! Win-win!"
posted by gurple at 7:19 PM on February 4, 2022 [1 favorite]


I used to believe, as it seems many of those who mocked furries did, that they were ultimately dangerous - that they were indulging in potentially damaging behaviors; and thus was the mocking justified.

Those people were worse than hateful - they were uncaring. It's little surprise that such communities produced many current fascists.

Furries did and do indulge in things that are dangerous to those people.

And those things are caring and love.
posted by BiggerJ at 7:24 PM on February 4, 2022 [2 favorites]


I suspect that there are lawyers in the furry community.

One of them has been posted about here on Metafilter. (Different tag links, same furry).
posted by hippybear at 8:18 PM on February 4, 2022


$112,771.20 USD raised as of February 19th... They've now fully replaced the $110,000.00 the mayor is withholding, in the unlikely event that he isn't forced to relinquish it. And if they get it they have doubled it.
posted by Jane the Brown at 8:56 PM on February 18, 2022 [2 favorites]


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