If you’re a furry you’ve probably seen the ‘Nazi Furs’ around from time to time.
I have repeatedly thought about joining ‘Nazi Fur’ related groups, not least because many of my followers on Fur Affinity come from those groups, but I came to the decision that I don’t really fit in as a ‘Nazi Fur,’ and one of the reasons is the incessant apologizing from that camp. There’s an unspoken rule not just among furries, but in fact all of society, that any portrayal of anything from the Third Reich must include something like the following disclaimer:
I don’t support or condone anything the ‘Nazis’ did. The ‘Nazis’ are evil and this is a non-political event/group/etc.
To which I always say, ‘why?’
I understand the reason why someone would want to say that, but in a ‘free’ society, nobody should have to ‘explain’ their politics because of an association or interest. I ask anyone who finds themselves reading that or saying that line to think about the ramifications of doing so. It’s not anyone else’s business what your political beliefs are, and you don’t owe anyone an explanation for what you identify with (so long as it isn’t criminal).
Take a step back to see the hypocrisy of this expectation. First of all, Nazism was not the most genocidal regime of the 20th century. That title goes to Communism, and specifically the Soviet Union. Between 1919 and 1950, the Soviet Communists murdered a gruesome number of civilians, somewhere around thirty million innocent people were murdered wholesale. At roughly the same time the Holocaust was happening, the Soviets were busy committing genocide against at least six different ethnic minorities in the Soviet Union. Sadly, a few of those ethnic groups no longer exist today.
The Soviets; America’s greatest ally in WWII and one of the “Good Guys.”
And yet! Look around the Furry community. There are plenty of Communist Fur groups, and I’ve never seen one feel any need to put up a disclaimer about the evil other Communists committed in the past. Actually, many ‘Communist’ groups around here look back fondly on the most murderous regime of the 20th century, the Soviet Union, and nobody calls them out for doing so. There is no ‘unspoken rule’ that the ‘Communist Furs’ have to explain their beliefs due to the mass liquidations and multiple genocides, despite the fact that those acts were committed at just about the same time the Holocaust was happening. If Communists don’t have to make caveats and apologies for the symbols they use, then ‘Nazi Furs’ shouldn’t have to do so either.
The people who attack ‘Nazi Furs’ somehow never bat an eyelash about Communist Furs and the Soviet mass-killings. In fact, most of those people don’t even know much about the Soviet liquidations. Their ignorance is no excuse.
My story, The Furred Reich, absolutely deals with real people and historical events from The Third Reich (aka “Nazi Germany”), and I’ve never once made any disclaimers or tacit apologies for indulging in this subject matter.
And you know what? The truth is, nobody really cares. Do I occasionally get a malcontent who attacks me or this blog? Yeah, I do, but 90%-95% of the feedback I’ve gotten is from people who think it’s really cool, and I don’t make apologies to them or explain to them my politics.
I find that most people don’t even expect me to do so. Why is that? It’s because first impressions count, and most people will treat you the way you expect to be treated. If you start off by apologizing or ‘explaining’ your association, people will be primed to think that there is something wrong and you do have something to hide.
Let me prove that to you right now.
Pretty much every ‘Nazi Fur’ I’ve ever seen has put some disclaimer in their group or profile that explains their politics and tries to reason with people that they aren’t endorsing the crimes against humanity committed by the Third Reich. And yet, Nazi Furs are often treated with hate and there are often open calls for violence against them.
How’re those apologies working out for you?
We’ve already established that people who do things such as the piece above are either
- Complete hypocrites because they seem to not care about a regime from the same time which caused multiple times the genocide and mass murder of innocent people or
- Ignorant because they don’t even know about such mass murder.
Incidentally, this advocation of violence against a real group of Furs is probably a violation of Fur Affinity policy.
I like and appreciate the ‘Nazi Fur’ groups for any support. The way are treated in the Furry community is disgraceful, doubly so because those who attack and call for violence against ‘Nazi Furs’ are often the same people that most vocally insist upon ‘acceptance’ and ‘tolerance.’
That’s not fair, but I guess life isn’t always fair. My advice to ‘Nazi Furs’ would be to stop apologizing and stop ‘explaining away’ your interest in this subject matter. You’ll find that most people will go right along with your reality and will treat you acceptably. In the words of Mahatma Ghandi, be the change you want to see. You’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Personally, I’m a History graduate, and in my story I’ve taken painstaking measures to depict non-fantasy scenes and characters as historically accurate when I write The Furred Reich. In doing my own research, I’ve found that the reality about The Third Reich is not like what you see in Hollywood movies or Madison Avenue showpieces. However, that reality is equally fascinating, in my opinion, and I don’t think it needs any ‘filtering’ or exaggeration.