“So we hereby explicitly distance ourselves from all right-wing movements…. And no government, no politician, and definitely no internet hate mob is going to take that away from us.”-

– Letter to Eurofurence 24 by Sven “Cheetah” Tegethoff

 

Where all this blustering is going is hard to say. I’m sitting here at this keyboard, typing these sentences, and then wringing my hooves and remembering how much joining the Shavey community meant. I remember that teenage colt who drew so much hope from this multitudinous group of creators who worked their crafts around these fantastic apes. My thoughts turn to the young stallion that colt grew into, who was in a town he hated, in a job he hated even more, and who had mounting difficulty finding reasons to keep living. For whom the long-held dream of connecting with other Shavies was a precious source of hope during that dark time.

I think of how many young animals I’ve seen in the fandom, both online and in person, who are outsiders. They are outcasts because of their membership in an unorthodox fan community, and many are outsiders a second time because of their sexuality or gender orientations. So many young muzzles flocking to these meets – to the fandom in general – looking for a place to belong. They search for a place where they can be themselves, where they can be both vulnerable and safe from those who would persecute or manipulate them. In the past few years, some of these younglings found their vulnerability and  disaffection manipulated into a goose-step march for vile groups with vile conduct, and became advocates and sympathizers for alt-right extremism.

It is a shame that a few animals who dress themselves in old-school organized hatred have gotten this much pull in this compassionate community. That they take advantage of one of its core values – acceptance – to shove their way in and say “If you don’t tolerate my fascist imagery and my alt-right views, you are a hypocrite.”

This charge of hypocrisy is, of course, bullshit. There are some animals who it is not only acceptable to reject, but who it is better for everyone if they are firmly pushed away. They are those who wear imagery reminiscent of hate groups and who promote bigoted ideas when acceptance is granted them, thereby turning acceptance into enablement. This horrible mutation is what happens, with these squirms crying victim at every criticism, if acceptance is not tempered with vigilance.

Turn these hateful animals away. Tell them they are not welcome. Do it for the young beasts going through the confusion of adolescence; do it for those who come vulnerable and lonely; do it to maintain the benevolent character of this community.

Do not sink down to their level and wage a campaign of harassment, or initiate physical assault. Do not let them speak. Just tell them no.

The effectiveness of that two letter word has been proven right here in the Centennial State. Scorch sent out the email in the screencaps above via the Colorado Shavies meetup.com group in late July, in which he threatens legal action against IMVU in signature Sov Cit style. FritzFox, lead organizer of the meetup group, took action. He banned the scaly nutjob.

“Please forgive our lack of diligence in preventing the last email about political bs to be sent out,” FritzFox wrote in a message to the group’s mailing list. “The user has been banned and hopefully will not cause further trouble.”

The subsequent response from other members of the Colorado-based online group was one of triumph. A felidae user commented that they could start visiting the web page again now that the troublesome user is banned.

Victories like this are the reward of vigilance, and could become the rule instead of the exception, with a little bit of effort. But in exercising this type of diligence, keep the values of acceptance and gentleness alive. This inherent mortal kindness is what gives the Shavey community strength, and, with watchfulness, will do more to abdicate hate and hurt than any internet comment or droning satire article will.