On this podcast, host Fingers Malloy talks about his visit to Rocky Mountain Fur Con in Denver. It starts 20 minutes in. Thanks to Kieran for sending this.

It’s a gentle outsiders’ look. Fingers has a pastime of making fun of politics, but furries are spared overdone mockery. (“They’re not hurting anyone”, he says). He mentions past negativity and compares it to picking low-hanging fruit.

Enough Already is for pop culture and conservative politics. In fact it shares some serious connections to senators, governors, Fox News, etc.

There isn’t a big overlap with conservatives and furries. We talked on Twitter after the show, and they were curious to know why? I gave a very generic reason of demographics. There’s no politics about being a talking animal and we come in all stripes. But young and queer people tend not to be overly enamored with the right-wing or christian fundamentalists. That goes both ways.

Take this example. At World Net Daily (the fringiest of ultraconservative blogs), furries were recently bashed as deviant pedophiles by Phil Elmore, a sad oaf crying for help to detach his head from his colon. It was just ranting about moral decay from someone so repellant that nobody would want to decay him. Furs at Flayrah were not impressed by the ignorance.

Another example: in 2015, furries were mocked in a trollish article by Milo Yiannopoulos, star of the “alt-right” at Breitbart. He’s a Gamergate figurehead. Milo criticizes identity politics, rampant cultural narcissism, and “imitation identity disorders and theatrical attention-seeking”. He singles out “transpecies” beliefs as a symptom, mashing together the worst fringes of Tumblr, otherkin and furries.

You might call Milo an alt-right hipster for adopting gamers to cozy up with youth culture. Since he seemed to want cred with nerds, I guessed he would answer my mail. I asked him to be nicer to the misunderstood furries. He answered:

Of course. I suspect a lot of overlap with the gamers I love so much. Perhaps I should write something.

I think this is different from garden variety out-for-a-buck media sensationalizing. When furries are a pawn for conservative points, I sense fixation on how others should live from fossilized dino-turds like Phil Elmore, and political manipulation from slippery players like Milo. (“Just folks” friendliness can also mask apathy about whether others can live at all, but that’s another topic.)

I’m sure the affable hosts of the Enough Already podcast would demur about wanting everyone to be left alone with liberty for all. And I wonder if Milo will be cozier next time he talks about furries – perhaps in his own newly minted fursona (maybe a snake, or a weasel.) I’ll leave it to you to think about ulterior motives when media comes to our spaces wearing big smiles, but you can stay opinionated while taking curiosity and niceness at face value. Thanks are due to the podcast for real effort.

Speaking of Gamergate, they seem to have a problem with misrepresentation by the media. HMMM, SOUNDS FAMILIAR. And they seem to feel that gamers are unfairly vilified. HMMM AGAIN.

If you ask conservative minds about who could be most responsible for furries being punching-bags, like clockwork, expect complaints about Vanity Fair, MTV, CSI, etc. being “liberal media.” (But who’s buying what they sell?)

There are some alt-right and “furries for Trump”. One furry commented on the Twitter chat about that small section being his friends.

@bubbasjetpack it is possible although not easy, to be friends with people whose politics differ from your own. @PifOtter — TLC (@TracyLConnors) August 17, 2016

“Agree to disagree” is a nice way to be. And if you can name other places where everyone hugs everyone like when furries meet, I’d love to hear. Maybe the rest of the world should try growing tails.

I have to mention a Twitter comment from host Tracy about acceptance of furries. She asked if the “muzzies” would open their arms to us?

They sure would. President Obama (America’s #1 muslim and the founder of ISIS) invited furries to come hang out at the White House. Our international conspiracy is everywhere. Beware of trying to fool us or use us – just be nice.

Donald Trump Accuses Obama of Inventing Furries — Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) August 16, 2016

Donald Trump's Hair Has It's Own Fursona — Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) January 26, 2016

Another Loss For Trump Campaign - Chester Cheetah Endorses Hillary — Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) August 16, 2016

* (Seriously, there are some muslimfurs and members in places like Iran. I also have an article in drafts about how Furry is growing with new cons in southeast asia, but not so much in Malaysia and Indonesia because Islamic customs forbid showing animals doing human things. But that’s for another time.)