Furcons and COVID I

BetaEtaDelota, a  fury YouTube  made a video that was on target that many  furcon will cancel  and never return but miss  the mark  in his criticism of  state reopening and  relaxing  lockdown and  mask requirements. The post below is  bade on my response to him.

The  good news  many furry conventions will not make it or  should downside and keep it local.  As a furry 14  years I find  the fandom is oversaturated with  furcons are nothing  more than glorified and expensive  meetups. The content at most furcons is  lacking compared to my local Anime, Science Fiction and Comicon.  For me farther the con, the greater the  expense,  thus the greater of my  requirement for theses  cons to provide a unique  panel and event experience  that exceeds  my local fur or anime convention. My pet peeved is a small fur con advertising  in Orgon, thinking  I going to spend $2000 (I fly first class country (I am 6,4) and  room alone) to a small furry convention the east coast.   I can see spending that much and more for  Dragoncon or San Diego Comicon.

I also wonder post COVID we will still  see a decline of attendance at fur cons due   to unemployment due ill-advised lockdown strategy or  simply realize the cost of attending conventions by all the  money saved 2020. In addition, another barrier to attendance is local travel  restrictions, such as  14 quarantine if one travels out of state. That is if the travel restrictions are not lifted.

Another threat  to fur cons and hotels  is  liability and litigation. An Anglican News source brought up the  brewing  legal mess.  They are going to be a lot of opportunist lawyers pushing   class actions lawsuits. “Did your love one died  of COVID-19, you may be entitled   to compensation” While  some fur cons  are too small, ambulance chasers will see  the deep pockets of hotel chains as  big targets.

Finally, your covid remake  are  off the mark. Let took at Covdi-19; it a disease  while, very contagious, has an exceptionally low infection to death ratio, about  2% or less and  the vast majority of deaths are  those 65 and older  with  underlying heath conditions.  80% of known infected persons experiences mild to no  symptoms.  Many in furry  community, according to demographic studies, are young and fall within the 80%  of minimal to asymptomatic group.

At the same time  a study, comparing California, with the most draconian lockdown,  to Florida, with little restrictions, show  that lockdowns have a minimal impact; both states show the same  growth of  COVID-19 cases. The lockdowns cause more harm  than good  if  one account for thousands of businesses permanently  closed  ,and jobs  lost, the increase of mental illnesses, and  domestic abuse.  Furthermore,  dire predictions in the past have not  panned out in a spike but trended like the rest of the country.    With vaccination of  more vulnerable elderly,  opening  up more seem prudent.

Some thoughts about Coronavirus and Fan Conventions.

This post is  a response to a question about the future of fan Conventions  in light of  COVID-19.

This is a speculation about the future of conventions if we can control COVID-19. I use my experience as a Sanrio fan.  One option is similar to Hello Kitty Friendship Festival and the recent Hello Kitty Around the World tour. In each case one bought a ticket for a session lasting two to four hours.  Only a fixed amount of tickets was sold per session. The session could have a show, panel, displays and a trip though the dealer’s den.

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How to Simulate a Furry Convention at Home

How to Simulate a Furry Convention at Home (CCP Virus Edition)

1- 11 By Acton

 

The inspiration for this came from  a joke how to simulate Navy Shipboard Life at sea. http://www.midwaysailor.com/military/shiplife.html

2020 note I originally wrote this almost  10 years ago. I decided to revise this in the light many con postponed or  canceled because of the of the  Coronavirus

 

  1. Rearrange furniture, in the bedroom place one bed, couch, and TV; this is the hotel room. Designate other areas for panels. Because of Stay at homes will be phones or laptops showing YouTube panels.  The required simulation events are opening and closing ceremonies, one fursuiting 101 panels, and optional furry sexuality panel at night. Be sure to schedule at least six virtual panels. At the start of  the simulation flip the start of panel one with panel six and cancel panel three. Start panel four  15 minutes late and run into the time slotted for panel five.

 

  1. Invite three other friends to join along; one of the friends must not bathe during the simulation weekend. Unless they are your roommates, you may use Zoom or skype.

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Washington Examiner Hypes RBCC Comment and Gets it Wrong

The Washington Examiner turned a molehill into a mountain based on a single word in a RNCC Tweet.  One can ask was necessary for the NRCC to throw out the furry word.  Still this much ado about nothing. I find the Washington Examiner more at fault by twisting the RNCC post. Second the Examiner  paints a distorted and inaccurate  overused media statement that  Furries area subculture that dress up in animal costumes and  for twisting  of the Fur Science 2011 data out of context.

“A number of studies have demonstrated that some of those interested in furry fandom view the subculture as a sexual fetish as well. According to a 2011 study by the Anthropomorphic Research Project, one-third of furries interviewed said that “sexual attraction to the content in the fandom is an important part of their furry participation.” The author of the story  gave a poor  attempt of a apology on Twitter.

Better would be the 2018 statement on sexuality

“This is in line with several other findings from past studies suggesting that, despite the perception by many of furry as a fetish, for most furries this is not the case, though furries may themselves be prone to erroneously believing this stereotype about other furries. It should also be noted that this is not to say that there are not furries for whom the fandom is a fetish – prior research suggests that this is likely the case for about 5-10% of the furry fandom. Nor is there anything wrong with furry being a fetish for these folks. Instead, we are simply pointing out that it would be inaccurate to categorize furries as a group as being fetish-based, as it would be describing the group as a whole based on a minority within the group.” 1.

If anything good, the mainstream press has ignored this story.

I still find fault with RNCC. There are very good reasons to oppose Beto O Rouke, why bring up furry and twist him wearing a mask as part of a band.

 

Now let say for the record, I became a Furry during the peak of my involvement with the Republican Party (i.e. before Trump). My Fursona is a more conservative than I am, and a Republican Black Bear.    I often joke around wanting to be the highest ranking elected Furry Republican and my favorite comic strip is Mallard Fillmore a comic about an anthropomorphic conservative Duck.  I see this as just silliness to bring up furry as something negative.

  1. Anthrocon 2018 study

Rose City Comic Con Mini Report

The convention:  Rose City Comic Con

The place: Oregon Convention Center

The dates  7 – 9 September.

Sorry for the long delay but due to leaning  a new job I have not had the time to  put a full report. Also since I do not se much interest I going the keep things short.  All three of  my Plushies were my companions for the con.

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