Personally, I don't think anyone was directly comparing 9/11 to furry discrimination. Someone was expressing their opinion that furries face discrimination based on the acts of a few extremists just like other groups have. They have the right to their opinion, and you have the right to yours, and I hope at the end of it we can all agree to disagree if that's what it comes to.
This is correct, yes. I wasn't trying to minimize the horrific nature and aftermath of 9/11 in any way whatsoever, but was using an example of how the actions of a few extremists completely warped the opinions of a particular group (in this case both Middle Eastern folks and folks who identified as Muslim) to the degree that it did...and still does today. While, yes, I could have possibly used a better example, it felt like a perfectly valid comparison to use. With LGBTQ+ folks, we get almost consistently labeled by Anti-LGBTQ+ folks as pedophiles or groomers because a few bad apples engaged in such horrendous acts and they became known (to which those folks are immediately disowned by the LGBTQ+ community in every way imaginable)...which absolutely resurfaced even in recent years as an alt-right talking point when those bathroom bill talks began in regards to transgender folks. Immediately trans folks were suddenly once again being labeled as nothing but child predators who could just dress up and change pronouns on a whim so they could be in the same bathroom that your kid is in. It's a gross and untrue generalization to do nothing but demonize and invalidate the trans community.
Yes, there's
absolutely much more in depth issues when it comes to LGBTQ+ discrimination, racism, and religious discrimination because they've had nothing but time since before the internet was even a thing to be allowed to grow into the colossal horrendous messes that they are. What still happens today to folks in these communities is absolutely disgusting, horrible, shocking, and baffling to say the least that humans can act they way they do when it comes to the sheer hatred I see from folks on the levels that I see or read about in even current news. I was absolutely floored that a large portion of people were totally okay blaming Covid on China and coming up with deragatory names for it to expel that gross propaganda for it, and the rise in hatred towards the Asian community that surfaced because some people are monumentally stupid enough to buy into that propagandic nonsense. Hell, I'm still trying to comprehend that fact that we (well, not "we" since I didn't vote for him) even elected a president that not only condoned such things, but fueled the sentiment himself by throwing out the racist names for the virus that he did...and there's
still people that think he was a fantastic president and want him back (like...I'm sorry,
what?). But it's a 100% undisputable fact that racial/gender/sexual orientation/religious discrimination are absolutely out of control to the point of legitimately frightening how far anti-folks will go to the point of killing someone or joining groups dedicated to the eradication of anyone that isn't a straight white cisgender male/female. It's terrifying to say the absolute least and I'm absolutely not minimizing these facts in the slightest.
However, I'd also like to ask that you not do the same to furry hatred in kind and minimize the discrimination to the community by brushing it aside as just "online trolling". There may be some trolling (as there is for most things these days), but it's definitely evolved into legitimate hatred from folks in various communities who will constantly confuse them as folks who will do horrendous sexual things with animals (or I guess Zoophiles according to Nox). All because some bad apples decided to do just that, it's been growing problem that more and more folks are under the belief that
all furries are into bestiality of that kind no matter how much the community tries to prove otherwise. While it may not be on the same level as the examples I used in the
overall sense since it hasn't had the same amount of time and circumstances to grow into such, my point was that
like those other examples all it took was a few bad folks that the community itself 100% disowns to do those horrible things...but it's completely warped enough folks' opinions on the entire community to continually earn derogatory names and remarks to folks who identify as furries, violence toward them and yes, even death to folks in the community...even if it may not be often enough or however you want to look at it to be considered on the same level as other types of larger discrimination. And it's stuff that rather than slowing down, I only see it as continuing until the spotlight will inevitably fall on it and that hatred eventually rises to similar levels as time progresses.
But if you're looking for an apology, unfortunately all I'm going to say is that I'm sorry if you're looking into it as if I was trying to directly compare the
entirety of 9/11 or entirety of LGBTQ+ discrimination to furry discrimination...because I absolutely wasn't. I even tried making it pretty clear that I was focusing on specific examples, and even ended on this note
Honestly, it's all gross stuff that people try to throw out there to demonize the different communities...all because a couple of folks did stupid shit.
to emphasize that I was purely focusing on that specific point...in which the point was that generalizing folks because of a few bad apples is gross, but sadly it's a thing that people do and have continually done in examples such as those.
So I apologize if it didn't translate that way when you read it, but unfortunately I'm not going to apologize for having that opinion since those examples were perfectly valid comparisons to make in that instance.