Furry Drama...OK, you know what? No, I will take away the furry part now. DRAMA is often artificial outrage created by people to make sure there is a good enough level of attention and audience engagement that keeps them coming back for more. The best example of this is reality TV. It's almost common sense that reality TV, whether it be a competition show or a "THESE STRANGERS ARE DOING THESE THINGS IN A STRANGE WAY WHAT WACKY HIJINXS WILL ENSURE?" type, is often manufactured to create narratives out of the plight and insecurities of every day people and make them either the hero or the villain depending on what engagement the audience is getting out of it.
The good thing though is that with the accessibility of the internet creating platforms we can share our thoughts on, people have made it so that they can examine and study how these moments of artificial drama can have real life consequences and effects beyond a screen. And thus with enough pressure many are forced to change things up to make it more transparent about their intentions and strive for a better experience that doesn't compromise the integrity of those involved.
What about "furry" drama, though? Why aren't there people examining how drama on social media really is artificial and often created by someone seeking to create a narrative that gets people fuming at the mouth and engaging in the worst manner possible? Turns out there is...
Kabba the Fox explains it better than I could, using the oh so controversial topic of poodling as an example. The video, though, was made in January of 2020, mere months before the world seemingly started to burn and suddenly people had to take that anger and vent it elsewhere. Soon the blatant need for attention turned into an attempt to be more radical, more righteous and more in tune with what was going on in the world. A lot of good came out of this as furries were in a way forced to see that behind the rainbow colored fursuits there were real people with real problems that compromised their safety in the fandom. But the bad is that suddenly people came out of the woodwork to start drama for their benefit disguised as a way to alert the fandom.
The short version of it is that often these moments of dramas are really just passive aggressive attacks at people who they don't like so they will find something from their past that is decades long and bring it to light so that everyone can see how horrible they are. Or someone makes a hot take about popular furries, trends in the fandom, fursuiters, and the ever so dreaded "FURRY SHOULD NOT BE OPEN ABOUT THE ADULT STUFF!'. All of this comes from a place of wanting to create a narrative in which the poster IS the hero, the subject at hand is the villain and those watching and participating are fanning the flames to create a bonfire where no one ever wins.
This is amplified even further by furry YouTubers who spend their time making videos about bad people in the fandom, making current drama even worse by dedicating long videos to it, some reacting to them saying they are part of the problem. Again, ALL of it is because people want to be part of a story in which THEY are right and everyone should agree or go the Hell home!
And yet, people wonder...why is there drama in the furry fandom? Truth is that the "furry" drama is really a human condition that we have been taught to make a spectacle out of because we love it, we enjoy seeing others pop-off while others cheer them on. Jerry Springer didn't get famous because he had insightful topics about the human condition, and Maury Povich didn't make a whole legacy out of saying "you are NOT the father" because they wanted to create the best relationship possible; they are all part of a system that will use a "noble" cause to elevate drama to the extend that it becomes a circus without a ringmaster.
If you have seen Kabba's video by now, then you know what his conclusion was...there really was no one making elitist, judgmental and harsh comments on poodling as a whole. No one knew where it came from, no one new why it was a hot-button topic...but everyone went along with the narrative because it is easier to follow everyone else than to just stop and question WHY this is going on. Drama is often about fighting a threat that never really existed and some will try to put a face to it so the target becomes easier.
I would genuinely love to say that we can escape drama if we just don't engage in it and avoid it, because the truth is that drama is everywhere you look; at work, at school, at home. It's almost human instinct to be upset over nothing just to gain some form of instant validation without the effort it requires to get it. The best we can do is identify it when we see it, don't give them the attention and don't let them drag you down, and most importantly, don't engage when it becomes beneficial for you to do so. It's hard, but not impossible.
At the end of the day, this is about your own general sense of judgment and learning to choose your fights. The questions asked before engaging in any drama is "how am I benefitting from all of this? WHY this is a thing that should merit my attention? How will this improve the fandom and my life somehow?" or do what I do...scroll past it, block it if I must and move on. It is not me being compliant with any issue being talked about, it's me having enough mental fortitude to say that my mind and energy are better spent elsewhere than trying to rub someone's ego.
And no, this does NOT have anything to do with post about real causes and movements like BLM, Stop Asian Hate, or focusing on criminally charged members of the community. Those two are very different, just that they get tangled in the same web because the end reaction it's the same; a narrative weaved into our lives in hopes that it catches enough people to make the narrative that much more explosive.