I feel like I should say something, but I don't get involved in typical furry drama going around in twitter. Though, I feel like I should at least say something.

Now, I'm what you would say a centrist. I have both conservative views and liberal views. Though, I'm leaning more on liberal than conservative. I believe in equality for everybody. Gender, racial, religious, and sexual. Everybody has a right to be treated like a human being and have the same rights as much as everybody. Be it for voting, housing, marriage, etc. Everybody deserves to be treated as equal. But, I'm a strong believer in the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. Everybody has freedom to speak their minds, practice any religion, to publish, to protest, and to gather.

When I became part of the fandom, I always found it to be a very accepting group of people. No matter what race, religion, sexuality, or politics everybody is welcome. If you're a fan of cartoons or any kind of anthropomorphism, you're part of the fandom. Sure, there are a few bad apples, but overall the fandom is a very accepting place. Perhaps too accepting. Because there are a few instances when it seems few members tend to like stuff that is unacceptable and downright illegal. They should've never been part of the fandom in first place and they give the fandom a bad name. Glad to see the fandom is improving itself upon that.

That being said, this is when I begin to see where many of the members are becoming divisive. It's bad enough to see this type of divide outside in our country and many parts around the world, but seeing it in the fandom is scaring me. The us against them attitude. What I like about the fandom is that politics through out the door once you enter. No one cares what you believe in, it shouldn't matter. But, it seems it has to matter now.

The one thing I have noticed that the majority of the fandom are members of the LGBT community. And that is great. Because if there's one group that is very accepting of that, it's this. That's what I like about this fandom. No matter who or what you are, you're accepted. But, right now. It feels like it's not like that.

I was pretty much standing by the sidelines as the title said. Because if there's one thing I learned after many years being part of the fandom, is stay away from drama. No matter if you agree to the one side. I've sucked myself into drama before and it was a very pleasant experience. Which is why I stay away from any drama that pops out. But, sometimes you got to say something.

From twitter, I've seen people being accused, being called out, attacking left and right, and even doxing at one point. It got so bad, that this website had no choice but to ban certain members of a certain group. When that happened, my first thought was, "Huh. They did it." shrugs Though, during all this, I'm reminded of a certain episode from a show.

The show was Beast Machines and there's an episode that stuck with me for a long time. The episode was about Optimus Prime on discovering that his friend Rinox's mind is in one of Megatron's main bad guy's body. So, he tries to go inside his mind to free him. But, he discovered he's not the same Rinox he knew. It seems he has changed from a lovable guy who believes in freedom to a guy who doesn't. Magetron believes that there should be no individuality because individuality brings chaos and war and with no individuality there's peace. Rinox believes it now. When the rest of Optimus' crew realized it as well, they try to hack into his brain and change him. Optimus stops them saying it's wrong. If they try to change his mind and punish him for his views, they are no better than Megatron. And that stuck with me since them.

If you punish people for having another opinion that is way different than yours, you're no better than those types of people. Now, that doesn't mean white supremacists and Nazis are right. They are wrong in every single moment. But, all they are doing is speaking their minds and like it or now, they have a right to say it. Because, down to it there just words. All we can do is ignore it. They're only 3% of the entire population of this nation, so it's not like they'll do anything. Now, when they start arming themselves and planning to take drastic measures, that's when you do something. But, punching someone in the face because you don't like his viewpoints is not right. And doxing people for showing up to Nazi rallies is not right. Calling them out and punishing them for having a different viewpoint is not right. Because if you do, they'll do it right back. They'll fight back and they'll fight back hard.

The best you can do fight against racism and prejudice is by ignoring them and education. Education is the pure fire way to fight against racism and prejudice. The more people learn that hating people because they are different is wrong, we'll live in a better world.

The point I'm trying to make is that neither side is right and neither side is wrong. Even though one side is more right than the other, attacking one another is not the answer. The one great thing about the furry fandom is that no matter what side of the political spectrum you're part of or what sexuality, race, or religion you're part of, we're all here to celebrate cartoons and anthropomorphic characters. That's what the fandom is all about. I just hope people won't forget that.