“By the toll of a billion deaths man has bought his birthright of the earth, and it is his against all comers; it would still be his were the Martians ten times as mighty as they are. For neither do men live nor die in vain.” -H.G. Wells, War of the Worlds

I am not gay.

Why is this an important statement?  It is important to make it clear to you that I have no real knowledge of the culture that comes with having an alternate life style.  Although I may be scratching the surface of this culture, because I am not “one of them”, I can only provide so much perspective on the subculture of the gay community.  Saying, “I have gay friends” is by no means an adequate source for truly understanding them.  How could it be?

However, I can tell you that from what I have seen, I can provide at least some insight.  For example, even though I am not gay, I can tell you there are a few obvious taboos associated with this culture.  One such taboo is “outing”.  No one should ever “out” another as being gay.  This is a choice that is left solely to the time and place of that person’s choosing.  To “out” them against their will or consent would be reprehensible.  No legitimate member of the gay community would ever commit this sin.

I also believe in their compassion for one another.  I have observed that if someone were to come to the realization that they are gay, they would find a community that is very open and ready to support them.

I can also tell you that their culture is a sort of fraternity.  Like all good fraternities, you must endure the hazing that is associated with the fraternity.  Anyone who does not endure the punishing trials associated with entry can never fully appreciate their membership.  But how does the gay community haze its members?

The hazing of their members is not done by them directly, but by the world they live in.  Coming out as gay is, and has always been, associated with great pain and difficulty.  This process isn’t easy.  Even in a so-called advanced civilization, no one should assume that coming out as gay will be an easy task.  The trials are both external and internal.  If you aren’t strong enough to endure this process when you begin, you will be by the time it is done.  You will have no choice.  You will endure, or die en route.

Every member of this community shares a common bond that goes beyond their personal identity.  That common bond is suffering.  They know the personal trouble and pain that is associated with making the journey from one world to the next.  They can immediately identify with one another by virtue of their geography.  “You wouldn’t be here, if you didn’t come by the same road as I did.  We do not just share a club, or friends, or similar interests.  We have similar painful experiences that can only be had by people like us.”  This is a deeply personal bond; to know that someone else has endured as you have endured.  Your experience is unique and there are not many like you.  You are part of an exclusive membership.  Not just anyone can enter your world; not without passing through those gates.  Only you, and those like you, can claim such victory.

For this reason, I could never imagine attempting to claim the status of being gay unless it were true.  The idea of attempting to claim this status merely for the political protection or the “credit”, without enduring the persecution and segregation, would be disgraceful.  Admission to an exclusive and highly valuable fraternity of social gladiators does not come cheap.

-Sisyphus

Christian furries like you are keeping the whole fandom afloat.  God is with us, because He is with you!  Here is what you can be doing to support a better future for all of us.

“Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves.  So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves.” – Matthew 10:16

God wants you to be shrewd.  Shrewdness is not evil.  It is a tool.  Using good sense, smart tactics, and the tools of persuasion is not evil.  God wants you to be smart.  He even goes farther in this point by illustrating that He wants you to use this same shrewdness with Him.

“Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You bound yourself with an oath to them, saying, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven. And I will give them all of this land that I have promised to your descendants, and they will possess it forever.’” – Exodus 32:13

In this scripture, Moses is speaking with God.  God has just threatened to throw up His hands and wipe out the people.  Moses then argues on their behalf by using God’s own words against Him.  He reminds Him of His promises to make them prosper.  God accepts this argument and chooses to stay His hand.  But do you really think He was only doing it because He was tricked by Moses’ argument?

God wants you to trap Him in His own words.  He remembers what He said.  He wants YOU to boldly remind Him as though He has forgotten.

“So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” – Hebrews 4:16

God wants you to be bold.  Go before God knowing what He will and won’t agree to.  If you ask for something that you know He cannot refuse, armed with His own words, you can’t lose.  Act like it!  He WANTS you to do that!  He wants you to be shrewd and bold in your dealings with Him.  You won’t offend Him.  You won’t hurt His feelings.  He loves it!

“Abraham approached him and said, ‘Will you sweep away both the righteous and the wicked? 24 Suppose you find fifty righteous people living there in the city—will you still sweep it away and not spare it for their sakes? 25 Surely you wouldn’t do such a thing, destroying the righteous along with the wicked. Why, you would be treating the righteous and the wicked exactly the same! Surely you wouldn’t do that! Should not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?’” – Genesis 18:23

You may feel surrounded.  You may feel like you are only one of a very few.  You may feel that destruction is imminent and that the events and attitudes you are seeing are sure signs of the end.  But YOU are still here!  Every member of the fandom you reside in will be rescued because of YOU!  Boldly remind God that He has always spared the righteous, even at the expense of destroying wickedness.

Ask God to create an opportunity out of the current trouble we are experiencing.  Ask God to remember his promises to save the righteous in spite of evil and to raise up a movement that will advance his Word.  Is there anything in that statement that God can deny?  Boldly plant your feet squarely in the middle of the fandom and remind God of his promise to save everyone for the sake of only a few.

God won’t be mad at you for putting Him in a spot.  He wants you to do it!  Give Him an excuse to do something great for your people.  He wants to do it anyway!  You will succeed, because you can’t lose.  Do it for God.  Do it for yourself.  Do it for us.

If God is for us, who can be against us?

-Sisyphus

*If this article makes no sense to you, don’t worry about it.  That just means it wasn’t for you.

The witch doctor is not an evil person.  He is a Godly man.  He does not spin evil against others for his personal gain.  He is, in fact, an advocate for his people.  He is there to bring healing.  But he gets a bad rap because he uses “dishonest” means to achieve good ends for his people.

Everything about the witch doctor is designed to appeal to your view of the world.  He presents himself as a magical being who can heal you.  His very presence is an act of contrition.  He is telling you that he believes all the same things you believe.  He is showing you that you can trust him because you and he are the same.  He wants you to like him.  In persuasion, the first step to being persuasive is to get your “target” to like you.  The easiest way to do that is to present yourself as having something in common with them.  And sharing a common belief in spiritual things is a huge plus, because our spiritual beliefs are so deeply rooted in emotion.  Persuasion is all about emotion.

The witch doctor is a master of persuasion.  He tells you that he believes in all the same superstitions that you believe.  He then provides you with the “remedy” to the evil spell that has been cast upon you by some evil witch.  He knows that the “evil spell” is nothing more than your superstitions brought to life by your belief.  You believe you are bewitched, so you do all you can to make it real.  He also knows that his remedy is fake.  It is nonsense.  But he knows that you will believe him when he tells you that your superstition is true.  You believe him because he believes you.  He is merely reaffirming your beliefs.  He uses that superstition to concoct a new belief that will counter your previous belief.  The witch doctor uses your superstitions against you.

He is a trickster.  He is a liar.  However, he uses his talents of persuasion and trickery for your good.  He knows that his lies will trick you into doing something that will help you.  He wants you to improve.  It would be better if he could simply tell you the truth, and see you become a better person who is more aware of reality.  However, he knows that this is not how humans operate.  He knows that any attempt to enlighten you to the truth will only make you hate him.  He knows you will not appreciate his candor.  It is better for him to use the belief system you already have.  This can be used to achieve the same positive results without the animosity that comes from the truth.

All the power of a witch is contained within your superstitions.  Similarly, all the power of the witch doctor is contained with those same superstitions.  The difference between the witch and witch doctor is the motivation for activating those superstitions.

The same tools of the witch are the tools of the witch doctor; knowledge of human nature, persuasion, psychology, social psychology, strategy, the ability to predict an outcome, some personal motivation, and a healthy dose of reality.  The people you assume are the most deceived about their concept of reality are in fact the most aware.  The witch doctor may appear to be completely deceived, but that is because he presents himself as a mirror.  He is you.  So naturally, you like him!  And that is his first weapon against your worst enemy.  You.

-Sisyphus

If you talked to your friends the way you talk to yourself, would you still have any friends?

I’m currently reading a book called “Gorilla Mindset”.  This book is not about being aggressive.  This book is about being aware of yourself.  This book is about YOU!  The very first chapter addresses how you talk to yourself and how that can affect the way you see yourself and the world around you.

Chances are, you regularly talk to yourself in extremely negative terms.  You use words and expressions that would turn good friends into enemies.  These regular put-downs are effective.  You believe what you tell yourself on a regular basis.  You would never accept this behavior from anyone else, but you do it to yourself every day.  This self-talk effects the way you behave and the way you act towards others.  Regular negative self-talk will make you more negative towards others.  Now imagine an entire room full of people who do this.  What does that room feel like?  Is this a happy place?  Now imagine an entire fandom that thinks this way.  Is this a happy place?

Do you want to make the fandom a better place?  Stop putting yourself down.  That one change in your life can have a positive effect on the world around you.  Maybe you are only becoming the one positive voice in the room.  Will that make a difference?  Yes!  You have seen how just one positive presence in the room can bring up the mood of the entire room.  Be that one positive voice in the room!

Once you stop putting yourself down you will begin to realize how much your negative self-talk has been affecting your behavior and the way you perceive your own abilities.  Once that negative voice is gone, you will begin to realize that you have far more potential than you ever thought.  Ditching that negative self-talk is one of those little changes that can have profound results on your life.

You are more than you currently think you are.  The biggest obstacle to realizing that is you.  You are the single greatest source of bullying and intimidation in your life.  The greatest source of toxin in the fandom is your self-talk.  Ditch that asshole.  Your life will be so much better!

-Sisyphus

Reading books is good for you.  It will improve your vocabulary and reading comprehension.  Books can also improve your character and your ability to make better decisions.  You can find things in books that you never intended to find.

I was recently reminded of the value of honesty.  It was good to hear a professional discuss honesty as the best method of doing business.  It may feel a little ironic to learn that this book was a book about how to be a better salesman.  The book is called, The Secret of Selling Anything.  In this book, honesty with the customer is the basis for a productive encounter.  I didn’t buy that book because I wanted to learn to be a more honest person, or to discover the benefits of honesty.  My reasons for reading that book had nothing to do with anything about character or morality.  But that is almost always the case for me.  I purchase books with some intent only to find bits of unintended benefits.  Books can have such a surprisingly profound effect on your life.

I was recently faced with a decision on how to address something very important to me.  I suppose the so-called smart thing to do would have been to keep my decision to myself until the time was best for me, then reveal my choice at the expense of the other party.  I thought about that a lot.  Maybe I thought about that option more than I should have.  Fortunately, I was also in the process of reading a book about being a better salesman.  And that book reminded me of the value of honesty.  This really helped shake my thought process away from just ‘what is best for me’ to ‘what is best for everyone’.  I am very glad this happened.  Although my decision has yet to reveal its results, I know I did what was best for all parties involved, even if those results are not ideal for me alone.

You may be thinking, “Hey, aren’t your other posts about how to be a better liar?  You are contradicting yourself!”  My other posts are about persuasion and how we can use it to improve our community.  Persuasion is not an immoral act.  Persuasion is a tool.  Like any tool, you can use it to do good things, or bad things.  You decide how you should use it.  If you could to be more effective when trying to tell a friend to stop doing drugs, to get out of that destructive relationship, or to prevent them from committing suicide, wouldn’t you do it?

-Sisyphus