Otherkin...

[Zostrianos]

In a similar vein as crazy conspiracy theories, there is actually a movement of people calling themselves "Otherkin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otherkin)" who believe that they're not human - they believe they're mythological beings, like vampires, fairies, even dragons (!...Dragonkin). They have a Wiki (http://www.otherkin.net/wiki/index.html). Here's an extract from the article on Dragonkin:

For the Otherkin person, dealing with draconity as an identity can be especially confusing due to a wealth of fascinating and compelling, yet conflicting, mythology. And there's more that merely the most generic Eastern and Western stereotypes. At the same time, the prevalence of those stereotypes - especially the destructive, Western dragon - have led some people to be at odds with themselves. Questions such as 'Does having some part of myself that seems to be this creature of great power mean I am destructive?' have been common ones. In spite of all this, the essence of dragon has proven to be a exceptionally powerful one among Otherkin. Many dragon kin do not feel they really embody any of the mythological stereotypes at all, but might incorporate pieces from different traditions. Statistically speaking, dragon also seems to be a category in which people fall who are largely 'alien' with no significant ties to Earthly mythology except for some tell-tale of perceived past form that seems unmistakably draconic. The basic question "so what do I do with all this?" has its own special challenges for the dragon kin. The draconic segment of the Otherkin community has a reputation for some egotistical personalities which take some of the more spectacular mythological attributes of dragons very literally. In some cases, one can't help but suspect that a person is engaging in either pure wish-fuffilment or power fantasizing.
Yet what many people have discovered individually is that the dragon essence does carry with it a certain tint of the primal and nature as a great power. Some people may get carried away and read the wrong things into these feelings or go too far, but others have found that a strong sense of draconity has given them a great deal of strength in dealing with their life in the here-and-now. If a dragon is truthfully what you are, perhaps the most important realization is that you don't need extravagent displays of pride or power. The draconic spirit has been shown by many individuals of integrity to be far more potent than that.

[bcbm]

i hate living in this world

[Hermes]

I don't really see the problem with it, to be honest.

At best, they get to know about a lot of history and mythology from different cultural origins that might not interest other people.

At worst, it's not really all that different from a religion, it's just incredibly more bizarre.

--

I suppose you could question the actual value of knowing anything about mythology, though.

[RedAnarchist]

I don't see any problem with this. At least they don't try to force it onto other people like the powerful cul...organised religions. Humans are a very diverse, imaginative and creative species, and this is just some of the ways in which humans make use of that diversity, imagination and creativity.

[Agent Ducky]

Sounds to me like some people just wish they were the Dovahkiin
http://roboawesome.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/picture-30552.jpg

[Luc]

lol its better than being a magical ghost inside a sack of flesh imo

[Sperm-Doll Setsuna]

There are plenty of those that think they are the re-incarnation of characters from their childhood television shows. It is quite an interesting phenomena from a sociological perspective, but nevertheless... I dread the day when people who think they are animals at heart because they watched anthropomorphic beasts in Disney flicks as children grow out of their mascot-suit subculture into something awful and popular and cry "fursecution".

[Ele'ill]

i am rikki tikki tavi

[Dennis the 'Bloody Peasant']

Fair enough...less offensive (i.e. in your face and obnoxious) than most major religions and cultural fads. Wonder if they think Reign Of Fire is anti-dragon propoganda.

[Luís Henrique]

This is very different from a religion.

Religions are left-overs from the past, ideological constructs that made sence and were important for the survival of mankind in technologically less advanced circumstances.

"Otherkin" is a modern invention - a modern fantasy - that plays and has played no similar role. You can't blame a Catholic for being raised a Catholic; it is not really her choice. But no one is raised into such delusions; they are choices (unless they are actually mental diseases).

If such fantasies were actually similar to religion, it would mean that religion would be being produced anew under high capitalism conditions (and probably that religion is here to stay).


I dread the day when people who think they are animals at heart because they watched anthropomorphic beasts in Disney flicks as children grow out of their mascot-suit subculture into something awful and popular and cry "fursecution".

I have already read things like that, complete with the "I am a lion (horse, cat, leech) entrapped within a human body". It is either a bad joke, or a sign of a deeply disturbed personality.

Luís Henrique

[Hermes]

This is very different from a religion.

Religions are left-overs from the past, ideological constructs that made sence and were important for the survival of mankind in technologically less advanced circumstances.

"Otherkin" is a modern invention - a modern fantasy - that plays and has played no similar role. You can't blame a Catholic for being raised a Catholic; it is not really her choice. But no one is raised into such delusions; they are choices (unless they are actually mental diseases).

If such fantasies were actually similar to religion, it would mean that religion would be being produced anew under high capitalism conditions (and probably that religion is here to stay).



I have already read things like that, complete with the "I am a lion (horse, cat, leech) entrapped within a human body". It is either a bad joke, or a sign of a deeply disturbed personality.

Luís Henrique

You may not be able to blame a Catholic for being raised Catholic, but with the exception of some, most people today aren't 'raised' being neo-pagans/asatru/etc.

It is very similar to religion, and to base whether it is or not on the date of origin is kind of ridiculous. The belief that certain animals have influence over your body (admittedly, somewhat different from saying that you are other animals) is ages old.

[bcbm]

i think it fulfills a rather different social function than religion though, and i would argue a lot of the 'pagan' new age religions are similar.

[Hermes]

Eh, in a way I would disagree, although admittedly I know very little of the topic.

It seems to me that the more 'standard' religions are deteriorating a bit in public opinion, and people have to look elsewhere. With the reemergence of nationalism that seems to be happening now, people want to go back to their roots (even if it's nothing like what their roots actually were)

I'd say it's still religion, though (again, probably wrong).

[Zostrianos]

It's harmless, but I thought it was pretty out there. It's common for people to roleplay and have fantasies, but this takes it to a whole other level.
As for similarities between this and Neopagan religions, I have to disagree - they're based on very different principles.

[GPDP]

It's just a fantasy, albeit a very creepy and arguably mentally crippling one at that.

I mean, as with furries many of them seem to be into it as more of a fetish or roleplaying tool than anything else, but when it gets to actually believing yourself to be a wolf or a vampire or dragon or whatever, that cannot be very healthy in the long term. It signifies a deconstruction of one's ability to separate fantasy from reality.

[A Revolutionary Tool]

My sister-in-law told me she was actually half elf.

[Magón]

Crazier than or as, Scientology?

[WanderingCactus]

I am definitely a dragon.

[MarxSchmarx]

This is very different from a religion.

Religions are left-overs from the past, ideological constructs that made sence and were important for the survival of mankind in technologically less advanced circumstances.

"Otherkin" is a modern invention - a modern fantasy - that plays and has played no similar role. You can't blame a Catholic for being raised a Catholic; it is not really her choice. But no one is raised into such delusions; they are choices (unless they are actually mental diseases).

If such fantasies were actually similar to religion, it would mean that religion would be being produced anew under high capitalism conditions (and probably that religion is here to stay).



I have already read things like that, complete with the "I am a lion (horse, cat, leech) entrapped within a human body". It is either a bad joke, or a sign of a deeply disturbed personality.

Luís Henrique

Ya know, I kinda disagree.

People who are "raised catholic" unless they were raised in a religious orphanage or their parents were fanatics generally, as children, spend at most 3 hours a week on religious crap; maybe more if they go to a catholic church run school.

By contrast, the average child watches at least 2 hours of television a night, or plays games for an equivalent amount of time. And the overwhelming majority of shows targeted at children are fantasies about anthropomorphic animals. Apart from cereal commercials, this effect is invariable.

Now, I remember when I was like 4 or 5 and I acted as if I was actually a locomotive train. If all I had to work with were trains, trains, and more trains for 15 hours a week, I think it's plausible I could have internalized this idea in a way that would make the fundamentalists envious.

[Rusty Shackleford]

hooray for alienation

[Luís Henrique]

This is very different from a religion.

Religions are left-overs from the past, ideological constructs that made sence and were important for the survival of mankind in technologically less advanced circumstances.

"Otherkin" is a modern invention - a modern fantasy - that plays and has played no similar role. You can't blame a Catholic for being raised a Catholic; it is not really her choice. But no one is raised into such delusions; they are choices (unless they are actually mental diseases).

Religions are also mainly a set of beliefs about a supposed and delusional "otherworld", while this is mainly a peculiar delusion about this world.

And I am not sure it is harmless. Elves are a superior race, and Orcs are an inferior one. Mix that with a real world in deep crisis, and I am not sure the result won't be explosive or poisonous.

Luís Henrique

[Raúl Duke]

i hate living in this world


hooray for alienation

Seconded

[Firebrand]

I spoke to a guy on an internet forum who was convinced he was part of an alien race and soon they would come to take him back to their homeworld. His evidence, the fact that he had Rh negative blood. Apparently everyone who is Rh negative is actually part alien.:D

[Igor]

i'm salmonkin

behold

[Zugunruhe]

I actually have a lot of feelings about otherkin. As a whole, I find them pretty harmless--I don't really agree that what they're doing is necessarily healthy, but who the heck am I to judge after all the crazy things I do? If you want to believe that you're a fictive (someone whose identity is a character or species from something fictional) who lives in a multiple system (basically a situation where multiple people live inside one body) with a griffin and a tadpole, go for it. I'm not going to police what you think you are.

Where I start to have problems is when they start to lift terms from the transgender community and describe themselves as oppressed and try to draw solidarity from the trans community. That's a problem for me. I also have a problem when they talk about engaging in bestiality because that's they're kintype (the animal they identify with). Bestiality is not cool because animals can't consent.

And yes, these are all things I have encountered on tumblr. Sometimes tumblr isn't a happy place...

[Landsharks eat metal]

I actually have a lot of feelings about otherkin. As a whole, I find them pretty harmless--I don't really agree that what they're doing is necessarily healthy, but who the heck am I to judge after all the crazy things I do? If you want to believe that you're a fictive (someone whose identity is a character or species from something fictional) who lives in a multiple system (basically a situation where multiple people live inside one body) with a griffin and a tadpole, go for it. I'm not going to police what you think you are.

Where I start to have problems is when they start to lift terms from the transgender community and describe themselves as oppressed and try to draw solidarity from the trans community. That's a problem for me. I also have a problem when they talk about engaging in bestiality because that's they're kintype (the animal they identify with). Bestiality is not cool because animals can't consent.

And yes, these are all things I have encountered on tumblr. Sometimes tumblr isn't a happy place...

Yeah. I agree with most of this. A lot of the terms they use seem really appropriative, and that's my main issue. But I'm kind of confused on one thing. I've thought about this a lot and haven't come up with anything, but maybe someone else will be able to explain it to me. Why is it okay for me, as a trans man, to identify as male despite the biological evidence otherwise, while a lot of people think it's absolutely insane for someone to identify as, say, a wolf, despite their human body? It's kind of a slippery slope (and I hate that kind of argument), but really, how do we know where to "draw the line?"

[Omsk]

Humans are not dragons or lizards and anyone who thinks he is actually a dragon obviously has some problems.

What kind of rubbish i run into these days...

[Zugunruhe]

Yeah. I agree with most of this. A lot of the terms they use seem really appropriative, and that's my main issue. But I'm kind of confused on one thing. I've thought about this a lot and haven't come up with anything, but maybe someone else will be able to explain it to me. Why is it okay for me, as a trans man, to identify as male despite the biological evidence otherwise, while a lot of people think it's absolutely insane for someone to identify as, say, a wolf, despite their human body? It's kind of a slippery slope (and I hate that kind of argument), but really, how do we know where to "draw the line?"I'm not a spiritual person, so this is what gives me these opinions, I think. It's biologically possible for your brain to be male, while it is not biologically possible for someone's brain to be that of a wolf. Being trans is not a purely psychological condition, but otherkin are suffering from some kind of psychosomatic something or another.

[Landsharks eat metal]

Shit, this thread made me have a weird dream. I dreamt I identified as an ice cream cone :confused:

[Susurrus]

I've met someone who sincerely believed they were a time lord from Doctor Who for a while. Then again, they were a compulsive liar as well, so take that for what you will.

[Trap Queen Voxxy]

One does not simply become a dragon.

http://static.fjcdn.com/comments/One+does+not+simply+cut+Chuck+Norris+face+_6b3fa9a 9d2c8c0d6e01a59dfd8e499b2.jpg