I used to make fun of them...a lot. And can you blame me? I mean, yes, what they believe is preposterous, is it not? They honestly believe they lived previous lives as inhuman creatures, or that they don't belong in this world. So clearly, they deserve our ridicule! Of course....when I consider that there is a very high probability that they suffer from some sort of mental illness...then making fun, is not as fun...is it? Imagine that for your whole life, people have disliked you. For reasons beyond your comprehension, you cannot seem to make any friends. You try to be nice, but something you do pisses people off. You try to extend a hand of friendship, but you gross or creep people out. You don't know why, but for some reason the world seems to hate you. Your siblings abandon you, your peers make fun of you, at school and/or at work you are pushed around, called names, told to kill yourself, etc. Again, you don't know why they do this, you don't know what you did wrong. Monikers such as "fa**ot, creep, tw**, c**t, p*ssy, and little b*tch" are not uncommon. If you had any friends at all, you lose them because they seem to leave you behind while they move on in life. Eventually, you begin to feel alone, like you don't belong in this world. Perhaps you begin to wonder...if you are special...that the reason you don't get along with others is because you aren't human. You begin to have dreams, dreams about being something else, about having a previous life where you are happy. You don't see these dreams as being spawned by your desires, but in your desperation, you see them as recovered memories. You are so desperate for meaning in your life that you are willing to believe that your spirit is inhuman. Sadly, this is what a lot of people with mental illness experience, especially those with autism and schizophrenia. I know because I suffer the former. While I never ever gave such delusions any serious consideration, I could easily see how one could travel down that path. Because despite the loving family I've been born into, despite all the riches I've had and the support system I have to fall back on, I've experienced quite a fair share of personal suffering. I know the gut reaction is to laugh at these people and to call them stupid, but have you ever considered that it's that sort of behavior that drives them deeper into their fantasies? When I feel the temptation to ridicule these people, I try to remember what I've been through and I try to remember the following instructions our Lord gave us: "Love one another, as I have loved you." and "That which you do unto the least of my brothers, you do unto me."

It is extraordinarily rare for those outside of the Furry Fandom to even be aware of this subset. So I'm very curious on how an Outsider like yourself came across this term in the first place.

And yet here I am, a self-admitted zooiphile. Not getting bullied out of offtopic for some reason... thanks guys. ^-^

I always feel really self conscious bring in public because being wolfkin I am always afraid that others can see my astral ears and tail.

2 words: mental illness

And now you know why everyone hates them