Die anderen art
September 7, 2012 9:13 AM Subscribe
Die Anderen Art a mid nineties movement bridging into the unknown unknowns of gender, speciesism and phantasm. Welcome to the sidejacked reality of the Otherkind.
man, mocking the mentally ill and miserable especially when they are like teens and stuff makes me feel creepy as hell
posted by This, of course, alludes to you at 10:15 AM on September 7, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by This, of course, alludes to you at 10:15 AM on September 7, 2012 [1 favorite]
I'm not sure these people (assume I'm using the right names and pronouns throughout -I'm entirely outside of the loop on all this) can all be easily categorized as mentally ill. Guy draws a picture of a wolf, says he's a wolf. Ok. Another guy might think he's an NBA forward, until he tries out. Someone else thinks their a genius programmer, or a natural leader. Maybe you know someone like that?
Basically I don't think we should presume to judge others. They seem to be at the far end of a long list of groups still being actively discriminated against. By my reckoning, that list would now (still) include the obese, short people, pagans, athiests, and people all along a spectrum of genders. In the case of transgendered folks, it looks like technology is catching up with them. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say its likely that eventually technology will reach The Otherkind as well. Just my guess.
posted by newdaddy at 10:33 AM on September 7, 2012
Basically I don't think we should presume to judge others. They seem to be at the far end of a long list of groups still being actively discriminated against. By my reckoning, that list would now (still) include the obese, short people, pagans, athiests, and people all along a spectrum of genders. In the case of transgendered folks, it looks like technology is catching up with them. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say its likely that eventually technology will reach The Otherkind as well. Just my guess.
posted by newdaddy at 10:33 AM on September 7, 2012
Just as a note, the OP uses the term Otherkind, but at least a couple of the links provided lead to pages which use the word Otherkin instead.
posted by newdaddy at 10:36 AM on September 7, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by newdaddy at 10:36 AM on September 7, 2012 [1 favorite]
Guy draws a picture of a wolf, says he's a wolf. Ok. Another guy might think he's an NBA forward, until he tries out.
Huh wha?
posted by aspo at 10:45 AM on September 7, 2012
Huh wha?
posted by aspo at 10:45 AM on September 7, 2012
The sidejacked link strikes me as a prime example of Grifterkin.
posted by Ideefixe at 10:46 AM on September 7, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by Ideefixe at 10:46 AM on September 7, 2012 [2 favorites]
I mean, some of them - the Final Fantasy people and the Sarah Saga - yeah maybe there's some mental illness going on, but in a lot of cases I don't think they're crazy, I just kind of get the sense they're full of shit, and a lot of them will get older and feel kind of embarrassed about that period when they insisted they were a pokemon in a past life.
posted by FAMOUS MONSTER at 10:51 AM on September 7, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by FAMOUS MONSTER at 10:51 AM on September 7, 2012 [1 favorite]
Whether it's a benign, fatuous obsession or a full-blown delusion, I do not think it is healthy to indulge people who are caught up in such fantasies.
posted by Mister_A at 11:51 AM on September 7, 2012
posted by Mister_A at 11:51 AM on September 7, 2012
I really don't like this as a front page post for metafilter. These folks are often quite earnest in their beliefs, and the few I have met are often genuinely kind folks despite some weirdness. This is too much like pointing and laughing at the weirdos, and these people get enough of that in their lives already.
posted by strixus at 12:52 PM on September 7, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by strixus at 12:52 PM on September 7, 2012 [1 favorite]
I will give props to Gawker for writing a relatively snark-free piece on this topic. Historically, it is fascinating to see the connections between the New Age community, the Magick community, and fandoms of varying kinds. Now, the range seems to run from the silly to the troubled, but then I wanted to be a dinosaur when I was a child, so who am I to judge?
posted by octobersurprise at 1:04 PM on September 7, 2012
posted by octobersurprise at 1:04 PM on September 7, 2012
Is there any proof that the Sarah Saga happened? I read it yesterday, and the weird group authorship made me wonder if the whole thing was fabricated.
posted by roger ackroyd at 1:51 PM on September 7, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by roger ackroyd at 1:51 PM on September 7, 2012 [3 favorites]
This, apparently, is the religious pamphlet that Right Bishop Something was giving out to Sarah's coworkers.
I found the link in an ancient Livejournal backwater where the story was being discussed.
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 3:28 PM on September 7, 2012
I found the link in an ancient Livejournal backwater where the story was being discussed.
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 3:28 PM on September 7, 2012
@newdaddy
nah i'm talking about the goonmeme dot txt people. a lot of that strikes me as kind of marginal dudes with not very much going on, trying to find an object of comparison that does not leave them in the dust.
which is the basic MO of that whole scene and not really any great insight, but it makes you idly wonder if the recession's deleterious effects on the things people use to judge their own worth don't catalyze schadenfreude a little
posted by This, of course, alludes to you at 4:02 PM on September 7, 2012
nah i'm talking about the goonmeme dot txt people. a lot of that strikes me as kind of marginal dudes with not very much going on, trying to find an object of comparison that does not leave them in the dust.
which is the basic MO of that whole scene and not really any great insight, but it makes you idly wonder if the recession's deleterious effects on the things people use to judge their own worth don't catalyze schadenfreude a little
posted by This, of course, alludes to you at 4:02 PM on September 7, 2012
They seem to be at the far end of a long list of groups still being actively discriminated against.
I am sure these people (or am I supposed to call them creatures? beings?) were all part of some marginalized group that faced discrimination or bullying. The obvious response is to create an entirely new group that will certainly face another type of discrimination and bullying. Right?
posted by charlie don't surf at 5:19 PM on September 7, 2012
I am sure these people (or am I supposed to call them creatures? beings?) were all part of some marginalized group that faced discrimination or bullying. The obvious response is to create an entirely new group that will certainly face another type of discrimination and bullying. Right?
posted by charlie don't surf at 5:19 PM on September 7, 2012
How is this fundamentally different from the Dada or surrealism? I'm guessing they have some of the same goals and some similar methods, but because they're not part of an established Art scene or context, and not really articulate about what they're doing, somehow it's less valid(?)
Lots of people seem to have varying relationships to objective reality (assuming such a thing exists - I am sincerely dubious).
OTOH, people who elect to be an elf or a wolf are pretty bluntly expressing some emotion related to a deficit in their lives, I'm guessing. ("I need some magic in my life." "I want to be taken seriously.") But maybe that's just my projection - people could have a whole range of motivations.
posted by newdaddy at 6:58 PM on September 7, 2012
Lots of people seem to have varying relationships to objective reality (assuming such a thing exists - I am sincerely dubious).
OTOH, people who elect to be an elf or a wolf are pretty bluntly expressing some emotion related to a deficit in their lives, I'm guessing. ("I need some magic in my life." "I want to be taken seriously.") But maybe that's just my projection - people could have a whole range of motivations.
posted by newdaddy at 6:58 PM on September 7, 2012
OTOH, people who elect to be an elf or a wolf are pretty bluntly expressing some emotion related to a deficit in their lives, I'm guessing.
I don't know what someone could possibly be expressing when they declare they were supposed to be born into the body of a videogame character that didn't exist yet when they were born (and for that matter, doesn't actually exist now).
posted by charlie don't surf at 9:06 PM on September 7, 2012
I don't know what someone could possibly be expressing when they declare they were supposed to be born into the body of a videogame character that didn't exist yet when they were born (and for that matter, doesn't actually exist now).
posted by charlie don't surf at 9:06 PM on September 7, 2012
yeah.. i meant to write otherkin, i blame it on the fever & cough.
posted by xcasex at 10:19 PM on September 7, 2012
posted by xcasex at 10:19 PM on September 7, 2012
@charlie well. there's a thing called transethnicity these days, let that sink in ;)
posted by xcasex at 10:20 PM on September 7, 2012
posted by xcasex at 10:20 PM on September 7, 2012
I wouldn't feel too bad about being skeptical or even critical of this "movement." Virtually all the stories on the Internet about it are awful:
http://www.demon-sushi.com/warning/mee.html
http://www.demon-sushi.com/warning/mela.html
And many more here.
I haven't seen any evidence that these are "a few bad apples", either--if it exists, I'd love to. So far there are a few "I know an otherkin who's pretty cool" and a shit ton of "scary soulbonding manipulative dangerous loons" stories.
I'ma go ahead and sort of be sketched out by them. It comes naturally to me, and the limited evidence available seems to corroborate my gut instinct.
Of course I'm naturally paranoid, being soulbonded the narrator of Dostoevsky's Notes From the Underground...
posted by Joseph Gurl at 3:48 AM on September 8, 2012
http://www.demon-sushi.com/warning/mee.html
http://www.demon-sushi.com/warning/mela.html
And many more here.
I haven't seen any evidence that these are "a few bad apples", either--if it exists, I'd love to. So far there are a few "I know an otherkin who's pretty cool" and a shit ton of "scary soulbonding manipulative dangerous loons" stories.
I'ma go ahead and sort of be sketched out by them. It comes naturally to me, and the limited evidence available seems to corroborate my gut instinct.
Of course I'm naturally paranoid, being soulbonded the narrator of Dostoevsky's Notes From the Underground...
posted by Joseph Gurl at 3:48 AM on September 8, 2012
The Gawker story in the Otherkind link has a link to a mind-bending tumblr owned by a group of people, all of whom have several different identities. These people call themselves "multiple systems." Some of the identities are human, some are animal, and some are fictional characters. Each has a well-developed sexual orientation. The level of detail is absolutely fascinating.
There's a doctoral dissertation to be written in the psychological factors behind the multiple systems phenomenon.
posted by oozy rat in a sanitary zoo at 9:39 AM on September 8, 2012
There's a doctoral dissertation to be written in the psychological factors behind the multiple systems phenomenon.
posted by oozy rat in a sanitary zoo at 9:39 AM on September 8, 2012
Is there any way to distinguish in these people the difference between mental illness and simply indulging in a kind of identity cosplay? Seemingly with a good heap of grifting thrown in either way.
posted by fatbird at 12:14 PM on September 8, 2012
posted by fatbird at 12:14 PM on September 8, 2012
Is having one of these identities inherently mentally ill? I don't think so.
It seems to me that just because an individual thinks differently doesn't mean they are inherently ill. Illness implies dysfunction. I suspect that one can be a perfectly happy well adjusted individual who thinks they have an elf soul, or whatever.
While I can see how individuals who identify as entirely different species may face mental issues, I don't think such an identity inherently constitutes a mental disorder, anymore then I consider transgendered individuals to be suffering mental illness.
In any case, the mention of a classification for otherkin who identify as fictional characters as fictives remindes me of this XKCD. Human subcultures are indeed nested fractally.
posted by gryftir at 5:03 AM on September 9, 2012
It seems to me that just because an individual thinks differently doesn't mean they are inherently ill. Illness implies dysfunction. I suspect that one can be a perfectly happy well adjusted individual who thinks they have an elf soul, or whatever.
While I can see how individuals who identify as entirely different species may face mental issues, I don't think such an identity inherently constitutes a mental disorder, anymore then I consider transgendered individuals to be suffering mental illness.
In any case, the mention of a classification for otherkin who identify as fictional characters as fictives remindes me of this XKCD. Human subcultures are indeed nested fractally.
posted by gryftir at 5:03 AM on September 9, 2012
I probably phrased my earlier comment in a clumsy manner. I didn't mean to imply that someone who believes they have an elf soul is mentally ill.
The "multiple systems" concept is just so different and highly developed that I thought it would make an interesting focus for an academic study. Maybe more along the lines of an ethnography.
posted by oozy rat in a sanitary zoo at 8:23 AM on September 9, 2012
The "multiple systems" concept is just so different and highly developed that I thought it would make an interesting focus for an academic study. Maybe more along the lines of an ethnography.
posted by oozy rat in a sanitary zoo at 8:23 AM on September 9, 2012
How is this fundamentally different from the Dada or surrealism?
because dada and surrealism traditionally invoked a lot of hostility and scorn from mainstream society, especially the more socially conservative parts
posted by This, of course, alludes to you at 8:42 PM on September 10, 2012
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posted by fatbird at 9:24 AM on September 7, 2012