Public reaction to a permanent Werewolf?

[Xiroteus]

Sure it has been brought up at one time, did see anything on the search.

Overall, how do you think people would react to a person (or group of people) that were permanently in a werewolf form with them mentally being the same person they were before?

This question can differ depending on how many people in the world are permanently in a Wolf-human form, sure some would try to lead normal lives while others may keep out of public view.

Addition edit - If a few dozen, hundred, thousand people one day happened to be turned permanently into a Wolf-human forum, that would also cause much difficultly for many of the people that were turned, that would be an entire issue there as well.

[Silverclaw]

Most likely...
"AHHHHH!!!! KILL IT! KILL IT!!!!!"
*grabs the pitchforks and torches*


If not killed right away, a permanent werewolf, (or regular werewolf) would be put in a lab and locked away forever.

[RedEye]

I take it you're referring to a group of Were's "Outing" themselves, deciding to be the beings they really were, rather than hiding?

I suspect that the reactions would be as varied as there are people to react. There would be fans, of course; and "get thee back to hell" types, to take the extremes. Most people would, I think, adopt a wait-and-see approach, letting the Were's be who they were, and watching the result.
Probably, once the "shiny" had rubbed off, these Wulfen would just be the people you worked with, or saw for legal matters, or went to school with...or whatever they were, before they unmasked.
Of course, the politicians would have a field day; either by wanting to restrict these people, or to shmooze them for their votes. Most likely, it would take an act of Congress to make sure that these people were gauranteed their civil rights; without regard for fur or the lack thereof.
They'd be courted by Merchandizers: as a whole new market to sell things to. There would probably be "Spokes-Wulfen" who do the Television and "Chicken ala King" lunch circuits, as well as the Wulf-in-the-street for interviews.

Then, the trouble would begin. There would be most likely a religious response, from the most fundamental groups, in the extreme negative. There would be "Pro-Humanity" groups wanting these people to be restricted, so as not to "corrupt" the "normal" children with Wolf mentality.
After six months time, I believe there would be an attempted return to segregation-or at least the attempt to marginalize the Were's. There are even religions that declare any Canid to be "unclean".

In short, it would be the Sixties Equal Rights stuff all over again, as well as Gay Liberation repeats. There are a signifigant number of people who just don't like any sort of deviation from their norm-anywhere in the world. These people exercise Power, regrettable though it may be.
Eventually, they'd be accepted. It would take time, though...and Patience on everybody's part.

[Kelpten]

Or, since in this hypothetical situation all the weres are perminantly in their fur coats, they could all be exterminated. All the other minority groups at least look human. Weres on the other hand evoke a fearful response, and fear is a powerful motivator. How difficult would it be really?

Well, actually that depends on how many werewolves there are I guess. If there's one or two per town, they wont stand a chance. If there's a pack, it might only incite larger mobs.

You can almost taste the fear of the mass hystaria that would break out around the world. And how easy it would be for one person to tap into that fear with his honey coated words, to temper it into a weapon. The werewolf has always been rather weak, after all. He can stalk a human, perhaps a small group without trouble, but his greatest power is to melt back into the human populace to avoid discovery. Now that we've taken that away from him, he stands little more chance than his wolf cousins. If the entire town is roused, then the beast, for all his strength and stamina, must run or die. Of course, if given a chance to speak, a werewolf might be able to convince one or two people at a time of his intellegence and benevolent nature, but a mob would only see the teeth the words must pass through.

RedEye, I agree that eventually werewolves would be accepted into society, but I think fear would wipe them out before they would have a chance.

[Silverclaw]

I guess another big deciding factor would be if the stuck-in-gestalt-form-werewolf would be able to speak or not. They would not be winning over people to their cause if all they could manage was growls/whimpers/barks/whines/ect. If anything that would freak people out even more. And close to nobody would really get body/tail/ear postures that wolves use. They could try to learn sign launguage, or write out what they want to say. But that wouldnt be very useful when your trying to calm down an angry/panicy crowd.

[Xiroteus]

They would be able to speak.

Here is a question, what you (anyone) do?

[Kelpten]

If it were me? Run for the wilds. I'd wait until the inicial panic has died down and resurface. Of course, cut off from any news broadcast, it might be a little difficult to find out when that is exactly. I suppose I could scrounge for newspapers out of dumpsters on the outskirts of town.

[Xiroteus]

You could try and maintain your normal everyday life, that would be a challenge and most likely would not work out well out all, if someone was rich enough they could hide in their home until they felt it was safe.

[RedEye]

Meh- I'd seek them out. They'd be fascinating to talk to, and hang out with, and learn from.
Plus, that would put this ex-Ranger in the position to kick some Smoothskin a$$, should there be trouble.
Guess what- I LIKE Werewolves. It's People that get my teeth into permanent mesh.
Besides- they're probably as human as we are, on a genetic level.

That's even part of one of my stories: one of the characters is worried that Were's don't have the population density to do a 60's style civil-rights fight.

[Jarden]

I imagine It'd be something along the lines of the X-men movies. i.e. people treating the outbreak as a disease, setting up special facilities, and generally handling with a tender yet increasingly irritable hand.

[MoonKit]

They would be able to speak.

Here is a question, what you (anyone) do?

Be jealous.

[JoshuaMadoc]

I wouldn't be surprised much if people forgot werewolves existed sometime after they were exposed.

[RedEye]

I wouldn't be surprised much if people forgot werewolves existed sometime after they were exposed.

You mean after all the "shiny" has worn off? Probably.

[JoshuaMadoc]

I wouldn't be surprised much if people forgot werewolves existed sometime after they were exposed.

You mean after all the "shiny" has worn off? Probably.

Yep.

[Scott Gardener]

I don't think werewolves exposed publically would easily be forgotten. It's too disruptive.

It would be the equivalent of the British government coming out and saying, "people of the world; for some time now, you've had rumors about our hunting aliens through an organization known as Torchwood. And, we now have to admit that, yes, it's true. We've kept a lot of secrets about aliens from you. Sorry about that. But, it was for your own good. Cyborgs and killer salt shakers do tend to cause a bit of a panic, so we kept the whole thing mum for a bit, but we really thought about it and decided you should know."

Or, the arrival of a flying saucer into a baseball field, followed by a man in a space suit emerging, walking out with a spiky looking device, trying to hand it over in a gesture of friendship, only to get shot, followed by a giant, silver, angry-looking robot blasting all the guns and military vehicles into vapor.

Paranormal events so far are usually elusive enough that you can't really go back and prove that it happened. If something that is supposed to be paranormal suddenly becomes a significant part of everyday society, things change considerably. I think it's more likely that society would change, but the kids growing up would have little appreciation ten or fifteen years from now of what it was like when there was a time that people didn't know that werewolves were real, a time when they were legendary creatures of the night, to be feared.

[RedEye]

I don't think werewolves exposed publically would easily be forgotten. It's too disruptive.

It would be the equivalent of the British government coming out and saying, "people of the world; for some time now, you've had rumors about our hunting aliens through an organization known as Torchwood. And, we now have to admit that, yes, it's true. We've kept a lot of secrets about aliens from you. Sorry about that. But, it was for your own good. Cyborgs and killer salt shakers do tend to cause a bit of a panic, so we kept the whole thing mum for a bit, but we really thought about it and decided you should know."

Killer salt shakers? You have insulted the Daleks, and you will be destroyed-destroyed-destroyed...

[Midnight]

Killer salt shakers? You have insulted the Daleks, and you will be destroyed-destroyed-destroyed...

runs up a flight of stairs, points at the Daleks and laughs

[Terastas]

Well, at first, the whole world in unison would go: "Huh?!"
Followed by:

Then a big lot of "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!"

Depending on how the werewolf(s) went about revealing himself, his level of support may vary. If he was an idiot and snarled, howled and bared his claws/fangs, he'd eventually get shot. If he tried to present himself civilly, demonstrate his intelligence and/or disarm himself, I think some people would take notice, the panic would turn into curiosity and they would, at the very least, petition for a rational approach. There are six billion people in the world; there's bound to be at least a handful with that kind of composure.

Three things, however, are inevitable:

1) All the conspiracy nuts would start yelling "Told you so! Told you so!"

2) All the goth depressants, angsty teens and people that give therians a bad name would "declare war on humanity" whether the werewolf wants to or not.

3) One of those militant preachers that gives Christianity a bad name would present himself as the "werewolf expert" and convince all his followers that werewolves are demons, to launch a crusade against the werewolves and any "heathens" that support them, to spy on their neighbors and not trust anyone but the preacher, and of course, to give money and/or vote for him in 2012.

[RedEye]

We have all three now, without Werewolves.

I tend to go with kitetsu on this one; most people would ignore Werewolves after the "shiny" had rubbed off. People are rather short-attention-spanned nowadays, largely-I think-from overstimulation. Our "attention" tank is on the small side anyway, and doesn't get the chance to empty before something new is being poured into it, thanks to advertising and over-hyped news readers. People can only deal with so much "new" before turning to something else. The word here is "Jaded" -I believe.

This might actually be a benefit to these newest members of society; "spotlight" for a few weeks, then simple acceptance (as in being ignored). If the population is relatively small-let us say 5% of the General numbers-then they could continue to "unmask" and go public in relative safety.
The 1960's Black American incident comes most to mind here. For a while, African-Americans were front-page news. Then second-page, then "So you're black? That's nice," becomes the norm. You had to be there to completely see the thing happen; static History doesn't present the thing in its perspective properly. Black was the IN thing. Then it was relegated to the "Interesting-but not much" files.
Now, it usually doesn't matter, for the most part.

There would be areas unfriendly to Were's, just as there are areas unfriendly to others who don't "match" the area's composition. The
Reverend Werewolf Expert-types would get no respect outside of their little (or large) groups of syncophants and sympathizers, largely because they don't get any real respect now, outside of their congregations.
One difference though; any attacks they launched would be prima facia Racism, which is illegal and prosecutable in this country.

Basically: If Werewolves wanted IN, as they were...they'd have to pay the same admission-fee everyone else has. It's only fair...

[Scott Gardener]

First off, Daleks don't destroy. They exterminate. Four words; Ex Ter Mi Nate!

That aside, and back on topic...

Things that are mildly paranormal sometimes may have gotten swept up under the carpet. A few crop circles here and some unexplained fuzzy lights out in the desert there have brought in the scientific community with postulation of various electromagnetic phenomena, or at least pranksters with wooden boards and good geometry skills.

But, a werewolf showing up in public would be something disruptive to science as we know it, and having one in plain sight would be far more involved than any previous large scale paranormal phenomenon. A UFO seen by dozens of witnesses is still a passive thing. Large numbers of unverifiable accounts of abductions still leaves the issue ambiguous, even to many of the abductees themselves. But, a live werewolf appearing in public is interactive and can not only raise questions but also can do what most paranormal encounters cannot--he or she can answer questions. Having questions answered reshapes one's model of how things work. This is a lot different than the vague proposition that your model of how things work might or might not be completely wrong, which is an assumption many of us already have made.

A live werewolf also raises fundamental questions about humanity, evolution, and biology. One also would take many issues out of the theoretical and into the real. Having things other than normal humans that can exhibit characteristics of personhood is normal in science fiction, but so far in real life, it hasn't happened yet. Geeks like myself are looking forward to the day, but mundane people aren't ready yet for transhumanism. (Believe me, I've had a lot of bouts with depression following conversations with normal people over this.)

One of the major assumptions that humans make is that they're on top of the food chain and in charge of the world. Undermine this, and a sense of security is lost. People don't forget things when they're scared of them. It's easy to overlook things that are threatening in general, but, it's different when it can come after you personally. That's why almost no one in the U.S. remembers an earthquake in Pakistan a few years ago that killed over 74,000 people, but all of us over here remember where we were on September Eleventh.

[Terastas]

Going to go with Scott again. You can't really accurately compare werewolves to blacks because we've known that the latter existed among us for centuries. Most people don't even give werewolves a second thought; they think of them as monsters from crap horror movies and file them into the same category as vampires, giant spiders and robots from the Planet X. A lot of people would sooner expect to see real live Pokemon than a real live werewolf.

It's because of that disbelief that most people don't think much of any current evidence in favor of their existence. UFO sightings tend to happen in rural locations with few witnesses, so when people come forward, the natural response is to brush them aside with all the other conspiracy nuts. If someone that had previously dismissed them were to see one for themselves, that would fill their "attention tank" completely.

Same if a werewolf were to reveal himself. All those people that had previously filed werewolves into the "make believe" files would have their world views shattered, and what's worse, they might sift through everything else they'd filed away with werewolves and question/believe in those things too. That's why there'd be panic.

[Kzinistzerg]

Agreed. I think there'd be a hell of a lot of trouble and it'd catapult a lot of furries, therians, and those generally sympathetic to the cause into the limelight.

((Transhumanists? Haven't heard the term before, can you define it?))

I do have one point to make though, and that is if we assume that werewolves are some random not-large portion of the population, that we're gonna have lying bastards on TV making up stuff about werewolves.

Some of them are going to be werewolves.

[RedEye]

I just realized something: there is no such fantasy thing as a "Temporary Werewolf". Whether they are in Smooth or in Wolf, they are Werewolves.

The guy or girl that looks normal, but can become a Wolf-like being under the proper circumstances- IS a Werewolf, no matter what they may look like at any given time.

I knew there was something I was missing when I read the lead to this thread... ALL Werewolves are Permanent.

[Xiroteus]

I just realized something: there is no such fantasy thing as a "Temporary Werewolf". Whether they are in Smooth or in Wolf, they are Werewolves.

The guy or girl that looks normal, but can become a Wolf-like being under the proper circumstances- IS a Werewolf, no matter what they may look like at any given time.

I knew there was something I was missing when I read the lead to this thread... ALL Werewolves are Permanent.

Permanently transformed werewolf would be a better suited title.

[cumulusprotagonist]

Honestly, you don't know how people would react. (Some but not all.) However, now probably is not the best time to shatter the illusion of "reality." Or maybe I should say shatter it again (9/11).