It makes me wonder how people seem to deem furries to be the bane of existance

Link to this rite of passage please? That's quite something.

I don't have a link on me but I can give you the basic overview of it.

Basically when a young child would come of age they would have a totem/animal spirit picked out for them. And this totem/animal spirit would mostly be picked based on the child's personality.

But you can say the same for ANYONE who takes it too far.

True. But "furries" are the only ones who are really out there about it.