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Random Musings: Fantastic Racism (or rather a lack thereof)
15 years ago
General
NaNo Novel: Here Falls The Thunder
I've noticed a rather unusual trend in a great deal of furry/pokemorph/anthromorphic settings or works. Racism (perhaps more specifically, specism) does NOT usually exist.
Among general furry works, there's usually some tension between the carnivores and herbivores, but I don't usually see it taken to full blown racism. Even less so than division based upon eating habits is division based on actual species. I almost NEVER see any works in which horses segregate themselves from rabbits, dogs from cats, lions from tigers, etc, etc.
With Pokemon, due to the radical differences between types (moreso than your typical anthro setting) you might expect the racism and/or type tension to be very acute (at least among the characters, players who adore or abhor one type or species more than another don't count). But more often than not, couples are always typically of a species where one of the two is either super effective against the other, or one specifically is resistant or completely immune to their partner. There are some type-tensions though: Psychics often get a bad rap for their telepathy and potential for mental violations, and Darks for their tendency towards mischevious or even malicious behavior. But actual full-on "racism" doesn't usually exist.
...Except whenever humans are present. ANY time a human element is added (as in actual human beings in a setting), suddenly the racism comes into full swing, often with predictable and unfortunate results. Humans are often the ones inciting the majority of the racism, usually because the 'morphic critters are "strange" or because they possess traits that make them strictly superior, and if humanity doesn't have an edge well...there's always the fear that what is outdated gets replaced.
Occasionally the racism does fall on the other side of the fence, wherein the 'morphic critters treat humanity as scum because they're smaller, weaker and reproduce in large numbers. Often the scorn and will ill dealt to them by humans is reciprocated back in kind. However, sometimes the racism is more benign in nature. For example, an anthro who is in love with a human may have issues with this due to humans being normally weaker and more fragile individuals. The anthro, despite best intentions, is still engaging in a form of racism.
But again, I notice that the Fantastic Racism only seems to exist as long as the humans are present. When the 'morphs are among their own kind, or the humans stop being present in the setting, this problem seems to go away on it's own. And I find this fairly interesting. Why is it that 'racism' seem to require a physical human element? Even if the humans are entirely benevolent, the racism then tends to fall on the shoulders of the 'morphics, who are prejudiced against the humans.
It's an interesting phenomenon, to say the least. It seems rather unfortunate that, at least in works of fiction, that racism requires humans to exist, as though without us, people would never judge each other. However, and I quote Legion on this:
"A race must be judged by their own merits. To judge one species achievements to your own, no matter how benign, is inherently racist."
Among general furry works, there's usually some tension between the carnivores and herbivores, but I don't usually see it taken to full blown racism. Even less so than division based upon eating habits is division based on actual species. I almost NEVER see any works in which horses segregate themselves from rabbits, dogs from cats, lions from tigers, etc, etc.
With Pokemon, due to the radical differences between types (moreso than your typical anthro setting) you might expect the racism and/or type tension to be very acute (at least among the characters, players who adore or abhor one type or species more than another don't count). But more often than not, couples are always typically of a species where one of the two is either super effective against the other, or one specifically is resistant or completely immune to their partner. There are some type-tensions though: Psychics often get a bad rap for their telepathy and potential for mental violations, and Darks for their tendency towards mischevious or even malicious behavior. But actual full-on "racism" doesn't usually exist.
...Except whenever humans are present. ANY time a human element is added (as in actual human beings in a setting), suddenly the racism comes into full swing, often with predictable and unfortunate results. Humans are often the ones inciting the majority of the racism, usually because the 'morphic critters are "strange" or because they possess traits that make them strictly superior, and if humanity doesn't have an edge well...there's always the fear that what is outdated gets replaced.
Occasionally the racism does fall on the other side of the fence, wherein the 'morphic critters treat humanity as scum because they're smaller, weaker and reproduce in large numbers. Often the scorn and will ill dealt to them by humans is reciprocated back in kind. However, sometimes the racism is more benign in nature. For example, an anthro who is in love with a human may have issues with this due to humans being normally weaker and more fragile individuals. The anthro, despite best intentions, is still engaging in a form of racism.
But again, I notice that the Fantastic Racism only seems to exist as long as the humans are present. When the 'morphs are among their own kind, or the humans stop being present in the setting, this problem seems to go away on it's own. And I find this fairly interesting. Why is it that 'racism' seem to require a physical human element? Even if the humans are entirely benevolent, the racism then tends to fall on the shoulders of the 'morphics, who are prejudiced against the humans.
It's an interesting phenomenon, to say the least. It seems rather unfortunate that, at least in works of fiction, that racism requires humans to exist, as though without us, people would never judge each other. However, and I quote Legion on this:
"A race must be judged by their own merits. To judge one species achievements to your own, no matter how benign, is inherently racist."
But you have a great point. Fantastic racism is quite rare in anthro work.
Brian Jacques' Redwall work on the other hand, I don't know man...that's like..."racist" to it's core.
I always found it disturbing that the more carnivorous or vermin-like species were Always Chaotic Evil for seemingly no reason at all. As though they were born hardwired to be nasty and cruel.
And I think I know what your talking about. The ferret Veil. Another funny thing: AFTER his redemption/death (taking a spear for his adoptive mother), at the end of the book, they merely shrugged it off and said "He was always evil" stating that he was trying to run away and accidently ran into the spear.
I was stunned. I was gonna rage. It was like...GRAHH! Depending on if the viewer believed that fact of him being evil to be true or not, it was a fake redemption. They had a shot at a somewhat 3-Dimensional character and BLAMO.
FFFFUUUU
His words :P
...so kids like 2D characters, eh?...
...Why do I feel this may be true...
I mean really, that's just harsh. Not that I don't understand his desire to keep the world black and white, but to make a character STRICTLY for the purpose of making this point painfully clear? Ick.
I remember something like this on pubchan, actually~