Do Animals Suffer From Racism?
14 August 2023 - Hubert Mansion
While the concept of race has fortunately been abandoned for the human race, it's on everyone's lips when it comes to animals. There are canine, feline and bovine breeds, and each is attributed a particular character and behavior.
The poodle is said to be "full of vitality and energy, animated by great intelligence", unlike the Afghan greyhound, ranked among the stupidest dogs. The Labradoodle, like the English in old Nice, "loves long walks by the water" (!), while the Doberman is "wary of strangers". While the German Pointer is gentle and very affectionate, the Malinois has "a very pronounced sense of ownership": these racial descriptions, taken to heart by "specialists", serve as criteria for adopting a pet. According to Le Figaro, which shrewdly advises against adopting a hunting dog if you own a rabbit, the notion of breed in dogs appeared in 1987 and is used to differentiate between different animal species. As far as looks are concerned, it's a no-brainer, but what about the rest?
The first thing to remember is that humans are primarily responsible for these racial characteristics. The sheep's "natural follower" character is the result of training that began over 10,500 years ago, and therefore has nothing to do with nature. The "suspicious Doberman", on the other hand, has everything to do with taxes, since it was created by a tax collector who wanted to protect himself from attacks... These animals are therefore the product of artificial selection carried out by man for utilitarian or much more frivolous purposes: the unfortunate Pomsky, "despite his small size, has the needs of a big dog", as he is the result of an absurd cross between a Husky (28kg) and a dwarf Spitz (3.5 kilos).
Racial descriptions are questionable because they eliminate all animal individuality, as if animals, like machines made by robots, had no personality of their own. They have neither psyche nor history, and act like automatons controlled by their race. 400 years on, with this archaic blend of contempt and ignorance still with us, we might as well call our cat GPT...
These "characteristics" also lead us into a dangerous confirmation bias. We end up seeing in our dog only its "racial" traits, and censoring all the others. The Saint Bernard, "a very sociable dog that gets on very well with children", has been responsible for a large number of attacks and has killed several children. "Gentle, loyal, intelligent and playful, an ideal companion for all", a Labrador ripped the face off a young French woman in 2005 as she slept.
This bias then leads us to self-prophecy: if I believe, as I did, that a German Mastiff needs a lot of exercise, I'll push my little Tasha to exercise a lot, which will increase her needs and I'll say: "Tasha needs exercise, she's a German Mastiff". I've realized that what she really needs is affection and calm.
And finally, this racism has no basis in fact. According to veterinarian Karen Overall, a specialist in animal behavior, "a dog's behavior is not determined by its breed." She points out that "breed offers little predictive value for individuals, explaining only 9% of the variation in behavior" while individual genetics are responsible for 30% of behavior. The environment, including the owner and his beliefs, does the rest.
Let's learn to look at non-humans as individuals, and ourselves as a species that can be easily manipulated.
Hubert Mansion is the cofounder of l’Université dans la Nature.
Philosopher and writer, he is notably the author of Réconcilier, vers une identité environnementale (Nullius in Verba, 2023) and presents the series La nature et les mots (Youtube).
