Breed The Secret Design To Maintain Racial Inequality Among The Despised Classes

by William Chasterson

  As I walked towards Kliev to meet the other delegates and prepare for the conference, my mind was in a state of agitation. I thought, “Bruno is not an enemy combatant. Is he? Something seemed to reveal itself during that interrogation that even Bruno did not know was there. I wanted to object that Truth was putting words into his mouth but if I’m honest with myself that isn’t true. Bruno spoke openly and even agreed with Truth’s line of reasoning. But what sin did Bruno really commit? He wanted to have more than what he currently had. Isn’t that a natural desire? Don’t I have this desire? The first time I spoke to Niccolo about equality and peace isn’t this one of the desires that was excited within me?” I walked listlessly towards the border to Kliev and barely noticed the change of border guard. Another cat had replaced the guard that brought Rizzo and I through Kliev when I had met Niccolo for the first time. I would have stopped to inquire what had become of him but my mind was distracted with other matters. I thought, “Today was supposed to be definitive. My mental suffering should have been relieved, if not completely at least partially by witnessing the interrogation. Instead I’m more uncertain now than ever about how to proceed. Should I change course or not? There is definitely something about the common animal that I lack understanding in. Before I suggest a change in course shouldn’t I fully understand animal inside and out? What is animal? What are his nature, motivation, and desires? It would be irresponsible to act without an understanding of these important matters. I will make the answering of these questions my number one priority.” I nodded my head determinedly. When I looked up I noticed that I had been walking while lost in thought for a considerable distance. Without even noticing it I had arrived at my destination and standing before me was a cluster of mixed breed cats observing me inquiringly.

  “You must be our spokescat. Christopher? Is it?” said a dark grey colored cat with yellow eyes. “I’m Russ.” He held out his paw. “And these are the other delegates chosen to represent their respective territories in the union.” A black and grey spotted cat with a striped tail cut his eyes over to a plump white cat and grinned. “I wonder where they got this one from. He looks like he’s in way over his head.” “Don’t mind them,” said Russ. “Vlad is just sore because he wasn’t chosen to represent the Union as spokescat.” The spotted cat wrinkled his brow at first then smiled good-naturedly. “Socrates just knows that the world is not quite ready for a speaker of my magnitude.” Vlad turned his head and puffed out his chest presenting a majestic profile. At this point someone in the back shouted, “If you represented us we’d all wind up in one of Zarathustra’s work camps!” Thunderous laughter erupted from the crowd. Even Vlad reluctantly chuckled. “Let me introduce you to everyone,” said Russ placing his paw on my back. “You’ve met Vlad. This white cat is Ike. This is George, Aaron, John, Zak, Murk, Kraig, Jake, Tony, Nathan, Surly, and Attila.” As they were presented to me, the various delegates smiled and nodded or bowed. “So,” I asked. “Do any of you guys know what this conference is all about?” Vlad spoke first. “That’s right. This is his first conference.” He looked at some of the other delegates. “We need to fill him in on what to expect.” Addressing me he gesticulated with his paw on his chest. “The bleeding hearts have demanded this conference to address the ‘atrocities’ being committed in Lumpenproleteria.” Russ rolled his eyes and grinned. I was just about to declare my support in favor of the conference remembering all the atrocities I had witnessed. However before I could speak up, Nathan, a white cat with a brown and black tortoiseshell pattern on his back declared, “Its easy to complain about ‘atrocities’…” He made a quotation gesture with his two paws. “…‘atrocities’ being committed in the real world from the comfort of an artificial environment. If these same animals had to live outside of their comfortable walls and had to get their paws dirty, maybe they wouldn’t complain as much.” This comment reminded me of the comfortable walls I used to enjoy alongside Vincent and Josie. I suddenly decided I’d better keep my feelings about supporting the conference to myself. Russ asked, “Can you believe there are animals out there who have never set paw in a natural environment? Most have been born in comfortable surroundings and have no idea how the real world works.” For some reason I began blushing. Of course this was easily concealed from onlookers by a thin coat of fur. Russ continued, “These same animals feel justified to voice their opinions on the humane treatment of Lumpens when most have never even seen a Lumpen.” I looked around the crowd. All eyes were on me. “Well,” I said. “Maybe they feel that promoting equality should be a black and white issue. It’s a principle. If this principle were followed strictly the atrocities would not take place. One doesn’t have to work in Lumpenproleteria to understand that.” All were silent. Everyone’s eyes were still on me and many mouths had dropped open after I made this comment. I cleared my throat. “I mean, that’s probably the way many of them view matters.” Russ began laughing. “I consider myself a pretty good judge of character and I can tell that you are no run of the mill dictator. I think we’re in for some surprises from you. Since we are on the subject of equality we’d love to get your opinion on something. Just before you arrived we were debating the necessity of brutality in bringing forth an egalitarian society. Murk here, is of the opinion that it is possible to bring about equality without the use of force.” Murk was a thin black cat with a bushy tail. He said, “Don’t misrepresent me. I’m not saying that brutality isn’t necessary. Of course it is. My contention is however that the current level of brutality administered is being determined not by necessity but by other factors? What these factors are exactly I couldn’t say.” Murk stroked his chin and whiskers. “It almost seems,” he continued, “like the brutality is satisfying some base desire or lust.” I realized from these disturbing comments that my peers all believed in using brutality as a tool. As Murk’s point of view seemed to me to be the lesser of two evils, I decided to side with him. Russ leaped up on a stone taking center stage and declared, “Murk has raised an important question that could affect the way we rule our territories. Is brutality absolutely necessary in order to maintain equality and if so, to what degree?” Russ lifted his arm pointing at his audience. He then drew his finger across the audience challenging, “Are you all up to the investigation of this matter?” All nodded in agreement. Some faces were serious as if this were a dangerous journey we were about to embark on while other faces had sly grins on them. Russ continued, “This is a serious matter we are about to discuss and it requires sharp eyes to identify the answer. Agreed?” All nodded in agreement. “I would like to propose a method that we can use to make it easier for us to identify the answer.” Someone shouted, “We’re listening.” Russ continued, “I’m sure we’ve all had the following experience at some point. You’re chasing a mouse and he suddenly darts into a field of grass or shrubs or some other obstruction camouflaging your prey.” The thought, “Aren’t mice supposed to be our comrades now?” flashed into my mind. Russ went on, “What makes it so difficult to find our prey is the fact that he is so small and hard to see. If he were larger it would be easier to identify him. Would it not?” All agreed that he would be easier to see if he were larger. “Certain qualities are sometimes spoken of as characteristics of states and sometimes as characteristics of individuals. I suggest that we consider the effects of brutality on a state rather than on an individual since a state is larger than an individual. In this larger model the answer to our question should be larger and easier for us to identify. Agreed?” All nodded in agreement but Russ singled me out and repeated his question. “Christopher, are you in agreement with this method of investigation?” I stammered, “What is a state?” Many began murmuring and once again some mouths dropped open. Russ glanced at the crowd and motioned for all to be silent. “Its ok,” he said. “We could all do with a reminder from time to time. A state is conceived out of the needs of animalkind. No one is completely self sufficient and we all have many wants. To supply these wants one takes a helper as a partner for o
ne purpose and another partner for another purpose. When these partners and helpers are gathered together in one habitation the body of inhabitants is termed a state. Do you follow me so far?” I nodded. Russ continued, “They exchange with one another with the idea that the interchange will be for there good. Let us begin and create in idea a state, and yet the true creation is necessity who is the mother of our invention.” Many began nodding and smiling as if they were particularly impressed with this statement. Nathan interjected, “Very well. What are the necessities? In my mind there are three. They include food, clothing and shelter. So this means that to have the barest necessities our state must include at least three or four animals.” “I agree,” said Russ. “But how should they get started? Will they pool their resources? Should each individual animal divide his time three ways to provide for each of these three necessities or should each animal focus on just one activity and contribute to the whole?” I had never considered this question before. Granted, I had also never founded a state before. After meditating on the question, I decided our citizens should only have one occupation. I said, “I believe each of the animals should be required to supply only one necessity. In this way they will have more time to focus on their assigned activity thus making them more skilled at it.” Murk contributed to the discussion at this point adding, “I agree with Christopher. In addition to what he said I would like to point out that nature has given certain animals adaptations that make them better suited for certain work.” Russ, who had assumed the roll of chairman in this deliberation said, “I also agree. All in favor say I.” Simultaneously everyone raised their voices in response. “I!” Russ asked, “Anyone opposed?” My peers looked around at one another but no one spoke up. “Then we have stumbled upon our first law in our newly created state. Our citizens are allowed only one occupation. This of course means that our state will have to grow.” Startled by this conclusion, Attila, an enormous cat with black and white patches spoke up for the first time. “How is that? Why must our state grow in size?” Everyone looked at Russ. He responded, “According to our new law, each worker cannot build his own tools. More manufacturers are needed to supply each worker. Out of necessity our state must begin to grow in size.” I looked around. Everyone seemed to be in agreement with Russ’ conclusion. Vlad interjected, “At this point we should prepare ourselves to begin using force on our citizens.” All began nodding in agreement. My mouth dropped open and I wrinkled my brow. Noticing my reaction, Murk asserted, “Its true Christopher. Once a state begins to grow something strange begins to happen to its inhabitants. Their wants begin to increase and many are no longer satisfied with the simpler way of life. We must go beyond the necessities such as food, clothing and shelter. Now the state must swell with all types of occupations, which are not required by any natural want. This means we must enlarge our borders because the state that was able to support our original inhabitants will no longer be sufficient for these ‘educated’ animals. We will allow our state to grow but we need to monitor its growth so that these wants do not become too much for us to be able to provide for. We must be ready to apply force if needed to maintain order.” I wasn’t sure I was in agreement with all of these conclusions and I didn’t really like the direction the conversation was taking. Nevertheless as everyone was staring at me for a response and it appeared that we would not proceed until they got one, I apprehensively nodded my head in agreement. Russ declared, “Shouldn’t we prepare our citizens for the approaching war?” I was taken aback. “What war?” I exclaimed. “Why would anyone want to wage war with us?” Calmly Russ responded, “War is inevitable. After we reach a certain size we will require a slice of our neighbor’s territory in order to satisfy us. Also if they are like us and exceed the limit of necessity they will be preparing for war against us because they will want a slice of our land.” As I scanned the faces of my colleagues I didn’t see one expression of concern over the fact that our state was literally born today and already it is heading for war. I decided within myself that I had already made enough concessions. Even though this was a hypothetical state I decided to stand my ground. I would do whatever I could to keep our citizens out of war. “Whoa,” I said. “Let’s all just calm down and back up a little. I think we must have overlooked something in the creation of our state. If we go back and find out where we went wrong I’m sure we’ll be able to proceed without having to go to war.” With knitted brows my peers began grumbling among themselves and glaring suspiciously in my direction. I stuttered, “I mean… What I meant to say is that it seems we are being hasty in going to war. If we were attacked it would be a different story. We would of course have to defend ourselves but to wage war simply because we desire to possess what doesn’t belong to us seems wrong.” All of a sudden Vlad stepped forward out of the group pointing his finger at me in an accusatory fashion. “He’s a pacifist! I knew it! How is Christopher supposed to represent the Union if he doesn’t even have the necessary nerves of steel to stand up to our enemies.” Waves of defensive feelings all at once began emanating from my core. The accusing manner that Vlad pointed at me immediately reminded me of last night’s dream where Hannibal exposed me to the world as an imposter. I retaliated, “It’s not true! I’m no pacifist!” I didn’t even know what a pacifist was but I felt it must be damaging to me. “I agree with Murk,” I said. “Force should be used only as a last result.” I looked over at Murk and he just shot me a glance that said, ‘Don’t bring me into this. You’re on your own’. Vlad countered, “Ok pacifist. What are you going to do when our citizens begin demanding to have their various hungers satisfied? You didn’t want to use force against our citizens and now you don’t want to use force against our neighbors. What will you do?” I looked around the group for some support but even Russ who had been so accommodating up to this point was looking at me as if I had two heads. “Well,” I stammered. “Let’s go back a little. We originally said that at about the point when our state begins to grow something happens to its inhabitants. They eventually crave more than they can consume. Can we not intervene in some way before this happens and prevent them from craving more?” With wide eyes Vlad inquired, “Without using force?” I nodded. The crowd murmured. Vlad began shaking his head. “Impossible!” With the bottom of my paws facing outward I gestured as if I were holding back a crowd from pressing in on me. “Just hear me out,” I said. “Let’s imagine that we were able to reason with our citizens and to convince them that it would be in their best interest to willingly suppress these cravings. Hear me out. If they could be made to understand that it would be more advantageous for them to stick with just the necessities then we wouldn’t have to use force against them or against our neighbors.” My comments had a strange effect on the group. No one murmured or whispered. All were silently meditating as if I had presented an idea that they had never considered before. Finally Vlad exclaimed, “What you are suggesting has never been attempted before according to my knowledge. In fact it sounds rather extreme and… What’s the word I’m looking for? Unnatural!” I recoiled at his words. “That’s right,” he continued. “It’s against the natural order of things. Everything we do must be in line with nature. We found states naturally, we wage wars naturally, and we take power naturally, without effort.” Up to this point I had been trying to suppress my strong emotions but this outpouring of contradictory ideas pushed me to my limit. I burst out, “But we use treachery!” Indifferently Vlad countered, “Of course we do!” He laughed. “There is nothing more natural!” At this point Russ interjected, “Fellas, I think we’ve strayed a little from our task.” Defensively Vlad answered back, “It was Christopher’s fault. He took us off course with his radical ideas. The idea that we can reason with our citizens and work with them without the use of force is utopian. It will never work.” Here Vlad used a word I had never heard before. Utopian. Something about the word resonated in my imagination for just an instant. Then it was gone. “Now Vlad,” countered Russ, “Christopher made some interesting points.
” Vlad’s eyes bulged out and he threw up his arms in protest. “Interesting points? What does he know? He’s just a kid. His opinions are only a couple of years old.” I gazed in astonishment at the black and gray spotted cat who appeared to be my same age or even younger than me. Addressing the entire group but especially Vlad Russ declared, “I just want to remind everyone here that Christopher was especially chosen by Socrates to represent us. Is there anyone here that would like to challenge that decision?” His question was answered by a prolonged silence with eyes staring down at the ground. “I didn’t think so,” he continued. Looking at me he said, “Now Christopher you did present some new ideas to us. Before we can answer our original question about the necessity of using brutality as a tool I think we need to examine these new ideas thoroughly. All in agreement say I.” All agreed. Even Vlad reluctantly assented. Russ continued, “Christopher suggested that we may have overlooked something in the creation of our state. Before we put his new theories to the test I think we should have a closer look at our state and make sure it is not dysfunctional. First of all lets identify the various classes that make up our state.” I objected, “I thought we were building an egalitarian society. How can we have classes?” Ike, the white cat that Vlad was whispering to when we first met our nation builders interjected, “I’ll field this question Russ.” Turning towards me he said, “Christopher, all of our citizens have equal value. So in this sense we are creating a classless society. However you’ll remember we agreed that nature has made different animals suited for different occupations. It was in this sense that Russ proposed dividing our state into categories.” Ike glanced over to Russ for reassurance. “That’s correct,” responded Russ. “And the necessity for classes that each perform a separate task is self-evident. For up to this point we have been performing the function of the first class we will identify. And that’s the rulers. We are felines so just for the purposes of this illustration we’ll assign felines to make up the first class. This of course is not a rule.” Russ looked around the group sternly. All shook their heads as if to say ‘No. Of course not’. He continued, “The second class we will identify is our guardians.” Looking at me Russ continued, “Now I know you have concerns about waging unnecessary wars but even you admitted that we should be prepared in the event of an attack. So you will permit us to train guardians?” Reluctantly I nodded. “Well,” continued Russ. “In accord with our law permitting only one occupation for each citizen, we will need animals devoted to this calling and nothing else. This group must constitute a class of their own. For, they must be large enough to defend all of our citizens. They also must be large enough to face an opposing nation that doesn’t have the same restrictions regarding the unlimited accumulation of wealth that we are placing on our state.” I noticed a stir of uneasiness among the crowd. Some of the delegates buried their faces in their paws and shook their heads as if they were preparing for a disaster. I didn’t want Russ to dwell on the point that we are now placing restrictions on our state so I hastened to change the subject. I asked, “What type of qualities are we looking for in guardians?” The strategy seemed to work because now instead of fretting over some coming calamity, all appeared to be lost in thought considering my question. Attila put in, “We’ll want our defenders to be brave and courageous. They should also be powerful and have an aggressive appearance that will strike fear into our enemies.” Attila balled his paw into a fist and waved it in the air. Vlad interjected, “We shouldn’t make them too powerful or terrible. They may decide to oppose the ruling class if they already possess sufficient power?” Ike added, “This is true. We need to strike a balance between giving them enough power to defend us but not enough power to overthrow us.” All of this talk about defending oneself against one’s own citizens sounded very strange to me. But seeing as how I had less experience than everyone else in governing and that they had already made great concessions for me, I decided not to say anything. Russ said, “It will be a challenge to maintain this balance if it can be done at all. What we need are guardians that are dangerous only to strangers and loyal only to those they are acquainted with.” I said, “Aggressiveness and loyalty are two opposing characteristics. Where can they be found in one being?” Russ responded, “Well bred dogs have these qualities. They can be educated to be angry whenever they see a stranger and welcoming whenever they see someone they are familiar with. We currently have felines occupying the ruling class I suggest we use canines to fill the class of guardians.” Everyone began nodding in agreement. Vlad remarked, “I like this idea. They are easily domesticated and can be trusted more than the savage beasts.” Russ declared, “Then it’s settled. All in favor of using dogs to occupy the second class of citizen in our newly created state say ‘I.’” All assented and our state was almost complete. It was at this point that Murk inquired, “What shall we do with the wild animals?” Vlad asserted, “I say they should all be organized into a class by themselves seeing that they all share common crude characteristics.” Russ declared, “I agree. If we are all in favor of this motion I believe we have found the third and final division of our state.” Again it seemed to me that we were being hasty in grouping all of animalkind into only three categories but I didn’t want to be the only one holding up progress so again I compromised. Russ said to me, “If you’re in agreement with our census Christopher and you no longer feel as if we overlooked something I think we can put your theory to the test.” “Ok,” I said. “Shall we begin to reason with our subjects now?” I noticed Vlad had become restless all of the sudden. He anxiously began pacing. Glancing over at Vlad, Russ declared, “Certainly! But before we begin reasoning with them I think we should first address one of Vlad’s concerns.” Vlad stopped pacing. Russ continued, “If you remember, he felt that it was impossible to peaceably convince our citizens to suppress their desires.” I replied, “He’s mistaken.” Vlad glared at me angrily. “He may be mistaken,” countered Russ. “But until we examine the matter thoroughly, we won’t know for sure.” Addressing the entire group Russ declared, “If you all remember, we agreed to consider qualities as they develop in states reasoning that in the larger example it would be easier to identify the answer to our question. With this aim we constructed as good a state as we could. Now that we need to focus in on and analyze certain minute details, I propose we use a smaller example. And that’s the individual. Now, the sound individual should be exactly like the sound state.” Murk queried, “In what ways are they alike?” Russ acknowledged, “If you recall, we said that in a healthy state it was necessary for each class to perform a separate task. In fact we even established a law to this affect. So we have to assume that the individual mind is divided into the same three categories that are present in the state and is affected in the same manner.” Murk responded, “That does make sense because the only way these qualities could come to exist in the state is to have passed from the individual into the state.” Leaping off his stone and affectionately grabbing Aaron, a red and brown longhaired cat by the whiskers with both of his paws, Russ proclaimed, “Now let us borrow at random one of the citizens from our state and have an examination of the inner workings of his mind. In this way we should be able to test Christopher’s theory without having to risk a full out revolution.” This remark was accompanied by chuckles from many in the group. The crowd surrounded Russ and Aaron. Still gripping Aaron by the whiskers and fur protruding from his cheeks Russ said, “Aaron in the name of science would you object to helping us out with a demonstration?” If you recall, this is the second time I’m hearing this word and I said to myself, “So this is what science is.” Aaron replied hesitatingly, “Well, if it’s in the name of science, sure. Why not?” Vlad and Ike glanced at one another and grinned. Without warning Russ suddenly reached back and struck Aaron forcefully in his face. Surprised everyone fell back a step and gazed at Aaron. His eyes reddened and his nose moistened. Gradually his flabbergasted face began changing and he began boiling over with rage. “What’s the big idea?” Aaro
n shouted as four cats rushed to hold him down. He struggled violently to get his paws on his attacker while Russ just calmly spoke at a safe distance. “Our state was divided into three classes. These included the rulers, the guardians, and the common animal with the latter class distinguished by a carnal quality. Similarly the individual mind of the citizen making up our state is divided into three categories. These include reason, conviction, and finally licentiousness which corresponds to the savage class in our state.” Aaron roared, “Get off of me! Let me at him! I’ll rip him to pieces!” Russ calmly went on, “The quality of reason which is wise should rule and have as its aim the care of the whole individual. It should be supported in this endeavor by the second quality, which is conviction. When properly educated to understand their function they will support one another in restraining the licentious quality, which is the largest and most insatiable part of the individual.” Aaron vigorously wriggled his body in his attempts to free himself. Russ continued, “When an individual thinks he is the sufferer of a wrong he boils over in rage and his fury refuses to be quenched until he either slays or is slain.” At this point Aaron was practically foaming at the mouth. With his paws formed into a megaphone Russ shouted, “Aaron!” Aaron started as if he were being awakened from a nightmare. Russ shrugged with the bottom of his paws facing outward and innocently pleaded, “There was a mosquito on your face. He was about to bite you so I had to act quickly. I meant you no harm comrade.” Aaron began to calm and his restrainers released him. He immediately began rubbing his face where he was struck and brooding over Russ’ words with a frown. Finally he responded in a subdued voice, “Its all right. Thank you comrade.” “You see?” said Russ to Vlad. Russ made a gesture with his hand indicating the experiment was a success. “Once reason, which should be the ruler of each individual orders a peace treaty the other once hostile qualities yield to peace. So it appears Christopher’s theory is sound.” Vlad scratched his head and for the moment remained silent but you could tell he was suspicious of our findings. I began to smile victoriously when suddenly Vlad’s face lit up and he exclaimed, “The illustration is flawed! If it proves anything it’s that my original idea was correct.” Pointing at Aaron Vlad continued, “As a representative of the Union of Animals Aaron has already proven himself an effective ruler, which means as an individual he would represent a sound nation. When Russ was reasoning with Aaron he was not reasoning with the licentious ravenous part of him. Rather it was with the ruler, which is reason. This ruler then with the aid of conviction brutally subjugates the carnal emotions using force. Christopher’s point would only be proved if he were successful in reasoning with an animal who thinks he has been wronged and whose mind is ruled by the licentious quality.” Ike who was methodically stroking the white fur on his chin interjected, “Vlad has a point. A more fitting subject would be someone who has allowed their carnal desires to enslave and rule those, which are not her natural born subjects. Where could we find a subject like this for our experiment?” Vlad declared, “I don’t know but until we do, the issue is not settled and we will continue to use force on our subjects.” I was dissatisfied with the conclusion we had arrived at so I decided to make a final appeal. Addressing the entire group I said, “Comrades, if we genuinely believe that all of our citizens are equal then we have to believe that there is something within each one of them that will overcome adversity and side with reason.” As I read the faces of my colleagues I could tell that I was not convincing them. Russ placed his paw on my back and said, “Christopher I’m sorry but I have to agree with Vlad. Until we find a suitable subject your theory will have to remain unproved.” At this point our group deliberation was interrupted by someone loudly clearing their throat. The group turned in astonishment to behold a newcomer standing in our midst.