If racism existed in the animal kingdom, would eating a zebra be considered a hate crime?

panthers oppressed by leopards (who, as we know, never change).

black bears mistrusted by brown bears – both of whom are misunderstood by polar bears.

yellow fin tuna and red ahi tuna would earn more academic scholarships and aid.

In short…it would be a jungle.

Poor zebras! D:

And the zebras who are black with white stripes won’t hang out with the zebras who are white with black stripes. Oh dear!

All the animals would become vegetarian. There would be no solution!

Geez, the confusion!

Hard to say, as race is a socially-constructed concept.
But aren’t ligers and tigons shunned by lions and tigers?

…and bears.

Oh My!

Animals are too smart to be racist

@Nimis, “race” isn’t entirely subjective. Age, gender, and “race” can be determined from the bones of a person… so there must be something intrinsic about race for it to show up as a distinct marker.

So maybe the definition of “race” needs to be clarified. Also “racism” is interesting because people want to claim that everyone is “equal” but in reality some “races” are better at certain things than others.

ei.) Some races are predisposed to certain cancers, some digest foods differently, etc.

All races require the same respect, rights, and dignity – but that doesn’t mean they are equal in all respects.

/end tangent.

I think ethnicity can account for those differences, no?

Genetic differences within the same race are much larger
than the differences between different races. Or so I’ve been taught.

no, but eating only straight zebras and not gay ones would

Only if you see ethnic slurs painted on the cage.

If eating any individual not of your race is racism, then it does exist in the animal kingdom.

Kudos to @cprevite for a very witty answer!

Thanks @scamp.

@ Sakata
Lol

technically, all zebras are black. They have black skin under that bi-colored coat of hair.

@evelyn: It just appears that way because all the white ones with black stripes are forced to live in the Serenghetto where the scientists and tourists never go.

@Grisson “Serenghetto” – AWESOME. Lurve to you.

@Grisson: YES… lurve for “Serenghetto”

@DrBill…Animals are too busy trying to survive to be racist.

I know, it sucks that so many of society’s ills stem from too
much free time.

As for the question itself, I believe eating a zebra falls under lewd conduct codes.

@Blondesjon Sort of like “my mechanic said ‘You blew a seal’. I said ‘Leave my personal life out of this and fix the damn car!’”

@Grisson: OMG! That may be the 1st time I’ve actually dropped a tear from laughter since I’ve been on Fluther. Cheers m8

Only if you ate him because him because he was striped. Though I imagine it would be a lot harder to determine if it was a racially motivated dinner. I think you might be able to safely say it was a hate crime if a certain lion consistently singled out zebras for dinner though there were other, more easily available prey around.

@fundevogel What if zebras were just tastier?

I guess that would just make you a connoisseur, though you could be racist as well as a connoisseur.

It might be a crime, but it wouldn’t be a crime based on “racism.” It would be a crime based on speciesism! : )

“Knowing the lions preference for red meat, the spamelopes remained calm, but wary.” Gary Larsen