Breed The Secret Design To Maintain Racial Inequality Among The Despised Classes (13 page)

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 one 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