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TomJoadsLich t1_irwumzc wrote

Reply to comment by Diet_Coke in Lost Dog! Union hill area. She’s nervous but friendly and responds to the name Nola. If you see her/find her, try and grab her or call into animal control. by Imadouchebro

Are you comparing black people or minorities to dogs

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Diet_Coke t1_irwvm98 wrote

No, you'd have to be pretty braindead to get that message from my post. I am saying that breed discrimination is a stand in for racism, and the two share many traits. You can see from the post that I am replying to, the way OC classifies all pitbull owners as "low class" which is not even a dogwhistle, they're saying the quiet part out loud.

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TomJoadsLich t1_irx1ms3 wrote

Eh. I agree with you that calling their owners low class is a dog whistle (no pun intended.) But dog breeds are bred to do things; acknowledging that fact is not comparable to racism. It rubs me the wrong way when people act like acknowledging retrievers retrieve, pointers point, shepherds shepherds, and my pitbull terrier will kill a rabbit in a heart beat if he was allowed to - is comparable to racism. It feels like you’re equating racism - which is completely unfounded - to acknowledging that genetics in dogs have an impact on behavior

Just to be clear - I own a pitbull and have owned a wheaten terrier

Seriously, I don’t see how equating the two is not actually more racist - you’re saying that black peoples and ethnic minorities are facing discrimination like dogs

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Diet_Coke t1_irx2w2u wrote

Sorry but you're missing the point. Yes, dogs have been bred to serve different purposes and that this impacts the dogs themselves as far as their personality and abilities. However, discrimination against specific breeds is a stand-in for discrimination against the people who own them. Again, I would just point right back to that dog whistle.

However, there is a point that can be made here on genetics which is that even for a professional, visually identifying a dog's breed can be very difficult. My dog is half corgi and half mini poodle but regularly is misidentified a cairn terrier. If she were to bite someone and it was reported, it's pretty reasonable to expect that there'd be a report about a cairn terrier biting someone - even though she's not one.

There are also indications that a dog's breed only accounts for a very small amount of its behavior (source): "In particular, the researchers found that aggressiveness — how easily a dog is provoked by things that are frightening or uncomfortable — is almost completely uninformed by breed."

It is easy to draw similarities between discrimination against breeds of dog that is built on a foundation of bias and ignorance, and discrimination against people that is built on a foundation of bias and ignorance.

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