NaZooverse - Book 1: The Risen Curtain

Unexpected Developments

No mammal is so brave that he is not disturbed by something unexpected.

~Juleo Caesar~

*****

Prejudice is part of society.

There is no denying it. There is no escaping it.

It's something ugly to look at, and it's something that many want to see disappear for good, but it's something build over many generations that ingrained itself in society so deeply that one cannot just remove it as if it is a piece of decoration.

Prejudice ingrains itself in society and creates roots to burrow itself in place, feeding on itself, feeding on fear and ignorance, on anger and resentment. It can be fight, of course, but it is so deep in the heart of mortals that it is just not possible to get rid of it completely.

Zootopia was build with tolerance as its base. A place where all species could live together in harmony, as equals, calling each other friend and brother. A place where prey would live without ever having to fear being hunt, and where predators would live without having to be feared. A place where they would stand as equals in the world and discover that deep down they were not that different, and that they could live in peace together, side by side.

However, to hope for prejudice to simply vanish was never a realistic goal. It still existed in the society of the animals that came to live in Zootopia. It was an ugly feeling that was carried from eons of mistrust and fear, and that would not stop showing its head because of the many speeches of peace and understanding.

Hate crimes were occurrences that were not as rare as most people would like them to be. With stories of mammals being beaten up when they were coming home from work being heard now and then, only because someone else didn't quite like them because of their species. Most of these crimes were of prey against a predator, for prey were in much greater numbers, therefore having more representatives in society, while the predators were a considerable minority.

However, that didn't mean that the hate crimes against prey were nonexistent. There were still stories out there of predators who used their size and their nature as hunters to oppress and intimidate the prey, who were (presumably) weaker and more helpless.

There were predator supremacists, just like there were prey supremacists, the only difference being the frequency they got on the news, due to the difference in numbers in their rankings.

Still, prejudice was prejudice, and it was a part of society.

Nick had his fair experience with prejudice. Being not only a predator, but a fox as well, a kind of predator who faced many stigmas, even from other predators. He was looked down upon, screamed at, insulted, even spat on in one occasion or another. Nick knew that prejudice was part of the world and that it was something that was common to both predator and prey. He had seen both kinds before, even in the same place at once.

Like in that present moment...

"About time you chompers got put in your place!"

"Oh, go chew on grass, grazer!"

The two sides, separated by the wired fence, were throwing insults at each other. On one side, the prey supremacists, calling the predators "chompers" (a derogatory term that came from decades ago, coming from the fact that predators "chomped" at others), all of them saying that they should be collared and put back into the ghettos. On the other, were the predator supremacists, being smaller in numbers, but just as ferocious, as they told the "grazers" (another derogatory term that came from the prey, the herbivores "grazing" for food) that they should recognize their place in the bottom of the food chain.