The Color Purple

Red or blue?  

That’s the political choice we are offered. 

No purple allowed.

Black or white, up or down, yin or yang?

A lot of people want everything to fall into just one or two discrete boxes. 

Every pigeon must be pounded into a hole, and that’s especially true if you are selling pigeon holes.

Gender is a pigeon hole. Male or female? — pick one.

Sexual orientation is a pigeon hole. Gay or straight? — pick one.

Race is a pigeon hole. Black or white, Asian or Hispanic? — pick one.

What’s that have to do with nature in general, and dogs in particular?

Simple enough: According to some folks, everything has to be simple and discrete.

A fungus cannot also be a mold, and never mind reality.

A Spotted Owl cannot also be a Barred Owl, and never mind if the owls themselves aren’t quite as picky.

A Bobcat cannot also be a Lynx, even if that cross sometimes occurs in the wild.

Something cannot be “natural” and GMO, and never mind if that's provably wrong.

And what about wolves?  They cannot also be coyotes, or dog, or Golden Jackals, and never mind if they all have the same number of chromosomes, arranged in the same pairs, and have cross-bred, to some extent, for millennia.

And what about dogs? Here we find folks firmly pounding whatever dog is in front of them into some sort of pigeon hole.  

A Portuguese Water Dog cannot look too much like a Spanish Water Dog, which cannot look too much like a French Barbet, which cannot look like an un-groomed standard Poodle.

  

A German Shepherd cannot look too much like a White Shepherd, which must be treated as distinct from a Shiloh Shepherd, which is not be confused with a King Shepherd, a Basque Shepherd, a Dutch Shepherd, a Berger Picard, a French Briard, a Beauceron, or any of the five types of Belgian shepherds -- the Laekenois, Malinois, Tervueren, Groenendael, or Management Shepherd.

As for terriers, the Cairn Terrier is entirely separate from the Norwich Terrier, which is not a Norfolk terrier, which is not a Cesky terrier, which is not a Border terrier, which cannot look too much like a Fell terrier, which is not a Welsh terrier, which cannot look too much like a Lakeland terrier, which is quite distinct from the Fox terrier, which is not a "Parson Russell" terrier and which is, of course, nothing like a Jack Russell Terrier or a Russell Terrier.

Two or more dogs are crossed?  

Why that's a mutt --a hybrid -- a less than useful thing and entirely contrary to what God and the Kennel Club intended.

You disagree?  

Good God man, do you know nothing of pigeons and pigeon holes?