@Fezzik:
Oh man. That's why there are psychos such as the black panthers.
There were such thing as black panthers. And what we saw with Nami was a black panther type of situation situation. But as a whole, it was african-americans who were discriminated against, not whites and it's the same with the fishmen-human relations. It's been pretty clear by the last three arcs that what happened with Nami was an inversion from the norm, but the norm was that fishmen were discriminated against, not humans.
It makes me wonder if Oda actually had this in mind when he wrote all this, which wouldn't surprise me since he does do his research.
@Fezzik:
I'm not going to repeat the same thing again, but thinking that there won't be a fishman wanting the blood of humans is really stupid.
There was a fishman who wanted the blood of humans. His name was Arlong. Back then Oda needed to convince us that humans were being discriminated against. Now he needs to show us that it's fishmen who are at a bad spot. We need more good fishmen, not bad ones. First impressions and streotyping is hard to get over, the fact that you're arguing that fishmen are inherently savage has shown us that Oda has done at making his readers discriminate against them. Now he needs to show us THEIR side of the story, and it is obvious he's going to do exactly that. How the hell is he going to convince us that if he only makes them villains again?
@Fezzik:
Crocodile seems like he is above your average rookie, and has probably has had some dealings with fishman, unlike the upperclass twats at the auction house, who were basing their prejudice on stories.
Those twats probably saw more fishmen than Crocodile did, since they're the ones that actually buy them and have them as slaves.
Once again, any asshole can say that african-americans are more likely to become criminals than white people. And it might be true, but it isn't because one is inherently bad or not. Put people into extreme situations, discriminate against them, and you'll start seeing their emotional degradation, which can last for decades. There's been tons of stuff to show this, regardless of genetic background. I think this is what Oda is trying to portray when he had Hachi shot for the simple action of being a fishman in the wrong place at the wrong time. And how lately there's been a lot of good characters that have been fishmen and shown that there was discrimination against them. The idea that fishmen = savage is obvious just a stupid stereotype used for discrimination, and on part of any character who has referred to a fishman as a "stupid fish." Because really, who is Crocodile, of all people, to call an entire race savage? Who were the auctioneers and the tenryuubito? Who was Spandam?