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raging bulls
the day before i left Portugal, i went to a bullfight. over the course of the evening, seven bulls were ‘fought’. the first bull, however, was a pacifist. it was pretty funny, actually. the matador kept hollering at the bull, “hey! ho! huh huh!” but the bull just turned his back on the matador and wandered around the arena. at one point he started circling like a dog does before it lays down to sleep. the matador was not amused. “huh! huh!” cape-man didn’t look so brave right then.
the third bull mauled a sub-matador (there is a proper term for this person). the man went into convulsive fits on the ground, while ten or so other sub-matadors shot sedatives into the bull. i felt sorry for the guy as he was hurried offstage on a stretcher, but on some level it made me happy to know that the bull, after all the tranquilizers and tribulations, could still stand his own.
in Portugal they don’t kill the bulls at the end of the show, they just let them stagger offstage with darts and spears hanging from their bleeding backs. i’m sure the ASPCA is less than appeased. does anyone know what happens to the bull after it leaves the ring? is it herded directly to the slaughterhouse? is it emancipated? or is it allowed to heal, and then forced back into the arena?
all in all, it seems cruel to me. were bullfights always so unfair? and why is it that certain acts of brutality (foot-binding, dogfights, human mutilation) are universally regarded as cruel and unusual, while others (bullfights, cockfights, those footlong ear-piercings can’t be comfortable…) are deemed acceptable cultural phenomena? i tried to find a litmus test that would separate the two categories (e.g. human vs. other animal, very painful vs. moderately painful, etc.), but nothing worked very well. any ideas?
Posted by senorjosh at August 17, 2003 03:10 PM
I'm pretty sure they kill the bulls. They may lie to you and tell you they don't, but they do.
So here's the thing. In no way do I support bull fighting. I think it's mean and cruel. However, I do like hamburgers. A lot. And steak. Especially filet mignon. It's my favorite. Or prime rib. And while bull fighting is really inhumanely cruel, the united states' treatment of cows and calves is equally just as cruel. We pen them up in tiny rooms where they're layered in, head to ass, and given as little room as possible so that the filet mignon can get as tender as possible. (really, the more tender, the better). It's really mean. And they're treated this way for their entire lives, and then they die. While most Americans are probably fine with bull fights, I'm sure they're not willing to attack the sport and go along with the hypocrisy of it all. Although, most Americans, myself included, are big fat hypocrites. Especially me. Because bullfights are wrong, and the way we treat cows is wrong, but man do they taste good.
Posted by: Dina at August 28, 2003 09:10 PM
Yo Josh,
The "universal cruel and unusual punishment" examples of footbinding, human mutilation (e.g. pierced ears like all the women in your family have), may be one of those things that fit into one'scultural perspective. I never thought of it before, but maybe "cruel" is cultural and not so absolute. Let me ponder a bit.
Enjoy,
Pops
Posted by: Pops at September 2, 2003 03:31 AM
I'm a vegetarian for one and for another I think that no matter your culture or whatever you want to call it, bullfighting is cruel and unusual. I for one think that it should be outlawed, and all the matadors should be excecuted the same way that they killed all those poor helpless bulls. Those stupid cowards.
Posted by: Marissa Goodell at May 5, 2004 08:19 PM
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