# Dumbassery in Pamplona

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbassery-in-pamplona/502828>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [July 13, 2009, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbassery-in-pamplona/502828 "2009-07-13T04:18:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 7

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**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbassery-in-pamplona/502828/121 "2009-07-17T16:36:20Z")

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> [@whole\_bean](#):
>
> Whoosh (look at my exchange with him upthread. You’ll see some familiar language).

😕

:eek:

:smack:

:o

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**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbassery-in-pamplona/502828/122 "2009-07-17T16:45:32Z")

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> [@Freudian\_Slit](#):
>
> I’ve always hated bullfighting, but I never knew about the damage done to the horses. How awful. Those were truly horrifying images.

In the Portuguese version, the horses wear no armor (for what little that’s worth) and no blindfold; they survive by their own agility and the rider’s skill – or not, if they slip, if the rider screws up, if the bull outwits or outspeeds them. Even ungored, they often don’t escape unscathed; I could link to pictures of their flanks smeared with blood from the spurs.

In Spanish bullfighting, the horses have the pitiful protection of the “armor” wrappings. They also wear blindfolds, so they can’t see what danger they’re in and try to flee. I think that the Spanish horses overall must suffer more: Unable to see, battered and confused by the wall of sound from an arena packed with screaming people, kicked and mouth-yanked to move about while never knowing what they’re stepping into – and all this with the stench of blood and death permeating the air their flaring nostrils suck in. The helpless terror they must feel turns my stomach.

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**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbassery-in-pamplona/502828/123 "2009-07-17T19:08:30Z")

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FTR: Bullfights/corrida de toros and [Rejoneo or corrida de rejones](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rejoneador) are not the same thing.

Would like them both to disappear, but again, different arts – if I may be allowed to use the term.

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**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbassery-in-pamplona/502828/124 "2009-07-17T19:39:26Z")

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Thanks for the enlightenment, **RedFury** – I appreciate it.

Any way you slice it, the horses don’t deserve what they’re put through.

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**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbassery-in-pamplona/502828/125 "2009-07-18T11:05:20Z")

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I am back after an internet outage. Should anyone wish to throw lances into my bull-like shoulders.

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