Hmmm…
I believe I said you were being a dumbass - there is some nuance there - and I only know you by what you post. So let’s have a look.
So it’s not shameful because it’s a “tradition practiced by millions over the centuries.” Can’t argue with that.
I only “told” my opinion to those reading this thread on this message board.
Cultural traditions are none of “our” business, heh? Because why? Because they’re “cultural”? So, dog fighting is ok? Pederasty? Female circumcision? Obviously, some of these are more heinous than others, but by your rationale, within unstated limits, they’re none of “our” business. Interesting.
I hoped it would be.
No cite of it handy but a bit on NPR pointed out that the Run is really done more for the tourists at this point than out of some grand Iberian tradition. According to that piece bullfighting has been losing popularity steadily in Spain. Easy cite - wiki - references a 2002 Gallup poll which showed a solid majority of Spaniards had no interest in bullfighting, even in its most popular regions.
Overall Spain couldn’t give a rat’s tapas about this grand Iberian tradition; the money the dumb tourists will drop though … that’s a tradition worth keeping up. And it is for the dumb frat boy tourists looking for some artificial proof of their alleged manhood and their dollars and Euros that this tradition persists.
Someone upthread mentioned that the suffering of the bull was worth it for the entertainment value of the event. I feel exactly the same way about the suffering of the fratboy bleeding out in the street with a bull’s horn up his ass.
Someone getting drunk and taunting a bull gets killed? Heefuckinglarious.
That still leaves room for 25% femaleness. Add guns [del]or[/del] and fireworks.
Guns, eh? I like your style, sir…
Just by the way, I heard tell years ago some Hispanic group in Chicago wanted to have a bullfight. Since bullfighting in illegal in Illinois (Who drafted that law? Why? When?) they attached black velcro to the bull’s shoulders and threw the lances tipped with velcro. Worked great.
(Ever see Portuguese bullfighting? The object is to grab a hanky tied with string between the horns. While on horseback. On a horse that want no part of this silliness. Is it on Crete that bullfighting involves grabbing the horns and flipping over the bull?)
The flipping over the bull used to be done in ancient Crete (I don’t know if they do it nowadays) and is done in Navarra and the Baja Navarra (the SW of France, an area known as Las Landas in Spanish). It’s known as “corrida vasco-landesa.”
Searching for recortadores in youtube comes up with a long list of recorte contests. Recortar is to run close to the bull/cow in front of it, so it goes after you instead of after whomever it was going. In the contests, normally the work is done in pairs, with one runner attracting the bull and then the other “cutting in” and dropping a ring onto the bull’s horns. The pair who’s placed more rings wins. Details of the contest change by location, of course.
No results for vasco-landesa or variants thereof, pity.
I’m sure the horses just love being caught and gored.
Time for someone to start a Pit thread about the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca.
They wear thick padding, armor if you will.
Doesn’t do much to save them.
Photographic evidence of what the bulls do to the horses – warning, graphic
Don’t click on these links if you have a weak stomach.
Another image of a horse being gut-gored
Does this horse appear to be having fun yet?
I’m sure the “armor” did a really wonderful protective job, yeh
Had enough yet, Paul?
Here, let me save him some time:
What’s the problem? An entire tradition practiced by millions over the centuries -millions of people who having more experience than you have - think it’s fine. I guess they are all wrong.
Thank goodness you came along to tell them how to live their lives.
Frankly, within limits, bullfighting and other cultural traditions are none of our business. If you do not support this art, do not attend or watch.
Hey, if you think watching an innocent animal be disemboweled is art, knock yourself out. I’ll know what to think of you.
Now that is educational! I had never seen a horse (or a bull) hurt in that way. Ignorance fought and I thank you.
You’re welcome, and thank you for being willing to rethink the matter. Bullfighting is so glamorized that it’s not surprising people don’t realize the ugly realities of it.
As a horse owner, it was very difficult for me to assemble those images, and I wish I could erase them from my mind’s eye, but if doing it helped you and anyone else to see this barbarism in a new way, it was worth it.
Whoosh (look at my exchange with him upthread. You’ll see some familiar language).
I’ve always hated bullfighting, but I never knew about the damage done to the horses. How awful. Those were truly horrifying images.