"To fight is to live"

ball wrote: »

I'm sure he doesn't want to fight. I'm sure cows don't want to go to the slaughterhouse either.
PERSONALLY, I find it entertaining. I can see why people are against it. I'd imagine most who are are against eating meat too?

I'm sure some are. However, there's a big difference between killing an animal for the purpose of food, and killing an animal for the purpose of entertainment. Revelling in the prolonged torture and death of an animal, and broadcasting it in front of thousands of people, both in the arena and on television, is a very different situation to bringing an animal to a slaughterhouse to provide food. And just because one isn't a hardcore vegan/vegetarian doesn't mean that they are immediately excluded from expressing any opinion on the mistreatment of animals. Being a vegetarian doesn't makes someone an automatic authority on the issue of animal cruelty, and I really resent this line of thought too.

Torture. No other explanation.

southsiderosie wrote: »

I don't think that hunting generally goes in the same category as bullfighting. The animals aren't primes beforehand, and the point of hunting for sport is to make a clean kill. In parts of the US, there are also major public benefits from hunting for sport, as the deer population has exploded and presents a serious risk to drivers.

Most of my father's family own guns and are avid hunters, so although I have the opportunity, I don't go hunting. I don't have a problem with it though. And everyone in my family who hunts eats the meat or gives it away, so it isn't wasteful.

He said hunting for sport, there is a difference.

I went to a bullfight when I was in Spain a few years back. It was curiosity more than anything else, and I can't say I enjoyed it per se, but it's a hell of a spectacle. It's very difficult not to get caught up in the excitement of it all even though your sense of ethics is telling you not to.

stovelid wrote:

If some jumped up morris dancer wants to have a fight a bull, let them jump in and have a go at the bull with no weapons.

There's a similar sport - bull leaping - that's still practiced in parts of Spain and France whereby the Recortadores are unarmed and do exactly as it says on the tin, they goad the cow (young cows are used for their smaller size, not bulls) into charging and leap over it when it gets near. The most athletic performance "wins" and guys are regularly injured badly doing it. To the best of my knowledge the cow doesn't get killed at the end of it. This kind of sport - while arguably still exploiting the animal - would be something that I'd have a lot fewer issues with.

Rhea Red Granola wrote: »

I think I would go.

Culture is a touchy subject. Would you like the Spaniards imposing rules to restrict our culture?

Culture isn't above criticism though, every country has its unsavoury aspects and just because we don't agree with them doesn't mean that we're trying impose rules on them. No one is trying to do that, we're just criticising it, which we're well within our rights to do. The Spanish know full well what the majority of outsiders think of the practice anyway, and the fact is the majority of Spaniards don't care about bullfighting or don't agree with it. It's a rapidly dying form of entertainment, and thus a significantly less important part of their culture. Spanish culture has a lot more going for it than bullfighting. People seem to associate Spain with bullfighting, and see it as am essential part of their identity. However, ask any young Spanish person about it and they will either look at you funny or express either distaste or lack of interest. Bullfighting is a practice that is quickly becoming associated with the older generations, an old fashioned sport. Bullfighting isn't inextricably linked to a Spanish identity.

Of course when it comes to referendums on the issue then it's up to the Spanish to vote on it themselves, and no one is going to force them to do anything obviously. We can criticise it from a distance, no one says we have to tip-toe around anything, especially something like this that the vast majority can recognise as wrong.

Latchy wrote: »

All those people letting a bull chase after them on the streets of Pamplona

I don't mind the actual run in a weird way.

There is, at least, often a definable conflation of stupidity and consequence when somebody gets mashed up by the bulls.

stovelid wrote: »

I don't mind the actual run in a weird way.

There is, at least, often a definable conflation of stupidity and consequence when somebody gets mashed up by the bulls.

I suppose it's the thrill of the chase and the bull doesn't always go for the guy who's just tumbled over but somebody has to get mashed up .