Spanish region may say adios to bullfighting

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Spanish region may say adios to bullfighting
Daniel Woolls, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 54 mins ago

MADRID – Lawmakers in Catalonia might ban bullfighting in a razor-close vote this week, rejecting a pillar of traditional Spain in a region with its own language and culture and an acute sense of being a country within a country.

If a proposed ban is approved in Wednesday's local legislature vote, the wealthy northeast coastal region centered around Barcelona would become the first in mainland Spain to outlaw the deadly ballet of sword-wielding matador and charging half-ton beast.

The practical effect of such a move would be limited: Catalonia has only one functioning bullring, in Barcelona — another disused one is being turned into a shopping mall — and it stages 15 fights a year which are rarely sold out, out of a nationwide total of roughly 1,000 bouts per season.

Still, bullfighting buffs and Spanish conservatives are taking the drama very seriously. They see a stinging anti-Spanish rebuke in a grassroots, anti-bullfighting drive that started last year and will culminate in the vote in the 135-seat Catalan Parliament.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100727/ap_on_re_eu/eu_spain_bullfighting_ban

[Lightning Count]

1. Longtime overdue. nt

[Zavulon]

3. +1. (NT)

[dtexdem]

11. Nonsense -- animal fetishists out to destroy Spanish culture.

I hope this fails.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

15. I am a Spanish citizen.

I love my ancestors' country's culture.

It will do very fine without this abomination. Thank you for your concern.

Do you think the Southern US culture was crippled by the forced removal of slavery?

[truebrit71]

18. Yeah because Bullfighting is exactly like slavery, right?

:eyes:

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

21. Sigh.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8003776

[truebrit71]

32. Sigh back at your poor analogy..

..

[CreekDog]

22. ask the bulls

:wtf:

[truebrit71]

31. ..the bulls in the ring have more of a chance than the ones in the slaughterhouse..

..

[CreekDog]

33. make up your freaking mind

:boring:

[CreekDog]

20. without slavery we wouldn't have Gone With The Wind!

it's cultural!

:sarcasm:

[CreekDog]

19. yes, someone always chimes in to remind us that cruelty to animals is justified

because it's "cultural".

:eyes:

[CreekDog]

25. I like how someone from Texas is lecturing Spaniards about protecting their culture

Hmmph.

:wtf:

[Ignis]

26. LOL @ "animal fetishists"

Did you take a left turn at Albuquerque, when you meant to take a right? :hi:

[flvegan]

35. Spanish culture is animal abuse for entertainment?

I'm always entertained by the "shit in my hand before I smack my forehead" mindset. You know they stopped feeding Christians to the lions right? Do you adore the stoning of women in some parts of the back-assward parts of the world (culture) too?

Yeah, speaking of fail...

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

38. It's not. By "defending" the culture, they're actually smearing it.

Millions of Spaniards want to end bullfighting.

There's plenty of true Spanish culture outside of bullfighting.

[flvegan]

39. And I applaud every one of them/you doing so.

Always good to hear from someone that actually knows what the fuck they're talking about.

:thumbsup:

[K8-EEE]

52. My mom's family is from Spain MUCH MORE THAN BULLFIGHTING

All my Spanish relatives hate bullfighting (they are Basque though) -- but still Spanish citizens and MOST Spanish citizens consider bullfighting barbaric.

[RKP5637]

2. It's a gross inhumane barbaric form of recreation. What cruelty. I see

no heroes in matadors, but rather they are torturers.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

5. I had the displeasure of watching a bullfight on Spanish ESPN. Yeah, ESPN.

They consider it a "sport" on par with figure skating.

This was in a hotel room in Madrid. The nonchalant way in which the announcer described the fine details of the matador's killing technique, in my view, was even worse than the blood pouring onscreen as the bull slowly crumbled and fell.

This was live, at 2 pm or so.

This shames me to no end. Until recently, I was able to say to myself, "well, the fox hunting the British do is even more cruel". But now the UK got their shit together and banned fox hunting, and Spain is the only official endorser of barbarism in Europe.

Shame.

[RKP5637]

8. I cheer on those times the matador is gored! And cheer more if the asshole dies! n/t

[proteus_lives]

37. Making you no different then those who cheer when the bull dies.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

40. Thanks for agreeing that enjoying bullfighting is reprehensible.

Me, I don't like seeing people being gored either. Karma or not.

[proteus_lives]

42. It's time has past.

Time to put bullfighting in the cultural museum.

I've never understood the bullfighting thread posters who weep over the bull and cheer when the man dies.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

45. It's like watching a bully get its comeuppance. It's perfectly comprehensible.

I dislike watching bodily harm being inflicted, but I sure can understand the sentiment.

[proteus_lives]

47. I didn't look at it that way.

You're right, I can understand the sentiment using that lens.

[RKP5637]

41. Maybe, but the bull had no choice in the matter. n/t

[proteus_lives]

43. You're still cheering for blood being spilled.

You're no different.

[RKP5637]

44. You have a good point there!!! I would like to see it all gone! n/t

[Ian David]

14. I think it would be a real sport if the bullfighter was unarmed.

Let's see him try and take down the bull with nothing but a cape and his bare hands.

Also, if the bull wins, it should be allowed to spend the rest of its life on a pasture with its own harem of 72 virgin cows.

[Ghost Dog]

7. Check out the role of the picadors there, also,

who stab the usually reluctant bull almost to death using long lances from horseback in order to provoke them, already dying from these wounds (and the bull knows it), to turn on the matador in the first place.

Perhaps in fact the greatest courage in the ring is shown by these picadors' horses, who are bred and trained for the job, but go into the ring, of course, blindfolded.

It still appears to be the favorite arena for Spanish Fascist poseurs to show off. In the most expensive (and protected) seats amongst the spectators, of course.

[RKP5637]

9. Humans are a pretty gross species IMO. n/t

[colorado_ufo]

10. Small update . . .

But even more damning: The function of the picadors is not to provoke the bull but to add to the matador's safety. The matador watches the bull for a while as some of the "underlings" get him to charge. When the matador determines that the bull "hooks," or turns/charges, to the left or right strongly - which is almost always the case - the picadors come in and deliberately wound the animal in a way that weakens that shoulder and evens out the charge, taking the advantage from the bull. If you can stand to watch, you will see that the picador strikes are in no way random and actually weaken the bull rather than infuriate him.

I have never seen a live bullfight and do not care to do so, but as a child in New Orleans the bullfights were broadcast live from Mexico City via UHF, and I watched several times out of a childish curiosity.

The "sport" is long overdue for being relocated to a footnote in history, but culture runs deep, and it will unfortunately take time.

In the meanwhile, it is a very small comfort that the meat is traditionally distributed to the poor.

[truebrit71]

23. Having actually seen several bullfights in my lifetime I can tell you that the picadors are actually

..there to weaken the bull and get him to lower his head, thereby making the final kill stroke easier for the matador as the spinal column is in fuller view.

The horses they use are blindfolded and have their vocal chords cut so that no-one can hear the screams if/when the bull gores them as the picadors do their thing..

The matador vs bull part of the process I rather enjoyed, especially on those occasions when the bull got a shot in, the picadors made me ill..

[flvegan]

36. I hope I remember this post always.

Bull tortured? Check.

Horses tortured in the process AFTER being mutilated so they can't scream? Check.

"enjoyed" watching it? Check.

Bra-fucking-vo!

[truebrit71]

53. Why don't your remember what I wrote rather than YOUR spin on it eh?

Do me a favour and stop putting words in my mouth..

Re-read the fucking post and see WHICH part of the process I said I enjoyed...

THEN take your outrage and shove it somewhere useful, yes??

[JonLP24]

57. Vocal cords cut

so no one can hear the screams??? That is horrible!!!

Time for this sport to go!

[xchrom]

4. Recommend -- let's see the back end of that. Nt

[Ghost Dog]

6. Bullfighting, cockfighting, etc. are already banned in Canarias

(the Canary Islands), where the already extant laws against cruelty to animals are actually applied, at least in these contexts.

[Dogmudgeon]

12. I wonder why it took so long

When I was learning Spanish in school (the mid 1970s), there was already a movement to ban bullfighting, and a new style had emerged that did not injure the bull or result in it being killed -- it was supposed to be a macho kind of dance.

It seems it never caught on.

At least in the north, Pamplona and a few other towns, they have the Running of the Bulls on the feast of St. Fermin. The bulls have a chance, and they aren't killed, as far as I know.

There's also an excellent scene in Childhood's End about how the Overlords end bullfighting.

Thumbs up to the Catalonians. Bullfighting -- any and ALL animal combat -- is a disgrace.

--d!

[Ian David]

13. Viva los toros! n/t

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

16. Mandatory "Childhood's End" (by Arthur C. Clarke) quote:

"You may kill one another if you wish," the message had gone, "and that is a matter between you and your own laws. But if you slay, except for food or in self-defense, the beasts that share your world with you—then you may be answerable to me."

No one knew how comprehensive this ban was supposed to be, or what Karellen would do to enforce it. They had not long to wait.

The Plaza de Toros was full when the matadors and their attendants began their processional entry. Everything seemed normal; the brilliant sunlight blazed harshly on the traditional costumes, the great crowd greeted its favorites as it had a hundred times before. Yet here and there faces were turned anxiously towards the sky, to the aloof silver shape fifty kilometers above Madrid.

Then the picadors had taken up their places and the bull had come snorting out into the arena. The skinny horses, nostrils wide with terror, had wheeled in the sunlight and their riders forced them to meet their enemy. The first lance flashed—made contact—and at that moment came a sound that had never been heard on earth before.

It was the sound of ten thousand people screaming with the pain of the same wound—ten thousand people who, when they had recovered from the shock, found themselves completely unharmed. But that was the end of that bullfight, and indeed of all bullfighting.

[Psephos]

55. heh heh - quite apropos, and nice to see another Childhood's End fan too. n/t

[defendandprotect]

17. Good for them -- it's a cruel "sport" -- and about time -- !!

[truebrit71]

24. Hey, at least the bull has a shot to take someone out with him as opposed to being slaughtered..

..in the abattoir..

[defendandprotect]

28. We also have to stop killing animals for "food" --

Whether a slaughter house or a bull right -- the violence and torture are the same --

[Abq_Sarah]

34. The bull is killed

In the end, even if it "wins". There's not a lot of sportsmanship in that.

[truebrit71]

54. Maybe not..but if he gets to take a few humans with him before he goes..

..that's something more than his bretheren in the abattoir get to do, no?

[defendandprotect]

56. Let's stop all the violence which is so closely attached to "Macho" concepts . . ..

[Ignis]

27. K&R. Spain also led the way in granting legal rights to Great Apes.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/06/27/great-apes-have-the-right-to-life-and-liberty-spain-says/
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article4220884.ece
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1824206,00.html

:thumbsup:

[Po_d Mainiac]

29. Good for the bull.

[regnaD kciN]

30. I'm trying to figure out why news about a vote by the Catalan parliament...

...has a dateline from Madrid. :shrug:

[DFW]

48. Depends on which news agency put it out

Some just have their central office in Madrid, which collects regional reports from around the peninsula.

[JVS]

46. Isn't there a blood-free variety they can practice?

I think performing the fight as a series of stunts but without harming the bull would be a good compromise that allows the cultural tradition to survive with more ethical treatment of animals.

[drmeow]

51. I should have responded to your post

instead of to the OP

They should try French bull games:

http://www.tourisme.ville-arles.fr/us/a7/a7b.htm

[DFW]

49. Not "adios," but "adeu."

I used to live in Barcelona and speak Catalan, although, I'm told, with a Mallorquín accent.

Catalunya is culturally as much a part of Spain about as Alabama is a part of New England.

Its language is older than Castillian, and it is a part of Spain more by reason of geography
more than anything else. Catalunya banning killing of bulls at a bullfight would not mean a
thing to the rest of Spain, and the rest of Spain in no way would take a cultural lead from
Catalunya.

[drmeow]

50. Maybe they could substitute

French (Provence) style bull games:

http://www.tourisme.ville-arles.fr/us/a7/a7b.htm