So how is this a surprise to anyone?

[NewWaveChick1981]

:shrug: The Running of the Bulls....Assholes dumb enough to run with them...somebody gets hurt or killed.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/07/07/running.of.bulls.ap/index.html

I'm surprised it even makes the news each year.

[WolverineDG]

1. I am one with evening up the odds

make the drunken assholes start where the bulls start: at the bottom of a very steep hill. I was in Pamplona this past May & walked the route from the start to the Plaza del Toros. The "men" start running when the street levels & straightens out. :grr:

dg

[NewWaveChick1981]

3. Wusses....

:grr: If they HAVE to do it, you're right---even the odds. Make them start with the bulls. It'll take more of the idiots out by doing that.

[Kali]

8. even the odds?

ever seen how fast an angry bull can move? ever seen the effects of those horns slung around by that neck on soft pink human flesh?


disclaimer: THIS IS NOT AN ENDORSEMENT OF RUNNING WITH BULLS, BULL FIGHTING, OR ANY OTHER ACTIVITY, just a commentary on the odds of an unarmed human vs a large horned bull.

[WolverineDG]

9. If you are not fleet of foot

don't run then. The odds are slanted heavily towards the people, btw, seeing as how the bulls are all killed (tortured) to death in the bullring at the end.

dg

[Kali]

10. not to mention the bulls aren't usually actually CHASING the runners

occasionally they will get after the runners, but it is really just a stampede, and the humans are usually injured "accidentally" rather than from having been attacked.

Now if the situation was an unarmed human vs an angry bull one on one, no climbing out of the ring - bull would have most of the odds for sure.

[Writer]

2. Let me quote my Mexican husband:

"The Spanish are STUPID."

:P

[NewWaveChick1981]

4. ...

:rofl: :hi:

[supernova]

5. Stupid, Stupid Poppa Hemingway!

Writing that book, glorifying running with the bulls, so that every chucklnuts on the planet turns a quaint, but dangerous local custom into a worlwide madhouse drawing every goofball on the planet to its unholy conclusion.

[Wcross]

6. We should start something like that here- Swim with the gators?

It could start as a quaint local custom and then tourists from around the world would flock to the swamps for their chance to "swim" with the gators!

[SoxFan]

14. This may be exactly what NOLA needs

Think about it...alcohol + testosterone + voracious lizards = great tourist attraction!

[Arugula Latte]

16. I think fundies should adopt that as a ritual.

Swim with the gators -- if you survive, that means Jebus loves you.

[Wcross]

18. They already do it with rattle snakes.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_handling

[Critters2]

7. I wish the bulls would win.

I read an article recently about how many festivals in Europe include some kind of torture of animals--most often bulls, but sometimes goats, sheep, poultry. Usually with some "religious" purpose to it--like the claim that this festival in Pamplona is in thanksgiving for the grape harvest.

It's hard to name the worst such atrocity, but this one has to be in the top 2 or 3:
http://www.all-creatures.org/cspv/torturing.html

Completely disgusting.

[idgiehkt]

15. horrifying

just when I think I've heard it all. All these traditions are Greek (concerning bulls) in origin and I have to wonder if they don't somehow signify the death of the older more paganistic religions as Christianity took over. So very sad that animals have to be so mistreated to symbolize something like that, and that modern day people probably don't understand the origins of anyway.

[Critters2]

17. It's not about the death of the pagan religions

Indeed, the Roman pagan religions, particularly Mithraism, practiced the sacrifice of bulls, which was never a part of orthodox Chrsitian practice. http://www.religionfacts.com/greco-roman/sects/mithraism.htm

Another theory is that bullfighting and other forms of animal "gaming" in former Roman colonies are simply the remnants of the same "sports" once practiced in Roman coliseums and amphitheatres across the empire. These just became local events which were never stopped. The church allowed locals to attach religious meaning to them, just to keep people happy.

But most likely, it's about mimetic rivarly and sacrifice. Girard explains it all really well--better than I can. Suffice to say,whatever the reason, it's time humans got over it already!!

[greatauntoftriplets]

11. I used to have a neighbor who ran with the bulls a few times.

I thought he was nuts.

[SPKrazy]

12. Aww, my dream

to run with animals that will kill my ass if I don't run fast enough :crazy:

[achtung_circus]

13. I think it's like Everest,

Mallory said "because it's there" so because the numbnuts can, they do.

And becasue I can, I will post this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Z2_kKAe9y0

[LeftyFingerPop]

19. I'm afraid, so I run with the hamsters. n/t

[Wapsie B]

20. Yeah, that's not the brightest thing to do.

But the tomato fight in Valencia is a different story.
Food Fight!
:P

[northzax]

23. having done both...

if I had to do one of them again today, I'd pick Valencia.

also, most of the people who get in trouble do so because they are drunk and stumble, if you are in reasonable shape, you can make the course with no real issues (99% of people do, after all)

[WinkyDink]

21. I once stood on a small balcony right above the running bulls; it was a truly awesome sight!

This was ca. 1975. The atmosphere in Pamplona was total party, with everyone and their brother wearing the white shirt/red neckerchief; everybody drinking rioja; the huge statues for San Fermin being paraded; and our staying with a Basque family, eating with them in their kitchen--it was an experience I'll treasure, but I'm too old for it now!

[leftofthedial]

22. same thing about the giant tomato fight

Incomprehensible foolishness that's guaranteed to leave a stain and I don't wanna hear about it.