bullfighting


Does anyone agree with me that bullfighting is really cruel? It is such a slow death for the poor beast. By the time the Matador gets out in the ring, the bull is almost dead. I just wonder why this cruel "sport" can't be stopped, even now in 2007? Your thoughts?

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No. It's a wonderful celebration of man's superiority over beast. Additionally, it is not 'cruel' due to the slowness of the bull's death, it is cruel due to the bull's death. Speed of death isn't relevant. The death of a bull in a bullfight is more justified than the death of a bull in a slaughterhouse because the glorification of man is more justified than feeding man meat (which he does not actually need to consume, unless 'he' is a pregnant or pubescent female, or whatever the meat-eating classes are).

This film had a pervasively insidious anti-bullfighting message which detracted somewhat from the quality of the film.

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Beautifully said; and I could not agree more..

"IMdB; where 14 year olds can act like jaded 40 year old critics...'

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I totally agree. "Sports" of this kind should certianly be a thing of the past.

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I agree it is senseless. Neither Man nor Woman needs to celebrate their superiority over animals. How ridiculous it is to think that we do. I attended a bullfight in Spain and they are not even that exciting. I'd rather watch a football or basketball game. Jeez

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The Emperor Charles V banned bullfighting, then customarily done on horseback, so the men (and some women) got off their horses and began to fight on foot. The now-traditional "suit of lights" is a recreation of the street dress of the "dandies" of those days.

The statement "By the time the Madador gets out in the ring.." is odd -- because the matador is always in the ring well before the bull is released and is always first to test the bull with the cape.

The art of bullfighting is clearly dying with an increase the percentage of urban dwellers. Ranchers tend to think of animals as food, but city people are more likely to relate to them as pets.

Perhaps it is better to die fighting than to be killed by a shot to the brain, but in any case fighting bulls, by contrast with beef animals, have at least a small chance of survival because the public and the judges sometimes ask that a particularly fine bull be given "indulto" and sent to stud.

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I'm sorry, but bullfighting is no more cruel than most sports involving animals. And in Spanish culture, bullfighting isn't even considered a "sport," but rather an age old tradition. It is simply the battle between man and beast that has existed since the dawn of man. Bullfighting is perhaps the only way in which man can still connect with beast, in the most intimate and primal of ways. The Matador is the last true warrior in many ways, because it is the only "sport" in which the man has a good chance of not making it out of the ring alive; he truly takes his own life in his hands. You might not like this practice, but bullfighting is as old as Spain's culture and it is not going anywhere. Besides, unless you are a vegetarian, arguing against the cruelty of bullfighting is a bit hypocritical, don't you think? Have you ever seen how the cattle are killed so that people can enjoy steak and hamburgers? Do you think it is more acceptable to eat an animal that somebody else has killed?

"IMdB; where 14 year olds can act like jaded 40 year old critics...'

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