Friend sites

Barcelona Bullfighting

Anyone who knows me is aware of my being wary of Catalunyan nationalism. The language laws there are a travesty of growing globalism where the world is slowly turning into a global village where the languages eventually all blend into one. Except for French, which will get rid of all the consonants and something like 'eeuioaueuaiaiouia' will become a perfect and eloquent sentence. Just like in 'Blade Runner'  where the international language is a blend of English, Chinese, Spanish and a few other languages.

But all joking aside: the Catalunyan parliament has voted for a law which prohibits bullfighting. That archaic ritual in which a man in extremely tight pants faces a massive bull and wins most of the times as the ultimate test of man's intelligence against nature's brutal instincts.

But don't forget to mention the period between the first face-off between the torero and the moment where he pierces the bull's heart with a crooked sword: the bull is first weakened by being pierced between the shoulder blades with a spear, handled by a man on an armoured horse. That's when the blood starts pouring, gulfing down the bull's shoulders in massive streams.

Then the horse retreats and the banderilleros enter the arena: with two barbed small spears the bull receives another punishment. Skilled banderilleros manage to leave the spears (banderillas: small flags, so called because of their colours representing the local flag) stuck in the bull's flesh, so as to weaken his neck muscles so its head will hang leaving his shoulders unprotected. By then the arena is being sprayed with blood with every movement of the bull.

Then and only then the torero (now called 'matador') enters the arena, wears the animal down some more then starts getting him into position (with the two front hooves joined, so that the shoulder blades leave an exposed space) to finally free him from his misery.

I'm sorry if the graphic description upset you, but it's the way it is: under the monicker of 'culture' Spain has allowed for this brutish and barbaric ritual to persist into the 21st century.

Now I finally get back to the reason why I started writing this article in the first place: Catalunyan parliament has voted against bullfighting. Critics state that Catalunya wants to banish everything Spanish. While this may be true, I wholeheartedly support this particular prohibition. In other Latin countries the bull is usually not killed, why is that not an option?

Although it only comes into effect as early as 1 january 2012, pro- and anti- abolitionists are sharpening their axes for the legal wars that are bound to ensue.

Either way: at last the first step has been taken to end this prehistoric barbary that is all too often associated with art and culture.

One small step.

Source: El Pais

Tags:  opinion, news, rant

Add your comment