Catalonia votes to ban bullfighting

[Synicus Maximus]

Source: The Independent

Already faced with a rapidly ageing fanbase at home and widespread incomprehension and rejection abroad, Spanish bullfighting has suffered another major setback after the Catalan parliament voted to outlaw it completely across the region.

The decision was so controversial that some deputies hunched over their desks to hide their fingers from photographers as they punched in their votes. After a narrow initial victory for the abolitionists – 67 in favour and 59 against – the law could become effective as soon as May.

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/catalonia-votes-to-ban-bullfighting-1855945.html

[democrank]

1. K & R

Good news

[onehandle]

2. Good news. nt

[virgogal]

3. Good----and we just banned greyhound racing in MA. A good week for animals.

When I was in Spain some members of my group went to a bullfight,but not me. Barbaric IMHO.

[postulater]

4. I saw the one they put on for tourists in Cancun once.

Barbaric, yes.

Weirdly macho, yes.

But beyond that I was trying to figure out how the tradition arose. Here's what I figured (and I have absolutely no knowledge of the true history other than what I just came up with while watching):

Bulls are big and cantankerous but there comes a time when the 'tribe' needs to butcher it for food. It was not very domesticated and was probably just wandering around the plains, so not easy to corral or capture. They had to figure out a way to kill it by hand.

There may have been times and places where there was no 'higher technology' for killing than a knife. But to kill a bull with a knife is not easy. The more you poke em the meaner and nastier they get. And the meaner they get the more adrenaline gets in the meat making it maybe not so good to eat.

So the challenge is to kill the bull as quickly as possible. The one who is able to do that is regarded highly, especially if he doesn't get himself killed.

The one spot that will drop the bull in its' tracks is to sever the spinal cord at the brainstem. The only spot to access this is on the back of the bull's neck between the occiput and the atlas. There's probably an inch or so where a blade can be slid in and instantly stop the bull.

Of course if you get it wrong, you just get the bull madder, and you are probably close enough that you got bull snot in your eyes. Just a half inch either way with the knife and all you get is a blade stuck in solid bone. We saw this happen. But get the knife in right and you're the hero who provided a lot of meat for your family and a whole bunch of others. Probably a big party for a couple days.

The bulls are not liking this. They make it difficult to get to their neck with a knife so the killers use small sharp spears to bleed them and weaken them and tire them out.

Anyhow I have no idea if this is how it developed but I imagined it this way as a way to justify that the practice had some cultural value other than just a killing ceremony.

I won't go again even though the meat was donated to a local charity (so they said).

[The Green Manalishi]

6. It's pretty much descended from Roman era entertainment.

A big part of the games from the republic onward involved man vs beast.

[postulater]

9. So maybe a valuable skill in the old days.

Hopefully we won't be needing that type of skill in the future.

[grantcart]

14. Well logical except for the fact that if they had ropes they could tie the

bull down with 4-5 strong ropes pulled and secured in different directions, and probably had to do so in order to get it to the venue in town where everyone would witness it.

I suspect that it developed out of some quasi supersticious belief that somehow tied the festival, the killing back to fertility, but I would be interested if anyone has a better answer.

[tularetom]

5. I gotta read these post titles closer - I thought CALIFORNIA had voted to ban bullfighting

I'm going "WTF?" I thought it was already banned.

[zonkers]

8. I do that too. when i am not wearing my glasses. headlines can get very creative.

It's funny how the mind works.

[tabasco]

7. I bet Macarena is happy about this.

[postulater]

11. I'm happy anytime Macarena is happy.

[StarfarerBill]

10. Yay for Catalonia!

:thumbsup:

[NoPasaran]

12. Bulgaria still ignores issue of catfighting

[flvegan]

13. Fantastic!!!!

One more territory outlaws a barbaric form of animal abuse. Good for them!

[Lorien]

15. Excellent! nt

[That Is Quite Enough]

16. Fuck yeah! Fantastic!

Animal liberation NOW!

[Edweird]

17. Good for them. It doesn't get any less sportsmanlike than that.

The examples I have seen are pointlessly barbaric and completely lame. And embarrassingly cowardly.

I think 'the running of the bulls' is sporting. It's you and the bull. Game on.

Sticking a bunch of spears decorated like cocktail toothpicks in a bull is just cruelty for its own sake.

[DFW]

18. Not surprising. I used to live in Catalunya

That was 40 years ago, but even then, a lot of the locals considered it a barbaric import
from the center of Spain, and had never been to one, themselves, and never intended to.

[Odin2005]

19. Viva Catalunya!!!

[DFW]

20. Make that "Visca Catalunya!"

"Viva" is Castillian (Spanish).

While I was living there, the fascist dictatorship of Franco was still in power, and daily newspapers were
forbidden, as was TV in Catalan, and even universities could only teach it as a foreign language (bet the
locals got REALLY good grades!).

Their own language is now again permitted, and flourishing. Visca Catalunya LLiure! (això mateix!)

[Odin2005]

21. Ah, thank you!

Catalan is a cool language. It's more closely related to the Provençal of Southern France than it is to Spanish. :hi:

[DFW]

22. Right you are!

What is generally called "Spanish (Castellano)" is a result of seven centuries of Arab occupation of central Spain.
Had that not occurred, outside of Euzkadi, the Basque region, most of the Iberian Peninsula would have been divided
liguistically between a Catalan-speaking east and a Portuguese-speaking west.

Although not ethnically related, once you live with a proud Catalan-speaking family, as I did, it's difficult
to be unaffected by the pride these people have in their language, their culture, and their identity. When our
class was taken on a bus tour of the rest of Spain, and the locals told us we had "Catalan accents" when we
spoke Castillian, we knew our assimilation was well underway.

Needless to say, the teachers of the program I was with were not pleased! They ended up moving the program out
of Barcelona altogether some years later, so as not to "pollute" the students' learning with Catalan. As for me,
I was very proud to get "polluted" and still speak Català today.

[Odin2005]

23. Ha! That makes me SO want to visit Barcelona!

:D