Cruelty Concealed as Culture
This essay’s intended viewers are people on the fence about their opinions of bullfighting. Hopefully this
argument will be enough to persuade them. This essay would be found in a magazine for animal rights or
in the newspaper as an enlightening article for the public view.
bull·fight·ing/ˈbo͝olˌfītiNG/
Noun: The sport of goading and killing a bull as a public spectacle in an outdoor arena.
Spain, a country well known for possessing extravagant traditions and abundant culture, is the
birthplace of the blood sport known as bullfighting. Some argue that this piece of Spanish convention is
an art form, a beautiful piece of history that is still performed today. While the controversial pastime may
have originated as such, when other means of entertainment were less available, it is certainly not such
today.
Bullfighting is deplorable, to say the least. However, those with deep cultural connections to the
sport are unwilling to admit that the incredibly dangerous game they play is unlawful and, when it comes
down to it, animal cruelty. Their claims are that because the sport, “[dates] back 4000 years [that] depict
men and women confronting and leaping over bulls.” What the frescoes do not reveal is the criminal
process the bulls must endure before and during the fights with their human opponents. Both sides can
suffer great damage, but the humans participating in the game have several clear advantages. First, they
chose to partake; and secondly, with intelligence and deception, they outsmart the bulls in an evidently
unfair challenge. “The odds are heavily stacked against the bull and that they suffer unnecessary
torment,” says Verity Murphy, investigative journalist for the BBC news.
The bulls are subjected to torturous procedure before entering the arena. “There are reports of
the bulls being given tranquilizers, laxatives and beatings to debilitate them before the fight. Petroleum
jelly is rubbed into their eyes to blur their vision and they are kept in darkness for hours before being
released into the ring, so that they are dazzled by the afternoon sun,” Murphy continued in the article,
Spain's battle between man and beast.
Several animal activist groups have made the controversy even more notorious than before,
bringing the public’s attention to the terrible treatment these bulls are imperiled to, rather than to the
romanticized garbage the Spanish government chooses to share with its citizens.
Each year, “approximately 250,000 bulls die in bullfights,” according to Alex Duff, reporter and
critic, reference by PETA (a world-famous activist group for animal rights) in their article, Bullfighting: A
Tradition of Tragedy.
The ritualistic slaughter begins with the ushering of the beast into the arena by the matador, who
then taunts and teases the bull until it is riled and justifiably angry. “The bull is then approached by
picadors (men on horses), who drive lances into the bull’s back and neck muscles, impairing the bull’s
ability to lift his head. They twist and gouge the lances to ensure a significant amount of blood loss,”
PETA’s article continues to elaborate. Men continue to prod the bull with darts to daze and confuse the
bull, making it too disoriented to have a real chance to attack its opponent, who at this point in the fight,
has not even begun to confront the bull. At this point in the game, the animal has already started to die
and is running on the sheer instinct to attempt to survive with its few dying breaths. The matador then
attempts to deliver the killing blow upon the bull. Sometimes, though, the fighter is unsuccessful and only
creates further suffering and damage upon the poor beast. After just a few minutes of cleanup, the
process begins again.
Mercifully, as each day passes the public becomes more and more aware of the terrible deeds
committed upon these innocent creatures and have already begun to put an end to it, one step at a time.
Even pureblooded Spaniards understand the cruelty performed and some have already done their part to
ban bullfighting in their cities. Activist Aida Gascon, of the Anti-Bullfighting Party, known as PACMA says
she's attended just one bullfight in her life, “and that was only to get a sense of the bull's suffering.
Bullfighting is part of Spanish culture," Gascon said. "But that should change. Many traditions disappear
as the society advances."
Gascon is right. As time wears on, cultures evolve and customs that were once valued dissipate
until they are nothing more than memories in history books and long lost traditions glorified by
Hemmingway in outdated novels about rich people and their relaxed lives as they try to find some
meaning in their daily routine of drinking and partying. As Hemmingway himself once wrote, "I know only
that what is moral is what you feel good after and what is immoral is what you feel bad after.”
So it is time for society to acknowledge that feeling of disgust that some may try to bury behind
ages of social paradigm and accept that bullfighting is a terrible part of Spanish culture that must be
ended.
Works Cited
Casamitjana, Jordi. "Catalonia's Bullfight Ban a Huge Victory - CNN.com." CNN.com - Breaking News,
U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. 30 July 2010. Web. 16 May 2011.
<http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/07/30/casamitjana.catalonia.bullfighting/index.html>. CNN,
like BBC, another reliable source for world news that rarely contains any intentional bias.
Duff, Alex. "Bullfighting: A Tradition of Tragedy | PETA.org." People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
(PETA): The Animal Rights Organization | PETA.org. PETA. Web. 16 May 2011.
<http://www.peta.org/issues/Animals-in-Entertainment/bullfighting-a-tradition-of-tragedy.aspx>. As
an incredibly fierce activist group, PETA contains bias, but is nevertheless a reliable source.
Murphy, Verity. "BBC NEWS | Europe | Spain's Battle between Man and Beast." BBC News - Home. BBC
News Online, 6 Apr. 2004. Web. 16 May 2011. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3605773.stm>.
The BBC is a continually reliable source; most of my family's news and information comes from
the BBC.
"Spain Culture: Bull Fighting in Spain." Spain Info Com. Web. 16 May 2011. <http://www.spaininfo.com/Culture/bullfighting.htm>. Pure fact, no persuasive articles.