This evening at 6:30, a multitude of study abroad students chose to attend una corrida de toros (bull fight). By 8:30, around half of them were in some other part of the city as the sixth and final bull collapsed (over/under was 6 departures, and the under never had a chance). It was a decently shocking experience. They really kill the bulls. They don’t die quickly.
On the micro outlook: we were watching the final ‘exam’ of ‘La Escuela Taurina,’ bullfighting school, and there were three circa 18 year old matadors competing for the title of top matador at the school. They were matched up against tenacious (maybe not quite full sized?) bulls. These young matadors have BALLS. After matador #1 finished a near flawless round, matador #2 came out and immediately went for the ‘behind the back cape hold.’ He got absolutely NAILED. #2 then proceeded to grind out the rest of the fight with what looked to be a broken hand and a mauled femur. All three had some sort of wildly dangerous contact with a bull at some point during the corrida.
On the macro outlook: I don’t think I’m particularly against corridas. For me, it might not even be as bad as supporting the United States’ large-scale CAFO-based meat industry (though it’s certainly a much more personal experience of support than eating a double cheeseburger at McDonalds).
What a fascinating experience! I really like your thoughts and descriptions here--makes it pretty darn vivid and real. Hemingway's "Death in the Afternoon" and a book called "Or I'll Dress You in Mourning" (author unknown) are the best ones I've read on this. There have been a few American bullfighters over the years, but we'd rather ride 'em out of the chute and both (maybe) walk away after. Such a slice of human nature as well. You can picture the second guy going for the behind-the-back cape work to try to shut down the first fellow...and having his head handed to him. Did he still graduate?? Cheers--Sam
ReplyDelete