Comments on: How long has bullfighting got?

By: Beckett

Beckett — Sat, 31 May 2008 02:36:31 +0000

NYTimes piece that came out this weekend about bullfighting.

By: cindy

cindy — Fri, 30 May 2008 19:30:17 +0000

things in spain dont progress very fast. i protest by not watching on tv, not buying bullfighting related items, etc…
my silent protest wont turn the events in spain very quickly. but if more people do the same???

it will still take a few more generations to change anything. the little boys in my pueblo just LOVE everything BF. im sure they will support this for many years and probably influance their sons also. probably people will figure out a way to do it even it the event doesnt make money.

By: Marta from Barcelona

Marta from Barcelona — Sun, 25 May 2008 17:35:03 +0000

It’s a matter of social extraction. Young people in Spain feel Bullfighting as alien to their own identity as Rodeo. Then you have a certain type of Spaniard, the one who fills up the Bullring every Friday, who are really into it and who will support it for generations to come. But I must say those are a minority, despite the fact the fill up the Bullring every friday

By: NÃºria

NÃºria — Fri, 23 May 2008 08:21:30 +0000

Hola Ben! This is my first time in your blog and got “trapped” in this post! Have to see more

I’m catalan and hate bullfighting, but my husbands loves it! I’m with Canarygirl… would like to see a real “dance” or fight between the torero and the bull in even conditions; no blood, no swords.
And yes, money is behind this “tradition”… tones of money! I don’t think corridas are in danger of extintion… the fight is inside and outside the plaza to get the tickets!!!

By: Luciana Sarra

Luciana Sarra — Thu, 22 May 2008 21:34:18 +0000

I never thought I would want go to a bullfight. In fact, when my family and friends found out I would come to Spain on vacation, they asked me if I would watch a bullfight, and my answer was a bold “of course not!”

On my first week in Spain, I went to buy dinner at a local restaurant in Madrid, and while waiting for the food I was bewitched by the bullfight that they were showing on TV — locals cheered, yelled, talked out loud as if the bullfighter could hear them. There was intense passion on both the bullfight and the spectators around me. I felt duende!

A week later I visited the bullring in Valencia (only the ring, sin corrida), and I felt the same. As soon as I came back to Madrid, I reserved a ticket for my first (and maybe last) bullfight, which is this Sunday. I will post an update to this post after I watch the corrida.

By: Maria S.

Maria S. — Wed, 21 May 2008 20:34:43 +0000

@Edith,

I have never been to a bullfight and don’t see myself attending one either. Something “wrong”, when kept up over so many years, just seems normal to many Spaniards.
This is not an excuse, just an explanation on my part.
I would not enjoy watching an animal die for the sake of entertainment or sports or art or whatever.
This tradition must have been started by the male species….

By: Edith

Edith — Sun, 18 May 2008 15:40:39 +0000

@ Maria S,

I have never been to a bullfight either, but I have seen very disturbing videos shot by animal rights activists. Some deductive reasoning might suffice to draw one’s own conclusion: the animals are suffering.

By: richardksa

richardksa — Sun, 18 May 2008 11:39:14 +0000

Re the comments about the bull not having a chance: In a chance conversation this weekend I was told that the “Benign” dictator of Spain, Miguel Primo de Riviera, made a pronouncement that all bulls must be killed in the bullring. Apparently, in order to save money, some bulls were merely teased and used again another day. But the bulls learned the tricks of the torreadores and many fighters were injured or killed. So from that time on no bull was to be given a second chance.
So, if it’s a given who the victor will be, it can never be called a sport. Not an art form either, but there is plenty of pagentry which might be considered entertaining. I watched it on TV over the weekend and was both fascinated and repulsed. Like watching a horror movie, which plenty of people pay to see.
BTW: I can find no online reference to the above “pronouncement”, but the guy who mentioned it seemed to know his history well.

By: Edith

Edith — Sun, 18 May 2008 10:59:37 +0000

‘Art’ or not, how do the bulls feel about it? How about the pain, rage, and anguish they experience? They have no choice in the matter, and they are just being used for purposes which have got nothing to do with human survival whatsoever.

By: Bill

Bill — Sun, 18 May 2008 09:28:37 +0000

@Tom,@Maria – the main point is that in Spain bullfighting is not considered a sport, nor do those who defend it consider it a sport. For example, it does not appear in the sports sections of newspapers, nor in the sports sections of news programs. Whether it is regarded as an art or not is irrelevant.

It was Tom who made the following claim:

“What is the defence that is most frequently offered for the corrida? That it is a sport.”

This is an empirical statement that I believe to be false. Tom, you need to provide evidence to back up this claim, otherwise you are making a straw man of your opponents (which would also be rather hypocritical of you since that is what you accused your opponents of).