‘Bout time!
You mess with the bull, you get the horns, you know what I'm sayin'?
Catalonia became the first region in Spain to ban bullfighting. I must admit, when I first read the story, I kept thinking, “Why are we excited about a ban on the running of the bulls? If crazy people want to be chased be a thundering herd of bulls, risking life, limb, and a bull horn through the back, who are we to stop them?” Then I was like, ohhhh! Bull fighting? Bull fighting sucks!
Its orange sands have witnessed delight and death. Generations of matadors strutted their way across Barcelona’s Monumental bullring, drawing roars of approval from the crowds as they tormented the hulking bulls with their scarlet capes before killing them with a sword-thrust between the shoulder blades.
But now bullfighting is to be banned from Barcelona and the rest of the north-eastern region of Catalonia after the local parliament today dealt a blow to Spain’s most emblematic pastime and unleashed a political battle over what some see as a threatened cultural treasure.
Deputies voted by 68 to 55 in favour of a people’s petition calling on the bullfight to be banished from a region that once played host to some of the world’s greatest fights. The last matador in Catalan history will sink his sword into the last half-tonne fighting bull at the end of next year, with the ban starting in 2012.
“It is the worst attack on culture since our transition to democracy,” said the Catalan poet Pere Gimferrer.
While some mourned the loss of a cultural jewel, the vote was hailed by animal rights campaigners worldwide. Ricky Gervais and Pamela Anderson were among the 140,000 who signed an international petition to the Catalan parliament.
“It sickens me to know that people are still paying money to see an animal suffering in such a horrific way,” Gervais said before the vote.
Bullfighting seems like some craziness that a bunch of drunk guys came up with, and for some reason people were all, “Yeah! That really is a good idea! Let’s piss a bull off, wave a red flag in its face, let it charge around and attempt to stomp on the face of some asshat in a gold jacket. If the asshat wins, he’ll stabs the bull in the back, and the crowd will go wild! If the asshat loses, well, people love watching a fool in a sequined jacket get gored to death. The crowd will be horrified, yet oddly titillated. Oh, and of course we’ll have to put the bull down because, damn, bull, you can’t just go around goring motherfuckers who wave red flags in your face! This aggression will not stand, bull!”
The bull is in a lose lose situation. In a fair fight, if the bull gores the matador, he would get to sip champagne and maybe get a lap dance from a cow with bedazzled spots. But no. Bullfighting is a bull death sentence. These bulls have been getting a raw deal for a long time, man! It’s about time they stopped this bullshit.
[video of Ricky Gervais being all serious and talking about bullfighting and how it sucks, after the jump]
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