A few weeks ago I responded to a piece entitled "A Vegan, Animal Rights activist's book in favour of bullfighting" - Or something along that line. Sorry I can't be exact... Or even direct you to the original post - As the owner of the blog "The Last Arena" has deleted it and rewritten it... This edit of course removed all comments, most from others who like me, were critical of someone claiming to be vegan yet condoning this horrific brutality.
The post in question was a review of the book "The Bull and The Ban" written by Catherine Tosko. Ms. Tosko believes "Without a shadow of doubt, the world would be poorer without the culture of bullfighting", and assures her readers that every thing about a bull fight (and the welfare of the bull) is totally transparent. She went to great lengths to say how she had witnessed the "care" given to these bulls throughout their lives and even up to the time when they entered the ring. She bases her notions on the fact that there are "rules". :/
Well from notes that I saved, this is what I had to say:
Rituals and traditions based in suffering and violence to innocent victims are hardly worth preserving - let alone - glorifying. It doesn't matter to the bull that some view his torture as some kind of reverence to an archaic "history" for sacred blood letting. Because I'm trying to live my life in a just way by causing as little unnecessary harm as possible... "Fighting" bulls and other "artistic" butchery, is repulsive to me.
As to the author's assurances that all "laws" meant to "protect" the bulls are being dutifully followed... I can't help but laugh at her naivete. Only someone very gullible would believe that folks who are employed by the bull-killing institution would follow any "rules" that would compromise their jobs. As Upton Sinclair aptly noted "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!". Likewise "not seeing things" happens all the time in our day to day lives... Does she think it would be any different regarding an animal set to be gouged and bludgeoned for the entertainment of a ticket buying audience? Absurd!
It sounds like the same ridiculous notion that American rodeo enthusiasts proclaim... I've heard it a hundred times that the animals are treated well... That there are veterinarians and officials that oversee the whole event. But time and again the undercover videos from SHARK (Showing Animals Respect and Kindness) documents what really happens in the chutes. "Bucking" horses have their tails twisted, their eyes jabbed, their ears pulled and they are prodded with ILLEGAL shocking devices. All in clear view of the judges! In comparison these bulls are released into the ring without the advantage of any "public" observation as to what may have gone on minutes before. I dread the knowing of it - But would be a fool to believe it isn't so.
Blog owner Alexander Fiske-Harrison responded to my comment along the red in tooth and claw lines that tigers eat gazelles, and that my views separated man from animals... (blah, blah...). He also romanticized that the journey on life's "ship" offered fair opportunities to seize and kill others, or some other such fodder. To which I replied:
Finally, anyone who justifies taking the life of another (as long as they lead idyllic lives prior) shouldn't mind if the friendly neighbor next door decides to burn their houses down... After all, he was very nice to you for years before that! The point is that the lives of these bulls, cows, horses, cats, dogs and pigs belong to someone else... They are not anyone else's to steal. Let alone to preserve some kind of macho-sadistic pleasure that bull-killing surely, surely is. I don't pretend to be a vegan without warts and flaws... But "vegan" Ms.Tosko misses the "bulls-eye" by a mile!
Respectfully... I'm neither plant nor rock - So of course I am an animal... A human one capable of making choices beyond what other species can aspire to. I and my fellow humans can direct our lives in more moral, more ethical and more compassionate ways. So whatever we were born "naturally" to do holds no demand on what we can opt to do by our own willful direction. The world and it's inhabitants will not suffer if we aim our sights on kindness towards others "less" endowed than us. I'm sorry if this reality troubles you - Though the arch of justice may bend slowly, it still points evermore towards justice.As I said, the piece has been revised and now Ms. Tosko is described as "a former Animal Rights activist"... For what it's worth as regurgitated nonsense... It's now here: The Barcelona Ban on Bullfighting: Two Years on… I suppose this post will remain public until the bull-fighting-supporter once again cowars in the wake of too much verbal and intellectual conflict. (?)
Sail away to become a fossil sir - You surely don't stand in the way!
Because of this re-adapting... And the subsequent removal of the rational challenges and opinions of others one can only conclude that Alexander Fiske-Harrison is indeed a moral milksop. We can also deduce that too in the way he dodges the ethical implications of eating animals. He admits that even if vegetarianism is an ethical mandate he still "lacks the will to do it". What a total pantywaist!
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| Black Bull by Rosa-Bonheur |
French activist Christopher Thomas rescued this bull Fadjen who was destined to be a "contestant" in a bullfighter's delusions. Both Fadjen and Christopher are now ambassadors of gentleness and nonviolence.
Christopher also explains more about bullfighting and his respectful relationship with Fadjen here and here.
There is also the story of the former bullfighter Alvaro Munera who is now an advocate against these ruthless bull murders.
And here activist Mark Hawthorne tells of his courageous journey from participating in the Pamplona running of the bulls to fighting for them.
So it's evident! We've seen who the true champions are and how generously they live their lives! While the cowards spinelessly retract their words and brutishly destroy life in a desperate attempt to fake the valor they lack. They cling to arenas full of empty people in search of praise that will massage their puny egos. With cunning they disguise their weakness with a theatrical display of "might". But it's a lie!
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| Ferdinand: The matador was mad because he couldn't show off his cape and sword. |
