My friends and I just saw an amateur bullfight, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I understand that coming from US culture I'm not okay with seeing animals get killed. But at the same time I understand that we eat meat everyday that is killed in utterly inhumane ways like blows to the head or slitting bellies while they're alive. So when a bull is killed in a bullfight it's out of respect and the animal gets to "fight", even though it's killed in the end, and then the meat is given to an orphanage. One of the biggest things though is that people go to watch it for entertainment.
I really need to let this sink in. On one hand, maybe the Spanish people are more conscious meat-eaters because they understand the animals that it comes from, when on the other hand Americans eat McDonald's everyday without giving two thoughts to where the burgers or the nuggets come from. And then we watch Super Size me and we're utterly disgusted. At least in Spain killing these bulls is an art form and has been a part of their culture for hundreds of years.
I feel like I need to do research on this, figure out how it started, what the debates have been, and where the debate is now. I also want to know how much Matadors get paid, how often they might die (this one lady that spoke English and Spanish was telling us how she saw a Matador get killed one time...) and try to see this as a whole. I think the worst thing for me to do is to outright hate it without trying to understand the cultural context.
I feel like it's a good thing that I waited 2 months into my trip here to go see one. I'm less likely to pass fast judgment on Spanish culture.
No comments:
Post a Comment