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Bullfights are shows in which bulls are fought in closed squares following rules and points to finally kill the animal. In its modern form, the bullfight was born in Spain in the 18th century, however, the origins of bullfighting can be traced back to the Greco-Latin cultural roots, during the Minoan civilization.
If we take into account the torture process, the damage that is inflicted during the bullfight and the final death of the bull, to many of us it already seems reason enough for them to be prohibited. However, it is a controversial issue with some very staunch defenders and beyond what may seem logical to us it is always necessary to have arguments to be able to maintain a discussion. That is why in the following EcologiaVerde article we want to talk to you about arguments against bullfighting, explaining the reasons why they should be banned.
Arguments against bullfighting
They are a tradition
No one doubts that bullfighting is a tradition with many years of history, but that is not enough argument to continue doing it. Clitoral ablation, beating for adultery, or gladiatorial fights they are also or have been tradition at some point in some areas of the world, but that is not why we stop denouncing the cruelty of these practices.
Traditions serve to connect us with our past, a way to project our culture into the future and to reaffirm ourselves. But evolution is useful for something and, among other things, it serves to be able to look at the past critically, keep what is valid and eliminate aspects such as animal abuse.
Bullfighting is an art
Art is creation, construction, something that elevates the spirit and gives life, never takes it away. There are many renowned authors and artists who have been fascinated by bullfighting, but that neither is it reason enough to consider it art. Some of those who defend it say that bullfighting falls in love because it changes the animality of the bull, talks about the significance of death and projects in the fight for the life of the bull the struggle of man to escape from his animality and to survive, with a beauty that makes it transcend. Others speak that it is the fight for life between a bull and a man, be that as it may, as much as someone may like it, the discussion ends quickly if we take into account that if we remove all these beautiful words what we have left is an animal tortured and killed. Would we accept torture and death in some other area of culture?
The bull does not die with dignity
Dignity, as well as bravery, bravery or honor are moral and behavioral categories created by man and that they can only make sense in it. Categorizing a bull or any other animal with these adjectives is absurd, since he does not act with dignity or stop doing it, he simply defends himself. In addition, death does not stop being death, no matter how much patina of dignity you want to give it, when you fight it you are not doing the bull any favors.
There is still more, no matter how much we accept that the bull dies in a dignified way, despite having done so before the cheers of thousands of people, it will end up in a cutting room where it will be destined for human consumption, something that is quite far from what that we commonly understand by a dignified death.
Bulls are not culture
It doesn't take much to refute this argument, just listen and read what UNESCO, the United Nations Organization for Science, Education and Culture says about it. Well, almost 40 years ago, in 1980, this organization spoke about bullfights saying that bullfighting is the banal art of torturing and killing animals in front of public. Something that traumatizes children and adults, that worsens the state of neuropaths who see the show and denatures our relationship with the animal.
But it is not necessary for UNESCO to say so; cruelty, mistreatment and pain cannot be considered culture. Culture is the customs and ways of life that contribute to our development in one way or another, and animal abuse does not fulfill any of the points that culture should fulfill.
They are religion since some bullfights are made in honor of saints
The Catholic Church has repeatedly condemned the celebration of festivities in which there is torture and death of animals. Already in the year 1567 a papal bull was promulgated by Pius V in which this type of spectacle was considered bloody and clumsy, threatening to excommunicate to those clergymen, kings or emperors who promoted them. In 1920 the Vatican condemned them again, referring to the words of Pius V almost 400 years earlier. John Paul II also spoke about it, who remembers that in the Bible there is no distinction between men and animals. Thus, anyone who uses religious arguments to defend bulls should know that even from religion these acts are condemned.
The end of the bullfights would mean their disappearance
The bull is a herbivorous animal whose days pass peacefully while foraging in the pastures. In a natural state, the bull does not show any kind of "bravery" except when there is a territorial fight, if it is seen in danger or if there is a fight in relation to reproduction. The variety of brave bulls is made based on human choices of the most aggressive individuals, as well as other cattle that have been chosen to give more milk or more meat.
The point is that if the bullfights disappear, the bulls will not disappearThe bravery in this strain will simply disappear, a trait that is of no use in your life. A species is considered extinct when not a single individual is alive in the entire world and, today, there are about 2.5 million fighting bulls on the entire planet. All this without taking into account that the fighting bulls cannot be extinguished, since only the species can be extinguished and not the varieties.
The bull does suffer
Bulls are cephalized mammals with a central nervous system and a complex nervous and neural network, with pain receptors, so obviously feel pain the same way humans feel it. In fact, only after observing them for a few minutes to realize that at the minimum that a fly lands on their back they move their tail to scare it away. If you are able to perceive the fly, what will you feel when the flags, the spikes and finally the sword are nailed to it? But, in addition, in bullfights, bulls are not the only ones who suffer pain and can die. The horses that the picadors rideAlthough they now wear protections, they suffer trauma and pain during the run.
The bull is not born for this
Just because fighting bulls were raised to die in the bullring does not mean that they were born for that. That is as much as saying that dogs were born to participate in fights because some breeders use them for those activities. That man has created this subspecies from the choice of the bravest individuals for generations they do not give us the right to torture or kill them at our whim, nor is it the only luck that can await that animal. The genetic condition of the bull is not an inevitable hallmark of his destiny.
We have already pointed this out throughout the article, but if we consider it, any of these arguments can be countered with something very simple: they are something cruel. In bullfights an animal is tortured and killed, and for that simple fact they should be prohibited. In fact, it is so absurd that if it were practiced on a farm or in a slaughterhouse the same as in a bullring, those responsible would be criminally tried and sentenced.
Reasons to ban bullfighting
Here we give you a series of reasons bulls should be bannedHowever, surely you can find many more:
- Because they are a cruel form of animal abuse.
- Because in any place other than the square it would be considered a crime without any doubt.
- Because it is totally cruel to raise animals for the sole purpose of torturing and killing them.
- Because it is a form of animal exploitation.
- Because the meadows destroy biodiversity and desert forests.
- Because they do not live as well as they want to believe, in fact, they kill them when they have barely completed a quarter of their life.
- Because before going out to the plaza, the bulls are drugged, frightened and tortured.
- Because bulls are highly sensitive, sociable and intelligent.
- Because it is not a fight of equal to equal as they want to show, the end of the bullfight in the great majority of the cases is the death of the bull.
- Because 80% of pardoned bulls die after a few days from bullfight injuries.
- Because not only the bull is tortured, but also the picador's horses. Sometimes their vocal cords are even cut so they don't whinny.
- Because it is a practice more typical of other centuries than of the 21st.
- Because it is forbidden to drive without a seat belt or to enter a construction site without a protective helmet, how can you allow someone to get in front of a bull?
- Because it is only legal in 8 countries in the world.
- Because in the current situation, it is completely unworthy that public money is destined for this type of spectacle.
Anti-bullfighting phrases
- "The art of bullfighting consists of turning a beautiful animal into a bloody meatball in twenty minutes before an overjoyed audience" Manuel Vicent
- "Bullfights are the most disgusting, topical and out of date of our customs." Jesus Torbado
- "The public flocks to the plaza only to watch the meticulous death of an animal." Manuel Vicent
- "Bullfighting is the last stumbling block of an uncivilized humanity." Isidro Gomá and Tomás
- "What will these people find in that face [that of a bull] that, far from being moved by his vision, grows more barbaric?" Eugenio Noel
- "Hopefully one day we can shout: the bullfighter is dead: long live the bulls!" Eduardo del Rio
- "Bullfights are a vice of our blood poisoned since ancient times." Jacinto benavente
- "Among the cruelties, the most repulsive is that which has for its purpose fun." Dolores Marsans Comas
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