Two weekends ago, our program invited us to go to a bullfight, so I went, along with most of the people in my class. Beforehand, we got two lectures about the history and culture and strucutre of bullfighting, and I'm really glad that we did because otherwise I would not have had any idea what anything meant or why they did the things that they did. I wrote a reflection on my experience at the bullfight for my class, so I'll post it here for you to read!
One of the things that is highly associated with Spain is the bullfights and I am glad that I had the opportunity to see one. Although I have mixed feelings about whether or not I support them, I can still appreciate the beauty and the sense of tradition that comes with it. I am a sucker for tradition and I love the thought that something can travel from generation to generation with barely any change. I am also a sucker for things that showcase athleticism, dedication, and art. Combine both of those with my displeasure at the thought of teasing an animal for the entertainment of others, and I have quite a moral dilemma on my hands.
From my conversations with friends, it seems like for most people, the biggest problem they have with bullfights is the fact that they kill the bull at the end. To me, the biggest problem is the fact that we make a spectacle of killing the bull. It reminds me of how hundreds of years ago, people would gather to watch other humans be tortured and executed. It bothers me that people, myself included, can enjoy what ultimately is a prolonged and staged execution of another living being for almost no reason. I understand that the entire bull is used for meat afterwards, but I still have trouble justifying the show that people have made out of the ordeal. Normally, this is where my love of tradition would come and save the day, but the more I think about the origins of bullfighting, the harder it is to rationalize. As we learned in class, the matadors were originally wealthy and fought the bulls on horseback. I may be mistaken, but the more I think about it, the more it seems like bullfights started out simply as amusement for bored wealthy men rather than something that evolved from anything more meaningful.
Something that soothes me a little bit though, is that the die-hard spectators do seem to care about the dignity and respect for the bull. They did not hesitate to express their displeasure if they felt the bull was being treated unfairly. True bullfight aficionados have great respect for the bull, but maybe it is a different type of respect than what I am accustomed to. It seems that whereas I consider the mental and psychological welfare when I think about respect, bullfight aficionados think more about the power and brute force that a bull can exert. This probably all boils down to simply a difference in the way we think about animals – maybe to them, bulls are animals and animals do not have thoughts like we do – therefore, we do not need to worry about whether he feels embarrassed, tricked, frustrated, or any other human emotion.
Also during that weekend, I went on another program trip to a pharmacy museum that they had set up with UC Davis alumni who are in Spain. That turned out to be more interesting than I expected, but I don't think I enjoyed it as much as I could have if I hadn't been so tired. I also ended up going to the zoo that weekend with some friends, which was fun. It's pretty much the same as all other zoos, although I did notice that nobody seemed to pay attention to the signs that said "Do not feed the animals" and "Do not tap the glass" ...there was way too much animal feeding and glass touching...it was still fun though! My three favorite parts where playing on a big spinning teeter-totter type thing, playing in a giant plastic ball that floated on water, and feeding the flamingoes (we were actually allowed to feed them - there was special food and everything!)
Overall fun weekend :))
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