My wife and I spent 10 days of our honeymoon in the beautiful country of Spain. One of our goals for the trip was to immerse ourselves into the culture as best we could. We ate new food, adapted to the different hours, and participated in the various Spanish "rituals." In addition to the stunning Flamenco dance, we witnessed a hallmark of Spanish culture since Roman times: bullfighting. After multiple slaughtered bulls we left feeling guilty and ashamed for supporting this blood sport. Had we made a mistake by participating in this cultural event?
For the bullfighting novice, the event takes place in three "Acts." Act I involves wearing down the bull with spear thrusts from horseback and the more traditional "dance" of the matador.
In Act II, the banderilleros (helpers to the main fighter) charge at the bull and spear him with small, barbed weapons. The final Act involves a showdown where the matador systematically lures the bull to charge him before whirling away. Finally, the matador charges the bull and attempts to skewer his spinal cord with a short sword. If successful, the bull shortly succumbs. If unsuccessful, the banderilleros come back in and help the matador fully exhaust the bull. Eventually, a dagger is plunged into the bull's brain.
This entire process is fairly graphic. Blood flows profusely and there is always the chance of death. In fact, the day before we went a 20 year old matador was killed. Feeling chagrined after the fight, we decided to research bullfighting and were not terribly surprised to discover that Spaniards are themselves split concerning the honorable nature of their national pastime. Only one-third of Spaniards even follow the sport. One region, Cataluña, has completed banned bullfighting while the federal government has prohibited its broadcasting on public TV. Yet, government officials still attend the fights. Also, in some regions little Spanish chicos still daydream about becoming matadors--and are encouraged to do so.*
Realizing that many Spaniards themselves dislike bullfighting, we felt justified in denouncing the legitimacy of the sport. We decided to discourage others from making our mistake, and we still feel bad that we used the naive tourist excuse to justify seeing a fight in the first place.
On the flight home Maria watched the movie "Concussion" starring Will Smith. After the flight we discussed the movie at length and came to the startling realization that the sport we both love suffers from many of the same negative attributes as the Spanish sport that we were both so quick to condemn. Participants in both sports risk severe injury and potentially death in their participation. Yet both athletes are glorified in their culture. In both sports, innocents are harmed. The bull is obvious, but there is also research by anti-trafficking organizations to support the idea that human trafficking does increase around the Super Bowl. Despite many of its factual flaws, "Concussion" does highlight the clear link between repetitive impacts and serious brain damage. The truth is hard to discern, but a solid glance at both sports reveals striking similarities.
Fundamentally, both events promote a culture of violence where potential injury and even death is avoided at all costs but still almost expected. The question we raised for ourselves is, can we honestly condemn Spain for their "barbaric" blood sport while still cheering on our favorite team? This might make some readers like me less, but both Maria and I are devoted Seahawks fans born and raised in the PNW. We eagerly look forward to the game every Sunday, and we would love to be able to condemn bullfighting and support football in the same breath. At least for now, however, to do so seems intellectually dishonest. We either have to condemn football, reevaluate and accept bullfighting, or find some substantial difference between the two to merit split perspectives. So far we have no answer.
It is a surreal experience to watch a throng of thousands of Spaniards cheer on the ritualistic killing of an innocent animal. I can still hear their shouts of "Ole!" The question we wrestle with now is can we honestly shudder at "Ole!" while we cheer on "Sea! Hawks! Sea! Hawks!"
*Info on history of bullfighting from Rick Steves' Guide to Spain, 2016 edition.
