Blood and Passion

Rented the movie 'Blood and Passion'. It covered the life of a famous Spanish bullfighter on the 1940's called "Manolete". It's a pretty good movie about the bullfighting culture and its heros and horrors. But try as Imight, I could not get my head around the barbarity of the ritual. The bulls are literally tortured to death and the crowd loves it. But I guess all cultures love to see death -- witness car racing, horse racing, rodeos, dog fighting, cock fighting, boxing, hockey, mixed martial arts....I could go on and on. We just love to see people and animals being tortured or killed.

Watching an episode of 'The Tudors' last evening right after the movie reminded me that we were torturing and killing people back then with reckless abandon, all in the name of a maniacal King Henry VIIIth. In blood sport today, I don't mind the people part because they choose to do it. But the innocent animals I can't handle. But please don't ever ask me to conjure up images of abatoirs! I will continue to insist on a total disconnect between the meat I eat and the manner in which it is served to me. I dabble in vegetarianism via many meals -- and even contemplate the lifestyle now and then -- but I always chicken out (excuse that hideous pun) because I just love meat.

Underneath the fragile and thin veneer of civilization by means of which we co-exist lie barbarism and cruelty. It does not take much to release them.