That the Mexican "Green Party" presents a reasonable proposal is a remarkably rare event, but that ought to be celebrated nonetheless: Together with the PRI, they suggest banning bullfighting in Mexico City.
I agree. I was raised on a farm and don't try to come between me an a bife the chorizo, but bull fighting, beyond history and traditions, is cruelty to animals, no matter how you put it.
It's not the first time they've presented this initiative, and it might finally pass with PRD backing.
Good. Ban it. Look to Barcelona.
Um, in Barcelona, the political sales pitch was that bullfighting is un-Basque, not cruel. It isn't particularly and I'm surprised that anyone could spin this as a "Green" issue. Fighting bulls are free-range wild animals, not domestic cattle, and bullfighting is one of the few ways to make prairie preservation economically feasible. The alternative for cattle ranchers would be raising feedlot cattle, an extremely destructive practice to both the land and the water table.
ReplyDeleteFull disclosure: we're preparing a book on the bullfight for late fall-early winter publication, that should have people asking Ernest Who?
I assume you mean un-catalan and not un-basque. Without assuming too much on behalf the catalans, though, I am pretty sure those who voted in favor of the ban did it in the name of ending animal cruelty, no? As for the Green party, whose pro-environment record is abysmal, it seems to me they are merely latching on to this as a "post-materialist" election issue.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to hearing more on your book, regardless!