Speaking of a lot of bull...
Away from Capitol Hill, there is no place where vicious bull runs free like it does in Pamplona, Spain and this year has been especially bad.
It's amazing how the press deals with some subjects like animal abuse. Because the Running of the Bulls in Pampalona is cloaked in all kinds of romantic imagery, and bulls are big formidable beasts, little is made of the cruelty of subjecting bulls to this strange ritual primarily in Spain. Why do we think running with the bulls rates high on a lot of weirdos' bucket lists.
Sadly, one person has been killed this year in this annual atrocity. Daniel Jimeno Romaro, a 27 year old Spaniard from near Madrid was gored to death marking the first human causality since 1995, a statistic which is often used to make it seem like for all the hoopla no one has died recently. Well, doesn't one death resulting from something so silly seem excessive? There are dangerous events where safety precautions are taken where if something terrible fails, a person might get killed such as fireworks displays and auto races, but the intention is to create an activity that is implicitly safe. Likewise, how many kids drown in swimming pool accidents?
It's hard for us to look at the world press and get a body count, but since Romaro's death, there have been at least four more serious injuries.
We'll give the media credit. To our knowledge no cable station yet broadcasts or promotes live coverage of these atrocious bull runs.
Call it what you like or say we're culturally chauvinistic or elitist, but what goes on in Spain and elsewhere is insane. While they proudly boast only 15 people have been killed since 1924, how would any community react if it had an annual event that would result in that many deaths as a direct result of the festivity's activities? Changes would be forthcoming.
We are but one world voice who hopes to stir up more conversation to reveal this cultural event for what it is and hope the people of Spain will end it.
No comments:
Post a Comment