tradition?

They were showing this on TVMobile while I was on the way to church this morning. It was one of those travel shows and this episode was on Spain. So they were doing this 5 things you've got to see while in Spain kind of thing and one of the thing that they were encouraging tourists to see was bull fighting. They showed an entire bull fight and then they interviewed a couple of people after to get their reactions.

The first thing that I noticed was the relative emptiness of the stadium. And the second thing that I noticed was that most of the spectators seemed to be watching for the first time. Most of them tourists no doubt. But one thing one of the interviewees said was this: Some people might think that this is cruel, but you've got to know it's part of their tradition.

So does being it mean then that tradition is a good excuse for cruelty? Well, I don't see anyone still sacrificing virgin girls trying to appease whatever gods there are out there. So why have we come to accept that cock fighting is bad will bull fighting is still acceptable? It seems just as bad but still as acceptable? Perhaps it's an leg thing. 2 legs good, 4 legs nevermind? Both sports result in the death of an animal. Just because in one sport, the killer is an animal that can think doesn't mean that the losing animal dies with any less pain.

I'm not asking the world to turn vegan. I'm asking the world to say no to trivialising lives. Even if the bulls are used to feed homeless orphaned children, there are more civil ways to kill a cow.