What is your attitude towards the man in the photo?
- Serve you right, bastard!
- This is an industrial accident, an occupational hazard. I don’t have an opinion.
- The poor man! (Poor bull too, if you wish.)
- Other. (Details below.)
My attempt to find enlightenment ( Bullfighting ) was relegated to the temp forum, and it is my sincere hope that this one doesn’t go the same way.
This is not about animal rights or sport. Please don’t discuss the bullfighting. I’m interested here in knowing people’s attitudes to violence towards people. Specifically, do people ‘deserve’ to be hurt?
[quote=“Huang Guang Chen”]I love seeing pictures of gored matadors.
Good enough for you, ya bastard. [/quote]
Serves the bastard right.
Sometimes I feel the same way when I see them get hurt or killed in a skydiving accident. It’s like, what did you expect? Everyone says, “ohhh look at that poor guy. he is living in a wheelchair because his skydiving acrobatics went haywire.” I say it’s bad, but I have no sympathy for him.
The bullfighter is worse because he is (was) profiting at the expense of a dumb animal.
There is a certain element of danger in that activity, for sure. However, choosing the one image that shows the worst of what can happen is IMHO of sad sign of the times, in that people also choose to watch videos of car crashes and fires and that sort of violent death and injury type things.
Would you watch a video of a guy whose parachute failed to open, see him bounce off the ground and say, “You deserve it you crazy fucker, that’s a dangerous thing to do!” ?
Yes, this guy chose to participate in bullfighting; yes, I think bullfighting is stupid and cruel; no, I’m not “happy” that he got gored.
There is a sick amount of violent and horrific videos/pictures on the web these days, and for those of us who are not desensitized, it is quite upsetting.
Well, if you take it upon yourself to do stupid things like bullfighting then you can expect to get hurt. It’s the same as people who undertake other extreme sports like diving, sailing, sky diving, riding a motorcycle and alike or participate in DIY without really knowing what they are doing.
Meeting a violent death while doing any of these is usually the fault of one or more of the participants, ie: their equipment wasn’t checked properly, their environment wasn’t properly considered, they weren’t concentrating or they didn’t brief themselves on the inherent dangers.
Perhaps because of stupidity or because you break a rule I may feel someone deserves to get hurt.
If you take a chance doing things like this then one day your turn will come around. When I fly a single engined plane I know statistically, for every 1000 hours I fly, my engine will fail once. But it is a chance I factor in to the equation.
What gets my goat is the doo-gooders who try to ban or curtail sports and activities because people get hurt or killed - particularly governments with stupid health and safety regulations. Usually it is the participants who get hurt and it was their decision to participate. So what?
I’m sure he expected his parachute to open.
I’m not against parachuting either, it has valuable uses. Just don’t expect sympathy when something goes wrong.
The same with air shows. Oh look the jets are flying toward each other, isn’t that dangerous, yes that’s why it’s cool. Ooops.
Like my old man says:
“you fuck with the bull you’re gonna get the horns”
Loretta,
For someone who seems to be dead set against violence, you sure do enjoy a battle. 
Please…continue.
I see in that photo that the guy has just stuck a three-foot sword into the bull. I hope his reward made him think a little about the consequences of that action. But I doubt that it did – after all, he just got his brain punctured by a horn. 
On the other hand, my little sister who is a vet lost her boss when he got crushed to death by bull that leaned against him in a pen when he was examining it. I felt sorry for that guy.
I think it’s a bit harsh not to give sympathy for an accident. While skydiving incorporates many inherent risks, one can still show a degree of sympathy if things go worng.
It’s the same if you drive a car. If you happen to be involved in an accident then it would be a bit harsh of me not to show any sypathy to you.
“Well Mr. M, It’s your own stupid fault. What do you expect if you go out in an object which can be proppelled at speed down narrow roads with other similar objects hurtling in the opposite direction? Stupid idiot.”
However, if you were seriously injured because you neglegted to wear a seatbelt, then it serves you right.
The same if you pick up a poisonous snake without training, drill a hole through a wall without checking for electrical wires and clean windows when standing at the top of a stepladder while leaning over. You deserve it.
In Taiwan, I feel relatively safe in my car. It’s when I am trying to cross the street that I get the adrenalyn rush and the feeling that I could die at any time. Next time, I’m going to start carrying a red cape. That’s a good idea. Anybody want to film it?
I won’t say someone skydiving or doing something risky “deserves it” if they’re injured or killed. I won’t gloat. But to the extent someone knowingly takes risks, my sympathy for them will certainly drop.
On the other hand, if they’re not only taking a risk to themselves, but are also endangering others or behaving in a violent or cruel manner, then they indeed “deserve” it if they pay a price.
Well that’s quite strange. Just checked the poll and despite the comments erroneously lifted out of context by Lorretta, voted poor chap, poor bull, but clearly many more (thus far) think, sod him.
Softy that I am I don’t really revel in anybody’s pain. That maybe from working as a nurse, although somewhat hardened to the spectacle of someone in agony, I can’t help feeling sympathetic no matter who they are.
I also worked in a Chinese medicine clinic in Sydney with a very good friend who was in the Australian skydiving team. Since we usually worked Mondays, invariably I’d hear of any parachuting accidents from the previous weekend . . usually such as “oh you hear about Johnno? He bounced yesterday.” Amazing. But as he maintained, no one’s doing it to die, the’re doing it for the buzz.
HG
I only ever knew one guy that was into sky diving. He only got both legs broken once. I don’t think he does it anymore.
Now that’s a tough question to answer… Who “deserves” anything really?
No sentient being, human or animal, really “deserves” to be in pain, but:
[quote=“Dragonbones”]
On the other hand, if they’re not only taking a risk to themselves, but are also endangering others or behaving in a violent or cruel manner, then they indeed “deserve” it if they pay a price.[/quote]
I tend to agree with this.
Is it just me or does messing around with an angry bull like that seem pretty dumb?
Must seem particularly dumb when you got a horn sticking out yer arse in front of packed and blood-thirsty crowd.
HG
I really have to say that I do not enjoy seeing any living thing suffer. Not that I don’t like to eat, or that I have never caused suffering, but…
Yet, for people to get a giddy kick out of some perceived irony involved in someone else’s pain…let alone an animal’s pain…well,
you do the math
jds
How is that bull gonna clean off its’ horn if he doesn’t have any hands?
That’s what the cape’s for. Anyway, it won’t have to put up with it for too long.
HG