Cockfighting, Kimberley.

I walked into this class to see the words 'Men and their Cocks' blazed across the whiteboard. This was a slide in William's lecture on the Balinese and their love of cockfighting.

Two cocks are pit against each other armed with sharp spurs. Without these spurs the cocks would not naturally be able to hurt each other. Bouts last 21 seconds each and the winner is the cock who lives the longest.

The Balinese men bet on the cocks, approximately five days wages. As the cocks are equally matched it is difficult to predicts winners and William told us nobody usually made any money from it. I questioned what their wives made of it all.

We were introduced to Clifford Geertz who studied the practice. The cockfighting is a way for the men to quench their thirst for blood and violence, so that they do not express it outside the fights. Whilst cockfighting is barbaric, violence never breaks out amongst the crowd, the referee is not heckled like in English football, and bets are paid without hesitation.

This links in with Baudrillard's theories as during the fights the men's identities are removed, and nobody is deemed a winner or a loser for more than a moment.

Most of my questions in the lecture focused on animal rights. William told us that cockfights still happen today, and my first thoughts were how have animal rights activists like PETA not campaigned against this like they have bear dancing . Many states have, and the American postal service is even planning an amendment to stop any mail relating to animal cruelty.
http://www.care2.com/causes/animal-welfare/blog/the-usps-proposes-a-ban-on-cockfighting-publications/

However, in the lecture we were informed that cockfights still take place in numerous villages in France, and they are allowed to providing the community can 'demonstrate long-standing cultural or religious traditions.'

I don't believe that this should wash as cockfights have been de-ritualised and made into a 'sport' where the people involved are there for money making purposes. Surely this discredits the reason the cruel practice is allowed to continue?