{"id":1195,"date":"2007-02-02T08:53:00","date_gmt":"2007-02-02T14:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/02\/if-you-love-your-roosters-why-raise-them-to-die-violently-and-painfully-for-your-entertainment\/"},"modified":"2007-02-02T08:53:00","modified_gmt":"2007-02-02T14:53:00","slug":"if-you-love-your-roosters-why-raise-them-to-die-violently-and-painfully-for-your-entertainment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/02\/if-you-love-your-roosters-why-raise-them-to-die-violently-and-painfully-for-your-entertainment\/","title":{"rendered":"If you love your roosters, why raise them to die violently and painfully for your entertainment?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I\u2019m struggling to understand and believe a quote from a cockfighting supporter published in this morning\u2019s Albuquerque Journal<\/a>. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Vincent Otero of Moriarty said during yesterday\u2019s Senate Conservation Committee hearing, according to the newspaper, that cockfighters care for their \u201cfeathered warriors,\u201d and said their \u201clove and devotion to these animals should be admired and respected.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Love and devotion? To breed an animal to die violently? To cheer as yours goes up against another and they slash each other to death with sharp metal? To smile with pride as yours cuts another\u2019s throat, or punctures its lung, and to watch as the opponent\u2019s bird takes its last breaths and blood spills?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

That\u2019s love?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

To gasp while yours gets its throat slashed? To stand silently as it takes its last breaths? To then breed another to take its place and eventually die the same way?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

That\u2019s love?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

If that\u2019s love, should we start fighting our dogs? How about our children? We love them, don\u2019t we? What about our elderly grandparents? Should we strap Freddie Crougar blades onto their hands and watch them go at it in the streets while we cheer and drink beer?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I can picture it now\u2026<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cWay to go grandma! Look at that old bag of bones gasping for air in the streets! See him crawling toward the sidewalk while blood runs from his neck? He\u2019s about to die! You showed him!\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But seriously: People actually do fight their dogs. It\u2019s illegal. And there are still corners of New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> where people fight their children for sport. That\u2019s also illegal, and it has nothing to do with love. It has to do with generational wounds families refuse to allow to heal, and it\u2019s very sad and disturbing.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Society doesn\u2019t accept dog or child or grandparent fighting. If cockfighting is about love and devotion, what\u2019s the difference?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t understand. I\u2019d be happy to publish a guest column from a cockfighting supporter who can intelligently articulate this argument. E-mail me at heath@haussamen.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I want to understand. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m struggling to understand and believe a quote from a cockfighting supporter published in this morning\u2019s Albuquerque Journal. Vincent Otero of Moriarty said during yesterday\u2019s Senate Conservation Committee hearing, according to the newspaper, that cockfighters care for their \u201cfeathered warriors,\u201d and said their \u201clove and devotion to these animals should be admired and respected.\u201d Love […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1195\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}