How not to win la Guerra de los Toros, or The Cattle Raid of Cooley revisited
Some historical advice from an Irish perspective for Esperanza Aguirre on the pitfalls of attempting to demonstrate by symbolic means the virile and libertarian spirit of Madrid in the invented and regrettable conflict between it and doldrummed Barcelona.
Medb of Connaught on an Irish pound note: model for Queen Esperanza? (Image GNU from Wikimedia Commons) More photo-posts here.
Don Colin notes the possible benefits for her ambition to lead the PP of Esperanza Aguirre's absurd posturing re the crazy ban on bullfighting, which, unlike the state of the economy, is currently undergoing careful consideration in the Catalan Parliament.
Like her offer to open Catalan-speaking schools in Madrid, her stand is clearly intended as a metaphor for the Hispano-libertarian meme that, unlike in Barcelona, her administration will try not to get involved in the personal decisions of its citizens and businesses. This allegedly laissez faire approach--Gallardón, anyone?--is used to explain why Madrid appears conclusively to have superseded Barcelona as Spain's economic motor, which may not be saying very much.
What is missing, however, is a great imaginative coup, a dramatic demonstration of Madrilenian virility set off against Barcelona's faux-pacifist, -vegetarian, -sandal-wearing provincial decadence. And what better than a cattle raid to steal the bulls of Barcelona in order to slaughter them in Madrid?
The clearest historical model for Esperanza of Madrid in this case is another queen, Medb of Connaught, whose exploits, recounted in the Cattle-Raid of Cooley, provide a somewhat unfortunate precedent. For Medb sets out with a war party to crown her wealth by robbing the Brown Bull of Cooley, an over-sexed stud beast, only to find in her way, between epic bouts of drinking and shagging, Cuchulain, the Hound of Ulster.
I read that a piss-poor film designed to mitigate private clients' fiscal liabilities is due out soonish, which, although it may not appear in Barcelona due to Catalan-language requirements, may provide useful research material for Madrid's voters.
Of course there will always be those who say that the Story of Mac Dathó's Pig is the more appropriate analogy, and they are welcome to their opinion.
- Aguirre der Zorn Gottes (1)
- Barcelona (881)
- Brown Bull of Cooley (1) Táin Bó Cúailnge is a legendary tale from early Irish literature, often considered an epic, although it is written primarily in prose rather than verse.
- Bull (2)
- Bullfighting (3)
- Catalan language (46) Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian, as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island of Sardinia.
- Catalonia (998)
- Cú Chulainn (1) Cú Chulainn, also spelled Cú Chulaind or Cúchulainn Irish for "Culann's Hound"; and sometimes known in English as Cuhullin, is an Irish mythological hero who appears in the stories of the Ulster Cycle, as well as in Scottish and Manx folklore.
- Cúchulainn (1) Cú Chulainn, also spelled Cú Chulaind or Cúchulainn Irish for "Culann's Hound"; and sometimes known in English as Cuhullin, is an Irish mythological hero who appears in the stories of the Ulster Cycle, as well as in Scottish and Manx folklore.
- Donn Cúailnge (1) In the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology Donn Cúailnge, the Brown Bull of Cooley, was an extremely fertile stud bull over whom the Táin Bó Cúailnge was fought.
- Esperanza aguirre (5)
- Film (86)
- Guerra de los toros (1)
- Libertarianism (3)
- Madrid (152)
- Medb of Connacht (1) Medb – Middle Irish: Meḋḃ, Meaḋḃ; early modern Irish: Meadhbh ; reformed modern Irish Méabh, Medbh; sometimes Anglicised Maeve, Maev or Maive – is queen of Connacht in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology.
- Nationalism (88)
- Natural history (517) Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals.
- Sex (41)
- Spain (1423)
- Táin Bó Cúailnge (1) Táin Bó Cúailnge is a legendary tale from early Irish literature, often considered an epic, although it is written primarily in prose rather than verse.
- They're all fucking mad and God help us (1)
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March 7th 2010 07:05
My spiritual leader reminds me that any cultural policy is anti-freedom. Yes, but.
Meanwhile, maybe we should all be grateful we don't live in Switzerland: with a faltering banking industry and state advocates for animals, they'll all be shepherds and cuckoo-clock makers in 20 years time.
March 7th 2010 21:52
Economic motor you say? Don't make laugh: Ha, ha! They have a huge trade deficit, because basically they can't sell anything they do. I predict that in the next decade their GDP will plummet to the levels of Morocco, if they are lucky.
March 21st 2010 20:44
Primo, I'd say both Barcelona and Madrid are in the same position. Basing an economy on the construction of unwanted plywood flats was probably a bad decision on the part of Aznar and Zapatero.
Still as long as these cities' business and political elites can keep appropriating the surplus value created by workers in the service sector, I'm sure the party can go on indefinitely.