Madam, - Sean Alexander Smith's arguments in favour of bullfighting (August 26th) fail to pass scrutiny.
He says the sport is morally acceptable because it "belongs to a long, noble tradition". This commits the logical fallacy of argumentum ad antiquitatem, inferring "ought" from "is". One can think of many cultural traditions, accepted for centuries, which can no longer be justified; the systematic exclusion of women from political life is one example.
Mr Smith's claim that bullfighting warrants EU funding because it "attracts huge crowds" and receives extensive media coverage is an even weaker appeal to popular opinion as a basis for moral acceptability. The most gruesome spectator sports in ancient Rome elicited similar attention, just as public executions do today in parts of Africa and Asia.
He concludes by likening Irish drunken raucousness to bullfights, and asks smugly if animal rights activists would therefore support banning the sale of alcohol. Such behaviour is generally engaged in by people who are capable of making choices, unlike tormented animals goaded into a lurching frenzy for our primitive entertainment. - Yours, etc,
LIAM QUAIDE,
Spencer House,
Mayor Street,
Dublin 1.