tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5039225989278468597.post304117188266988982..comments2024-03-28T11:37:24.179-07:00Comments on Mondo Ernesto: COCKFIGHTING IN CYBERSPACEERNEST HOGANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16540897948215678872noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5039225989278468597.post-59329950332438859892010-04-07T10:18:47.338-07:002010-04-07T10:18:47.338-07:00CF, don't forget that bettas were also specifi...CF, don't forget that bettas were also specifically raised for betting purposes. Those big fins were selected for in captivity, mostly because they produced larger and larger displays when the fish saw an opponent. (Every once in a great while, you might actually see a female betta in a pet shop. The females haven't been subjected to endless human selection for color and bloodthirstiness, so they look very much the way both male and female wild bettas appear.)<br /><br />Now, Ernest, on the subject of changing attitudes toward cockfighting, Texas finally banned it officially after George W. Bush left the Governor's office, but its ending hasn't left people that thrown for a loop. It's much like how pit bulls have gone from being banned as an "aggressive breed" to becoming a valued family-friendly pet. (I've met a lot of pit bulls in Dallas, and every last one I've met has been a friendly yet protective sweetheart because that's how they're raised. I don't worry about being mauled by a pit bull: I look at a lot of overbred and inbred breeds such as chows or Dalmatians, and they scare the hell out of me.) Instead, what I'm seeing is a logical online return to the old tradition of Chinese cricket fighting, as evidenced with <a href="http://www.gladiatorbugs.com/" rel="nofollow">Gladiator Bugs</a>. Bill Hicks said it first (and Denis Leary plagiarized it): we only want to save the cute animals, and the reason why nobody's complaining about arthropod fighting is because precious few can express sympathy for scorpions or roaches.<br /><br />For some reason, I keep thinking of George R.R. Martin's short story "Sandkings", with the idea of insectoids that naturally fight wars. I also figure that Willis O'Brien and Ray Harryhausen were onto something about how people <i>would</i> pay to watch dinosaurs fighting to the death. I leave you with a little bit on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantophasmatidae" rel="nofollow">Mantophasmatodea</a>, a suborder of carnivorous insects thought extinct for 40 million years until living specimens were described in 2002, and I look forward to the classic Ernest Hogan synthesis.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5039225989278468597.post-71572568828062402010-03-31T08:23:16.840-07:002010-03-31T08:23:16.840-07:00"Kamikaze sperm delivery systems" - a be..."Kamikaze sperm delivery systems" - a beautiful phrase. <br /><br />Don't forget bettas, aka Siamese fighting fish. You see them in pet stores, circling endlessly around their small bowls, sentenced to see the enemy and never engage.CF Yankovichhttp://blog.catescorral.comnoreply@blogger.com