bucking bronc, lewiston, utah, 1993
"the question is simple: is it civilized to make sport of animals' fear? maybe not. but rodeo is not very civilized in general. as a throwback to the frontier, it's close to the moral equivalent of war in a negative as well as a positive way: all the drama and try of it depends on an inevitable—and unfair—cost to both the humans and the animals. there is no way to untie that knot."
text from "rodeos: behind the chutes," september 1999, national geographic magazine
摄影者:james p. blair
驯马牛仔,路易斯顿,犹他州,1993
问题很简单:利用动物的恐惧发展而来的体育运动是否文明?答案可能是否定的。马术竞技和一般的体育运动相比并不是很文明。犹如在尖端领域的大倒退,对马术竞技问题的讨论更接近于对战争在道德层面的否定:所有的激情与尝试都不可避免的——甚至是不公平的——要人类和动物付出代价。这是无法解开的结。