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Full Episode: Blood Brothers

March 7, 2010 4:58 PM

Watch a special edition of "60 Minutes Presents: Blood Brothers." Bob Simon reports on Spain's superstar bullfighting brothers, Francisco and Cayetano Rivera-Ordonez.

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by gserrano221 October 30, 2011 5:49 PM EDT
People really need to give it up about contesting the validity of a bullfighting, which is central to Spanish culture. If people were really truly interested in learning something new and are welcoming to different cultures than they would not be criticizing something that CBS chose to create to show Americans what other parts of the world deem acceptable. Instead of looking at this as a mass murder of bulls, look at what the intention behind this episode is, TO MAKE PEOPLE MORE CULTURALLY AWARE. So please stop giving 60 minutes a hard time about a practice that exists, instead of denouncing it simply because you don't agree with it! My class of high school juniors is more open minded than you people!
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by SauliusK March 23, 2010 2:46 AM EDT
This is great! First, this is an interesting story. Second, it is against the media trend to keep all things politically correct. We want to see life as it is. Thanks.
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by jinxandme March 17, 2010 1:58 AM EDT
For many years I have watched 60 Minutes and regarded it as my favorite of all television programming. From your earliest days there has always been something particularly comforting and reassuring about the clicking of the watch, the senior correspondents and the relevance and depth of the stories you have faithfully reported. But, for me, that has now come crashing down because of the above referenced program.

So I'm writing to tell you of the sheer disgust I feel for whomever decided to air this program. That you would devote the entire program to glorify a family so deeply steeped in and devoted to the torture to death of innocent bulls, that just want to be left alone, is absolutely amazing! Never mind that bullfighting is a bedrock of Spanish culture and that you may have wanted to honor the Spanish people in some way, but the facts are that this was a very poor way to do it.

Yes, the bulls may still be given to institutions that feed the slain animals to the poor but if that was the real reason for this tragic spectacle they could just kill the bulls, hand them over and be done with it. The more I write the more disgusted I feel about this travesty in the name of charity. Maybe no one else but me feels the way I feel about bullfighting and your unfortunate choice of programming, but this is my say and I hope that CBS takes flak from your viewers for having produced and aired this terrible program. When I saw the first minute of the program I turned it off immediately. If you choose to answer this message I have absolutely no doubt that you will be gushing with justification for this program, how well it has been received and how positive your staff feels about having promoted this cruelty. Obviously I feel very offended and will be contacting your sponsors with my opinions as well.

T.Pittman
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by Caraed March 16, 2010 9:41 PM EDT
I was very disappointed with your reporting of the bull fighting Ordonez Brothers, that nothing was said on behalf of the bull...he who stands no chance of surviving. It dies a horrible, sadistic death, and no matter how big or even dangerous it is...it is innocent. I wanted to wretch as 'grown men were moved to tears by the grace of the bullfighters', but not a soul shed a tear for the bull (except me). And the chauvinism of the total disregard to their devoted mother's futile efforts that her son's not be bullfighters, but then one of the brothers reported that he would not want his son to fight...because it is dangerous! And how does a society that glamorizes this sort of so called sport treat other human beings? Specism=sexism=racism; it's all connected. It is no wonder Latin men treat women like ****...they are all matadors or wannabe matadors. Having previously been married to a Latin aristocrat, this episode conjured up some very repressed, unpleasant memories. I now better realize why I was so miserable in this marriage. It unfolded to me as I watched that poor frustrated, tortured, confused, doomed bull, championed by no one; that I was that bull in my marriage. This is the Latin way; romance, seduce, torture and finally the 'coup de gras' as the crowd (his family and friends in our case) cheers him on. I have learned so much since then. It is no wonder there are so many problems in this world with this kind of indifference to their suffering. I will devote the rest of my life championing those who can't or who are afraid to speak for themselves; battered women, children, illegal immigrants and animals. The way you aired this episode, you did a great job of helping these causes take a giant step...backward. You fell right into their trap of glamorizing this atrocity while downplaying the carnage. You instead glorified the handsome Brothers Ordonez...Spain's most eligible bachelors. Thanks for absolutely nothing.
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by Caraed March 16, 2010 9:35 PM EDT
I was very disappointed with your reporting of the bull fighting Ordonez Brothers, that nothing was said on behalf of the bull...he who stands no chance of surviving. It dies a horrible, sadistic death, and no matter how big or even dangerous it is...it is innocent. I wanted to wretch as 'grown men were moved to tears by the grace of the bullfighters', but not a soul shed a tear for the bull (except me). And the chauvinism of the total disregard to their devoted mother's futile efforts that her son's not be bullfighters, but then in turn one of the brothers reported that he would not want his son to fight...because it is dangerous! And how does a society that glamorizes this sort of so called sport treat other human beings? Specism=sexism=racism; it's all connected. It is no wonder Latin men treat women like ****...they are all matadors or wannabe matadors. Having previously been married to a Latin aristocrat, this episode conjured up some very repressed, unpleasant memories. I now better realize why I was so miserable in this marriage. It unfolded to me as I watched that poor frustrated, tortured, confused, doomed bull, championed by no one; that I was that bull in my marriage. This is the Latin way; romance, seduce, torture and finally the 'coup de gras' as the crowd (his family and friends in our case) cheers him on. I have learned so much since then. It is no wonder there are so many problems in this world with this kind of indifference toward suffering. I will devote the rest of my life championing those who can't or who are afraid to speak for themselves; battered women, children, illegal immigrants and animals. The way you aired this episode, you did a great job of helping these causes take a giant step...backward. You fell right into their trap of glamorizing this atrocity while downplaying the carnage. You instead glorified the handsome Brothers Ordonez...Spain's most eligible bachelors. Thanks for absolutely nothing.
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by camillako March 15, 2010 6:30 AM EDT
I'm sure a lot of people at CBS thought many viewers wouldnt GET IT... and unfortunately they were RIGHT.

Audience might not reward you on this one 60 minutes, but quality should still mean something so KEEP IT UP.

ps: to the shocked (mostly American) viewer, if you had a dollar for every ounce of hypocrisy you'd be BILIONAIRES!!! now grow up
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by dramacritic March 14, 2010 7:07 PM EDT
Congratulations 60 MINUTES for airing the outstanting program on traditional bull fighting in Spain today. Unfortunately many do not understand this drama. Your presentation was fair and unbiased. You will gain viewers as you present programs which are controversial to some. Another terrific program on 60 MINUTES!!!
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by mikeaceshadow March 14, 2010 4:36 PM EDT
Looks like Bob Simon enjoys animal cruelty with his coverage of Bull fighting. Shame on Bob. What a way to end a career!
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by pixienat March 13, 2010 2:45 PM EST
I'm quite sure if I was sent to camps in Indiana to avoid bullfighting, I wouldn't like it either.
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by curiousojorge March 13, 2010 1:24 PM EST
Bravo, Bob Simon!

While a unchallenged story like this might have been relegated to a five minute opinion segement on other networks, you took the reputation of investigative journalism at CBS to new levels with an expansive piece promoting the dying practice of bullfighting. It takes, as they say in Spain, cojones grandes to pull off such a feat.

You lead with the notion that bullfighting is "one of the most controversial activities in modern Spain." Yet, like a picador, you stuck a lance in the idea of showing both sides the controversy. Ole!

I'm sure some of your viewers would have appreciated a flagship news program like 60 minutes to take a balanced approach to a controversial issue. But as a veteran reporter you used a matador's steely-eyed focus as you watched the controversy disappear to the other side of your camera lens. Ol?!

What courage it must have taken in the two weeks you spent in Spain not to venture outside your hotel to talk to any one of the animal rights groups all over the country or to the state-run TV network, which has canceled coverage. Bravisimo!

I'm sure you know it would have been journalistic malpractice not to talk with anyone in the Catalonian parliament, which banned bullfighting. Of course, with a noble bow to the crowd of parliamentarians, you must have bravely edited that conversation out of your hour-long program.

I look forward to future valiant one-sided features under the 60 minutes banner. Right up your alley may be a piece on rhino hunts, where the victor awards himself the valuable horn of the stouthearted beast. You also seem well-suited to covering the long and noble tradition of dog fighting in America. Each of these practices are also controversial and have their share opposition groups - which you, as an esteemed journalist leading an investigative news team seem able to rise above and courageously ignore.

You should receive due recognition for this story. I'm sure it will live long in my memory and those of future journalists and reporters who should study it. If there is a Peabody Award for bull stories, you sir, should win the prize!
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