Oaf and ox / tales of bullying

Conflict

Ox pulling, Tunbridge World Fair / Trump campaigning in Burlington, VT

OX PULL: Along with the gaudy carnival midway and greasy food, one of the pleasures I took in New England summer fairs was ox pulls, where animals are hitched to multi-ton weights on skids. On command, the muscle-corded oxen, massive and shiny, must lunge forward dragging increasingly heavy loads of cement blocks straight ahead for a designated distance.

The competition had first struck me as a romantic collaboration of man (yes, almost all male humans) and beast. Only after getting home and seeing the resulting photos was the brutality evident, and I wondered how I had missed it. While some drivers guided the teams with calls and encouragement, others slashed at the animals with “goat sticks,” sometimes lashing their faces while the oxen strained with bulging eyes, spraying glistening garlands of spittle. Yoked together, they could not evade the blows.

Drivers claim the strain and whip don’t hurt the rock-tough animals. The Humane Society charges that owners sometimes administer drugs and electric shocks during training or deprive the oxen of water so that they can qualify for a lower weight class and thus pull fewer pounds to win. In addition to bragging rights and siring bounties, a successful team can earn $10-$20,000 over a season.

BULLY: Trump has been the quintessential bully throughout his career, a master of punching down.