The Balinese system for cockfights runs much deeper than I ever imagined. The concept of cockfights representing the struggles of men itself came of as a bit exaggerated to me before I read the passage, but that opinion of mine was quick to take a turn in the other direction. It is clear the cockfighting is a discourse community, broken up into an insane amount of smaller communities, which branch apart themselves. It reminds me quite a lot of professional sports in that regard.
People are fans of sports teams, with myself being a fan of the New York Jets. I am also a huge fan of what can be called "every team except the Patriots". The Patriots are a divisional rival to the Jets, and a much more successful team without a doubt. This does relate to the topic of cockfighting in a way, to me at least. To clear things up with an example, when the Jets play the Ravens, I'm rooting hard against the Ravens, but when the Ravens played the Patriots in last year's AFC Championship, I'm even more passionate than I am in games involving my own team, but this time pulling for the Ravens harder than ever, because more is on the line.
I think It's like this when outsiders come in to the village in Bali with their cocks. Bitter village rivals set it all aside to cheer on the home team. Although my example cannot be applied exactly as the Jets and Patriots are in the same division, it's the same feeling. Two sides who would vehemently oppose each other on any other day cheer for the same common cause. In my example there's just less chickens with steel blades attached to them and/or police breaking up games with machine guns.
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