| | Bodies Exhibit
Did anyone watch 20/20 last night on this thing? I had no idea this was taking place - in fact, there was an exhibit recently in Atlanta. For those who don't know what it is, it is a museum exhibit with actual human bodies that have been "plasticized" and then placed on display. These are not mummified remains that have been discovered recently, these are people who have lived and died only recently, and then are plasticized to preserve them. The bodies are surprisingly intact, and most are posed in ways like someone throwing a ball, or dancing or other ways for the viewers to see the body in it's full form. Some are even sliced vertically so that you can view inside the bodies. These displays are extremely profitable too - it seems that there are many, many people that are going to see these exhibits.
20/20 raised the question about where the bodies are coming from. Clearly, just from viewing the bodies, you can see that many of them are Chinese, so of course, the question is, are these Chinese prisoners or dissidents that have been executed and used for profit in this way? And the answer is most certainly yes.
That is heinous in and of itself, but I think there is a greater moral dilemma. There are some companies that do not use Chinese citizens. They only use donors from the west who have given their consent. But, even with full consent from the donor, isn't the human body more sacred than to be put on display like that? I mean, these are people who have loved and lived and had children and wives and husbands. And now they are posed like they are about to shoot a hoop and people are staring at them and touching them. To me, it seems like a complete violation of the human body. And I know that the argument is that this is an amazing educational opportunity for people, but I have to agree with the rabbi who was interviewed last night (paraphrased) "Many things can be educational, but that does not mean that we should always use these things to educate us."
I was so disturbed by all of this, that it has been on my mind much of the day. I was tempted to put a link to the site on here, but somehow I feel
like I'm contributing to this just by clicking on their website.
Nevertheless, there are lots of sites on this stuff out there, and I'm
sure you can read more about it just by doing a simple search. I'm curious to know what some of you think. |
| | Posted 2/16/2008 8:41 PM - 79 Views - 4 eProps - 2 comments
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