It's considered educational. It's considered a fascinating experience. Some may even consider it art. But there's no consideration to this little fact...
It's a display of dead bodies.
Ever since I've heard of the Bodies Exhibit down on display at the Cincinnati Museum, I've always felt a little unnerved about it. Dead bodies torn apart with their skin pealed off on display behind glass windows for people of all ages to press their noses against was just not my cup of tea. And to this day, no matter how educational it may be, I still consider it immoral. As a Pastor on the 20/20 investigation said, "Can you learn from it? Yes. But does that make it right? No."
Many people have attacked the Bodies Exhibit upon learning that it is unknown of where the bodies came from. While that is just one more reason to add to the list of why the display should be banned, it is not my first and most important reason. Don't get me wrong, I think it is VERY important to understand that these bodies could be prisoners of war, that the families may have no idea their beloved relative is currently molded together through a plastic process for strangers to peer in their insides. But even if the bodies were donated, even if the deceased had given permission to use their body for this very exhibit, I would still protest it. Here's why...
It's immoral. In a society where we take life so seriously, and severly punish those who destroy life, this display is a controversy to everything our country stands for. Many parents would think it's wrong to let their children see horror movies filled with blood and gore, but have no problem driving them down to see actual dead bodies in person. Many people are concerned with how the media influences violence on our society, from music to video games. Why isn't our country jumping on this? Why is it against the law to abuse a corpse, but yet people are paying to see how abusive we can be...and it's legal? It's not making sense.
My biggest concern is that this display is going to take the one effect I fear it's going to take...and that is desensitize us of death. Make death seem like it's okay, blur the line of how precious life is, and how once you cross it you can't go back. Death is something that is always going to occur in life, but that doesn't mean we should be desensitized to it.
There is nothing wrong with the death. In many religions it is considered what one would say good. In christianity it is when you 'stop suffering' and the oldest religions, like buddhism, and hinduism, truly look forward to it, because the belief of nirvana, they will get a better life next time. Even if you aren't in a religion that believes that why should death be sad, it is a rememberance of their life. However if you weren't trying to write about the actual desensitizing, but the way the bodys were in an exhibit, and you feel bad for the people, think about this part; they are from 3rd world countries, the living people in those families got paid, and what they got paid really helped their lives. Without understanding the body, the purpose of the musem, it is hard to live a healthy life, and to save so many others from being those bodies.
You're saying they got paid for using their relatives bodies (if there is evidence that that's true, which I have yet to hear of and am waiting for someone to actually provide). That's kind of like prostitution or being a stripper. Using your body to make money. Once again, against my personal morals, and what I thought were the morals of America.
Is it okay to put an abortion baby on display?
"Truth is the highway to freedom."
"Maybe all it takes is just one person to believe in what you are doing to give you the confidence to keep trying." - Sting
The bodies were donated by the families, if not by the people themselves.
Do you also oppose people donating their bodies to be cadavers in medical and dental school gross anatomy labs?
~C
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I oppose making it public. I completely understand that it is neccessary to do research on cadavers for medical purposes. I don't understand why a 5 year old would need to see what his or intestines look like in person. It's morbid to think about.
"Truth is the highway to freedom."
"Maybe all it takes is just one person to believe in what you are doing to give you the confidence to keep trying." - Sting
They weren't aborted babies, they were miscarriages...
How can death be immoral? It's a fact of life.
Furthermore, I strongly believe that the more aware of/ intimate with ("desensitized towards") death that a person gets, the more he or she affirms the value of life. (What makes life so precious/ sacred is its fleeting temporality.)
There is a difference seeing a person being killed in a movie or video game, and seeing a scientific exhibit. I wonder if the children even realize that these are real bodies, to them it could just be plastic.