Posted on 01/26/2008 10:48:27 AM PST by JACKRUSSELL
“A school took children to see this??
Our school system is truly run by freaks. Wierd freaks.”
I went to the Beijing Natural History Museum when they had a display of the human body — one huge section had everything you could imagine (two men and a woman laminated with each cut away in different portions, and along the walls there were organs, wombs, arms. legs, reproductive parts, etc.). The floor had a group of kids on a field trip but these kids were about 10 years old.
I have mixed feelings about this. I happen to believe if you see how complex the human body is it can be a spiritually enlightening experience. A young woman with me who started viewing the section containing children preserved at different stages of fetal development actually told me her pro-choice views were shaken when she saw what a baby really looks like in the womb. Something to consider.
I think the commercialization of death more than anything. It just strikes me as being very much contrary to the respect that was offered to the deceased throughout the scriptures, as when Joseph left instructions for his body to be returned from Egypt to Canaan, or when the men of Israel walked all night to recover King Saul’s beheaded body from the wall where the Philistines had pinned it.
I heard that the first pioneering show featured bodies that in fact had been gotten from executed Chinese political prisoners.
“We as a society have lost respect for the value of life.”
The displays themselves are not disrespectful or gruesome. How they acquire the bodies is extremely disrespectful. I disagree with your equating someone curious about the human body to abortion.
I respect that. I guess I always considered my “dead” self much as a shell. Worm food if you will. Mad kudos to you for doing what you know is right.
I don't wonder. And from what I hear the bodies are not of elderly people. Probably dissidents.
just my preference. besides, it looks pretty cool.
I have seen it and took my kids. It was really amazing. Definitely helps to understand how the body works. I don’t understand why anyone would have a problem with it. At first it might be a little uncomfortable, but once you get used to it, it is an awesome display of how detailed and incredible the human body is.
I think the standard way of doing this is to inject a plastic substance in the blood vessels and dissolve the body away with acid.
“We as a society have lost respect for the value of life.”
Have you seen the exhibit? I don’t think so, because if you had, you wouldn’t find it disrespectful at all. The human body is an amazing machine, a fact that many don’t really think about. When viewing the multiple systems of the body, and seeing how intricate and detailed the interaction between systems is, it creates an appreciation for life, and the gift of a healthy human body. Nothing about this exhibit minimizes the value of life.
If you’re EMS, then you’re probably looking for places to tape.
Yeah, and admiring those big, accessible veins!
So true. I saw a TV mini doc on this and they had healthy organs next to those eaten away by cancer. In particular—the lungs. I could see this exhibit creating many dreams of a future in the medical field or as you suggested, a healthy lifestyle. Having said all that, where the specimens come from is an issue for me. *darn it*
Three Rules of EMS
A)All bleeding eventually stops
B)All patients eventually die
C)If you drop the baby, then pick it up.
The problems with it are that (A) the whole thing is based on a lie - the “donors” were most likely political prisoners who were executed by a repressive government. Those are the bodies of young, healthy people. (B) Someone is profiting from the display of their bodies. (C) Our society becomes less and less respectful toward others’ lives. It might be “neat” and educational, etc. but a dead human body should not be displayed for entertainment.
A lampshade made from the skin of a WW2 concentration camp victim probably lit a room beautifully.
I went to one of these shows. The one I saw was not “Body Worlds”, but was called “BODIES .. The Exhibition”. It was more tasteful than is characterized by some of the pictures you show. It was well organized and gave me a greater appreciation of the structure and complexity of the human body than could ever be obtained from diagrams or models. I would go back and I would recommend it to everyone except younger children. I think a lot of the critics would be silenced if they actually attended the show that I saw.
...on the flip side, death has become the most taboo of subjects, which is odd, considering that everyone does it.
I agree. This field trip has more educational value than most I read about. I would have loved to have seen this as a child. I might have considered a field in medicine.
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