Ethics versus family.

A small family affair a couple weekends ago found me with my son, my daughter, Anya, and her stepfather at the Telus World of Science to see Body Worlds 2 and the Brain.


I was listening to Jian Gomeshi on Q about a week previously and he interviewed a curator from Seattle (can't remember her name) who was part of a lobby that convinced city counsel to ban Body Worlds exhibits and others that display cadavers.  As Counselmember Burns said, "Crowds of people would line up as if they were at a movie theater, smiling and chatting as they waited. But they weren't going to see a film — they were going to see cadavers staged in poses, as if playing football or volleyball, for example.  They had no sense that these bodies were precious human beings to some family."   http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2012391385_bodies19m.html


Indeed.  


The Catholic Church and Falun Gong have both protested the exhibits, of which there are seven (one is of animals) that have been displayed in over 50 countries at different times since the mid-1990s.  They believe along with members of various Jewish sects (and I'm sure many other religious bodies), that this is a profound disrespect to the human body.  Their main contention, however, is that there is actually no proof that these bodies, which come from China, were volunteered by the individual or their respective families.  Rumours swirl and persist that these are executed political prisoners, some presumably Falun Gong and Christians. 


While the persecutions of Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, traditional Chinese faiths and Falun Gong by the Communist government is well documented (Christian & Falun Gong 2004, Falun Gong Wikipedia) there has not been much protest among Western nations given that trade with China is pretty much a total necessity these days.  Without poorly paid Chinese labourers, prices for toys, computer products, clothing, automobiles and etc. would be much higher. For almost no useful information on the controversies at all click a very biased (pro) wikipedia article on Body Worlds.


Protest against our own high standard of living?  Not many of us will. 


So I went to Body Worlds.  I didn't even realize that the controversial exhibit was showing at Science World until I was in line. What do I do?  Walk away?  This is the only time that I'll be able to spend with my daughter this weekend, visit with her step-father and spend an outing with my soon-to-be exhausted son.  Besides, is this the one that people are protesting?  Maybe it is a different exhibit, not the one I just heard about on Q.  This is my defence - I didn't know.

Ever seen the inside of a brain with a tumour or kidney stones in a splayed stomach or a three week old fetus in a jar?  Ever see a grown man sliced vertically into 15 slivers?  I did.  And I was shocked and not a little creeped out.  I have to admit, I also learned a fair amount.  But enough to be worth it?

I also took photos that I'll probably get sued for. 
Here is the best one taken slyly from my iPhone.

Gunther von Hagens (the main dude) seems like a bit of a Machiavellian creep to me.  He 'invented' plastination, is a doctor (although not a medical doctor), he is wealthy because he has turned dead humans into a sport of spectator consumption and ... according to his interview on Q can't actually prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that these bodies are not executed Chinese prisoners.  He also insists that he does this for the good of educating our children and ourselves.  Yeah right .....


It reminds me of the album Outside by David Bowie.  The album is a sort of dystopian, kafkaesque story of a near future where hanging body parts are all the rage in underground art galleries.  The album feels apocalyptic and Bowie is more graphic then Gunther.  He also doesn't pretend that this art is constructed for educational purposes and the good of humankind. It is purely voyeuristic, self-serving and shallow fascination.


I'l leave you with this rather disturbing song from the album.  You form your opinion about cadavers and the display of human body parts.  I have formed mine and you won't find me going again to another Body Worlds or anything similar. 


The Voyeur Of Utter Destruction (As Beauty)
I shake
And stare at the sun
Till my eyes burn
I shake
At the mothers brutal vermin
I shake
And stare at the watery moon
With the same desire
As the sober Philistine
And I shake
(Turn and turn again)
Worm, the pain and blade
Turn and turn again

The screw
Is a tightening Atrocity
I shake
For the reeking flesh
Is as romantic as hell
The need
To have seen it all
The Voyeur of Utter Destruction
As beauty
I shake
Turn and turn again
I shake
Turn and turn again
I shake