Valuable sticks

[ariel]

Originally Posted by Tim Simmons

I am sure at a certain level there is a dark side to dealing in antiquities including weapons just as there is with things like precious stones. Some collectors with the means will always be able to say I want one of those "now".

At least since the mid 20th the idea of keeping human museum relics like the bones and skulls of the last Tasmanians and other folk is over. A disgraceful episode in British colonial history.

There is a "moving exhibition" of human bodies, skinned, preserved with special plastics and posed coquetishly (playing baseball, dancing, etc), that travels from city to city around the US (hosted by major museums !) and the admission price is $40. To the best of my knowledge, the cadavers were bought in India.
In my mind, this is a disgrace and abomination. And I do not know who is more depraved: the owners or the prurient visitors...

[katana]

BOTH.


I think it is important that death is realised. Death is something modern society tends to ignore. Our ancestors and many so called 'primitive' societies celebrated death as part of the 'circle of life'. Perhaps if we understood this concept more fully, we would celebrate life with more vigour.
But , using cadavers in life like poses is tasteless, and using the 'excuse' that it is art, is meaningless, it is just 'shock value' and 'hype'.

[Rick]

Depraved .

[Andrew]

The practice of dissecting and plasticizing cadavers is not new. Scientists first did this for educational purposes. I believe the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia, USA, has displayed some of these original examples.

Needless to say, this precedent does not excuse the practice of grave robbing (even in the name of science), nor the purient interest generated therefrom.

[ariel]

There is a major difference in the use of cadavers for educational/scientific purposes and contorting a dead body to twist the Hula Hoop for $40 a pop.
Students in medical schools are taught respect for the dead body and gratitude to the donor. No levity is allowed or tolerated.
Studies of skeletons of native people is important for anthropological purpose; having finished the measurements and having created computer-controlled plastic copies, the bones are returned to the tribe if requested.
Buying corpses from the Third World countries to create an anatomic Disneyland is abhorrent and no justification can be advanced for this sacrilege. The unspoken "mitigation" that those people were " natives" and, horror of horrors, poor strikes me as the worst example of racism and denial of humanity. Would anybody in his right mind take his kids to such a show?
This is NOT science and NOT education!
I am surprised that there is no legal action yet to ban these "exhibitions".
It is currently in New York, the world capital of liberalism and political correctness.

[Andrew]

Originally Posted by ariel

There is a major difference in the use of cadavers for educational/scientific purposes and contorting a dead body to twist the Hula Hoop for $40 a pop.
Students in medical schools are taught respect for the dead body and gratitude to the donor. No levity is allowed or tolerated.
Studies of skeletons of native people is important for anthropological purpose; having finished the measurements and having created computer-controlled plastic copies, the bones are returned to the tribe if requested.
Buying corpses from the Third World countries to create an anatomic Disneyland is abhorrent and no justification can be advanced for this sacrilege. The unspoken "mitigation" that those people were " natives" and, horror of horrors, poor strikes me as the worst example of racism and denial of humanity. Would anybody in his right mind take his kids to such a show?
This is NOT science and NOT education!
I am surprised that there is no legal action yet to ban these "exhibitions".
It is currently in New York, the world capital of liberalism and political correctness.

I was pointing out that the technology and practice have legitimate origins.

I thought this comment needed no further explantion:

Needless to say, this precedent does not excuse the practice of grave robbing (even in the name of science), nor the purient interest generated therefrom.