“Bodies: The Exploitation?”
“That means if I wanted to plasticate Grandma Betty, put a lampshade over her head and stick her in my living room, I can.”
Hmm. A tad extreme, but I suppose orthodox for a religious nut.
While no one seems to be plasticating close relatives for conversation pieces, there seems to be some controversy regarding the cadavers used for the extremely successful “educational” exhibition: “Bodies.” The exhibits are currently being run by competing companies in New York, San Diego, and our own backyard here in Las Vegas.
The first point of controversy is being raised by religious groups and practitioners arguing that the deceased should be respected and honored – not put on display.
“This isn’t ‘educational,’ people are making money. It’s entertainment. It’s exploitation,” one individual stated.
Personally, I find this extremely obnoxious. I only wish that more people made money doing things people can learn from, instead of focusing on purely entertaining ventures that do nothing for education. Everybody needs to make a living, right? I’d much rather have people go see “Bodies” instead of the WWE.
The second point of contention is the highly investigated question, “Where do the bodies come from?”
The answer seems to depend on who you ask. The head honcho for the New York exhibition stands firmly on the answer “donated or unclaimed bodies from China.” However, an anonymous man accustomed to working the black market in China says, “executed prisoners” … and even provided some photos of bodies he allegedly picked up to deliver to a plasticating lab.
According to the executive running the New York exhibition, the bodies are prepped for the show at a university lab. However, when this particular lab (identified by the New York exec via video footage) was questioned by the media – it was evident, and also confirmed -- that the lab was not, indeed, any sort of university. Which brings me to my favorite question exempt of any positive outcome: stupid? Or lying?
Another Chinese woman, enraged by the fact a large percentage of the bodies on display in New York are of the same descent, has already started rallying for further investigation into the alleged cadaver trafficking. Stating that since these individuals had lives and families like everyone else, they should not be on display unless they’ve specifically consented.
Luckily for her, I have a solution. For anyone that thinks it is an enraging matter to have bodies on display, let’s go straight to the source. Let’s ask the bodies their opinion, because I’m sure it’s as big a deal to them as it seems to be to the rest of the world. And next we can ask them how they feel about autopsies and embalming and sub zero refrigeration temperatures.
Because apparently we don’t have enough things to care about.
Precocious entrepreneur, workaholic and a rabid perfectionist Crystal Starlight knows a thing or two about getting ahead at a young age. Email her at [email protected]