One Consequence of Coup de Culture is Death/Sex Decadence
Hedonism--the scratching of every itch, indulgence of very impulse, breaking of nearly every norm--is very much central to our ongoing coup de culture. Hedonism has consequences, one of which is decadence, which is defined as:
A process, condition, or period of deterioration or decline, as in morals or art; decay.
Decadence is all around us, of course, indeed so ubiquitous and varied that I usually leave these stories alone. But this one, I think, hits squarely on the concept of human dignity and its ongoing subversion. An "artist" in Germany has created a display of cadavers "copulating." From the story:
A new exhibition featuring preserved dead bodies having sex opened in Berlin on Thursday with critics saying a maverick German anatomist dubbed "Doctor Death" has gone too far this time.
No he hasn't: Why would anyone think there is such thing as "too far" anymore?
The couple, part of Gunther von Hagens's exhibition "The Cycle of Life", is the "low point in his tastelessness", Michael Braun, culture expert from the conservative CDU party told AFP. The couple, part of Gunther von Hagens's exhibition "The Cycle of Life", is the "low point in his tastelessness", Michael Braun, culture expert from the conservative CDU party, told AFP. Von Hagens said his copulating couples show the sexual act in "bracing clarity".
Ah, the elevated vision of the artiste:
The exhibition "offers a deep understanding of the human body, the biology of reproduction, and the nature of sexuality".
No, it's just cadaver porn.
Van Hagens is no stranger to controversy and his many critics accuse him of deliberately shocking people in order to gain publicity, rather than furthering science as he claims.
Ya think?
Three years ago he opened a factory-cum-museum in eastern Germany manufacturing "plastinated" sections of cadavers to supply researchers and medical students and charging visitors to watch the process. "I am firmly convinced that he just breaks taboos again and again in order to make money," Kai Wegner, another CDU lawmaker, told AFP. "It is not about medicine or scientific progress. It is marketing and money-making pure and simple."
But breaking "taboos" is all that matters in a hedonistic culture crumbling from the destruction of social cohesion. Further, hedonism denigrates human exceptionalism by reducing us to the level of instinctive and self indulgent beings living for the next, ever more nihilistic, thrill.
We can break this downward spiral only by seeing clearly what is happening and refusing to participate in it.
We can break this downward spiral only by seeing clearly what is happening and refusing to participate in it.
Labels: Coup de culture. Hedonism. Decadence. Human Exceptionalism.
posted by Wesley J. Smith @ 7:15 AM
15 Comments
15 Comments:
Gee, Wesley, if the exhibit bothers you so much I think you ought to pass it by.
"Cadaver porn"? Not unless cadavers turn you on?
"Violence Porn" is a new term, though it abuses the term "pornography," which is about sexuality. "Violence Porn" is all about encouraging people to view acts of deplorable violence against others.
For example, despite the requests of his family, Nick Berg's beheading is available online. While the family and others who think that it's wrong to display his murder as some type of entertainment are outraged and talking about violation of privacy, the viewers are talking about their rights to view whatever they want, and that anything is open to the public eye.
Yes, the exhibit is a bother and my money won't go to support it, either. My own concern is, how long before someone complains, "My mother's being turned into a work of art because my brother sold her corpse to this guy, but the rest of the family wants her cremated like she requested!" and is told that her mother's corpse is public domaine and can be displayed however anyone wants if she's been sold.
After all, that's also what's happening with the Daniel Pearl video, as well - you can find bootlegs of it online posted under, "It's my First Amendment right to show this! Freedom of speech outweighs right to privacy!"
And if you go to Google.com, type in "Nikki Catsouras" and the first thing that pops up is:
"NIKKI CATSOURAS Accident Photos :: Porsche Girl Crash Pics UncensoredShocking Pics of Nikki Catsouras aka Porsche Girl.
www.nikkicatsouras.net/ - 5k - Cached - Similar pages"
Some goon even emailed those pictures to her parents, even though the police couldn't bring them in to identify her body because they knew how disturbing it would be to see their daughter nearly decapitated. And no amount of effort on their part is going to get rid of all those photos on the Internet.
When you allow something like this so-called "Art Exhibit," then you clear the way for every tragedy, every personal grief, to become the next sensationalist show, passed around via the Internet, cell phones, any medium these days. We have a right to be concerned.
Does it have to turn you on to be porn, HistoryWriter?
It would seem that luxuriously self-indulgent people have no limit to how far they will go to make some of US laugh but I'm still not going to judge them as long as they stay out of my kingdom! :)
This story reminds me of the mid late seventies when I took my real estate course. One of our class was held in the university lab and to make this story short, after a class break one guy had taken a skeleton placing it beside himself and he really gave us all a good laugh.
Although it would appear to me Wesley that this guy you speak about is taking "IT" way too far but still I believe that God is the only one who can look into his heart of heart and know his true intentions and his lord god should really be the one to judge him but then we're all human gods also?
You think Victor?
Sometimes I do! :)
Since someone played the Word Police, the term "pornography" simply refers to a media that is "obscene". Colloquial use lends itself to referencing sexually explicit material only, but the word can be properly ascribed to all forms of obscenity. F.ex "The movie was pornographically gratuitous."
In regards to the story, why are people still paying attention to this insane man?
It's just sick.
If he's the only one doing this, I've heard of him before.. Thought it was going too far at the time.. This is certainly over the top..
Having experienced a handful of necropsies on stranded whales and captive dolphins, I can grasp the curiosity that drives grabbing certain rare opportunities to see what makes things work.. That type of hands-on knowledge, understanding can be proactively used to keep those still living that much healthier..
It was through that rationale that I could personally "deal with" what I assumed were cadavers simply "there" even though the other side of the thought process was fully aware some sizable number would patronize this deviant art solely for its gruesomeness, regardless..
His latest.... [garbage], though..
Yeah.
Makes me wonder what will come next (and likewise be fought for as socially acceptable) for the type of person interested in this type of thing to get their....
"jollies".
If I'm remembering correctly, there was not all that long ago an uproar over a starving dog that was supposed to have been tied to a post for people to likewise view its impending death as art.. That was eventually debunked as only an Internet rumor gone wild, but, frip, who knows anymore.
I agree with lanthe that "it's just sick." It's hard to know how moral relativists would say it's wrong. Maybe against their taste, but not wrong. We've had a "sez who" culture for 40 years. We've savaged Christian morals, said there's no right and wrong, right and wrong is within us and subjective to what we believe and want. We've stripped everything away and have nothing left. This kind of culture or this culture period, is exhausted and doesn't have anything to say. I think one of the biggest crimes baby boomers and older people have perpetrated on the next generation is not just all the abortion, dehumamization of life, and this depraved road apples etc ad nauseum, is our nihilism, moral relativism. What a crime. Whatever they do to us in old age will be far less than we deserve. I pray to God that they will have mercy on us, and like the Judeo Christian God, will not treat us as our sins and depravities deserve. I suspect someday historians will look back on this generation and ask why we weren't in an assylum or how we escaped the walls. This stuff posted today by SHS is mentally ill, morally depraved/bankrupt, and psychotic. We are living in a culture of psychosis.
Actually, there's a term now for porn in horror movies that feature torture:"gorno"
HW-are you hear for discussion or just to make snide remarks about Wesley's posts and other people's comments?
Becky -
I wasn't trying to be word police here, and I'm sorry I came off that way. (humble bow)
The general usage of "pornography" is tied to sexuality, and the way it's used in the term "violence porn," at least the way I've seen it used in articles in your average free newspaper (such as the Houston Press here in my neck of the woods), is that people are viewing straight violence, of graphic natures, for sexual purposes. Hence, my comment about abusing the term. That's all. It was a direct remark to HW's comment about it not being "cadaver porn" unless it turns you on.
Sorry again.
SAFEpres: I'm "hear" (sic) to point out BS when I see it. Next question.
Do you know the meaning of life?
The one question I like to ask:
So, you are going to BodyWorlds? Would you go to gawk if your dead mother was on display?
Then why should it be any different for someone you never knew?
Well this is what happens when split infinitives get the ok. Standards are standards. Now we don't have any any more. There's a reason not to split infinitives, there's a reason not to walk on the grass when there's a sidewalk, and there's a reason this and other things SHS finds alarming (as I do) shouldn't be.
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