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Peoples attachment to cadavers?

bozothedeathmachine

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bozothedeathmachine
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
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I was watching the news last night about the amazingly long line of mourners visiting Reagan's casket and it got me thinking what people's obsession with dead bodies is. Non-believers just think the person checked out, end of story. Even religious folk believe the soul is in afterlife and all that's left is an empty shell. Either way, Elvis has left the building. What purpose does it serve to see the box (not even the body) that supposedly holds the corpse? My grandfather recently died. Ever the pragmatist, he wanted to be cremated and didn't care what happened after that. He said the cremator could throw his ashes in the trash can for all he cared. That's probably the most sane last request I've heard.

So, what gives? Why are people so obsessed with 180+- pounds of rotting meat?
 
bozothedeathmachine said:
. . . So, what gives? Why are people so obsessed with 180+- pounds of rotting meat?
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I suppose we could view it not as an obsession, but simply a show respect for the deceased. It's one way (albeit it could be seen as an odd way) to demonstrate that we thought highly of the life the departed lived.

Remember, mourning has very little to do with the person who has died, and everything to do with those who survive. And in many cases, we still don't know how best to deal with mortality, which can lead to some otherwise odd behavior.
 
It is the same as holding onto something that the deceased owned. If a good friend of mine died, I would like to have something that they cherished, as a sign of their continued presence in my life (in my memories, in shaping who I am, in my prayers, etc.). It isn't that the corpse IS the person any more than the necklace/book/whatever is. It is a sign. In a loose way, it is a sacrament.

I think the real problem is that you are being rational about something that isn't rational. I don't mean that honoring the dead is irrational so much as it is arational. People do it because it is an obvious and natural thing to do, not because they have a logical reason.

If you try to come up with a reason for the obvious and natural behavior, you end up with bizarre logic. The action just doesn't come from that part of the brain. . .
 
As you may know, following the death of a loved one, your mind can start playing weird tricks on you; you dream about them, you think you hear their voice, etc.

Seeing the body is a good way to keep in touch with reality when this happens. It's dead, ok, move on.

On the other hand, I have absolutely no problem believing that a 93 year-old whom I've never met and who's been dying for a decade is gone.
 
To believe that the person is truly dead, what's more scientific than seeing the corpse for yourself?
 
There is an old saying "Funerals are for the living, not the dead"

I assume that people want to have the body so they can say hteir goodbyes, even if it is only in a symbolic way. I was pretty much an atheist by the time my grandfather died. When I said my goodbyes at the funeral, I harbored no illusions that he could hear me, but it still made me feel better to say them. Does that make sense?
 
shemp said:
People attached to cadavers? Is this some sort of Olympic event, like a three-legged race, except one participant in each pair is dead?
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Conjoined twins, and one is still-born.
 
bozothedeathmachine said:

So, what gives? Why are people so obsessed with 180+- pounds of rotting meat?
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Ell if I know? By the way, what do you get when you cross an elephant with a rhinoceros?
 
What we have here is more a matter of fascination with celebrity than a fascination with corpses. If Reagan were not dead but in a coma and the family let people walk by his hospital room and look in a window the lines would be just as long as they are now.
 
Ever the pragmatist, he wanted to be cremated and didn't care what happened after that. He said the cremator could throw his ashes in the trash can for all he cared. That's probably the most sane last request I've heard.
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I would consider it more sane (or perhaps more rational) to donate one's useful organs for transplantation and then donate the rest of one's cadaver to a medical school for anatomy class disections. It costs less than any other alternative and it directly and indirectly helps others.
 
bozothedeathmachine said:
So, what gives? Why are people so obsessed with 180+- pounds of rotting meat?
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I think it's ancient and contains a lot of mythology that is misunderstood in today's world.

Our ancient think-browed ancestors used to adorn the dead with flowers and plant them in the ground to encourage the re-birth of the loved one.

The dead nowdays have their hair done, make-up applied, pressed suits donned, jewelry attached - and then we plant them in the ground.

We still do the same thing, but the mythology is lost on us.
 
Personally, I'd like to have my body donated to cannibals. That way, I know that I am helping at least a few specific examples of the human race.
 
Bubbles said:
Personally, I'd like to have my body donated to cannibals. That way, I know that I am helping at least a few specific examples of the human race.
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We got the long pig in the ground. We got the beer on ice . . .


Wait. You're not a clown, are you?


Perhaps you should travel with the Brazilian soccer team. Justin case.


I understand it tastes like chicken.
 
Ladewig said:


I would consider it more sane (or perhaps more rational) to donate one's useful organs for transplantation and then donate the rest of one's cadaver to a medical school for anatomy class disections. It costs less than any other alternative and it directly and indirectly helps others.
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Cancer took him out so I doubt anyone would've wanted the organs. Not sure his reasoning for not donating the rest of his body.
 
I've always found the practice of pre-funeral viewings to be barbaric. At my great-grandmother's funeral I kept hearing my relatives commenting on her appearance.

"Doesn't she look great? I think they did a wonderful job on her."

Ummm...no. She looks dead, and she smells like formaldehyde to boot.

I've actually been at viewings where people posed for photographs in front of the open casket. That's just plain bizarre to me.

Speaking of postmortem photography, check out this creepy archive. :(
 
Phil said:

We got the long pig in the ground. We got the beer on ice . . .


Wait. You're not a clown, are you?


Perhaps you should travel with the Brazilian soccer team. Justin case.


I understand it tastes like chicken.
Click to expand...

Remember, this is only valid if I died WITHOUT help from the diners.

To get back to the topic, I think the problem is that our culture now changes faster than our liturgies. A practice like a viewing did, no doubt, meet the psychological needs of people at some point not too long ago. Maybe it doesn't so much any more. Maybe we need to find something new.

I still argue with the idea that funeral (or most practices of this sort) began rationally. By that I mean that I don't think the beginning of a practice like putting flowers by the grave is that people started doing for some logical reason. I think that the practice grew out of a kind of inarticulate feeling and the reasoning came later.
 
What's even weirder and creepier is the way people show up to swarm dead celebrities.

In life, this person would have had their security drag you away and hand you your ass if you approached them. Most celebrities are downright worried about their fans and their little 'quirks'.

When millions of people 'adore' you, the chances are good there are more than just a few who'll want to 'show how much' in interesting ways.

I suppose this is the one chance people feel that they'll ever get to "be close" to the person for real... as pickled carrion.

Cue 'Lonesome Lenny' cartoon: "I had a little friend, but he don't move no more!"
 
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