I don't give art a grand pass on all things - Edit 1
Before modification by Isaac at 17/09/2010 01:08:16 AM
I see no reasonable artistic or educational purpose to this.
Agreed. I'm not sure I'm OK with banning it though; it's another of many entries in the every growing "this is horrifying, indefensible and perfectly legal" category. I'm more perplexed at this point; Adam voiced many of the same questions running through my mind when I read this:
One either agrees or disagrees with the belief that free speech extends to the obscene, I do not... and I'm discussing morality not legality in that context. I do not believe personally that banning something as prurient or obscene meaningfully limits freedom. Between the Bork and Hentoff views, I favor Bork. Whichever the case, I do believe and the law agrees that freedom of speech and expression can be curtailed on certain grounds and one of those is obscenity. In my opinion, this display is obscene.
1) When were the injected, post-mortem or pre?
Injected? Plastination involves first the normal embalming of the subject with formaldehyde, the subject is then placed into a vat of freezing acetone. Yes the process is strictly post-mortem, nothing would be gained by initiating it on a living subject.
2) If the former, does that mean he posed their corpses in a sexual position (double EEEW!)
Yes, they would have been dead and separate when he received the bodies. It is possible that since he is a doctor he may have been personally providing final care and only needed to perform the necessary paperwork and report on death appropriate to his legal area but I would assume they died separately and not of euthanasia, under standard care, or it would have been mentioned.
3) If the latter, how must that have felt? Pro: I'm getting laid. Con: I'm being injected with a plasticizing agent that will solidify my body, because I'm also dying of cancer.
No, the subjects would not have assumed a sexual pose together then been injected like some sci-fi movie, they probably died at separate times in a hospital and were stored after embalming, they may or may not have been posed prior to acetone bath and impregnation, I would after, during the curing of the polymers, since it would not be necessary prior and would be a technical pain in the ass, as I understand the process.
That's just off the top of my head.