Interesting op/ed that relates to the claims about the changed experience of death in modernity (cf. Benjamin's "The Storyteller, Illuminations, Section X, pp. 93-94):
Thomas G. Long, "Chronicle of a Death We Can't Accept, New York Times, November 1, 2009.
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This article is pretty interesting and not something most people give much thought to.
ReplyDeleteThis weekend I attended a Physicians for Human Rights advocacy training conference in Boston. I invited some other members of the Pre-Health Club to come with me and when we were stopped at a Friendly's for dinner we got into a pretty heated debate related to this subject.
One Pre-Health Club member was talking about the next Tri-Beta (the biology honor society) trip to go see the Bodies Exhibition. I explained that I would not be going on the trip because I could not, in good conscious, go to the exhibit when I knew that most of the bodies belonged to executed political prisoners from China.
(See link for information: www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5637687)
Her argument was that the tragedy (their arrest and execution) had already happened and the best thing that could happen for them now would be for their body to be donated to science.
I argued that it was unethical and that these prisoners obviously did not consent to their bodies being used in such a manner. The fact that they were imprisoned and executed for standing up for their human rights, then their bodies exploited and sold as a commodity was appalling and an insult to their memory. Instead of condemning and boycotting all ties to this practice (especially our group in particular which was on our way to a conference on advocating for human rights) we were likely encouraging it because we are providing a means of turning it to a money making operation.
I think this debate is one of the best possible examples of how human beings of the lack of respect for the dead in our society.
In the beginning of this article in reference to funerals and coffins, it has become more prevalent now' a days' that funeral services have transformed into a major sphere of profit for proprietors of the death market. Coffins now have options of make and quality according to what the deceased wanted. Funerals in todays' society at least in the U.S have become extremely expensive, resulting in expenses for the funeral home, coffin purchases and headstones for the cemeteries. More and more this grave sobering experience of death has become exploited by the capital market, looking to make as much profit out of funeral costs. Funeral costs can vary from $5,000-$10,000. Here are some general costs of services:
ReplyDelete1. Professional service charges: $1,213
2. Embalming: $420
3. Other preparations (cosmetology, hair, etc.): $150
4. Visitation/viewing: $275
5. Funeral at funeral home: $350
6. Transfer of remains to funeral home: $154
7. Hearse (local): $185
8. Service car/van: $85
9. Acknowledgement cards: $18
10. Casket: $2,330
11. Vault: $950
Total: $6,130
(http://whathappensnow.com/articles_show.cfm?id=37&cat=6&sub=4)
This directly coincides with the culture industry looking to exploit the terms of capitalism for gain. They have corrupted this sacred moment in life and death into a profit. The death industry one could call it. This by every means shows how capitalism has exploited society, even in death.
Also I see a connection with Benjamin's "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" in that the manufacturing of services and caskets (what have you) seems to be more on a mechanical level. It's an assembly line in dealing with death. Grieving families enter funeral homes and prices and costs are brought up right away, where's the sympathy? Have such practices as funerals now belong to a mechanizes practice of an assembly line dealing with setting up funerals and costs to families?
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