# Disrepecting corpses - It needs to stop **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 25, 2008, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrepecting-corpses-it-needs-to-stop/446788 "2008-04-25T02:02:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrepecting-corpses-it-needs-to-stop/446788/21 "2008-04-25T10:46:37Z")
[QUOTE=Osakadelica] I agree with the original poster, whose name I believe refers to Egyptian culture. Another concern I have is allowing state sponsored museums to disturb the mummies and thereby acknowledging the falsity of their religion. A greater and more systemic violation of the principle of separation of church and state simply does not exist. [/QUOTE] I’m not getting the link between “Two and a Half Inches of Fun” and Egyptian culture. I had rather a different idea of what it referred to . . . 😉 The church-and-state angle is interesting, but is there actually anyone who believes in the ancient Egyptian religion anymore? And do they even have the principle of separation in Egypt? ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrepecting-corpses-it-needs-to-stop/446788/22 "2008-04-25T11:54:51Z")
[QUOTE=Two and a Half Inches of Fun] Let’s not pretend these this is disrespect is for knowledge. The study of these corpses can be done in private with the results being published. [/quote] Using that rationale we can simply close down all the museums and make historical sites inaccessible to the general population because we have photographs and we can read published reports. > [@](#): > > The displaying of the corpses is nothing but a circus freak show. Imagine the tourist that just wants to gawk at a really old body before she hits the museum snack bar to get a corn-dog. Again, pretend it was your child. Or, if you don’t have a child, pretend it is your mother. Imagine that some of us are truly interested in viewing first hand what we might not otherwise be able to see. If you’re so interested in respecting the dead then why not advocate that we leave them alone and not study them at all? Disrespect is disrespect after all. Imagine if someone dug up your child. Would you be ok with them publishing photos or the results of the disinterment? Marc ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrepecting-corpses-it-needs-to-stop/446788/23 "2008-04-25T13:18:03Z")
[QUOTE=Osakadelica] I agree with the original poster, whose name I believe refers to Egyptian culture. Another concern I have is allowing state sponsored museums to disturb the mummies and thereby acknowledging the falsity of their religion. A greater and more systemic violation of the principle of separation of church and state simply does not exist. [/QUOTE] Whoosh? **Two and a Half Inches of Fun** , where you aware that at one time, it was illegal for doctors to procure cadavers, to the point where they had to resort to grave robbing, in order to study anatomy and diseases? What about the fact that mortuary photos used to be quite common-people taking pictures of the dead in their coffins at funeral layouts? ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrepecting-corpses-it-needs-to-stop/446788/24 "2008-04-25T13:40:50Z")
The OP has a point, but this isn’t exactly a new thing is it? Its kind of like pitting the settlers for taking the Indians land- a bit late. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrepecting-corpses-it-needs-to-stop/446788/25 "2008-04-25T14:04:24Z")
[QUOTE=Two and a Half Inches of Fun] **Disrepecting corpses - It needs to stop** [/QUOTE] [_puff_puff\*] Can it wait [_puff_] just [_puff_] ten minutes? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrepecting-corpses-it-needs-to-stop/446788/26 "2008-04-25T14:08:02Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] [_puff_puff\*] Can it wait [_puff_] just [_puff_] ten minutes? [/QUOTE] Oh please. Like you need more than 6 minutes! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![spazattak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e8cbc/32.png) [@spazattak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spazattak)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrepecting-corpses-it-needs-to-stop/446788/27 "2008-04-25T14:22:45Z")
I suggest we need new legislation! These travesties and shenanigans won’t stop until we pass A corpses’ bill of rights! Can you demonstrate lasting societal harm in “disrespecting” corpses? Whats the worst that can happen? Other than learning from them… because that would be horrible. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrepecting-corpses-it-needs-to-stop/446788/28 "2008-04-25T14:24:40Z")
I think the OP is a little bit blind to some cultural differences here, frankly. [When I was living in Sicily, I visited the catacombs of Palermo.](http://members.tripod.com/~Motomom/index-3.html) Does this count as disrespect to the dead? After all, I was looking at centuries-old dead people. Frankly, if it was disrespectful, I doubt the monks who ran the place would have let us in. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrepecting-corpses-it-needs-to-stop/446788/29 "2008-04-25T14:29:35Z")
I once read the story of a 19th-Century British physician who was setting up a medical school in China to teach Western scientific medicine to the Chinese. He asked a government official if the school could have some cadavers for dissection. The official was horrified! Desecration of corpses is **barbaric!** However, he assured the doctor the school could have an unlimited supply of live criminals. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrepecting-corpses-it-needs-to-stop/446788/30 "2008-04-25T14:36:38Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] Bodies? I’m not an animal! [/QUOTE] Is this an obscure (but cool) Sex Pistols reference? Wow. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrepecting-corpses-it-needs-to-stop/446788/31 "2008-04-25T14:37:27Z")
[QUOTE=Two and a Half Inches of Fun] Would we stand for it if someone dug up Lincoln and displayed his corpse? [/quote] No, but with foreigners it’s no big deal. > [@](#): > > Let’s not pretend these this is disrespect is for knowledge. The study of these corpses can be done in private with the results being published. It’s unfortunate if you believe that history is only for scholars, but you’re wrong. > [@](#): > > This disrespect has to stop. Unless you believe in the Curse of Tutakhamen, or at least think _The Mummy_ was a documentary, I’m confused by your use of “has to.” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrepecting-corpses-it-needs-to-stop/446788/32 "2008-04-25T14:40:06Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] Unless you believe in the Curse of Tutakhamen, or at least think _The Mummy_ was a documentary, I’m confused by your use of “has to.” [/QUOTE] Hey, **everyone** who was in any way involved in disinterring King Tut is now dead! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrepecting-corpses-it-needs-to-stop/446788/33 "2008-04-25T14:46:11Z")
[QUOTE=Two and a Half Inches of Fun] This disrespect has to stop. [/QUOTE] How do you feel about the display of the famous Lucy skeleton? It was brought to Houston for display recently. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrepecting-corpses-it-needs-to-stop/446788/34 "2008-04-25T14:47:31Z")
It’s a self-correcting problem; if you desecrate the wrong mummy, he’ll desecrate you right back. Saw it in a movie. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrepecting-corpses-it-needs-to-stop/446788/35 "2008-04-25T15:06:26Z")
[QUOTE=Two and a Half Inches of Fun] The ancient Egyptians took some pretty extreme measures to preserve their corpses, especially the royal corpses. [/QUOTE] I think this is a bit misleading. The royals took the measures themselves (in a manner of speaking), and they believed they were doing it for their own benefit in the afterlife. I’m no Egyptologist, but that was about veneration of the pharoahs, not about respect for the dead. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrepecting-corpses-it-needs-to-stop/446788/36 "2008-04-25T15:50:26Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] I think this is a bit misleading. The royals took the measures themselves (in a manner of speaking), and they believed they were doing it for their own benefit in the afterlife. I’m no Egyptologist, but that was about veneration of the pharoahs, not about respect for the dead. [/QUOTE] Not pharoahs alone. I’ve seen a whole lot of non-royal mummies in the British Museum. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrepecting-corpses-it-needs-to-stop/446788/37 "2008-04-25T16:19:20Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] I’m no Egyptologist, but that was about veneration of the pharoahs, not about respect for the dead. [/QUOTE] I think it’s fair to say that the Ancient Egyptians (which would cover the Old and Middle Kingdoms for sure, and the New Kingdom up until the Ptolemeic era) were simply \*obsessed \*with death and dying and the afterlife. I don’t think any reputable scholar would argue that they would have approved of showing the bodies of dead people - for them, the dead were to be protected and revered and taken care of in terms of offerings, but not to be looked at. In the Old Kingdom it was primarily rich folks who could expect a cushy grave and afterlife, but by the time of the Middle Kingdom, all people expected their souls to continue on after death - _as long as their bodies remained intact_. If the body decayed, the spirit would be destroyed, as well. So mummification existed so that people would continue to exist in the afterlife. _That’s_ why tomb raiding was so abhorrent - not the theft of material goods, but breaking the seal and the disruption of the remains, which meant they might start to decay, and Grandpa would really cease to exist. By the New Kingdom, preservation and mummification was so refined and perfected as to be the equivalent of a Costco coffin: affordable to all but the very poorest. Then things started to decline a bit, and the actual preservation took second place to ostentatious decoration. It was the Wal-Martization of mummification, really. Cheap and pretty, but not built to last. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrepecting-corpses-it-needs-to-stop/446788/38 "2008-04-25T16:24:01Z")
[QUOTE=Two and a Half Inches of Fun] Would we stand for it if someone dug up Lincoln and displayed his corpse? [/QUOTE] It’s a moot point. The real controversy will come from the fact that when the grave is opened it will be found to have been empty for years. \ ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrepecting-corpses-it-needs-to-stop/446788/39 "2008-04-25T16:30:20Z")
[QUOTE=Two and a Half Inches of Fun] How do they get the bodies? [/QUOTE] > **[Exclusive: Secret Trade in Chinese Bodies](https://abcnews.com/Blotter/story?id=4291334)** > > Where did this body come from? Yeah, I’m not going to patronize that one. China seems to come up with a suspiciously convenient number of “unclaimed bodies.” Nor do I think a pose of a guy holding his own brain serves any particularly useful educational purpose. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrepecting-corpses-it-needs-to-stop/446788/40 "2008-04-25T17:59:35Z")
Isn’t it better that these bodies are used for education than being left to rot in some grave? [QUOTE=Two and a Half Inches of Fun] Let’s not pretend these this is disrespect is for knowledge. The study of these corpses can be done in private with the results being published. The displaying of the corpses is nothing but a circus freak show. [/QUOTE] Bullshit. So we shut education and things we find “gross” or “disturbing” up where no one can see? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrepecting-corpses-it-needs-to-stop/446788.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrepecting-corpses-it-needs-to-stop/446788.md?page=3)