
Public Dissection Was a Gruesome Spectacle - anarbadalov
https://daily.jstor.org/public-dissection-gruesome-spectacle/
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RcouF1uZ4gsC
One of the things that has happened to our society recently, is that we
isolate ourselves from the messy details of our actions. In the past, if our
society had capital punishment - it was done in public and society was exposed
to it. Now, it is done in a private, almost clinical environment. Dissections
now days are only ever really carried out in sterile anatomy labs. In the
past, everyone who ate meat, probably was familiar with butchering an animal.
Now, we eat meat that is nicely pre-packaged and are blissfully unaware of the
details. This is the case even with war. In the distant past, if you went to
war, it was a bunch or regular people who stabbed or slashed their opponents.
Over time this became longer ranged with fire arms, bombs, artillery etc. Now,
with no draft, we basically have a warrior class, and with the advent of
combat drones, the operator can control a missile drone in a foreign country
from their desk in the US.

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onemoresoop
> In the past, if our society had capital punishment - it was done in public
> and society was exposed to it.

I am grateful that capital punishment in the public is gone and gowning away
away in places where it's still happening. This is not for everyone to see.
Why gratify the curiosity of the curious? Once you see a person executed
you're no longer the same person.

~~~
emptybits
> Once you see a person executed you're no longer the same person.

If witnessing what your society does in your name causes you distress, it's
worth some contemplation, don't you think?

For example, if society is doing things "for me" behind closed doors and all I
see are sanitized benefits (e.g. cheap gasoline, less stinky sewage, garbage
that just vanishes, easy pieces of meat, etc.) then I'm at risk of asking for
more things with nasty side-effects and I'll never really be in touch with
what I'm doing to other people or the planet.

IMO, violence (against people or animals or the environment) should always be
witnessed and if it's done "for us", we should have to see and do our best to
understand it.

~~~
jrace
At first I was against the idea of public executions, but you made a strong
argument. >>I'll never really be in touch with what I'm doing to other people
or the planet

that right there changed my mind.

~~~
SketchySeaBeast
The coliseum didn't reduce people's tolerance for violence, it normalized it.

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kalekold
And it still happens today.

Search for Dr. Gunther von Hagens series of public autopsies. These were
broadcast in the UK a while ago and were extremely interesting.

~~~
porpoisely
Also, mrs_angemi is coroner who posts interesting autopsy pics on instragam if
people are interested in it.

Also, it's odd how modern society wants to shield people from reality. Instead
of reality and truth, we get disney.

~~~
JetSpiegel
> Also, mrs_angemi is coroner who posts interesting autopsy pics on instragam
> if people are interested in it.

Suddenly, I'm not that hungry. You were telling the true, the first picture is
a dead teenager.

~~~
joewee
I don’t want to look at the site, but is there a legal disclaimer that
explains why this is legal?

~~~
JetSpiegel
The people are anonymised, the focus is on injuries themselves. Sometimes
those are to the face.

Seems ethically sound to me, it's probably an unvaluable resource for
students. The general public will also ignore it mostly, it's not for the
faint of heart.

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Symbiote
Not humans, but the Zoological Museum in Copenhagen occasionally dissects
large mammals for the public to view.

A science museum in Copenhagen dissects eyes and "digestive systems" [1] too,
possibly most days. (Ox eye, I don't know where the intestines are from.)

[1]
[https://www.experimentarium.dk/demonstration/demonstration-d...](https://www.experimentarium.dk/demonstration/demonstration-
dissektion-fordoejelsessystemet/)

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rhacker
I know I'm being pedantic here, but "was" it gruesome at the time?

