Volume I No. 91
 08-14-03
 How We Perceive The Dead, The Dying,
 And The Recently Deceased
 author: Vance Cureton
 © Copyright 2003

 We're referring to the media reports about the state of deceased
 baseball legend, Ted Williams. His corpse has "allegedly" been
 abused at the cryogenic center { the firm vehemently denies the 
 report } that is to be his resting place until a re-awakening decades, 
 if not, hundreds of years from now. 

 We've written a previous rant on this exact subject, but Ted's 
 reappearance in the news means that this subject deserves a 
 second look. The "alarm" and statements of outrage in the media 
 right now over the treatment of a dead person's remains is in 
 a word, puzzling.

 Afterall, Ted is not here anymore. His corpse is. 

 But, he's gone. 

 Many people across America - especially the under 30 crowd - to 
 be blunt, don't even know or care who Ted Williams was. But, the 
 idea of this choice he made is offensive. Perhaps it is because 
 a lot of religious-minded individuals believe that to be frozen after 
 death in the hope of being reawakened at some later date -- by 
 scientific means - somehow goes against the will of God.

 It is certainly unnatural.

 Or are some offended merely because Ted is so recently passed?
 Think on that for a second. Victorian-era ships on the bottom of
 the ocean. World War II wrecks, the Titantic, as examples, all are 
 regarded as tombs. Scavaging these old ships for treasure and
 valuable artifacts is disturbing to some people. 

 "Don't touch them," they say. "These ships are graves...."

 "These are the final resting place of all those poor souls..."

 And don't even think about digging up the bones of some 
 historically-significant person in the hopes of gathering a 
 DNA sample for testing.

 Rarely, will the family give permission. Even if their ancestor
 has been dead a century or two. { maybe they're afraid they
 will be found out NOT to be actually descended from this person, 
 or they MIGHT discover they have some cousins they'd really
 rather not know about }

 Is there a racial element, also?

 The scientific community sure doesn't have any qualms about
 rummaging around in the grave of some long dead Egyptian. 
 Native American, Inca, Mayan, and Polynesian burial sites have 
 long since been desecrated and treated without regard for the 
 religious practices of these cultures. All in the name of scientific 
 research.

 Meanwhile ancient burial sites in Europe are treated with - shall
 we say - a bit more delicacy and respect.

 But, even in Europe many important sites have been pillaged.
 Not just by thieves, but by learned men, as well.

 At what point in time, then, does the idea of "a final resting 
 place" lose its signficance. 100 years. 500 years. A thousand
 years? -- Generations, upon generations from now, will that 
 big hole in Manhattan be dug up again, and walked around in, 
 and studied, without a care as to what we thought of ourselves?

 Or will that space where 3000 people died, still be hallowed 
 ground?

 If history gives us a clue. It will not.

 Back to the idea of being frozen after death. Is the notion really 
 as bizarre as it seems at first glance?

 Those being frozen today are probably out of luck. In that the
 technology and the medical techniques are still quite primitive.
 { freezing damages organic tissue -- so if current frozen corpses
 are to be reanimated, the countless individual cells within the
 body of each corpse, might have to be repaired, one-by-one }

 A mind-numbing prospect to us. 

 But not to our children's, children.

 So is the idea of "suspended animation" any more outrageous 
 than heart transplants, skin grafts, blood transfusions, or in-vitro 
 would have been half-a millennium ago? And human cloning -
 once the provence of science fiction writers - is all but a certainty
 within our lifetime. The technical difficulties encountered in currrent 
 cryogenic procedures can be solved. And no doubt, one day will 
 be solved.

 Perhaps in the next 150 years or so, a person terminally ill, or
 gravely injured, might find the idea of being "prematurely" put
 to rest, to be a logical next step. And not an insane idea at all.
 What would such a person have to lose at that point? They 
 are going to die anyway if they don't do something.

 Unless, of course, religious beliefs preclude such a procedure. 
 There remains the question as to what happens to the soul of 
 a person trapped in this mysterious boundary between the living 
 and the dead.

 Will the person be cursed? Or forever undead like a fictional 
 vampire. Does the soul unable to rise to heaven, or descend to 
 hell, wander the world aimlessly like a ghost? 

 Atheists certainly have nothing to worry about. -- But for men 
 and women who believe in an afterlife. These questions demand
 answers.

 Oh, you can believe this will be a new battle ground for 
 conservatives and liberals in the 22nd century and beyond.

 Mark your calendar. You will want to be there. 
 

 ReadingPost.Com
 © Copyright 2003

_______________________________

 Liberal Rights Announcement Group

 Enjoy this article? Subscribe to our list and
 have our latest liberal rants delivered right 
 to your mailbox. We will never SPAM you.

 Comments sent to editor may be republished
 on our site or in our announcement list at our 
 discretion. Comments containing crude language
 and/or vulgarites will be deleted and your 
 email address permanently banned.

_______________________________

 Detective Service Or Detective Software? 
 Your Choice...

 Net Detective Software
 Web Detective Service

_______________________________
 

 ARTICLE SEARCH:
 use keywords or phrases to locate 
 other ReadingPost.Com articles

_______________________________

 Having link partnerships is one of the ways to increase the link popularity of your web site.
 The search engines have a high regard for sites that have plenty of incoming links from
 similar sites.

 Therefore, working together to achieve our goals certainly makes a lot of sense. With that
 in mind we'd like to invite you to add your site to our Political Links Directory. Only
 sites that are related to political news, social commentary and opinion, political blogs and
 rants, election websites, political activist sites, media websites, political humor and satire,
 political forums, news commentary sites both mainstream and independent, religious opinion, 
 and miscellaneous sites, that are in some manner related to politics or current events, will 
 be accepted.

 All manner of sites are welcome from those on the Far Right, to the Far Left.

 Hate sites, extremist sites, sites containing an excessive amount of vulgarity or material
 unsuitable for children or young teens { a disclaimer should be located prominently on the 
 index page } and sites promoting bigotry or intolerance of any kind, will be rejected!

 Here's our EMAIL ADDRESS. <<---

 Send this information in your email:
 * web site title
 * a brief description
 * your url address

 Here's our information to post on your site:
 * our web site title: Politics, News Analysis, and Social Commentary for American Liberals.
 * our description: Political commentary from the left, with a special emphasis on politics,
   religion, sports, culture, and current events.
 * our url address: http://readingpost.com/

 Thanks For The Link Trade!