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MOSI exhibit of bodies is no way to show respect for life

Re: MOSI exhibit.

I can't figure out why the cadavers on public display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Tampa bother me so much. The body just returns to dust eventually anyway, right?

Is it because the well-connected in China get buried, but the poor get put on display? Is it because they did not give their consent? Is it because these bodies do not educate any better than good plaster imitations could?

I keep contrasting the immense respect our Marines showed for the remains of their comrades in Somalia by putting themselves in great danger retrieving the dead, to the utter disrespect MOSI directors show for these people on display.

I just wonder if MOSI directors and those who go to view the exhibit would be as casual about displaying a body if it was their own mother. I doubt it. Part of the way we show respect for life is the way we respectfully handle the remains.

An amazing exhibit

Re: "Bodies, the Exhibition" at MOSI

"Bodies" at MOSI affected me on as many levels as there were layers revealed throughout the exhibit. My mind reeled at the complexities of the human body. My eyes drank in the beauty of the systems (e.g., skeletal, muscular, circulatory, digestive). My heart raced at the expertise that preserved these human beings and their dignity.

At the end of the exhibit, comment folders were filled with praise for the scientists, promises to quit smoking, statements by doctors that all medical students and workers would benefit from attending the exhibit, exclamations that there must be a God, and comparisons to the Chicago exhibit - claiming that MOSI's was better.

Unfortunately, we felt we had to race to MOSI Thursday morning before someone managed to close it down. I hope public outcry will keep this amazing exhibit open for a very long time.

Frequent photos are too much

Re: "Bodies, the Exhibition."

Please make the pictures stop. Surely we have now reached the point of visual overload on these 20 bodies. I planned to avoid the exhibit, but it now seems a moot point because of your extensive photo coverage. MOSI decided to thumb its nose at the state government and open the show early in defiance of the Anatomical Board. The bodies themselves have nothing to do with the board's reason as it was based on lack of consent, not the method of display. Pictures of the sliced, dissected and flayed bodies do nothing to assist anyone in forming an opinion on this issue of lack of consent.

Please do not assist MOSI any further in imposing these cadavers on me and my family by publishing even more photos of them. It seems as though they have been in the paper forever, and I just want them to stop. Do you get the point that my wife and I have grown weary of photographs of plastinated bodies with our breakfast?

A beautiful and informative display

Re: MOSI exhibit.

I accepted my invitation to preview the human body exhibit at MOSI Wednesday night. I am a surgeon and appreciate the amount of work that went into this beautiful and informative display. This presentation will inspire the young to study the human body more closely and motivate the old to take better care of themselves.

Any ethical concerns are eclipsed by the educational value of this exhibit. By the way, I do not recall seeing a signed consent from King Tut giving us permission to display his body throughout the world. The Anatomical Board's decision is wrong, and I hope no action is taken. I strongly recommend experiencing this exhibit.

Media put the bodies on display

I find it very amusing reading all the stories and opinions about the MOSI exhibit. There were the op-ed writers on Aug. 10 saying MOSI needs to get permission to display the exhibit. Yet for the past month on a daily basis every TV station and newspaper, including the Times, has been showing pictures or video of the exhibit for all to see.

So please explain to me why it's okay to show all the graphic pictures in the press and on TV but not all right for MOSI to display the "Bodies" in the proper setting and only to those who wish to see it. It sounds to me that everyone but MOSI needs to evaluate their ethics.

Educational beyond expectation

Re: "Bodies, the Exhibition."

Wow! I was blown away! I found new respect for my body after going to MOSI to see this so-called "controversial" exhibit. The presentation is clear and scientific, but also understandable to all of us "regular" people.

There is nothing gory about it. It is simply educational beyond expectation in a modern way. "Bodies" is a must for smokers trying to quit; the visual impact of those black lungs is scary. Every room is full of surprises. It makes me angry thinking that the Anatomical Board wanted to prevent us from seeing it.

Bodies on display is just wrong

The Anatomical Board is right in its decision, but not necessarily for the right reason.

Had plastinization been available in 1945, what exhibits might have come out of Auschwitz or Buchenwald? The Nazis experimented horribly with human beings. China is certainly no bastion of civil rights and just because a university there "certifies that all died of natural causes and none were prisoners," doesn't rationalize this "exhibit" for me.

Traditionally most cultures revere their ancestors. I find it repugnant that because we live in the 21st century we feel any remains are fair game for exhibition: Egyptian, Native American or otherwise.

It's tantamount to having an alien culture arrive here tomorrow and exhume the body of one's parent, dead just a few weeks, and expect one to accept this in the name of "science," or "discovery," or, let's face it, prurient interest.

It's just wrong.

It is despicable exploitation

Re: MOSI exhibit.

Normally, I would have no problem with an educational, scientific exhibit. But to display human remains in cartoonish poses of playing soccer or basketball is beyond tasteless.

These were real people who lived, worked, laughed, cried, and likely reared children. Would any of us want our loved ones pulled from the grave to be ridiculously posed for the amusement of an audience?

This isn't education. It is despicable exploitation of people who can no longer speak for themselves.

Cover the whole story

Re: Free speech is our right, but it isn't always right, Aug. 17.

I was disappointed to read Sue Carlton's column in which she repeated the claim that a protester said he/she wanted a BayWalk customer's brother to return from Iraq in a body bag. Were there any witnesses to this, or was this the statement of a prowar person who just wants antiwar demonstrators to look bad? Or was it a misunderstanding? I've heard the comment "I hope he doesn't return home in a body bag."

Why didn't Carlton also report on the numerous verbal assaults that protesters constantly receive from BayWalk patrons? Remarks like: "Kill them all" and "Get a f------ life." What about the people who spit on the protesters, or those who throw ice and mixed drinks on us from the BayWalk balcony? Or those people who walk by and kick our signs and threaten us?

Or the time when a self-proclaimed Iraq war veteran stood in the middle of the street yelling at protesters: "All of y'all should be shot."

If you're going to print material that could damage the reputation of a group of people, at least get the facts straight and cover the entire story.

Rights and rants

Re: Faces for Peace: They make "beautiful" noise, Aug. 15.

So, 200 people showed up at BayWalk to demonstrate against the Iraq war. That's all very well and good. This country was founded on the right to free speech. Yet I wonder... how much money did those 200 people spend at BayWalk? Not much, I'll bet.

When BayWalk first opened, my wife and I would have an occasional dinner there and then take in a movie. However, since it has become the place to be for protests and demonstrations, we have decided to take our business elsewhere. While I realize that these people have their rights, they must realize that their rights end where mine begin, and I have the right to walk on the sidewalk without a bunch of fanatics ranting and raving about whatever happens to be the cause of the moment. I know there are a lot of other people who feel the same way as I do.

It would be a shame to see such a nice area fall into disrepair and eventual bankruptcy because ordinary citizens like myself were kept away by zealots exercising their First Amendment rights.

Leave protesters alone

Re: BayWalk solution: Close the street?

On Friday, the Times reported on the city of St. Petersburg's idea of shutting the street in front of BayWalk to cars on weekends to accommodate protesters. This is a ham-fisted overreaction to that situation. I believe that no one associated with those demonstrations expected or asked for this draconian measure. They just wanted to continue unmolested, where they have been peacefully for some two years. That costs the city and the police nothing extra, and does no harm to BayWalk.

Why not leave things as they are, and just leave the peaceful protests alone?

Bad news for Ybor

Re: Ybor City to reopen main drag to traffic, Aug. 18.

Another nail in the coffin for our poor Ybor City as Tampa now says cars will be able to drive up and down Seventh Avenue on the weekends, during Ybor's most crowded nights, to promote "safety."

The city, for our protection, will take the middle two-thirds of the walking space available on the busiest nights of the week in Ybor City and open it to cars, most likely driven by people who have had a beverage or two.

Meanwhile, the pedestrians are regulated to a strip of sidewalk less than 5 feet wide which now must also hold the lines that lead into the clubs and bars (which commonly overflow onto the street).

Further, the patrons of Ybor now have to walk miles in a cramped and confined corridor with other people who are not all going to be walking in the same direction, bumping into you and causing general dismay in a closed, confined area.

I've said time and time again: Ybor City is not for the kiddies. It is a young-adult oriented night club district with a smattering of niche stores and shops. Its target audience is the 18-to-35-year-old single patron. It is not a place for strollers. And now, this crowd doesn't want to go there anymore and I can't say that I blame them.

I think I know why the crime rate has declined in Ybor - no one goes down there anymore. I bet the crime rate is low in the Mojave Desert, too.

Keep holding NARAL's feet to the fire

Re: Anti-Roberts ad goes too far, Aug. 12.

It is gratifying to see your editors rebuking the NARAL advertisement, which falsely implicated Judge John Roberts in the bombing of abortion clinics, at least by association. Not all newspapers have done so, and it is commendable that you did.

It would be even more commendable, however, if you could bring yourself to use the word, "condemn," as in, we unconditionally condemn ads that deliberately mislead the public, regardless of who does so. Instead, you focused too little on the immorality of the falsehood itself, and too much on the pragmatic ineffectiveness of it, beginning with ". . . it alienates the group's more sensible friends," and concluding with, ". . . will not sway public opinion against Roberts as much as against the irresponsible messenger."

Your pragmatic criticism is correct. The advertisement has put the public on notice that the far left will stop at nothing to promote its agenda. But this is secondary to the main point, which you identified when you called the ad a scurrilous smear campaign and baseless. I think you could have reasonably called the ad an outright lie.

Even so, you at least brought yourselves to refute the ridiculous claims of a sacred bastion among liberal groups, NARAL, and I salute you for it.

The NARAL ad has been pulled, but the group will surely continue to propagandize with no more than pragmatic concern for the truth. No one at NARAL will be fired for lying about Judge Roberts. So hopefully, the Times will continue to hold NARAL's feet to the fire.

Tipping makes sense

Re: No tipping, please, Aug. 16.

The tip is part of the cost of eating out. If you cannot afford it or do not want to pay it, then eat at home... or go to McDonald's. The author and his professional backup are out of touch with reality.

My long experience with restaurants, here and in Europe (where a service charge is added), is that servers do the absolute minimum with regard to service and courtesy. For example, go to the luxury hotel restaurants in Miami Beach or some cruise ships and you will readily observe this "I-don't-care" attitude because the tip is assured.

An exception in this area is Bern's, where a low 12 percent gratuity is included and where enlightened guests tip another 3 to 8 percent for excellent service.

This misguided article gives the green light to too many "cheapos" who loudly demand great service, berate the server at every opportunity and then proudly stiff him or her with no tip or a miserly pittance.

And then there are the wives who, on their way out, snatch up the cash tip their husbands left on the table... or the kids who add to their allowance by grabbing the tip money.

Don't misplace the blame

Re: No tipping, please, Aug. 16.

While I found Steven A. Shaw's column to be quite succinct and almost on the money, there is one point of contention he didn't hit on. I base this on my 30-odd years of working in the food service business mostly in the kitchen. A substantial portion of diners tend to tip on the quality of the food and not the service. I have witnessed this firsthand too many times, and I pine for the way it used to be.

Although some aspects of food quality are controlled by the server (such as the temperature of the food or how fast it gets to the table) the real responsibility for food quality lies in the kitchen. When I hear people say they didn't like the food and then tip accordingly, it makes me wonder if the same people would feel that way if they were the ones serving the food.

If you don't like the food don't withhold the tip, complain to the manager. By the way, I am a kitchen manager at one of the local eating establishments (best burgers in town) and I look forward to the customers letting me know, and not the server, if the food is not up to par.

[Last modified September 13, 2005, 15:55:46]