Bizarre Baby Born In Nepal

[marineboy]

Prayers for the child and for the parents of this poor and unfortunate being. Think of the shock these people had upon seeing the child they\'d been waiting for.

We can\'t judge the people parading the corpse of the child, death and sickness are much more visible parts of the life cycle there -- wait until you\'ve seen the lepers, cripples and terminally ill that live on the streets, forced to display their conditions to the public eye. Sensationalisme -- perhaps. Morbid curiosity -- also perhaps. Different customs -- most certainly.

We don\'t have the social references to judge them.

 

[funnymouth]

Originally posted by Dragonsreach
Yes and part of the same \"family\" of genetic disorders.

nearly missed this one, as i indicated in my previous post, it is not always the result of a genetic defect. toxins and nutritional factors can cause it too.

@marine: true, i dont have a cultural reference, but that doesnt mean that feeling no remorse for the death of a child isnt deplorable. i can understand the curiosity factor, and i have no problem with that, but the dad seems to be smiling in the pic....
dont just call him a being either - he was a human.

 

[finn17]

I don\'t want to get into an argument about semantics...

But to my mind, \'human\' and \'being\' carry equal weight in terms of respect, especially within the context of Marineboy\'s post which was very poignant IMO.

 

[Naukhel]

Well, the text says the baby died shortly after being born.
I don\'t think that\'s the real baby in the picture.
I think it\'s a mock-up.
It doesn\'t look at all real to me.
Do I doubt such a baby could be born?
No.
Do I think that\'s the actual corpse of the baby in the picture?
No.

 

[funnymouth]

Originally posted by Naukhel
Do I think that\'s the actual corpse of the baby in the picture?

undoubtedly. i have seen many such pics, and they are no different.

as for the being issue, marine was respectful. i just wanted to make it quite clear that the difference between this baby and you or i is a fraction of a nonogram of folic acid during the first few weeks of development. people tend to euphemize unpleasantries, detracting from their significance. i wanted to avoid that here.

 

[vincegamer]

Originally posted by funnymouthabout the post: i dont think that this is inappropriate in any way. . . . people tend to censor disturbing, yet educational images.

I did not mean to imply I found anything inappropriate about this post. If I had, I would not have added to it. I thought the news story was inappropriate. There is nothing \"bizarre\" about the appearance in the realm of anencephaly. The story did not in any way attempt to educate. It simply said \"hey, look at this ugly dead corpse! isn\'t it bizarre?\"

IMHO i think this is a major problem; sheltering people from reality doesnt better society in any way.

Totally agree. I was an animal husbandry student in college and I am disgusted by people who won\'t eat food that looks like an animal. (great line from a story I heard on NPR: farmer\'s city neice is visiting and they eat lamb - the lamb she\'d been playing with. Niece: you would eat an animal you knew? Farmer: would you rather eat a stranger?)

the fathers comment about feeling no remorse was horrible. this being was still a human being, if only for a short time, and deserves our respect.

I disagree. Respect and remorse are not the same thing. Perhaps, as pointed out, where he lives the parade of the corpse was considered respectful. We don\'t know. In a location where the infant mortality rate is extremely high, parents are more adaptable to the loss of a child. His major concern was for his wife, which suggests the delivery did not go well. He has had years to bond with his wife but no time to bond with the baby, so it makes sense that she would be his major concern.

 

[Herb the bitter]

I agree with Vince that it wasn\'t much of a news story.

Now this is a news story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/africa/4748292.stm

 

[Evil Dave]

That is a true pullitzer prize winning story Herb.

 

[marineboy]

Originally posted by funnymouth
.....the dad seems to be smiling in the pic....

We don\'t know he\'s the dad.

At the risk of repeating myself, we have no way to decipher what these people are doing. They could be taking the baby to the river to cast him afloat. They could be parading him around to scare off evil spirits. Who know? Not me, not you.

....dont just call him a being either - he was a human.

A human being has a greater worth than any other entity on this world? Sounds like rather genus-specific thinking. What if we didn\'t just happen to be at the top of the food chain? Shit, I don\'t even eat animals any more, funnymouth, and its starting toworry me that plants have souls too. We oughta go back to the shamanistic/animistic traditions where every stone, plant and animal was revered as important beings. Euphemisme? Don\'t think so.

 

[vincegamer]

Originally posted by Herb the bitterNow this is a news story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/africa/4748292.stm

If an American judge made that order, he\'d be in real trouble.
I love alternative dispute resolutions.

 

[finn17]

A judgement worthy of Solomon...

 

[marineboy]

A Chupacabra!

No, wait....sorry....that\'d be a goat-sucker....

 

[dauber22]

@marineboy - you\'re going to be in pretty serious trouble if you stop eating anything that once was alive. What\'s that leave? A few ignious rocks and metals. Ummmm-mmmm good

 

[marineboy]

Originally posted by dauber22
What\'s that leave?

Dorrito Brand Tortilla Chips and Dr. Pepper -- better life through chemistry.lollollol

 

[freakinacage]

i have seen a few kids born like that. most are picked up and terminated though through ultrasound screening. the eyes always look weird like that due to the way the skull forms (or more importantly, doesn\'t)

 

[funnymouth]

Originally posted by marineboy
A human being has a greater worth than any other entity on this world? Sounds like rather genus-specific thinking. What if we didn\'t just happen to be at the top of the food chain? Shit, I don\'t even eat animals any more, funnymouth, and its starting toworry me that plants have souls too. We oughta go back to the shamanistic/animistic traditions where every stone, plant and animal was revered as important beings. Euphemisme? Don\'t think so.

im completely with you on this one marine - 100%. in my opinion no organism is any greater than any other. they all have a role, even the lowlyest bacteria. other people make a distinction though. i understand that you are a compassionate \"being\" but many (read: most) people dont feel the way that you and i do about living things; they make a clear distinction between humans and other life.

e.g. recently PETA had an advertising campaign which compared the inhumane treatment of slaughter animals to slavery. many people were outraged because they thought that comparing black people to animals was disrespectful. they missed the point that the animals were being subjected to conditions that were horrible, as awful as those of slavery.

anyhow, my long winded point is - speak to people in terms that carry significance for them.

seriously though i couldnt agree with you more about the intrinsic value of other living beings, even plants. a tree that has stood since the current era began is a beautiful thing, to be revered, as is a sprout on a sandwich. i dont think that stopping eating is the answer though. being smart about what you eat is, and being thankful. make sure animals are well cared for, and our wild creatures are protected so that we might continue to enjoy the earths bounty, along side its other denizens. shamans had it right.
this relates to that lamb story -which was sadly funny BTW.

i doth proclaim - \"know thy dinner.\"

edit: marine, you make very good points about differences in culture.

 

[dendawg]

\"know thy dinner.\"

\"yeah i do; meat is yummy\"

 

[No Such Agency]

Originally posted by Herb the bitter
I agree with Vince that it wasn\'t much of a news story.

Now this is a news story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/africa/4748292.stm

A clever judgment to shame a sexual wierdo, or a stupid judge who applied the letter of the law without regard for species? I can\'t tell. Of course in some places that\'s still the punishment for having sex with an unmarried girl (with or without her consent) - you have to marry her. Often not so good for the girl, but the social order is preserved.

 

[darthfoley]

Is it just me, or does it appear that the body has some sort of wound to the chest?

 

[Nelson]

Originally posted by funnymouth

Originally posted by marineboy
A human being has a greater worth than any other entity on this world? Sounds like rather genus-specific thinking. What if we didn\'t just happen to be at the top of the food chain? Shit, I don\'t even eat animals any more, funnymouth, and its starting toworry me that plants have souls too. We oughta go back to the shamanistic/animistic traditions where every stone, plant and animal was revered as important beings. Euphemisme? Don\'t think so.

im completely with you on this one marine - 100%. in my opinion no organism is any greater than any other. they all have a role, even the lowlyest bacteria. other people make a distinction though. i understand that you are a compassionate \"being\" but many (read: most) people dont feel the way that you and i do about living things; they make a clear distinction between humans and other life.

While I agree with both of you that humans are no more special, or \"chosen\" than any other organism on the planet, I do make a distinction between humans and animals in that, if given the choice between saving an animal or saving a human, I would most likely D) choose the human.
It\'s a distinction, obviously, and possibly an unfair one, but it\'s understandable in my opinion.