Cadaver Exhibit and The True Meaning of Thanksgiving

So I'm taking a post-Thanksgiving dinner stroll with my family through the NYC's South Street Seaport and pass by a new entrepreneurial "science exhibit". It was closed for Thanksgiving, so I didn't see the lines it probably generates, but from the window I saw two pictures of "skinned" humans. This exhibit has 22 "whole-body specimens".

Now I'm not one who sickens easily, I mean I took AP bio in high school with Ms. Strasser, and had my fair share of fetal pig dissections and formaldhyde inhalation. Hell, I practically watch 160lbs Tumor and other TLC operations while I eat my Wheaties, but walking past this "exhibit" (sideshow) really affected me. From seeing the pictures on the outside of skinned humans, I could tell that the cadavers were all Chinese. Suddenly, this and some video of Chinese executions coalesced in my mind. I imagined perhaps these young male cadavers passed away from trying to bypass Chinese government webfilters, or some other freedom I take for granted. That didn't feel right. Perhaps I stumbled on the meaning of Thanksgiving?

Upon later internet reading, it turns out these 22 young male cadavers were dubiously obtained. The for profit company that runs this "exhibit", Premier Exhibitions Inc., paid $25 Million total for 23 cadavers from a Chinese university. A university that was previously implicated in using executed prisoners for comercial benefit.

At $24.50 for adults and $18.50 for children aside, I would not attend this exhibit. Not only is this exhibit a sideshow of questionable educational value, it also profits from execution of people who were probably not serious criminals or criminals at all (in the American sense at least). Anybody else take offense to Premier Exhibits Inc's profiteering from unjust executions?