Bodily desecration is disturbing—but why? [View all]

[rug]

Omar Sacirbey | Jan 23, 2012

(RNS) The recent outrage over a video allegedly showing U.S. Marines urinating on dead Taliban fighters provided Americans with a disturbing reminder that war can reduce men to revenge-seeking brutality that defies human norms.

It's nothing new: the desecration of enemy soldiers during the Civil War, of Japanese during World War II and North Vietnamese fighters during the Vietnam War, and Iraqis and Afghans in the most recent conflicts, is well-documented.

It obviously makes people squeamish -- but why?

Desecrating enemy dead is not always a vengeful impulse, and in some cultures even has a religious component. At the same time, disgust at the desecration of the dead is not always a simple case of demanding respect for a fallen human being, but also carries religious implications, even on one's journey in the afterlife.

http://www.religionnews.com/ethics/death-and-dying/bodily-desecration-is-disturbing-but-why

Or, they can just be pigs.