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dmallind

(10,437 posts)
2. The reasons are of course all cultural, religious and traditional
Mon Jan 23, 2012, 06:15 PM
Jan 2012

All three criteria quite closely linked obviously. There isn't a single rational reason why peeing on a dead person should offend anyone, but even the vast majority of secular folks would object. It causes no pain, no lack of utility and no loss of enjoyment (except possibly to cannibals!). Why then the offense? Cultural conditioning - mostly stemming from religious dogma even if the dogma itself is long gone. My own mother, apatheistic nominal CofE, had a revulsion towards cremation even though she had no defined or deep belief in the utility of a complete carcass. She just thought it was an insult to somebody who was obviously long past caring about being insulted. The visceral response remains lomg after the superstition that spawned it. Obviously the reaction is even stronger if the superstition itself remains, as with people who sincerely believe the nonsense that a dead body is capable of further harm.

I occasionally muse on when if ever these strange irrational remnants will fade away - surely speaking ill of the living is worse than speaking ill of the dead for one, as the reputation of a corpse is no further use to it - but I hold out little hope it will happen even within a few centuries.

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