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The end of sanctity

The drop in sanctity across the board is no better illustrated than by the Australian surgeon who wants to sell tickets for the surgeries he does and have these voyeuristic audiences pay money and watch so that money can be used for charity and justify it, then perhaps we can move on to selling.

However noble the final concept, there has to be some grace and dignity left in a world that now collectively and singularly equates existence with wealth and also regards the means as more important than the end. So, what difference does it make if a comatose patient is being given an implant or undergoing a cardiac bypass if a few dozen people want to watch reality TV taken to its extreme. After all, you could argue, not only will that money help other people in distress but it might also educate several hundred laymen who have no idea of medical science and rigours of surgery.

To strengthen that argument perhaps this is why it is called an operating theatre and theatre is all it is so if we eliminate all the mumbo jumbo and the mystique and reduce procedures to entertainment or, to be fair, edutainment, where is the harm? This is high drama and there are enough takers. The risk factor of allowing in medical rubbernecks and other undesirable elements turned on by the sight of blood and gore and the slender thread of life can be controlled by pre-visit testing and psychological profiling so that only serious individuals are let it. In a moment of brutal honesty what is sacred anymore? Not the great financial institutions that stood for trust. Not the politicians that promised so much and turned out with media, scientists, artists, thinkers, traders, teachers, to be so many more charlatans than we ever thought.

Why do not just throw away the word ‘sacred’ from the dictionary completely. If we can contemplate this step and actually justify it then the next logical one is to start selling tickets for death and funerals and wakes and memorials and perhaps offer package deals so that charity is served.

Perhaps then we can also erase the words, ‘civilised’ ‘privacy’ and ‘rights.’