Culture of Necrophilia and Cannibalism

New York Times opinion piece A Culture of Death, not Life is a cheery read for a sunny spring noon. But it makes me think that we're living through the rise not of a culture of death, but of a culture of necrophilia and cannibalism. Some seem to have an unnatural love for the dead and dying, and they seem to follow the old tribal custom of ritual consumption of the corpse in order to take on the magic and powers of the dead. Or in order to increase ratings and to sway certain groups in a political manner.

If you've been feeling queasy lately, you're not alone. It's a common reaction when confronted with those eat and screw corpses.

If you're listening to SwaG! tonight, you might miss the television event of the season:

This Wednesday the far right's cutting-edge culture of death gets its biggest foothold to date in the mainstream, when NBC broadcasts its "Left Behind" simulation, "Revelations," an extremely slick prime-time mini-series that was made before our most recent death watches but could have been ripped from their headlines. In the pilot a heretofore nonobservant Christian teenage girl in a "persistent vegetative state" - and in Florida, yet - starts babbling Latin texts from the show's New Testament namesake just as dastardly scientists ("devil's advocates," as they're referred to) and organ-seekers conspire to pull the plug. "All the signs and symbols set forth in the Bible are currently in place for the end of days," says the show's adult heroine, an Oxford-educated nun who has been denounced by the Vatican for her views and whose mission is underwritten by a wealthy "religious fundamentalist." Her Julie Andrews affect notwithstanding, she is an extremist as far removed from the mainstream as Mel Gibson, whose own splinter Traditionalist Catholic sect split from Rome and disowned the reforms of Vatican II, not the least of which was the absolution of Jews for collective guilt in the death of Jesus.

It's all too fitting that "Revelations," which downsizes lay government in favor of the clerical, is hijacking the regular time slot of "The West Wing." Perhaps only God knows whether it will prove as big a hit as "The Passion." What is clear is that the public eventually tires of most death watches and demands new meat. The tsunami disaster, dramatized by a large supply of vivid tourist videos that the genocide in Darfur cannot muster, was so completely forgotten after three months that even a subsequent Asian earthquake barely penetrated the nation's Schiavo fixation. But the media plug was pulled on Ms. Schiavo, too, once the pope took center stage; the funeral Mass her parents conducted on Tuesday was all but shunned by the press pack that had moved on to Rome. By the night of his death days later, even John Paul had worn out his welcome. The audience that tuned in to the N.C.A.A. semifinals on CBS was roughly twice as large as that for the NBC and ABC papal specials combined. The time was drawing near for the networks to reappraise the Nielsen prospects of Prince Rainier.

This evening's SwaG won't be a repeat of our last "culture of life" show. But do you really need a reason to hear songs like the immortal Jimmy Cross' "I Want My Baby Back"? I used to only play this for Halloween, now I want to hear it every day. Corpses and death are fun!