Enough With The Damn Conjoined Twins

[myfiles3000]

OMG! journalism on the twins that actually employs critical thinking skills....

from:
http://argument.independent.co.uk/regular_...sp?story=422902

Did we really care - or was it voyeurism?
There is a sense that the twins became a spectacle, trading their privacy for the chance of a normal life
Joan Smith
09 July 2003


Ladan and Laleh Bijani, the conjoined twins who died yesterday during surgery to separate them, were doubly unfortunate. Cases of craniopagus twins, who are joined at the head, are so rare that they occur only once in every 2 million live births. In Singapore, where the unsuccessful operation began on Sunday, surgeons have managed to separate babies born with the condition. But the Bijani sisters came from Iran, a country where such pioneering medical procedures are not available to ordinary people.

[Eugenius]

Originally posted by myfiles3000+9 July 2003 - 13:54--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (myfiles3000 @ 9 July 2003 - 13:54)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-clintonesque@9 July 2003 - 14:49
It&#39;s terrible they died.

you knew them personally, did you? are their deaths any more or less terrible than all the other suffering that happens all over the world every day -- except that the anonymous suffering isn&#39;t spun into a media frenzy? doesn&#39;t have the kind of visual impact that conjoined twins do? that doesn&#39;t afford aspiring surgeons the opportunity to work for "free" and watch their careers skyrocket as they forever bask in the glory? [/b][/quote]
At last, someone agrees&#33;

read my &#39;Sky News&#39; post.

[clintonesque]

To tell you the truth I didn&#39;t see any of the media coverage or hype of the "twins"
I heard mostly vauge reports of their impending surgery & even more fleeting tv shots.
I was merely defending them from someones seemingly cool regard for life.

Just because they got this bullshit, typically hyped-up American style media coverage, does that give you the right to bring up every other sorry dog in the world just to denagrate these womans misfortune?

[myfiles3000]

does that give you the right to bring up every other sorry dog in the world just to denagrate these womans misfortune?

excuse me, from whom should I petition the right to express myself?

And how exactly did i denigrate their misfortune? this is a non-personal, mediated phenomenon, and while I am loathe to express the rationale behind my (intentionally) insensitive humour, the point is, just who the hell are these people? Just why would anyone outside of the twin&#39;s personal circle, and the professionals involved in their treatment, care? how many other people die with not so much as a peep, while the whole industrialized world experiences some bizarre groupthink, groupmourn over people they learned the existence of a couple of weeks ago?

its plastic, fake, forced, devoid of genuine human experience and feeling, thats my damn point. besides, those two were butt ugly.

[myfiles3000]

Originally posted by clintonesque@9 July 2003 - 14:59
It doesn&#39;t matter if I knew them or not.
They are no diff than you or I, just looking to live their lives with some degree of dignity & normalcy.

Very insensitive of you.

my god, the irony.

here&#39;s my take: first, no, their not just like you and I, THEY&#39;RE CONJOINED TWINS FER CRISSAKES. and they&#39;ve had their plight plastered over every radiocast, tv screen, website and newspaper in the world. So i would say that aside from the obvious homosapien-type commonality, they are NOT like you or I.

Secondly, did it ever occur to you that the very mechanism by which you learned of their existance precluded them from living with dignity and normalcy? Call me insensitive if you will, but I rather find the media coverage, and the average response on the street a little insensitive myself....

[clintonesque]

Well its true that they are (were) but ugly, but that&#39;s not the point.
And you certainly don&#39;t need to pertition anyone to express your views.
And I don&#39;t mourn them realy, I just felt the need to defend those girls.
Also, I needed to argue with someone this morning and you just happened to fit the bill.

So thanks.

[j2k4]

Originally posted by myfiles3000@9 July 2003 - 12:10
Secondly, did it ever occur to you that the very mechanism by which you learned of their existance precluded them from living with dignity and normalcy? Call me insensitive if you will, but I rather find the media coverage, and the average response on the street a little insensitive myself....

Myfiles-

Speaking of irony:

Ironic, isn&#39;t it, you and I bitch about the media for the exact same reasons, but in aid of distinctly different philosophies?

B)

Edit: I also note this makes you a much rarer creature than me.

[myfiles3000]

Originally posted by j2k4@9 July 2003 - 18:16
Edit: I also note this makes you a much rarer creature than me.

don&#39;t follow the rarity comment...

[liquidacid]

I think that the twins were very much to be admired. Their strength, optimism and intelligence should be an example to us all.

Indeed the media spotlight was intense. However, this was not only a story of two incredibly brave young women, but also of medical science and the astonishing complexity of the procedure undertaken. What was most apparent though, was that the last thing the twins wanted was sympathy.

The outcome was tragic. To suggest that we should not care, because we do not know them personally, is also tragic.

I find it depressing that kids like &#39;myfiles3000&#39; are posting here expressing such narrow-minded cynicism and crassness. I do think, however, that his like are in the minority.

[Rat Faced]

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