Friday, March 6, 2009

Ballgame



As much as I don't like to do this (mainly because I don't want to get sued), I borrowed this article from boingboing.net. This is not really very funny, except of course, the guy loses his balls. Which on a lower humor level is sort of funny. I hope I've not reduced this blog to that category...but, hey, get your laughs where you can, my proctologist always says.

Really folks, this is truly tragic. Think about it...your dad decides to de-ball you at age eight. You have no say so regards the matter. Your voice never changes and...you prefer probably anything rather than sex, for the rest of your life. Plus, to add insult to your ballessness, it turns out to be for naught...and then later when you are middle-aged, some crazies decide you are a symbol of all that is wrong with the world. Your life is in danger, and to protect you, your sibs, toss out the two things that can complete you on your journey to the next level.

A classic tragedy, in the Greek sense.

Barbara Demick of The LA Times reports on Sun Yaoting, China's last living eunuch (Left, standing with his biographer, Jia Yinghua).

In 1911 when he was eight years old, his father castrated him with a razor in preparation of "an imperial life of riches." It didn't qute work out as his father had hoped.

After the Communists came to power in 1949, Sun and other surviving eunuchs were despised as freakish symbols of the feudal past. He was nearly killed during the Cultural Revolution in the late 1960s, and his siblings were so fearful of persecution that they threw away his bao, or treasure: the severed genitals that eunuchs kept pickled in a jar so they could be buried as complete men.


It was not until the final years of his life that Sun was recognized as a rare living repository of history. A biography based on hours of interviews in the years before his death in 1996 was recently translated into English. The book arrives as a museum dedicated to eunuchs, built around the tomb of a 16th century eunuch, is undergoing a major expansion. It is scheduled to reopen in May.

I am trying to envision this museum...and it's exhibits.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Strangely intriguing.

jadedj said...

Moko---and, funny?

Doug said...

I wouldn't have the balls to visit that museum...

jadedj said...

Doug---wid ya on that one! Interesting photos though?

Doug said...

I read the article on the LAT site. I would still rather "have the boys home" than move to a palace...

Anonymous said...

...and funny.

SunTiger said...

Nice disturbing article Jaded.

Oh . . . and Doug. It's okay if you don't have balls to visit. The museum probably has enough on display for everybody.

mr-stu said...

Do men visit that museum cross legged just in case there is a mad woman around who wants to copy!

jadedj said...

mr-stu---so far there have been no male visitors.

jadedj said...

Sun---like an expensive hotel...big ballroom (how did I know this post was going to deteriorate?).

BeckEye said...

He probably has a seizure every time he hears that AC/DC song "Big Balls."

jadedj said...

BeckEye---Har, har. An empty ballroom is a sad thing indeed.