this post was submitted on 20 Jun 2025
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Unpopular Opinion

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We do not need our bodies once we leave this world regardless of what you think happens after we die. We should be focused on curing diseases and extending the life of living humans. Science would go so far if we used human bodies after death instead of requiring people to give consent to something they don't need.

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[–] veniasilente@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 6 hours ago

No, fuck that fuck you and fuck capitalism. We are already exploited enough in life, now we'll also have to not only be sour in that we are also exploited in death, but also that at the first nail through or difficult cough our health services will "mysteriously" fail to treat us so that the kid over next door can have an extra kidney and the interns on the big corpo who made the last donation have an extra body minus kidney to jerk off to.

[–] FriendFatale@leminal.space 6 points 8 hours ago

in america your body is likely to go to the military so some 19 year old can cut off your head and shove fireworks in the hole

[–] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 2 points 11 hours ago

In some countries that is the default option

[–] rowinxavier@lemmy.world 11 points 18 hours ago

Just switch it to opt out, not opt in. In Australia you can opt in to organ donation but many people don't care either way. My partner would definitely opt out because they don't feel OK with it, and fair enough, but most people actually don't care and would go with the default.

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 6 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

This opinion is unpopular because science doesn't need that many bodies and organ shortages are already solved by opt-out systems, so it's just being a tyrant for no gain over far simpler solutions.

[–] bstix 1 points 6 hours ago

Organ shortages are definitely not covered by opt in.

Opt out also doesn't mean that scientist have to use all the bodies.

It's never been a problem to have too many bodies. It's a lot easier to turn away some when they're not needed than it is to find one when needed.

[–] douz0a0bouz@midwest.social 9 points 23 hours ago

No one person can make that determination or all of us. Also, have you looked into what actually happens when a body gets donated. Here is John Oliver's investigation:

https://youtu.be/Tn7egDQ9lPg

[–] jonesey71@lemmus.org 8 points 23 hours ago

I want my remains spread around Disney World. Also I do not wish to be cremated.

[–] outhouseperilous@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

Problem is, lots of them just get given to cops to play with.

If i knew it was gonna get cut up to train new surgeons or study how i died or figure out how i didn't so many times, I'd be on board.

But there's no way yo be sure it won't be a chew toy for cops. So I'll be cremated.

[–] Nenutzerbame@feddit.org 2 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

You do have sources for a claim that fucking extreme, right?

[–] outhouseperilous@lemmy.dbzer0.com -1 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (2 children)

Sure. But if you cared and didn't just want to argue, you'd have searched it by now. I'm not childish enough to think good sources will convince anyone of anything.

[–] Randomgal@lemmy.ca 3 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

That's what someone who made shit up would say.

You can check. I think someone else cited a source.

[–] Ledivin@lemmy.world 3 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (2 children)

Congrats, you work against your own causes. If you aren't willing (or more likely able) to back up your claims, I'm just gonna assume you're full of shit and move on 🤷‍♂️

In my experience, a good source doesn't change that.

[–] Nenutzerbame@feddit.org 1 points 8 hours ago
[–] rektdeckard@lemmy.world 2 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

Sorry wait what are the cops doing with the bodies?

[–] kux@lemm.ee 3 points 12 hours ago

i'm sure there's far more to this but here's one interesting article on the subject

A body donated to science - but used to test bombs: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-49198405

of course this is less of a worry in countries other than the US. But tbh if i lived there i'd still give the ok as there's still a chance of my corpse being put to some better use than ash or worm food

[–] outhouseperilous@lemmy.dbzer0.com -1 points 16 hours ago

Basically chew toy.

[–] Hotrod54chevy@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Probably an unpopular reply, but I already have enough fear of organ harvesting. I don't need the government to one day decide that there are too many people on waiting lists so they're just gonna pull feeding tubes or some other drastic dystopian level shit they're probably really thinking about. Maybe kill off a few minorities or poor people or the handicapped while we're already ignoring body autonomy and basic human rights?

[–] FooBarrington@lemmy.world 2 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

If they're gonna go that far, do you really think your consent matters at all?

[–] Hotrod54chevy@lemmy.ml 1 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

It's the only thing that matters.

[–] FooBarrington@lemmy.world 1 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

And who is going to enforce it? Why can't they just fake it?

[–] Hotrod54chevy@lemmy.ml 2 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

I'm confused by your statements. Are you for or against them pilfering our bodies for usable parts after we die? If me allowing them to do it isn't even an option, WTF are we even talking about?

[–] FooBarrington@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

I'm against people deciding to pull the feeding tubes of others to get more organs. At the same time, it's a ridiculous belief to think they won't just do that because you don't consent. If they decide to go that far, your consent doesn't matter in the least.

[–] Hotrod54chevy@lemmy.ml 1 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

It's the difference between thinking there's a tyrannical government and thinking the government is gonna leave you in a seedy motel bath tub full of ice. It doesn't seem like much but it's a pretty big gap.

[–] FooBarrington@lemmy.world 0 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

That's wishful thinking. How would anyone know that the government decided to pull someones feeding tube & use their organs? You think they can't control the doctors & coroners? You think just because they don't have a piece of paper saying "I consent" they can't fake such a piece of paper?

[–] Hotrod54chevy@lemmy.ml 1 points 6 hours ago

Again, there are big differences. It's going from minor corruption to full on why does anything matter talk. Why vote when elections don't matter? Why get a home when they can just take it away? The only thing keeping us human is consent. Again, that's all that matters. That's all that rights are.

[–] doingthestuff@lemy.lol 1 points 22 hours ago

No, but I'm still not going to consent. When governments step out of bounds sometimes people give them consequences. Sometimes.

[–] FireRetardant@lemmy.world 23 points 1 day ago

Some doctors and scientists are really fucked up and value their experiements over human life. If bodies become a resource they can claim, some patients may not get the care they deserve because the body would be valuable to their studies and experiments.

There is also concerns for the organ market.

Culturally, humans have long standing and many unique traditions for caring for their dead. Someone and their remaining family should not be denied their funeral rights because science wants their body.

A better option would be increasing the amount of awareness for these programs so that people willing to donate their body or organs are informed of their existence and goals and can choose to donate.

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)

If my body is valuable my family should get paid for it. The healthcare industry certainly is when they use the organs.

[–] modus@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Probably why there's such a push for people to become donors. Don't consider the needs of the sick, but of the shareholders.

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[–] LilB0kChoy@midwest.social 8 points 1 day ago

This is a proper unpopular opinion because, as someone who received an organ transplant from a deceased donor, I disagree with it.

I am a huge advocate for organ donation for obvious reasons but I don't think it should come at the cost of bodily autonomy.

[–] GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 14 points 1 day ago (5 children)
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[–] AmazingAwesomator@lemmy.world 73 points 2 days ago (7 children)

having an opt-out policy instead if an opt-in policy would allow those that care enough to opt out, but allow science and organ donation to become the cultural norm.

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[–] Almacca@aussie.zone 2 points 1 day ago

No-one's gonna want my organs by the time I'm done with them. I'm not too keen on them myself at this point.

[–] brendansimms@lemmy.world 30 points 1 day ago (6 children)

There was a scandal in the US where bodies being donated to ‘science’ were used for munitions testing by the us military. So the “who receives said body” is very important.

[–] Almacca@aussie.zone 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

"Put 'em in the movies!" - Bill Hicks

[–] KAtieTot@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 7 hours ago

He was talking about terminal and hospice patients. People who were still alive

"Holy shit, Jackie Chan kicked grammas head off"

[–] FireRetardant@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

Technically speaking, those bodies were used for science. Just they were used for military science, not health sciences.

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[–] KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 45 points 2 days ago (7 children)

It's worth giving this paper from 2021 a read. The basic conclusion is that shifting away from an opt-in organ donation system does not increase the number of actual organs available, because the number of people willing to donate organs is not the (only) bottleneck in obtaining usable organs.

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[–] blueamigafan@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago

Here in the UK all everyone is automatically on the donation list, you have to opt out, not opt in like a lot of countries.

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