ok I will renew it. (trial run. I need to see if you’ll act right) today’s fun fact will be a bit morbid (tw corpse (?)) but it’s one of my favorites to tell ppl. found out abt it while preparing a research paper for uni.
so. there was this guy his name was jeremy bentham nd for context he was the designer of the so called (by him, nonetheless) "ideal prison" aka the panopticon. the prison itself was never actually built although a few did try to copy some elements of it (for example la modelo in colombia). it was designed in such a way that would prevent the prisoners from interacting w each other (one person cells) while also making them suspect that they are always being watched (to induce "correct" behaviour). michel foucault also elaborates on the concept of panopticon in "discipline and punish".
but what I wished to talk abt today is sth tjat happened to bentham post mortem actually. in his will he expressed a desire to be taxidermied and placed on display. the people who attempted this have never taxidermied a human before (obviously) nd fucked up horribly when they got to the head so it started decaying and whatnot. it began looking horrible. there r some pictures online of it. what’s more. some students once STOLE said head nd demanded money for it to be given back. which indeed happened however they ended up changing benthams real head for one made of wax to ensure none of the visitors would get scared. nd that’s how u can find his body today, dressed in his silly outfit nd sat on a chair.
lastly, it is worth noting that bentham also wanted to be transported on a wheelchair whenever his friends held parties so he could "be there w them". much to think about……….
what a weirdo. silly. what an honest work. and in the end he's always watching huh
