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Webcast Funerals Growing More Popular
HughPickens.com writes: Lex Berko reports in The Atlantic that although webcasting has been around since the mid-1990s, livestreamed funerals have only begun to go mainstream in the last few years. The National Funeral Directors Association has only this year introduced a new funeral webcasting license that permits funeral homes to legally webcast funerals that include copyrighted music. The webcast service's growing appeal is, by all accounts, a result of the increasing mobility of modern society. Remote participation is often the only option for those who live far away or have other barriers — financial, temporal, health-related — barring them from attending a funeral. "It's not designed to replace folks attending funerals," says Walker Posey. "A lot of folks just don't live where their family grew up and it's difficult to get back and forth."
But some funeral directors question if online funerals are helpful to the grieving process and eschew streaming funerals live because they do not want to replace a communal human experience with a solitary digital one. What happens if there's a technical problem with the webcast — will we grieve even more knowing we missed the service in person and online? Does webcasting bode well for the future of death acceptance, or does it only promote of our further alienation from that inevitable moment? "The physical dead body is proof of death, tangible evidence that the person we love is gone, and that we will someday be gone as well," says Caitlin Doughty, a death theorist and mortician. "To have death and mourning transferred online takes away that tangible proof. What is there to show us that death is real?"
But some funeral directors question if online funerals are helpful to the grieving process and eschew streaming funerals live because they do not want to replace a communal human experience with a solitary digital one. What happens if there's a technical problem with the webcast — will we grieve even more knowing we missed the service in person and online? Does webcasting bode well for the future of death acceptance, or does it only promote of our further alienation from that inevitable moment? "The physical dead body is proof of death, tangible evidence that the person we love is gone, and that we will someday be gone as well," says Caitlin Doughty, a death theorist and mortician. "To have death and mourning transferred online takes away that tangible proof. What is there to show us that death is real?"
This won't help.
Love Lies Bleeding.
if you die before you die, then when you die you won't die
They should webcast the funerals in Ebola countries so the relatives don't go around kissing the dead person at the funeral.
And Mortician. I'm sure we all don't enjoy molesting dead bodies as much as she does but seeing one via live feed is enough evidence for me.
You don't need a license to broadcast music that is incidental. It's part of the funeral that you're recording. Duh.
For some others, however . . . well, I make it a point not to dance in public.
This is a brilliant idea!
More webcasts should have funerals, so we can bury them and move on, and there will be one less webcast!
Netcraft confirms slashdot is dying.
Kill someone you know and there will be ur evidence.
I don't know if it's different outside North America, but try to count the number of funerals you've been to - and then how many of those were open-casket. As a society the mere sight of death has become so fearsome a feat to overcome that most families opt out of showing off the body and granting those visiting the funeral proper closure.
"Oh, s/he is dead? Well, nothing to see, I guess I'll just have to take your word for it. Wish I could have at least said goodbye face-to-face."
It's death. One of the few things we all truly have in common. One of the most natural events in life. Yet, let's raise a generation that doesn't even see it up close. Because that would just be too shocking.
And have GlaDOS preside over the funeral, cancelling the deceased's membership in the Being-Alive Club and talking about what a horrible person they were. Later on in the webcast she could serve cake and then release the neurotoxin.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
When a webcast dies, it's only natural that one should hold a funeral for it.
Whoever wrote this Slashdot headline, please punch yourself in the nuts.
I just don't give a shit about who died.
I already see how people have stopped calling each other to keep in touch and just follow Facebook updates, like they tell the real story about how people are doing.
"You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours."
My office building is next to the pathology department, and I can't go to lunch without seeing a hearse loading or unloading.
I dunno, they need to up the lack of class if they ever hope to top drive through funerals
A bunch of people who make their living off of dressing up dead bodies and charging people to view them is concerned about people not wanting to come see dead bodies in person. Of course, saying it that way would be crass, so we get a bunch of ramble about the grieving process and how important it is to see dead bodies in person as part of that.
"To have death and mourning transferred online takes away that tangible proof. What is there to show us that death is real?"
Maybe the fact that Aunt Tilly no longer calls/emails you once a week to check up? Do you really need to see a body to know somebody died.
The real fear is that if showing up to an online funeral becomes popular, then people will start to question why they are spending so much money on dressing up dead bodies and propping them up for viewing. If everybody is just looking at an image of them anyway, why not just show a slideshow of photos of the deceased? And if you do that then you can dispense with the funeral services almost entirely. There might still be a gathering, but it could be anywhere. There might still be a religious service, but it might not include tens of thousands of dollars worth of embalming and equipment.
They don't give one tenth of one shit about the grieving process. Some of them may have told themselves that to make themselves more comfortable sleeping on a gigantic bed stuffed with money. The mortuaries have managed to get themselves written into law and they're fighting tooth and nail to remain there. But ultimately, less of us believe in an afterlife than ever before, and thus we don't need a corpse present at a memorial. When I'm done, I'd like to have a tree stuck up my arse and be stuck head-down into the soil, thanks. Anyone who would like to remember me can do so in a drinking establishment.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
How are we to know whether the funeral we are watching is genuine? Could it be counterfeit, rebroadcast, or pirated?
Gently reply
Well... duh. That's what FPS are for.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
For most here, isn't it better that death be made as remote as possible? I mean why would we want to think about it anyway? And if we went to a funeral in person, what could we possibly say to the grieving that would really make a difference?
We had a death in the family. An older person.
The rest of the family was scattered across Europe, North America, and Asia. We had about 30 people at the ceremony in North America, and nearly as many watching by Skype from around the world. It was a good thing.
You may or may not want this for yourself or your loved ones, but I cannot imagine why funeral directors-- craven, predatory businesses--would be entitled to an opinion on the subject. I'm also annoyed by the failure to recognize that many families and traditions cremate or otherwise dispose of the body, but of course this point exposes the argument about needing a body for the family to grieve properly as the nonsense it is.
This just seems like another attempt by the funeral industry to exploit grief for proft, hoping to find a way to extract a few more dollars (maybe by renting larger rooms?) from people that have already been bilked out the cost of "deluxe" caskets.
Soon - a special status column in your profile where you can enter living, deceased or 50 other statuses that Facebook reviewed with council of the undead. Then your friends can like the status change and view targeted advertisements for life-prolonging products.
I'm pleased to hear about this, because I've been considering a career change. Nice to know there are some new options:
DJ = Death Jockey -- provide color commentary
Emcee - Mortician of Ceremonies ("Hi, I'm Ebeneezer Grimsuit, and this is "Good Mourning America....")
...it's a very slow day at the office.
Most of them include the deceased's last words, "Hey! Watch this!"
Have gnu, will travel.
If you go to a funeral, it's to comfort those who have lost a loved one; these people will often travel to make it. Sometimes they can't. If there is a way to pay your respects when you can't travel, then a webcast is better than hearing about it, at least you hear the eulogy and the next time you see the family you can at least talk about the service.
One could argue we're taking away the personal aspect, but I doubt anyone who would have went to the funeral would skip it if the webcast were available. This is a good thing for those in bad times.
"Who are you?" "No one of consequence." "I must know." "Get used to disappointment."
What's next? Live Webcast funerals with live comments?
The real fear is that if showing up to an online funeral becomes popular, then people will start to question why they are spending so much money on dressing up dead bodies and propping them up for viewing.
Lol!! Am I just imagining you typed that? Because surely you can't be serious.
I hate attending funerals and only do it because I'm expected to. Would the existence of livestreaming allow me to skip the whole thing while claiming that I took part via the stream? If so, then I'm greatly in favor of it!
Deathflix.
The Westboro Baptist Church find out, they will never stop protesting..
The first one was for my brother-in-law, who died of ALS. He was very close to one of his nieces, but she was in the Army in Germany, and they didn't consider the relationship close enough for leave. So she watched my webcast via Ustream. The interesting thing is that Ustream stores the webcast, and it has been watched more than 200 times. I suspect most of those views were my sister - and why not? Here is a recording of their family and friends talking about how much they loved the man she lost. In another case, a friend's husband died of a massive stroke. His wife and kids were in the Midwest, but his mom and the rest of his family was back east, and his mother was too old and ill to travel, so she watched the webcast.
"How perfectly Goddamn delightful it all is, to be sure" Charles Crumb
What's it like getting your ass kicked by apk + downmodding to hide it 20x http://tech.slashdot.org/comme... ?