The following is a poem written by Bo Burnham, from his new poetry book "Egghead".
I find it to be really thought provoking and raise a lot of questions. Let me know if you agree!
I feel that the idea of someone falling in love with their clone is wrong. I wonder if I think this just because I, much like many homophobic people today, have simply been taught that this is such. I don't think that homosexuality is wrong (obviously), but I don't agree with the idea of clones being together. Is this because they share the same genes, or because I am just not open-minded enough? Will this actually have to be something we deal with in the future? Is Bo praising the notion that things eventually become accepted (homosexuality in this case) or is he making a claim that perhaps our world's open-mindedness needs to draw the line at some point? Let me know what you think.
P.S. One of my favorite things about this poem is the picture that goes along with it... I could not find it on the internet so instead here is a poorly taken photo of my copy of the book:
http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/embryo-screening-and-the-ethics-of-human-60561
ReplyDeleteYour post reminded me of the ongoing debate over embryo screening, described in this article. Basically, it's where a couple that are carriers of genetic diseases can create embryos, screen them for the disease, and then choose one that is negative for the disease. Similar to the issue of cloning, it comes down to how much we want to allow technology to play into birth and natural conception. The main point of debate here is whether it is ethical to allow someone to live with a life-altering disease when it's preventable, while the alternative would be to unnaturally create life. There is also the risk of people taking it too far by selecting the embryo based on traits that aren't related to health and effectively designing their own child.
I think Bo Burnham is mocking our society's increasing open-mindedness, which is somewhat surprising because he wrote this relatively recently. By making the parallel between being homosexual and wanting to marry one's clone, he seems to be saying something along the lines of "Well, if something unnatural and ridiculous can be accepted now, just wait until the future". I think he makes this comparison in order to get the audience to see homosexuality as being unnatural and ridiculous, since people today are probably more likely to see people marrying clones as unnatural and ridiculous than seeing homosexuality in this way. Additionally, I think he is supporting the narcissistic theory of homosexuality that was mentioned in the footnotes of Kiss of the Spider Woman, since he compares falling in love with oneself to falling in love with someone of the same sex.
ReplyDeleteI see the poem as being more satirical than a commentary on the “increasing open-mindedness of society.” It seems that the older generation is always against the more progressive ideas that the younger generation is more accepting of. I read the poem as trying to say that there will always be people who are close-minded to new things in our world but I didn’t interpret it that he was putting homosexuality on the same level as being attracted to one’s clone. I thought that Bo was trying to say that in society, things that are seen as ‘new’ are scary and sometimes revolting to people. On a lighter note, if we look back to the society that most of our parents grew up in, a lot of their parents thought that rock and roll was corrupting society, but looking back on this, we can all see the absurdity of these ideas. In the poem, I think the most interesting aspect about it is that the 2 fathers were presented as characters. Many people are persecuted due to their homosexuality in this day in age, though the fathers disowned his son due his sexuality. In this way, I think that the poem also presents the idea that bigotry is a cycle, but that society will eventually adapt to newness.
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