Vladimir Putin Should Be Mummified

When I first read that the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez left plans to have him embalmed, presumably for permanent display purposes, I was intrigued with why someone would do that, or what type of person would do that.  When learning the history of Russia in grade school, I was impacted when I learned that Lenin was embalmed and on display in the Red Square Mausoleum in Moscow.  People would stand in line for hours to have a chance to see his corpse. 

Embalming is common, but usually not for displaying the corpse long term.  During the U.S. civil war, the dead were often embalmed to be shipped back to families for burial.  The trip often took many weeks, making short term preservation important.  Today many cultures embalm to allow open casket viewing to take place, days after the death.  It is the permanent display aspect that makes me wonder.  Occasionally I read about someone that has their pet animal taxidermy, which I consider very wrong. 

When the Hugo Chavez embalming plans emerged, I read more on the subject.  A number of other world leaders are embalmed and displayed: Russia’s Stalin, China's Mao Zedong, Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh, North Korea's founding leader, Kim Il Sung and Argentina’s Eva Peron are the most prominent.  All of these people led during tumultuous times in their country’s history, requiring a personality of considerable ego.  I guess if you have a significant ego, you want people to admire you for as long as possible.

The problem with embalming is that it doesn’t work forever.  Lenin’s body is deteriorating after 90 years and pictures show evidence that it looks far less “lifelike” than earlier.  Mummification actually preserves the body much better than either embalming or taxidermy.  Early civilizations caught on, and thousands of years later we have their well-preserved corpses to admire.

Kim Il Sung had the biggest ego, before his death.  Kim claimed to have shot a round of golf at 38 under par, including 11 holes in one.  The funniest thing is the North Korean people believed it. Russian President Putin is the biggest egomaniac running a big show right now.  He could be described as a megamaniac.   The man tries to convey the image of a leader that is world class at everything he tries, and he believes he looks very good without a shirt doing these activities.  A man with this ego should be mummified and preserved for many millennium.