The Jim Rose Circus Sideshow: a satanic display?

[alrick888]

I wonder if any of you saw this show in the early nineties. I saw it in 1992 and found at the time it was shockingly good. Have a peek.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6Pt3eaRusA

This vid involves a man ingesting a liter of beer (and ketchup and chocolate sauce) through a tube in his nose, and then having it pumped out again with a primitive handpump. He then proceeds to invite audience members to share a glass of this bile beer with him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Rose_Circus

http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/420000/images/_422168_dp150.jpg
Other highlights include The Amazing Mr Lifto, who has worked with Rose for years and is his best friend.

Mr Lifto holds a Guinness record for lifting weights attached to piercings on all parts of his body. He then swings the objects around the stage, keeping the audience transfixed until they force themselves to look away.


This show has a real emphasis on the body, not as a temple but as a kind of toy to be subjected to all kinds of ''abuse''. Rose says his show is about empowering people and a "psychological exploration of human behaviour". He says he wants to expose charlatans by showing the circus members facing up to their fears.

It sure is one of the most extreme displays I ever witnessed.

[kingmonkey]

Yeah, I remember them...Are they still performing?


Don't know about satanic, but people have and always will be drawn to the bizarre & extreme.

[astrochicken]

Fuck.. i saw their "show" in roskilde.

Left halfway through.. same feeling as watching Saw/Hostel and besides if i recall correctly the velvet underground where to about to start playing somewhere else.

[krakhead]

I saw them in '91(ish) in Cardiff Coal Exchange - my friend slept with Mr Lifto! Lol!

And they were some of the nicest people I've ever met! :)

[miss_splitfoot]

i found them entertaining at the time. the Jim Rose book "Freak Like Me" is good too. i don't think of their activities as "satanic" at all.

[alrick888]

I saw them in '91(ish) in Cardiff Coal Exchange - my friend slept with Mr Lifto! Lol!

And they were some of the nicest people I've ever met! :)

She probably had a glass of bile beer first!

:p

[halleyscomet]

i found them entertaining at the time. the Jim Rose book "Freak Like Me" is good too. i don't think of their activities as "satanic" at all.

I agree, there's nothing satanic about a simple freak show. Where did the silly "satanic" angle come in?

[krakhead]

She probably had a glass of bile beer first!

:p

Actually - it was a he! :D

[alrick888]

Actually - it was a he! :D

Oh...... :D

Hmmmmm I guess I'll have to change that title to: "Jim Rose Circus Sideshow: A Satanic Display Encouraging Irresponsible Homosexual Activity"

;)

[halleyscomet]

Oh...... :D

Hmmmmm I guess I'll have to change that title to: "Jim Rose Circus Sideshow: A Satanic Display Encouraging Irresponsible Homosexual Activity"

;)

Now now, we have NO information on if a love glove was used, so there's no proof it was irresponsible homosexual activity.

Back to my earlier question, what do you think is Satanic about the show?

[alrick888]

Now now, we have NO information on if a love glove was used, so there's no proof it was irresponsible homosexual activity.

Back to my earlier question, what do you think is Satanic about the show?

Well, maybe it's the kind of idea the show seems to be promoting that the human body is no more than just a sack of flesh and bones, that it is a machine to be toyed with at will. The implication that there is no connection at all to a spiritual dimension, that actions have no consequences. In one word, the desacralization of the body, and through that, of the human.

I don't know if "satanism" is the word I'm looking for.
A good description of the contents of the show would be "ritualized abuse", although in this case it's clearly self-abuse carried out by paid performers upon themselves. So that's why.

On the other hand, one could argue that it the intent is to show that the human body is capable of withstanding any kind of abuse. But that's not true, really. We are all vulnerable, even though we'd like to deny that.

[halleyscomet]

The implication that there is no connection at all to a spiritual dimension, that actions have no consequences. In one word, the desacralization of the body, and through that, of the human.

I think you're reading a bit too much into a bunch of people showing off. Terms like "ritualized abuse" imply a religious aspect that just isn't present in these performances.

I'm also confused by your claim that performances like these imply there are no consequences. It think the physical damage these folks have sustained makes it very clear that there ARE consequences to this kind of behavior.