Cannibalism and the will to survive

[dennisrwood]

Avatar: I would not eat meat. I would find whatever alternative God provided. a deserted island has plenty of food.

Drew:

[Cail]

Watch out Cail, dennis isn't fooling anyone-he misspelled your name that's all!!!

Dennis doesn't stand a chance. I've already got him figured for 3 courses of a meal....

[Dromond]

I don't know, man.

I see dumpster divers and figure if I was HUNGRY ENOUGH That I guess I'd have to, but survival seems less important than eating human flesh.


I think I know myself well enough to say that I'd die before I got HUNGRY ENOUGH To be a cannibal.

Not even if Joe Rogan himself was cheering me on!

I mean, have you ever SEEN Fear Factor?

I think I would retch up that flesh before its protein had a chance to do good. (Which would only weaken me further.)

But of course, if you (not I ) could hold down your companion... on rescue, when asked where 'timmy' is you could always say..."I don't know exactly... I passed him a few miles back."

[matrixman]

Yeah, I'm in agreement with Dromond on this topic. Not to offend anyone, but the human body is a pretty dirty thing--and can you imagine the smell after death? If cannibalism is the only "viable option" left for sustaining life, then the option of death doesn't seem so bad. I don't think I could cross the psychological barrier and eat my fellow man, at least not while I still had full possession of my mental faculties. If starvation reduced me to an incoherent lunatic who is desperate enough, then maybe I might view the rotting human corpse beside me as a delectable meal, but by that point I'm basically insane and all bets are off. The will to survive at all costs versus the will to live and die by one's ethical code at all costs...until I'm in such an extreme situation, I really don't know which is stronger in me.

I'll just have to make sure I never put myself in that situation. Remote, mountainous places are definitely off my list of travel destinations. Being an insulated city guy all my life, the only food-related anxiety I'll likely ever suffer is realizing I don't have enough dip for my chips, and the deli is closed. The horror!

[Avatar]

Being an insulated city guy all my life, the only food-related anxiety I'll likely ever suffer is realizing I don't have enough dip for my chips, and the deli is closed. The horror!

Thats twice in the last 5 minutes that I've reading your posts.

But what exactly is "unethical" about eating somebody else? (You don't let them rot you know.)

I'm all for ethics being more important, it's just that I don't particularly think that it is unethical. They're not going to be hurt. They're already dead afterall.

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[matrixman]

Yeah, they're dead, but they're dead people. (I smell a Sixth Sense joke here.) Call me squeamish, then. We all live by some kind of code, whether clearly defined or only vaguely so, and I'm no different. There some things that I simply will not do, such as eat other people...even if they are dead. But "will" is the key word: again, I have no idea how strong my will to resist eating a dead person is. I can draw a line in the sand, but can I keep myself from crossing it? Okay, this is really getting morbid. What's next, are you going to offer recipes or something? (You know, you don't have to answer that...)

[Avatar]

One one point at least I agree with you. It's all too easy to draw that metaphorical line when sitting in the warm comfort of your living room, with plenty of dip available.

If it comes right down to it, in an actual survival situation, you may feel differently. But I do see it as squeamishness. Once you're dead, nothing seperates the meat of your body from the meat of the cow you're having for dinner.

It's an empty husk, nothing more. And as I said earlier, if [/i]my[/i] empty husk would keep other alive after I had no more use for it, then they're more than welcome to chow down. Hell, I'd think of it as a final act of meaning in my life. That it preserved the lives of others.

"Immorality", in my opinion, is like sin. It arises from hurting others.

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[Worm of Despite]

If it comes right down to it, in an actual survival situation, you may feel differently. But I do see it as squeamishness. Once you're dead, nothing seperates the meat of your body from the meat of the cow you're having for dinner.

It's an empty husk, nothing more. And as I said earlier, if [/i]my[/i] empty husk would keep other alive after I had no more use for it, then they're more than welcome to chow down. Hell, I'd think of it as a final act of meaning in my life. That it preserved the lives of others.

I agree completely. Well said!

[Dromond]

Yeah, well... why then did Soylent green need to remain secret?

[ChoChiyo]

I saw an interesting program on the History channel one day about these whalers in the early days of New England...their ship was destroyed in a storm, and several of them were adrift for ages in a life boat. Eventually it became apparent that they were going to die unless they ate someone. So they drew straws.

I believe it was the captain (or first mate, maybe) who was the leader of the group. The short straw fell to the youngest survivor--age 17--who was also the nephew of the captain. The captain volunteered to be killed and eaten in the kid's place, but the kid insisted on following through, saying he liked his fate as well as any other.

How'd you like to explain that when you got back to home port?

Sis, I ate Buddy. Sorry.

[matrixman]

ChoChiyo brings up an excellent point. You may feel it's all fine and dandy to serve up your deceased buddy as steak, but are you prepared to face the music once you return to civilization? How well do you believe people will accept you once news spreads that you're that "cannibal freak"? Are you prepared to live as an outcast in your community? Of course, if you feel you're already an outsider, then I guess doing the cannibalism thing will just add further to your rebel image. I suppose you could try to keep it a secret, but it's going to be embarrassing once police find your former friend's half-eaten corpse along with the bite marks.

If it comes right down to it, in an actual survival situation, you may feel differently.

Yes, but that works both ways. I could say the same to you. If it comes right down to it, you may feel differently. You have your convictions on the subject, and I have mine. I like to think both our convictions have equal weight. Do you think I would abandon my convictions more easily than you would yours? I'm not being nasty here, just tossing the ball (or the leg bone, heh) back into your court.

[Avatar]

I think that it happened more often than people would admit too, especially in the early days of travel.

If I remember, cannibilism was illegal, (but something prompts me to add, except in terms of survival on the high seas? Dunno. Open to correction on this.)

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[dennisrwood]

www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/psyc ... ism/3.html

[Avatar]

And that's part of the reason that it's such a taboo. Hmm, seems illegal in any case? But I think I'm thinking of British law, and a provision made (by Victoria?) for it. Or it could just be that they're not prosecuted.

Of course, there's a big difference between "survival" cannibalism and any other type, but then again, that recent case of "consensual" cannibalism springs to mind.

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[Worm of Despite]

ChoChiyo brings up an excellent point. You may feel it's all fine and dandy to serve up your deceased buddy as steak, but are you prepared to face the music once you return to civilization? How well do you believe people will accept you once news spreads that you're that "cannibal freak"? Are you prepared to live as an outcast in your community? Of course, if you feel you're already an outsider, then I guess doing the cannibalism thing will just add further to your rebel image. I suppose you could try to keep it a secret, but it's going to be embarrassing once police find your former friend's half-eaten corpse along with the bite marks.

I'd rather be a living pariah than a dead one. Facing "the music" sounds a lot more appetizing than the possibility of facing the Big Nothing.

[dennisrwood]

having nothing to fear in death, I'd rather die than eat a fellow person. how would I explain chowing on my traveling companions to God?

[ChoChiyo]

What if it was God's will that you ate your dead companion--suppose he had a purpose for you, and by dying, you didn't fulfill it?

In Paul's vision, all flesh was made clean to eat.



(I don't know what I would do in this situation. I would probably be one of the first to die anyway, so it wouldn't make much difference. You all can eat me if you want--but I will be old and tough. Heh heh)

Oh!

I just had a thought.

SUppose it wasn't a matter of YOU surviving, but of your children surviving--would you feed them the flesh of a dead human to save their lives? Would you tell your spouse to use your carcass as meat to save your kids?

[Sheriff Lytton]

I'd rather be a living pariah than a dead one. Facing "the music" sounds a lot more appetizing than the possibility of facing the Big Nothing.

Exactly.

SUppose it wasn't a matter of YOU surviving, but of your children surviving--would you feed them the flesh of a dead human to save their lives? Would you tell your spouse to use your carcass as meat to save your kids?

I'd probably encounter a lot less resistance than I do now with getting my daughter to eat vegetables.

[Avatar]

MM-- Sorry man, we must have posted at the same time, never saw it 'til now. You're absolutely right. Each opinion has equal weight. I was only agreeing with you when you said it might be different if it actually came down to it.

For me at least, it's got nothing to do with a fear of death. If it was, I might deliberately kill somebody to eat them. It's simple practicality. Same as if I'd want them to eat me if I died first, but would be less keen if they just up and killed me for food.

And as for my image in society, well, never really cared what the buggers think of me anyway.

Sherrif--

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[dennisrwood]

I would not allow my grandchildren to feed on dead folks.