Would you eat another human being?

[aha]

I know SOME of you would, you sexually depraved bastards.

But I mean if you were stranded like in that air crash movie "Alive" or what ever the name of it was..and others had already died and were perserved in the snow, would you partake of a little human flesh to stay alive? If so, what if any moral complications would you have with eating another human being?

Me? Of course one is never sure what one would do until that moment, but it's for sure that I wouldn't want to die. The moral implications would have to wait until later.

Sooo I guess for myself it would be "pass me a leg."

How about yourself?

[Osip]

I agree. Survival would be the top of my list.
Hell, if it helped me survive till rescued I could always use the royalties from the story to pay for therapy if I needed it after the fact.

Osip

[yojimbo]

I have to agree with you aha . While it wouldn't be my preferred food , if my life depended on it and there was some fresh meat available from a dead person I would eat it . I would have to live with the stigma and guilt after the fact but at the time I am sure I would partake(sp.?) .

[Goose]

I think 99% of people would, so the REAL question is- What part would you eat first?

I'd have to start with the butt and move on from there.

[GreenEyes]

To stay alive of course I would. I would also hope that if I was one who had died that someone would munch me to stay alive. I think, however, after being found I would have a great deal of sorrow and regret over what I had to do. I guess meat is meat.. no matter what animal it comes from.. especially if your on the verge of starvation.

What part would I start on? I guess the thigh..?

I think the real question would be..would you kill someone for food if on the brink of starvation? What if the person was sick or injured?

[Obvious Guy]

I remember once in highschool my teacher was talking about the real "Alive" and how the people said that the rear end was the best part. I guess if I was starving I would say past the salt and chow down too.

[Derleth]

Why would you eat a sick person anyway? I mean, does cooking really kill everything? How about viruses? I'd think twice about eating a drug user, even if he was clean for the moment. About killing someone to eat them: I believe that's called homicide, no matter how you cut it (pun intended after the fact). In all cases where someone's actually gotten away with cannibalism, the eaten has been dead of other causes. Perhaps you could avoid the chair if you could prove extenuating circumstances, but 25 years goes slowly in a Federal ass-rape prison.

[handy]

Yes, the butt is where to start becuz its mostly muscle. What does it taste like?

[Kiva]

I think 99% of people would

Yeah, I agree, but most people won't come to terms with the fact.
I've had this discussion before, and someone said that
"I could never eat another person. I couldn't even bring myself to eat my guinea pigs, they're so cute--I'd rather die first." (paraphrase. I'm not exaggerating)

I don't think it's very easy for us Americans to understand real starvation, desperate hunger.

I think, placed in that situation, everyone would do what they could to survive, so long as it didn't involve actually killing off *living* people to eat. And I think that would happen, too.

[Derleth]

If you begin to look at me wrong, I'd kill you to save myself. Self-defense is a valid argument. Hunger is not.

[Mr. Cynical]

The Survivor Type?

It's a short story by Stephen King. A guy gets stranded on a completely barren island, and resorts to eating parts of HIMSELF to stay alive. Fricking horrifying.

[SteelToes]

When you're dead, you're just so much protein and gravy.
Even if you believe in a soul, it's not in the body.
(We were talking about dead people, right, not just "getting a little extra in bed")

[JavaMaven1]

I think most people, when just asked the question, don't like the idea of eating another human being, but if they were put into the situation, most would resort to cannibalism to survive. Even though moral/societal questions would always arise in this kind of situation, the human animal will still do what it needs to do to survive.

Would I do it? With reluctance, and after all other options have been researched, I would. Scary part about it, though, is with my training, I'd be able to break down a body for proper cooking, and know the best ways to cook different parts (it was a running joke during the butchering/meat cooking classes). Best parts would be the muscles around the lower spine & hips--they would be the most tender (these would also be known as tenderloins in other animals).

[Whammo]

**burb** **looks around** ...you mean for survival only????? ...damnit I hate it when fingernails get stuck between my teeth. I just love fingers in bbq sauce, taste just like buffalo wings. I mean, who could resist? when you cook them the fingers even curl as if to say "come here... eat me."

What!?! Quit looking at me.

[Danielinthewolvesden]

Sure, why not? :D

[aha]

what do you suppose human taste like?....2 3 4

[TheNerd]

Pork

[Agentakbar]

I would...
with some fava beans and a nice chianti...

[labdude]

I've heard it said that humans taste like pork. I would think thats a good guess as we are both omnivores.

I've also heard many people say," I would never kill/eat people/bambi/dog/pig." But if your remember the USA didn't start a food stamp program until the later 1960s. I live in an area of the country where there were many very poor people before the welfare state. (my mother was the child of sharecroppers) Try going without food for a few days, or even without meat for a month then answer the question.

My uncle once told me a story from his childhood. The family hadn't had any meat for many days, and he complained to his father (my grandfather) about it. My grandfather said, "See that rabbit hole over there. Kill that rabbit, and we will have meat for supper tonite." My uncle said he started to cry.........three days later rabbit stew.

[Catfood Purrito]

I posed a similar question to my friends a few months ago while we were eating lunch. I asked, "If you were stranded on a mountain/desert island/whatever with your pet cat and your best friend and no other source of food, which would you kill and eat first?"

They all gave me a funny look and claimed they'd kill neither, they'd rather starve. Fools.

The tough part for me would be deciding between my beloved kitty cat and my best friend. I really love my cat, damn it.

Now, none of my friends will go hiking with me...:(

[Baglady]

Just make sure to avoid the brain, and internal organs. My biggest concerns would have to do with the transferrence of infectious diseases from not-totally-cooked meat (although mad cow disease passes through completely cooked beef, right?). Remember -- that "kuru" brain disesease is passed from human to human by eating human brain matter.

[Persephone]

Ten years ago, my answer would have been "no freaking way."

I've got kids now, though. Now, I could do something like that, if it would keep me alive until I could get back to my kids.

Another poser: Could you eat a loved one, just to survive, to get back to your other loved ones? For instance, if my husband and I were in a plane crash, and he died, would I be able to eat of his flesh, to get back to our kids?

Someone started a thread about this a loooong time ago, and I remember showing it to my husband, and we actually discussed it (we had also recently rented Alive, and we were both still pretty creeped out). We discussed other scenarios, such as "would there be other people there we could eat first?" We eventually arrived at yes, we probably could do it, but only if there was absolutely no other option, and we would never tell the kids.

I think I'd draw the line at consuming one of my own kids, though. In a case like that, I think I'd just hang it up and die.

[Kilgore Trout]

Remember -- that "kuru" brain disesease is passed from human to human by eating human brain matter.

what are you talking about?

[Kilgore Trout]

Cecil talks about kuru:

"From 1957 to 1977 kuru was epidemic among certain New Guinea tribes and was suspected of being contracted by eating human flesh. But cannibalism had been outlawed long before...

...Many now believe, for instance, that New Guinea natives are not cannibals and that kuru is spread by contact with corpses during funeral preparations, although there is still some argument about this."

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_054.html

[(^(oo)^)]

supposed to be the...um (hard for me to describe this as i don't know the technical name for this part of the body)...
it is on your hand, that plump round part under your thumb area, you use it to move your thumb...

i was watching something referring to a documentary or interview with cannibals (i can't remember in which country), and they said that was the most delicious part of a human being.

but back to the original question.....errr

alive - definitely not!
dead - probably maybe

[labdude]

Cecil talks about kuru:

"From 1957 to 1977 kuru was epidemic among certain New Guinea tribes and was suspected of being contracted by eating human flesh. But cannibalism had been outlawed long before...

...Many now believe, for instance, that New Guinea natives are not cannibals and that kuru is spread by contact with corpses during funeral preparations, although there is still some argument about this."

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_054.html




I believe the latest information is that kuru has a long (20+ years) incubation period, and that cannibalism continued in secret after it was outlawed. The people with kuru denied eating human brains to avoid punishment, but later confessed. Sorry I don't have a source, but I believe it was on one of those learning channel type shows.

[Derleth]

Okay, I gotta weigh in.
Eating a loved one:
Yes. Even though I'm single, no intention of ever marrying, so I suppose the 'loved one' would have to be a relative. If the person was already dead, no options, same conditions as everyone else.
Eating a younger relative:
Yes. If the child was already dead, yes. It would be among the hardest things I'd ever do, and I'd not be able to so much as speak for months afterward, I'd do it to stay alive.

Bottom line:
Survival is the only concern. High-minded goals can wait until the basic needs are sated. After all, what good does preaching do a dead man?

New question:
Define 'dead'. Does comatose count? How about if the person is in extreme pain and wants to die. Do you kill the person? Remember, this is an extreme situation. Medical care apart from basic first aid is days, perhaps weeks away. Perhaps longer, if the search teams stop looking.

My opinion:
Comatose is as good as dead, but I'd wait a few days to be sure. Hunger kills over weeks and months, waiting a few days won't hurt. If the person stopped breathing, I'd try to restart them, but after three seperate occasions, no code (no more CPR). Extreme pain is similar: I'd wait a few days to see if the person improved. I would not stop a suicide attempt. If a suicide attempt failed, I'd help the person if I could, but if they die, they die.

[Annie-Xmas]

I'm a vegetarian. I find eating animals adhorent.
But if you would eat a cow, sheep or chicken, why
not a dog, cat, or human? They are all living
creatures.

I was going to mention Stephen King's Survivor
Type, but someone beat me to it. About a low
life doctor alone on a desert island, keeping
a journal while he cannibalizes himself. Truly
the grossest thing I ever read.

[soulsling]

no. life is not the only reality in my belief. if i have to die from starvation/lack of nutrition/food or to let others dependant on such a belief that they must survive then so be it. i neither fear death nor abhor it, but i will never eat another human being willingly. not out of disgust, but simply because we are human. we don't need to eat each other like some animals do, we are more evolved than that in so many ways. as well, i am trying not to eat meat too much just because i find it less healthy for me. i suppose the end answer for me is, i just don't mind dying. just don't try to test me though, in self defense, you'll find me a wasted effort in attempting to kill me. i have been trained by the best you know. :D

[Mr. Cynical]

aha sez:

what do you suppose human taste like?....2 3 4


From my limited experience?

Smells like tuna, tastes like chicken!

::ducking and running::

[labdude]

just don't try to test me though, in self defense, you'll find me a wasted effort in attempting to kill me. i have been trained by the best you know. :D


self defense! I have yet to meet a man who can beat 357g of lead. pass the BBQ sauce please.

michael

:)

[soulsling]

labdude, hungry?
try it without the lead. you leave your weapon at home, and i'll leave mine. i'm pretty confident my having avoided unnecessary death and serious injury thus far are related to my training. :D
you dissapoint me though lab, because you completely missed the point. :rolleyes:

[MysterEcks]

I'll answer provisionally--it has to be provisional, since I've never been in the situation. I wouldn't have a moral problem with eating a dead human--whatever made that pile of meat a person is gone. Whether I could get over the emotional difficulty I would have with such a thing is another story. I think I could, since the alternative would be starving to death--one of the less pleasant ways to die.

It would be harder if it was a loved one. Logically, it should make no difference--they are dead and gone at that point--but I think it would. For that matter, I think I'd have to be near starvation to even start--what passes for my logic may not be operating too well. Starvation can drive you mad, and make you do that which you never would otherwise. That's why traps are baited with food.

As for whether I'd actually kill someone in order to eat them...I'll say no for a loved one, but I'm not so sure about a stranger. As I said, starvation can drive you mad. That might make an interesting defense if you were rescued and prosecuted for homicide, too.

(So...anybody wanna go tour the Andies with me?)

Now here's another couple of questions on this topic. Could you eat the dear departed if there was no way to cook the meat--raw, that is? (Some of the answers seem to presuppose cooking.) And could you eat the dear departed if you had no cutting implements--if you actually had to chew mouthfuls off?

Gotta go--time for dinner.

[murano13]

This thread reminds me of an...interesting...story about the infamous "Donner Party".

The Donner Party was a group of settlers during the westward expansion in the U.S. who messed up big time, and got stuck in the Rocky Mountains during the wintertime. Things became pretty gruesome, and as everyone slowly died off, the members of the party started to eat the dead to survive. Afterwards, of the few remaining survivors, only one would talk about the cannibalism. His name was William Eddy, I believe.

Anyway, after arriving in California, he decides to make the best of his life. So he decides to...anyone want to hazard a guess...open a restaurant!

Does anyone else find this really funny? (And also gross.)

[murano13]

This thread reminds me of an...interesting...story about the infamous "Donner Party".

The Donner Party was a group of settlers during the westward expansion in the U.S. who messed up big time, and got stuck in the Rocky Mountains during the wintertime. Things became pretty gruesome, and as everyone slowly died off, the members of the party started to eat the dead to survive. Afterwards, of the few remaining survivors, only one would talk about the cannibalism. His name was William Eddy, I believe.

Anyway, after arriving in California, he decides to make the best of his life. So he decides to...anyone want to hazard a guess...open a restaurant!

Does anyone else find this really funny? (And also gross.)

[aha]

Now here's another couple of questions on this topic. Could you eat the dear departed if there was no way to cook the meat--raw, that is? (Some of the answers seem to presuppose cooking.) And could you eat the dear departed if you had no cutting implements--if you actually had to chew mouthfuls off?



Or could you eat the dearly departed if all you had were a pair of pliers and a bottle of worchester sauce? And what if your mouth had frozen shut during the night and you had to cram the meat up your ass? Ya think that would be good eh?




haha sorry just kiddin MysterEcks

[MysterEcks]

aha said:

haha sorry just kiddin MysterEcks

Hey, long as you spell my name right.

[DrFidelius]

For the record, I recently read that there are no laws on the books in any European or American countries against cannabalism.

So, unless you do the slaughtering yourself, you won't go to jail.

Jerry Springer Show yes, but not jail.

(Westerners are pretty healthy, and carry few parasites. Human tartar would probably be safe, or at least safer than starvation, but it is best to cook any meat thoroughly.)

[Talkinsquirrel]

I dont know if I would be able to eat another human being. I think that would be a pretty traumatizing thing to undergo. But you never know what you are capable of till the time comes.

BTW I was eating some nice yummy New York Super Fudge Chunk ice cream.... but I think I lost my appetite..... thanks :p

[Edwardina]

I don't think I could do it. I can't even eat sashimi without getting sick. I acknowledge that hunger is a motivator whose force few of us have ever really gauged, but still . . . I don't think I could do it. And, I think I'd rather die, it I had a choice. Maybe throw myself off of a cliff or something before I had time to degenerate that far where I'd consider it.

Of course, not if any of the rest of the party of potential cannibals were still alive. Then I'd have to stay alive. For fear one of them'd eat me.

It would be especially difficult to contemplate if it were a loved one.

[Iguana Boy]

Dead, I'll eat'em
Alive, I don't think so

But the really important question is...which fork do you use?

[Xgemina]

all I can say is: "pass the ketchup, these 'finger steaks' are alittle dry."

[Homer]

Yes, the butt is where to start becuz its mostly muscle. What does it taste like?

To answer handy's question, it tastes like ass!

I would eat someone in a minute. I wouldn't feel bad about it, either. The person is who I cared about, not the body. Once the body is dead, the person is gone, and it's all just meat.

I'd cook it well, though. With some garlic, a little Mrs. Dash (to go with the Mr. Smith I'm cooking... haha), some A-1, and I'm golden.

Here's a more potent question: If you were stranded, with your kids, and no rescue was possible for at least a month, would you build a fire, supply a knife, then kill yourselves so your kids could eat you and survive?

--Tim

[JavaMaven1]

But the really important question is...which fork do you use?


Always work from the outside in.

Didn't you learn that from the dinner scene in Titanic? sheeeeeesh :D

[Agentakbar]

Seriously,
I'd eat them either way, dead or alive. However, I woudl not eat a living family member.
No conscience problems...I wanted to live, I needed to live, I lived. Ta-da.

Bri

[Mamapotomus]

A family member? No problem. My kid? She hasn't mastered solids yet (sqeaked by that one;) )
Raw? Hey, protein is protein. No matter how "evolved" we like to think of ourselves, we're still animals- survival is our strongest instinct.

[aha]

most of us would eat the end out of a minstrating skunk if we got hungry enough.

[Anti Pro]

Self preservation may be the strongest, and some say the ONLY, instinct we have, but I don't think I would be able to do it. I'd be less afraid of dying, than having to live with the knowledge of what I had done to enable me to have 'survived'. Of course, you're right, aha, one can't know for certain what you'd do in the most primitive of situations.

[ricepad]

The Donner group partied in the Sierras, not the Rockies...
and at Donner Lake, along Highway 80 in California, there's a picnic area, which I always thought was a little gruesome.

[Homer]

Hey! Answer my damn question or I'll smack y'all. Each and every one of ya.

--Tim

[JosephFinn]

Hell ya, I would resort to cannibalism - as long as the person was already dead. No murder, but after death, they're basically meat. Hell, Ive eaten dog in the back allies of Miami, and that was pretty damn tasty.

Joseph

[matt]

If we're talking crashed aircraft, I'd probably start on the dead people before the airline food ran out.

[PeterB]

Sure, why the hell not?

I think I'd eat the butt first.

Sinking my teeth into a nice jucy butt.

Mmmmm.

I wonder if you have to hang the people before eating them.

I wonder if you can eat raw human.

Hmmm.

[JimmyNipples]

I think 99% of people would, so the REAL question is- What part would you eat first?

I'd have to start with the butt and move on from there.



The best meat is always in the rump!

Does the entree need to be dead...cuz I find that they put up too much of a fight when they're alive.....it toughens up the meat too.

My 1st part would be the "bacon" off the ribs.

[gkj]

[quote]
Here's a more potent question: If you were stranded, with your kids, and no rescue was possible for at least a month, would you build a fire, supply a knife, then kill yourselves so your kids could eat you and survive?

--Tim


Good question. I don't think I would actively kill myself because I would be of more use to the kids by staying alive. However, when it reached the point that if they didn't have food they were going to go, I'd think about it. But then again, the trauma for a child going through that might not be worth living through.

In answer to the original question. You bet. I'd eat someone, I wouldn't feel bad about it, and I'd probably start with the rear too. Without a knife, the whole process would be really difficult. It would be very gruesome to work on the tearing process. Sort of like skinning a rabbit by flinging it around, only this is a person with whom you've chatted with. That would make it much more difficult, but I'd still do it.

gkj

[Tymp]

I do like this question, but I always feel lonely after answering it. You will understand why in a moment.

As for the plane crash scenario, I’d definitely eat anyone already dead. As for killing my own meal, I would hope that I would be brave enough to analyze my own chances of survival after making the kill before deciding whether or not to carry out the act.

I am not at all repulsed by the thought of cannibalism. I believe that the consumption of a loved ones body is honorable and a beautiful way of disposing of dead comrades. The reason for this is that I disagree with Homer who said:

I would eat someone in a minute. I wouldn't feel bad about it, either. The person is who I cared about, not the body. Once the body is dead, the person is gone, and it's all just meat.

To my way of thinking, the body and the mind effect each other equally. The chemical make up of a human body is influenced in a major way by the effect of the way in which that human lived his life and vice versa. The human body, IMO, is representative of the whole person. Therefore, consuming their flesh is taking their essence into your body, changing your chemistry, altering your own body and mind thus allowing a tiny element of that person to live within you.

Homer and I arrive at the same conclusion, that we would “eat someone in a minute”, after a very different logical process. I don't think that there are terribly many people who share my outlook on this topic other than a few isolated tribes in unpronounceable little countries. This is what makes me feel slightly lonely.

I have never consumed the flesh of another human nor do I expect to. I am not close to any one who might want me to do so.

[Gunslinger]

The Survivor Type?

It's a short story by Stephen King. A guy gets stranded on a completely barren island, and resorts to eating parts of HIMSELF to stay alive. Fricking horrifying.


A classic! I wouldn't go that far...I would eat somebody else though...supposedly, we taste a little like pork. Anybody remenber the Far Side cartoon with the chickens (or was it cows?) wondering what they taste like? Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure it was cows, and they were drawing straws to see who got barbecued. Or something like that.