# I always thought Cannibals got a bad rap. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 16, 2001, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-always-thought-cannibals-got-a-bad-rap/76635 "2001-08-16T21:23:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dalovindj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/65b543/32.png) [@dalovindj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalovindj)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2001, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-always-thought-cannibals-got-a-bad-rap/76635/1 "2001-08-16T21:23:23Z")
Jeeze talk about freaky. I check into Science Daily every day, but today I almost wish I hadn’t. Check it out: > **[Giving Cannibalism A Human Face](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/08/010816082840.htm)** > > Cannibalism is one of the last real taboos of modern society. As such, it evokes a powerful mixture of fascination and revulsion. So strong are these preconceptions, in fact, that both the public and the scientific community have repeatedly fallen... Sheesh. The fundies beliefs don’t seem so extreme now. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2001, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-always-thought-cannibals-got-a-bad-rap/76635/2 "2001-08-17T05:43:27Z")
It does make you realize that there are other ways of looking at things than our way. I do agree with their idea of burial in the ground. Their idea of changing things after someone dies is just the opposite of the way we think. ---
**Author:** ![Daowajan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@Daowajan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daowajan)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2001, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-always-thought-cannibals-got-a-bad-rap/76635/3 "2001-08-17T07:06:36Z")
Really, what’s so bad about cannibalism to begin with? And if the main course didn’t die of disease or some kind of poisoning… go for it. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Stewart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Dave\_Stewart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Stewart)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2001, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-always-thought-cannibals-got-a-bad-rap/76635/4 "2001-08-17T07:49:44Z")
> [@](#): > > “In the past, the idea of leaving the body of a loved one in the dirt and letting it rot was as repulsive to the Wari’ as the idea of eating human flesh is to us,” Conklin explains. I actually agree with this. Cannibalism repulses me, but intellectually I can’t see the issue with it. Slightly off-topic, some Australian Aborigines don’t speak the name of the dead either. I used to work with Aborigines. An Aboriginal guy named “Dave” had died, and no one could refer to me by my first name. ---
**Author:** ![dalovindj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/65b543/32.png) [@dalovindj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalovindj)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2001, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-always-thought-cannibals-got-a-bad-rap/76635/5 "2001-08-17T12:58:10Z")
Ahhh. The traditional Aboriginal name Dave. i think it means “He with parents of little imaginaion.” /jk. DaLovin’Dj ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2001, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-always-thought-cannibals-got-a-bad-rap/76635/6 "2001-08-17T13:09:20Z")
Ahhh…Cannibals. Some of what the article talks about is old stuff, if not exactly common knowledge. I’ve been fascinated by this stuff since I read Martin Harris’ books on the topic ( **Cannibals and Kings** , \*\* Good to Eat\*\*, etc.) At least it should put to rest the contention that Cannibalism is a myth (as in **The Man-Eating Myth** by ?Arrens?) OTOH, she says some things that seem to be arguments against Harris and Michael Harner. I’ll have to read her book.