Just as a thought experiment, I’m wondering where people would place themselves on the cannibal scale in the event of a devastating famine, or being trapped in the mountains or some similar extreme circumstance. Let’s say 1 is “you’d die before you’d ever consume human flesh” and 100 is “your partner starts looking kinda juicy when they sleep in too long.”
I think I’m about an 80 - I don’t look forward to consuming human flesh, but meat is meat, and you gotta eat.
I’m also curious - do you think cannibalism has occurred in all famines? I do.
I think I’m about a 50. I would probably do anything to survive, and if my fellow survivors were already dead, well…
On the bright side, I’m fat, so I’ve got quite a bit of stored resources to help me postpone the first meal of long pig.
As for cannibalism during famines… well, it’s probably occurred, but so taboo, I imagine people are reluctant to confess to it. That would be a fascinating anthropological study, though.
I’d be the first in line to carve up someone who was already dead, but I’m not sure I could kill someone for food. I suppose I might try amputating a volunteer’s leg or something, but that’s kind of an awkward subject to raise, isn’t it?
The Onion had an article about some people rescued from being stuck in an elevator between floors. This is the headline: “In Retrospect, I Guess We Might Have Resorted To Cannibalism A Bit Soon.”
Once as a child I had a dream in which my leg was a Kentucky Fried Chicken drumstick, which I ate, leaving me very upset for it left me hobbling about on a bone.
Probably about a 55. I wouldn’t have any problems (intellectually) if the person was already dead, but I’d probably have a very strong visceral reaction to even the idea of eating human meat. Once I forced myself to do it (and probably puked some back up), I’d be ok.
I’d be 70-75: I’d have to be sure there was no other way, beyond the point I think I could be sure in any normal circumstances in this country. If I was in the Andes and was one of the few survivors of a plane crash, though, or was in similarly hopeless straits, that surety would come a lot easier. I rank myself so high because I doubt I’d have much of a problem with it once I’d decided to do it, and I wouldn’t regret it afterwards.
I think I could do it if they were already dead, but I dont’ think I could take someone out in order to save myself. Not sure where that puts me on the scale.
Hard to imagine a scenario where ALL the cattle were gone, ALL the bears, rabbits, squirrels, deer, rodents, lizards, snakes, chickens, turkeys, fish, etc, were gone, and ALL the crops were gone, but ok, if I’m stuck in the mountains for some unfathomable reason and the guy’s already dead, let’s dig in. It would bother me, but not as much as dying of starvation would.
So, I guess, extreme acute environmental conditions, yes. Run-of-the-mill famine of biblical proportions, I’m going out in the woods and regressing to a paleolithic hunter/gatherer lifestyle. Humans aren’t particularly good or efficient to eat, which is why we’re no one’s natural prey.
I can’t even eat anything that’s been on someone else’s plate, much less contemplate consuming human flesh, whether it’s a relative, partner, stranger.
