# Why don't hungry people eat their babies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 11, 2002, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-hungry-people-eat-their-babies/113505 "2002-06-11T19:03:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sidle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@sidle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sidle)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-hungry-people-eat-their-babies/113505/1 "2002-06-11T19:03:28Z")
Why don’t hungry people eat their babies? There are plenty of kids around, the world is overpopulated as it is. It seems like human babies would be a good source of nutrients; they have protein and stuff, right? I mean, each family could have one child for raising and then a couple for eating, like a farm. So why don’t they eat them? I mean, do they just not know any better? Are they so hungry they can’t even think straight? Why doesn’t Sally Struthers just use some common sense, like me? It seems like a “swift” solution to me… Thanks. ( :wally ) ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-hungry-people-eat-their-babies/113505/2 "2002-06-11T19:08:54Z")
"It seems like a ‘swift’ solution to me… " —“Modest,” aren’t you? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-hungry-people-eat-their-babies/113505/3 "2002-06-11T19:10:43Z")
A link, for those few of you who were [whooshed](http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~benjamin/316kfall/316ktexts/swift.html). ---
**Author:** ![Why\_A\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Why\_A\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_A_Duck)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-hungry-people-eat-their-babies/113505/4 "2002-06-11T19:10:57Z")
This is one of the more surreal threads I’ve read in a while. ---
**Author:** ![Gundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Gundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gundy)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-hungry-people-eat-their-babies/113505/5 "2002-06-11T19:11:27Z")
I dunno. My kid’s awfully skinny – he’d probably be all stringy. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-hungry-people-eat-their-babies/113505/6 "2002-06-11T19:12:08Z")
good idea! ya know, i was wondering why people bother to work. i mean, it takes up all your free time and most people don’t like there jobs anyway. gee whiz, are all these people stupid? why don’t they just quit? …and why do people fuck? its just going to end in a hot, sticky mess and then it hardly seems worth it. plus, your risking disease and pregnancy and all that. gee whiz, are all these people stupd? why don’t they just jack it instead? …and why don’t… * * * There is Silly, there is Stupid, then there is… ---
**Author:** ![Ferrous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Ferrous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferrous)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-hungry-people-eat-their-babies/113505/7 "2002-06-11T19:20:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Why A Duck \* > \*\*This is one of the more surreal threads I’ve read in a while. \*\* My thoughts exactly. When I saw the thread title, I was _sure_ which name I’d see in the “Thread Starter” column. But I was wrong… Nice one, **sidle**. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-hungry-people-eat-their-babies/113505/8 "2002-06-11T19:46:34Z")
People have been getting “whooshed” by Swift for centuries now. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-hungry-people-eat-their-babies/113505/9 "2002-06-11T19:56:30Z")
Just to be a science geek, but I imagine that folks who carry the gene where they _do_ eat their own children would be extinct by now. 😉 (Of course, eating _other people’s_ kids would be an evolutionary advantage…) ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-hungry-people-eat-their-babies/113505/10 "2002-06-11T20:57:24Z")
Then who would do the chores? ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-hungry-people-eat-their-babies/113505/11 "2002-06-11T20:58:55Z")
We could have found out if Frontier House made them all stay the winter. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-hungry-people-eat-their-babies/113505/12 "2002-06-11T21:35:31Z")
> [@](#): > > I’ll have the boiled baby and a cup of warm hair. [sub]Come up with the source of _that_ reference![/sub] ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-hungry-people-eat-their-babies/113505/13 "2002-06-11T22:34:46Z")
Well we’ll get to the moral ramifications of this in a minute. Right now, I’m still deciding between Garlic flavored or Mesquite. Any suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-hungry-people-eat-their-babies/113505/14 "2002-06-11T22:50:07Z")
that link wasn’t posted when i started typing! 😃 i’m not counting that as a whoosh! ---
**Author:** ![Burnt\_Sugar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee59a6/32.png) [@Burnt\_Sugar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Burnt_Sugar)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-hungry-people-eat-their-babies/113505/15 "2002-06-11T23:26:16Z")
Well, joke as this post may be, according to [Wild Swans](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0385425473/qid=1023837712/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/104-0006047-7019161), which is a true (I’m pretty sure) account of a family’s life in communist china, some people did do that. ---
**Author:** ![sidle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@sidle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sidle)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-hungry-people-eat-their-babies/113505/16 "2002-06-11T23:53:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gatopescado \* > \*\*that link wasn’t posted when i started typing! 😃 > i’m not counting that as a whoosh! \*\* Nah, you weren’t whooshed! The Swift reference was secondary, you got my primary :ahem: reference spot-on! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-hungry-people-eat-their-babies/113505/17 "2002-06-12T00:35:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Blue Curls \* > \*\*Well, joke as this post may be, according to [Wild Swans](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0385425473/qid=1023837712/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/104-0006047-7019161), which is a true (I’m pretty sure) account of a family’s life in communist china, some people did do that. \*\* There was a very severe famine in the late 1950’s in China, and tens of millions died. Hard to document but very possibly were cases of cannibalism. I was not impressed with the Wild Swans book. However, if you want to learn more about this famine, please see [http://216.247.214.252/98-1owl/hungryghosts.htm](http://216.247.214.252/98-1owl/hungryghosts.htm) which is a book review for Jasper Becker’s Hungry Ghosts (Mao’s Secret Famine). ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-hungry-people-eat-their-babies/113505/18 "2002-06-12T00:44:06Z")
i believe in frontier house, the kids wouldn’t have been the first choice for dinner at the donner’s… there was this certain adult i think would have been a cooked goose for sure. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-hungry-people-eat-their-babies/113505/19 "2002-06-12T01:09:53Z")
So, would this be long piglet? ---
**Author:** ![sidle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@sidle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sidle)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-hungry-people-eat-their-babies/113505/20 "2002-06-12T12:35:14Z")
Long piglet? 😕 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-hungry-people-eat-their-babies/113505.md?page=2)