Are YOU a cannibal?! Find out who else is too!

[measle_weasel]

Cannibalism. Possibly the most taboo act imaginable in "civilized" society, with assumably not even a small number of people in favor of it, and none who would openly admit it. Cannibalism evokes images of "savage" tribesmen, movie characters and criminals who generally make the stomachs of us westerners churn, but have you ever thought what you would do, if for some reason, in the relatively near future, eating the flesh of another human being may be your only means of survival?

This may be especially applicable to anyone of us who lives in a densely packed urban community, where there would be little to no gardens, no forests near to hunt/forage from, no lakes, rivers, or oceans near to fish from, and a huge number of extremely hungry humans, most of which have not the slightest clue about how to survive in a world without their iPhones and pop culture icons, let alone in a world without pre-packaged food. All ready to eat food from supermarkets and grocers would undoubtedly be gone within hours, maybe even minutes, after a major catastrophic event, and that food would be fought over, killed over, and would run out in days.

With no more food trucks to bring in food, humans would look to whatever was available to sustain themselves, and that neighbor that you hate might just start looking pretty tasty compared to cereal box cardboard.

Those in suburban neighborhoods wouldnt be much better off. Those in the country, and even out in the boondocks, might not last long either, depending on what actually caused all this. Stocked food wont last you forever, either!

So, here is the scenario:

You are going about your day, whatever it is that you do, when you hear from either the TV, the radio, a coworker, or that loud rumbling sound outside that wont go away, that Yellowstone has just exploded. Thousands of cubic miles of dust has been released into the atmosphere, and everything within a thousand mile radius has been destroyed. The average global temperature has dropped 10C, and the dust is visible like a thick fog anywhere in the world after a short time.

But you survive.

You can have survived with your family and friends if you so choose. The food and water in your house will last you plus the others one week. But after that point, you will need to start bringing in food to keep on living (lets assume water is taken care of for now). But, the trouble is, there is no food, really! All ready made food has been consumed, and no vegatation is going to be growing for another decade, if ever, which is to long to wait! Desperate humans and animals have even eaten all the garbage that might have been edible!

Two weeks pass.

"Theres nothing left to eat" you think to yourself, "If only there was something hunt... a deer maybe, a fish, or a dog, or... or..." You clear the thought out of your mind, how could you think such a thing?! You could never eat another human, thats disgusting!

Several more days pass, and you and the others with you are starting to really feel the burn, and are on the verge of not just feeling your stomach hurt because its not used to not being crammed full of fast food, but because you are starting to actually starve.

Out searching for food with a good air filter on your face, in a hellish version of a winter-wonder-land with falling dust that will shred your lungs instead of snow, you stumble upon a corpse. It is a human body, and has not been dead to long from what you can tell. It appears the person may have choked to death, as theres still substance to the body; it has not eaten itself.

That thought you banished begins to creep back into your mind....

___

What would you do? Would you eat another human, if you life depended on it? How about if your families lives depended on it? Would you rather starve to death, slowly wasting away, and watching whoever is with you do the same? What if you did not find a corpse, but you did find another living human, who you had the opportunety to kill? Would you even go so far as to eat someone you KNOW?

If you would eat another, do you know how preserve left over meat? Do you know what is the most nutrious parts of a body, not only human, but pretty much any mammal? Do you know other uses for the remains of a now dead living creature, other than for nourishment?

Food for thought! :D

Discuss!

PS: The technical aspects of this scenario are not the point, and may have been exagerated. Would you eat someone is the issue at hand

[unusual_suspect]

There's nowt wrong with eating someone if the alternative is starvation - needs must as the devil drives!

You could make tools out of the bones, I reckon I could probably smoke the meat or dry it out over a fire, I don't know what parts are the most nutritious, but isn't the brain to be avoided 'cause of a disease like Mad Cow Disease?

How long could you live off a diet like this without fruit and veg?

[ceti]

When you look at the animal kingdom cannibalism is used all the time for survival.What should make us any different.

[keystone]

but isn't the brain to be avoided 'cause of a disease like Mad Cow Disease?Only with the female of the species about once in every 28 days.

















Sorry.

I'll get me coat then!

[chris]

Only with the female of the species about once in every 28 days.

















Sorry.

I'll get me coat then!

OOOOOO, this isn't going to go down well with the liberals around here :D

[measle_weasel]

When you look at the animal kingdom cannibalism is used all the time for survival.What should make us any different.

Artificial paradigms in society that say cannibalism is bad. Some people have trouble over coming such mindsets, even if they were going to die for it.

[unusual_suspect]

Only with the female of the species about once in every 28 days.


That would be me today then lol :p

[makeithappen]

Lets make this real simple. If we happen to have such a situation arise, understand the following.

The human body needs nutrients & water to live, nothing more.
Raw Vegan Diet will out live any Meat eating human in any situation.
So Grass is your answer. The Grass family is the only food that draws up all 92 nutrients from the soil (when present) so simply you will find it easier to survive on grass that using energy to kill and then digest any form of meat.

So Grass from the local playing fields, corn is a grass, so have a look on wikipedia for grass family.

When the soil is poor and you suspect it does not have any minerals in it and you want to add these minerals into the soil, then you will need some volcanic rock dust! Oh that might be easy to find! lol! This will contain all the minerals known and I am sure some new ones also! Plants can convert these minerals into plant minerals and our bodies are designed to convert the plant mineral not the rock mineral.

Nettles are another great plant, if these do not survive then not much else will. This will keep your teeth strong and make your bones strong. If all plants dies out in your example, well I will just have to survive from my own store of Raw Chocolate! Nice!

Mushrooms, get a book on "tree mushrooms". Only one of the 7 types are dangerous, this one glows in the dark (a nice green colour). You can dry these out and they will keep for a year easy. Also Mushroom spores exist in the outer atmosphere, some will say these travel from other planetary systems, but knowing your mushrooms will be essential.

So when everyone else is out fighting for food, I will be heading to the library to pick up any books that i can!

So eat meat or at least read and remember this, it might just save you some hard decisions when your wife has just pissed you off!

[keystone]

OOOOOO, this isn't going to go down well with the liberals around here :DWell I did apologise. :o

[measle_weasel]

Youre dodging the question, makeithappen. Assume the vast majority of vegatation is dead. Assume you might find a tiny bit of grass here and there, under the 3 or 4 inches of dust, but its mostly dead.

The question is, would you eat another human to survive, not how can you avoid eating other humans :D

[element]

Youre dodging the question, makeithappen. Assume the vast majority of vegatation is dead. Assume you might find a tiny bit of grass here and there, under the 3 or 4 inches of dust, but its mostly dead.

The question is, would you eat another human to survive, not how can you avoid eating other humans :D

And then what will happen?

You eat a human and within few days your back where you started.
An endless, painful struggle for material survival. If it would come that far, I rather jump off a mountain and have go out with adrenaline instead of being a zombie.

[kingmonkey]

Cooked or raw? With or without sauce?

[measle_weasel]

Up to you

[unusual_suspect]

And then what will happen?

You eat a human and within few days your back where you started.
An endless, painful struggle for material survival. If it would come that far, I rather jump off a mountain and have go out with adrenaline instead of being a zombie.

Life is transient and we are decaying bags of gas, if the human body is just a vessel, you might as well eat one.

Anyway I reckon that most of the people who reckon they wouldn't eat other people have never known true hunger, how do you know how you would react until you were actually starving.

I would say that the survival instinct to eat will override moral judgements. Studies have shown that after 2 weeks of starvation most people will kill for food. I think it would be very hard to fight it, you would have to top yourself.

[duckandcover]

lol , i`ll bring the chianti ;)

[netta]

I don't know. Maybe not. If I had to resort to cannibalism, I doubt I would want to be alive anyway.

[limelady]

Some people on our planet have endured long periods of almost complete starvation without resorting to cannibalism to fill their empty bellies. But they are very used to such hardships and have known little else but famine some of them. But would we do as well as they do if we suddenly found ourselves in their situation?

http://www.inventmagic.com/Food.h1.jpg

So perhaps we should ask just how much suffering we could tolerate (or are prepared to tolerate), or just how close to dying we would have to be (with little or no hope of any other food source arriving) before we might resort to eating our 'already' dead?

[makeithappen]

Youre dodging the question, makeithappen. Assume the vast majority of vegatation is dead. Assume you might find a tiny bit of grass here and there, under the 3 or 4 inches of dust, but its mostly dead.

The question is, would you eat another human to survive, not how can you avoid eating other humans :D


No I will not eat another human. I placed my vote at the top of the thread.

But like I said, a human needs nutrients and water to survive, I assume this is the direction of the thread, what will you do to survive. The action of digestion uses the most energy of all body functions, eating meat is the biggest task you ask your digestive system to carry out, anyone fall asleep after your Christmas dinner? Simply it is your body telling you, I need all the energy to sort this stuff out, I am sending you to sleep to stop you eating anymore and allowing me to do something with this food. More than likely adding it to the rolls of fat.

Therefore saying eating another human to live is to say you will get your nutrients from eating human flesh. I would suggest that the little grass that is around will do me just fine. Just some info to add to your intelligence if you need it.

[unusual_suspect]

In that film Alive about the plane crash they ate their dead. That was a true story. Idk why this happens in some groups of people and not others.

[kingmonkey]

Not out of choice, but you never know until you're in a position where it's necessery. Dunno...

Good post Limelady.

[976evil]

There used to be certain cultures that used cannabalism as a form of respect like eating their loved ones after they died due to illnesses or old age etc, revenge to show dominance over another tribe or to simply please the Gods.

This was too shocking for the civilised world that they had a reason to destroy some cultures however whether or not the victims were cannibals or not cannot be proven.

[measle_weasel]

I think I probably would, if worse came to worse. Not suprised most votes are for "never" though, its hard for most to imagine such a situation.

[comawhite015]

If I was starving, with no other source of food, and it was either me or them, fuck yeah.

Bang.

Munch munch.

I say that without sarcasm or irony. If I had to kill and eat someone else in order to *survive*, then fuck yes.

I'm a human being. Fuck all that spiritual shit. If I'm hungry, and there's nothing else, then they're lunch.

edit:

It would seem that I'm the second person to say 'yes' to that. We'd see how much more honest everyone else would be if they were actually in the situation.

'NO I WOULD NEVER DO THAT I WOULD RATHER DIE'

pfft. So if it was ever to happen then then your pride would kill you.

[haukipesukone]

Well I did apologise. :o

You shouldn't have. Apologising for something like that doesn't go well with un-liberals.


I think cannibalism is a boring topic. I guess I'd eat human flesh if I had to. I don't find the notion of cannibalism really horrible, just yucky.

[jayla]

Maybe I'm lying to myself, but I don't think so. Not only for high-minded ideals, but also because I am an incredibly picky eater! I would gag the whole time!
Besides, I made up my mind a long time ago that when things become that desperate, I am outta here!

[measle_weasel]

Maybe I'm lying to myself, but I don't think so. Not only for high-minded ideals, but also because I am an incredibly picky eater! I would gag the whole time!
Besides, I made up my mind a long time ago that when things become that desperate, I am outta here!

Well where would you go?

[darketernal]

What a deep question to ponder. While I do not particularly enjoy cannibalism, nor would I want to partake of it.... in my past it was part of the rituals I was exposed to. If I was desperate enough, there is a posibility I would resort to it as a means of survival, however most people might be surprised what acts they might sink to out of desperation.

[keystone]

You shouldn't have. Apologising for something like that doesn't go well with un-liberals.Lose / lose situation then? :D

[armoured_amazon]

Only with the female of the species about once in every 28 days.

















Sorry.

I'll get me coat then!

*spank*

[pinkfreud]

Only with the female of the species about once in every 28 days.


:eek:

[intellection]

only just seen this thread. i recommend you read 'the road' by Cormac McCarthy. Very good novel and a perfect commentary on this topic. it's a great point; what would you do? and how far would you take it? man, read that book!

obviously being in a situation may change your mind but my thought at the moment would be to end my life because there's no real hope of survival.

[lennart]

Lets make this real simple. If we happen to have such a situation arise, understand the following.

The human body needs nutrients & water to live, nothing more.
Raw Vegan Diet will out live any Meat eating human in any situation.
So Grass is your answer. The Grass family is the only food that draws up all 92 nutrients from the soil (when present) so simply you will find it easier to survive on grass that using energy to kill and then digest any form of meat.

So Grass from the local playing fields, corn is a grass, so have a look on wikipedia for grass family.

When the soil is poor and you suspect it does not have any minerals in it and you want to add these minerals into the soil, then you will need some volcanic rock dust! Oh that might be easy to find! lol! This will contain all the minerals known and I am sure some new ones also! Plants can convert these minerals into plant minerals and our bodies are designed to convert the plant mineral not the rock mineral.

Nettles are another great plant, if these do not survive then not much else will. This will keep your teeth strong and make your bones strong. If all plants dies out in your example, well I will just have to survive from my own store of Raw Chocolate! Nice!

Mushrooms, get a book on "tree mushrooms". Only one of the 7 types are dangerous, this one glows in the dark (a nice green colour). You can dry these out and they will keep for a year easy. Also Mushroom spores exist in the outer atmosphere, some will say these travel from other planetary systems, but knowing your mushrooms will be essential.

So when everyone else is out fighting for food, I will be heading to the library to pick up any books that i can!

So eat meat or at least read and remember this, it might just save you some hard decisions when your wife has just pissed you off!


Simply make sure that you eat only the farm-land-grass where cows and sheep are...and only when their on it and also eating the grass......

[lennart]

I don,t see the problem by the way in eating humans. If old people die they sign up to get burried or burnt....why not sign up for dinner?

[intellection]

Simply make sure that you eat only the farm-land-grass where cows and sheep are...and only when their on it and also eating the grass......

do you thi8nk there will be any sheep or cows left after the first couple of weeks? with the sun blocked out no vegetation will grow either. you would have to rely on remaining packaged food sources and once they've run out humans. i'd kill myself, what's the point in living in a body in a world broken beyond repair.

[measle_weasel]

do you thi8nk there will be any sheep or cows left after the first couple of weeks? with the sun blocked out no vegetation will grow either. you would have to rely on remaining packaged food sources and once they've run out humans. i'd kill myself, what's the point in living in a body in a world broken beyond repair.

Well the world always fixes itself, and while no one knows how long it would take for a nuclear winter to end, whether a natural or man made one, the dust would eventually settle, and plants would start to grow again.

[rhydra]

No I wouldn't.

In some parts of the world, cannibalism is not a means of survival but one of causing fear among both the enemy and subjects.

[steevo]

I would NOT eat another human being. There is that book and movie called "Alive" which suggests that human beings like us WOULD actually eat one another in certain situations (I am ASSUMING that "Alive" was a genuine true story and not a fictional "true" story" cos there are alot of them about I reckon).

[notthisshitagain]

I don't think I would eat another human being. At least that's what I think right now, who knows later.