Cannabalism

[tinybear]

Folks, I was just wondering: is cannabalism a crime in the US? If so, should it be decriminalized? If not, why not? Please feel free to discuss and express your views here.

[PatrickHenry]

You are a sick person, in my opinion, tiny. Do you see a therapist? If not, why not?

[G. Adams]

I'm not exactly against it, because I can't think of anything wrong with it logically, however, instinctively, urgh... It can be justified when no other food's can be found, like in the case of the kids who got stuck in the mountains, but otherwise it's simply unneccesary.

[tinybear]

Why do say I'm a sick person Uncle Patrick? And why has this thread been moved to 'The Boiler Room'. What is the Boiler Room anyways?

[tinybear]

Quote by: G. Adams I'm not exactly against it, because I can't think of anything wrong with it logically, however, instinctively, urgh... It can be justified when no other food's can be found, like in the case of the kids who got stuck in the mountains, but otherwise it's simply unneccesary.

Well, I think this is one of the things which a civilized society finds repulsive and hence it is not only banned, but made a crime. You know, those of us who are under the misapprehension that we don't ban anything just because society finds it disgusting should realize that this simply isn't true. We outlaw necrophilia for the same reason. Anyone who denies this is just not facing up to reality. Say, is eating dog meat illegal in the USA, do you know? I suspect it is and the reason for that is the majority in our society finds it repugnant.

[Nono]

Yes, some things are just generally agreed to be beyond the pale. (Though in certain societies you don't have to go back many generations to find cannibalism quite an accepted practice. I've heard it said, for example, that the inordinate fondness for stuff like Spam in a lot of island societies in the southwestern Pacific isn't entirely unrelated to a fairly recent change of diet -- see Paul Theroux's The happy isles of Oceania).

In any case, cannablism appears pretty quickly in cases of severe famine. Otherwise, there's always the internet.

[Matt W]

Some practical issues:-

Quality control. How do you ensure that all the same regulations that apply to farm animals apply to humans?

Diseases. Unlike with animals, every disease that a human picks up is, indeed, transferrable to other humans. Anyone want to eat an AIDs-infected carcass? Thought not.

Body disposal. Most humans choose to be buried according to the rites of their religion. Even if they're not religious, most people who've thought about it at the very least make provisions for the disposal of their body. How many would tick the box marked 'eat me'? Very few, I suspect. So, how do you sell the concept to the general populace?

More on quality - unless you go round killing people at random, most dead humans tend to result from old age or accidents - so you've got a choice of really grim old meat or mangled/charred meat - neither of which is particularly palatable, even to a hardened 'foodie'.

My light-hearted take on the whole thing....

[tinybear]

So you reckon that if quality control is achieved, cannibalism may be permitted in the US? Somehow I think not.

[Matt W]

No, I never said it would. If you can find a sufficiently large minority that want their corpses to be eaten, then you never know. Didn't you read my point about body disposal??

[tinybear]

Lots of people are willing to donate their organs after they die, so why not their flesh? Well, for the sake of argument, let's suppose there are some people who would be willing to donate their flesh to be consumed after their death for a certain fee payable to them immediately, would the law permit this contract to be enforced?

[Matt W]

I'll admit, I don't know about existing US laws...but there was a recent cannibalism case in Germany - I'll see if I can dig it out.

[tinybear]

I'm not very knowledgeable as far as American law is concerned, but my guess is cannibalism is illegal in the US and it is so because most Americans find it disgusting. Ergo, an activity can be rendered illegal by law just because we find it repulsive. Admit it guys. It's a clear as day!

[G. Adams]

Well the laws against cannibalism were probably written long ago when they would argue it is morally repugnant, and since there hasn't been much demand to change it, it simply hasn't been updated to deal with such uber libertarians as yourself.

[tinybear]

I bet it's still considered repulsive by the majority of Americans now.

[G. Adams]

Quite probably, and thats why the law won't be changed, but I don't think legally there would be much argument to introduce anti-cannibalism laws if they wern't already there.

[tinybear]

Yes there is. I keep telling you. It's repulsive. Therefore it is banned.

[PatrickHenry]

I keep on wondering why you like talking about repulsive, non-essential topics, tiny. Not every topic is equally worthy of discussion. You wondered why this got boiler roomed? So would coprophagia, necrophilia, obsession with pedophilia, etc. Sean doesn't want doodoo in his "nice" forums.

Stick to topics that have some importance to the real world...

[gr8fuldaniel]

Quote by: Matt W How many would tick the box marked 'eat me'?

Beavis and Butthead, maybe? Edward G Robinson did, in Soylent Green

[Sean]

You can debate it, but it just was a poorly started topic, and the insults came in right after, so it fit better here.

[atheist]

waste not want not




if the human previously alive had consented to it (and they died of natural causes, or causes unrelated to the human-eater) than it should be okay. Why throw away perfectly good energy when it can be redistrubted into the biosphere instead of lumped into a coffin?

I've heard that human flesh tastes the same as a pig's because we're both omnivores. Is this true?