Cannibalism: A Breach

[Abishai100]

Cannibalism is a strange and obviously questionable practice that various human groups have experimented with, including the Aztecs of Mexico (14th-16th Centuries) and the survivors of the South American rugby team stranded without food in the snowy Andes Mountains after a plane crash in 1972.

When human beings were first evolving 'away' from monkeys, they ate only fruits and veggies (e.g., cranberries, carrots, etc.), but when they started making tools to hunt animals for meat to cook, they grew in size and musculature. Today, humanity is defined by mass consumerism (e.g., Burger King, Wal-Mart, etc.), and one can argue that we're more 'ravenous' now than ever!

Here is a hypothetical series of sci-fi/fantasy journal entries by a fictional sea-man named Captain Abel whose encounter with a strange peoples leads him to illuminating discoveries about ethical boundaries involving cannibalism and the 'metaphysics of consumption.'

Let me know what you think!



====

"
AUGUST 4, 1645:
My first encounter with the Namu tribe of Australia leads me to believe that primitive living brings one closer to the embrace of nature and rugged living. The Namu are strange and lively, and their rituals denote a special focus on rotational leadership and the worship of fish. The Namu assign honoured fishermen to do all of the necessary fishing for them, and the shaman of the group recites special chants to the dead fish before it is cooked in the fire.

AUGUST 28, 1645:
It is my 4th week with the Namu, and I do not regret that my exploratory vessel the Dame was washed up on the shores of their remote and unmapped island off the western coast of Australia during a terrible storm. My surviving crewmen, about ten ship-mates (the 11th is dying of scurvy), are getting along fine with the Namu. However, we've been noticing strange behavioural changes in the Namu as the autumn season approaches. The shaman keeps signalling to us that some kind of harvest is approaching and that my ship-mates need to be ready.

SEPTEMBER 23, 1645:
This is a dire journal entry. Four of my ship-mates are dead, eaten alive by the shockingly savage and cannibalistic Namu who have somehow used social 'etiquette' to keep their strange practice of eating human flesh a secret from us. I realize now that the Namu were 'fattening' us up for this so-called 'harvest' which was merely they annual autumn ritual of sacrificing humans for food. The Namu are obviously delighted that a white race of peoples washed up on their island and gave them the 'special' opportunity to use us for food rather than resorting to their 'normal' ritual of sacrificing male sons every autumn for food!

NOVEMBER 1, 1645:
There are only 4 of us left now, the others --- eaten by the Namu. Their 'eating season' has drawn to a close now, but we are every eager to escape their clutches before the next 'harvest.' What I've learned is that primitive peoples are not necessarily closer to nature or to God and can exhibit the same sort of savage execution that my European peers exhibit in their wanton experimentation with ruthless and profiteerism-bent colonialization. My quest to find a bucolic peoples who adore nature has led me to a peoples who exemplify a common baseline of 'cruelty' inherent in all of humanity --- the will to conquer.

January 14, 1646:
My three surviving ship-mates and I have boarded our haphazardly rebuilt sailing vessel the Dame and have sailed away from the island of the strange and savage Namu. We are relieved to be in the sea and with some luck, we should find the shores of the Far East before the Dame gives out. Everything should turn out for the best, and my ship-mates and I have decided to keep the whole affair with the Namu a secret, and I have no intention of disclosing the location of the hidden island to European mapmakers.

January 21, 1646:
Indeed, a very strange turn of events. Our ship has encountered some sort of 'whirlpool time tunnel' during another terrible storm, and we find ourselves on the shores of Japan --- but the year is 1850! The 'Americans' are busy with their anti-slavery 'Civil War,' and Europe is much changed. We've kept our 'incident' with the Namu a secret, but my ship-mates and I plan to use the 'wisdom' gained from our misadventurous contact with the Namu to better understand 'human will.' We should be able to 'integrate' ourselves into modern Europe easily, enjoying 'tea and cookies,' and perhaps, we will be 'diplomats of history.'

"

====







Cannibalism

 

[aris2chat]

From eastern europe during the war to the war in Syria, it becomes a way to survive.
In eastern asia it is also a form of respect for the dead family member, Eating certain body parts and/or mixing ashes into food is a way keeping the person with them forever.
Eating human brains has been linked to kuru

 

[Blackrook]

Most people consider it wrong to eat human flesh, but actually there is nothing in the Christian religion forbidding it. It's a taboo, but not a sin.

Actually, Catholics celebrate the Eucharist, which some may argue is a form of cannibalism if you believe that the bread and water literally turns into the Body and Blood of Christ, and Catholics do believe that.

There have been reported miracles of consecrated Eucharistic wafers turning into pieces of human flesh.

 

[Steven_R]

When human beings were first evolving 'away' from monkeys, they ate only fruits and veggies (e.g., cranberries, carrots, etc.), but when they started making tools to hunt animals for meat to cook, they grew in size and musculature.

Maybe not. Chimpanzees are known to hunt for meat.

Chimps are omnivores and eat not only fruits, nuts, seeds, blossoms, and leaves but many kinds of insects and occasionally, the meat of medium-sized mammals. Chimpanzees, like humans, have such diverse tastes that they are able to live in a wide variety of habitats, unlike gorillas and orang-utans which have more specialised diets in the wild.

Male chimpanzees occasionally cooperatively hunt, to kill and eat other mammals, such as bush pigs, monkeys and antelope. One of the earliest and most significant discoveries made by Jane Goodall was that chimpanzees hunt for and eat meat. Before Dr. Jane made the observation of a group of chimps eating a bushpig, chimpanzees had been assumed to be vegetarian. During her research, Jane observed the hunting process - a group of chimpanzees attacked, killed, and ate a red colobus monkey that had climbed high into a tree. The hunters covered all available escape routes while one adolescent male crept up after the prey and captured it, whereupon the other males instantly rushed up and seized parts of the carcass.

Successful hunters typically share some portion of their kill with other group members in response to a variety of begging behaviours. Most of the captured animal is eaten, including the brain. Meat is a favoured food item among chimpanzees, but makes up less than two percent of their overall diet.

Diet | Chimp Behaviour | About Chimpanzees | Chimpanzees | the Jane Goodall Institute of Canada

 

[aris2chat]

several animals are cannibals. Even in war nothing goes to waste in the animals world, everything gets eaten by something else if not by their own.

 

[Abishai100]

The Cinematic Apology

The upcoming British horror film Escape from Cannibal Farm presents the story of a family falling into the clutches of a sadistic cannibal group intent on using them as experimental food and gore victims.

It's interesting to note that while animals may engage in pseudo-cannibalism (e.g., Praying Mantis females eating males) just as they engage in practices of pseudo-suicide (e.g., lemmings diving off cliffs to mitigate population explosion), humans engaging in such activities are practicing more 'intentional' or 'conscious' forms of devastating behavior.

When we watch entertainment-media or hear 'folk-tales' about cannibalistic 'ghouls' (e.g. Leatherface), we may feel that cannibalism is being 'addressed' by humanity with insanity symbolism. Is that kosher (no pun intended!!)? I think it's fine as long as we make judgment-balanced anthropological statements such as, "Aztecs practiced cannibalism with self-determined religion and sovereignty applied self-chosen 'cultural suicide'."

That way we won't run into the mess of, "Cannibalism is a unique religion." That's why I like entertaining anti-violence dialogue and watching horror films...

It seems that violence is a useful criterion for measuring 'evolution ethics.'

====

GOD: Horror films are a sign that human beings are fascinated by self-destruction.
SATAN: Human beings like to meditate about purity and filth.
GOD: They sometimes forget about the sacredness of flesh and blood.
SATAN: When humans started eating animal meat, they became more 'conscious' of hunger.
GOD: That's because fleshy foods are very savory and rich in flavor.
SATAN: Humans grew in size too once they started eating meat.
GOD: Maybe that's why horror-film ghouls (e.g., Leatherface) are often brutes.
SATAN: Do you think film-reviewers should censor movies about overt cannibalism/gore?
GOD: Well, there needs to be parental supervision, so kids understand why the images simply represent fear.
SATAN: We have to be careful not to 'suggest' to humans that they should fear all predators (e.g., sharks!).
GOD: There's a difference between eating and choking.
SATAN: Maybe movies can encourage dialogue and free-speech!
GOD: There should always be temperance.
SATAN: That's the Christian outlook.

====

Escape from Cannibal Farm (IMDb)

Escape From Cannibal Farm (horrorpedia.com)

 

[yiostheoy]

Cannibalism is a strange and obviously questionable practice that various human groups have experimented with, including the Aztecs of Mexico (14th-16th Centuries) and the survivors of the South American rugby team stranded without food in the snowy Andes Mountains after a plane crash in 1972.

When human beings were first evolving 'away' from monkeys, they ate only fruits and veggies (e.g., cranberries, carrots, etc.), but when they started making tools to hunt animals for meat to cook, they grew in size and musculature. Today, humanity is defined by mass consumerism (e.g., Burger King, Wal-Mart, etc.), and one can argue that we're more 'ravenous' now than ever!

Here is a hypothetical series of sci-fi/fantasy journal entries by a fictional sea-man named Captain Abel whose encounter with a strange peoples leads him to illuminating discoveries about ethical boundaries involving cannibalism and the 'metaphysics of consumption.'

Let me know what you think!



====

"
AUGUST 4, 1645:
My first encounter with the Namu tribe of Australia leads me to believe that primitive living brings one closer to the embrace of nature and rugged living. The Namu are strange and lively, and their rituals denote a special focus on rotational leadership and the worship of fish. The Namu assign honoured fishermen to do all of the necessary fishing for them, and the shaman of the group recites special chants to the dead fish before it is cooked in the fire.

AUGUST 28, 1645:
It is my 4th week with the Namu, and I do not regret that my exploratory vessel the Dame was washed up on the shores of their remote and unmapped island off the western coast of Australia during a terrible storm. My surviving crewmen, about ten ship-mates (the 11th is dying of scurvy), are getting along fine with the Namu. However, we've been noticing strange behavioural changes in the Namu as the autumn season approaches. The shaman keeps signalling to us that some kind of harvest is approaching and that my ship-mates need to be ready.

SEPTEMBER 23, 1645:
This is a dire journal entry. Four of my ship-mates are dead, eaten alive by the shockingly savage and cannibalistic Namu who have somehow used social 'etiquette' to keep their strange practice of eating human flesh a secret from us. I realize now that the Namu were 'fattening' us up for this so-called 'harvest' which was merely they annual autumn ritual of sacrificing humans for food. The Namu are obviously delighted that a white race of peoples washed up on their island and gave them the 'special' opportunity to use us for food rather than resorting to their 'normal' ritual of sacrificing male sons every autumn for food!

NOVEMBER 1, 1645:
There are only 4 of us left now, the others --- eaten by the Namu. Their 'eating season' has drawn to a close now, but we are every eager to escape their clutches before the next 'harvest.' What I've learned is that primitive peoples are not necessarily closer to nature or to God and can exhibit the same sort of savage execution that my European peers exhibit in their wanton experimentation with ruthless and profiteerism-bent colonialization. My quest to find a bucolic peoples who adore nature has led me to a peoples who exemplify a common baseline of 'cruelty' inherent in all of humanity --- the will to conquer.

January 14, 1646:
My three surviving ship-mates and I have boarded our haphazardly rebuilt sailing vessel the Dame and have sailed away from the island of the strange and savage Namu. We are relieved to be in the sea and with some luck, we should find the shores of the Far East before the Dame gives out. Everything should turn out for the best, and my ship-mates and I have decided to keep the whole affair with the Namu a secret, and I have no intention of disclosing the location of the hidden island to European mapmakers.

January 21, 1646:
Indeed, a very strange turn of events. Our ship has encountered some sort of 'whirlpool time tunnel' during another terrible storm, and we find ourselves on the shores of Japan --- but the year is 1850! The 'Americans' are busy with their anti-slavery 'Civil War,' and Europe is much changed. We've kept our 'incident' with the Namu a secret, but my ship-mates and I plan to use the 'wisdom' gained from our misadventurous contact with the Namu to better understand 'human will.' We should be able to 'integrate' ourselves into modern Europe easily, enjoying 'tea and cookies,' and perhaps, we will be 'diplomats of history.'

"

====







Cannibalism



View attachment 82786

This is what happened to the Roanoke colony.

 

[yiostheoy]

The last reported cannibalism was WW1 Russia.

 

[yiostheoy]

If SHTF like it is fictionalized in "One Second After" by Forstchen, then first people will eat all the small mammals like the Germans did in WW2.

Then they will start eating each other like in Russia in WW1.