A serious question - Please no smart-arsed Zombie Responses. (wild, good, natural)

[20yrsinBranson]

Let's say the ultimate SHTF scenario occurs and food supplies are depleted quickly. If you were very hungry and had the means, would you....COULD YOU....eat a person?

Could you kill and eat a person if your life and the lives of your loved-ones depended upon it?

I most certainly could.

20yrsinBranson

[SCGranny]

Never say never.
Karma'll bite you in the arse.

I would prefer to think that I would not. Primarily because, frankly, I know what people eat, what sorts of diseases they carry, how many have decimated their bodies from what they take in, as well as their environment, and their lifestyles. Just as I would throw away a rabbit with a yellow liver, I would have to examine the organs of my kill verrrry carefully - and even then I might not be able to be sure. There's a lot of blood-bourne diseases out there I simply don't want. A clean living wild deer, turkey, or antelope would be far preferable. And I would prefer not to eat any carrion-eaters at all... too gamy.

But if I were starving, like the folks in Donner Pass - I probably could/would force myself to do it, to survive.

This sounds like a sick joke but isn't - two good friends of mine responded to a structure fire with entrapment. They had to transport the body to the morgue. Afterwards they both had a craving for barbecue - their olfactory senses had picked up the smell from the body bag and translated it...

[20yrsinBranson]

Originally Posted by SCGranny

Never say never.
Karma'll bite you in the arse.

I would prefer to think that I would not. Primarily because, frankly, I know what people eat, what sorts of diseases they carry, how many have decimated their bodies from what they take in, as well as their environment, and their lifestyles. Just as I would throw away a rabbit with a yellow liver, I would have to examine the organs of my kill verrrry carefully - and even then I might not be able to be sure. There's a lot of blood-bourne diseases out there I simply don't want. A clean living wild deer, turkey, or antelope would be far preferable. And I would prefer not to eat any carrion-eaters at all... too gamy.

But if I were starving, like the folks in Donner Pass - I probably could/would force myself to do it, to survive.

This sounds like a sick joke but isn't - two good friends of mine responded to a structure fire with entrapment. They had to transport the body to the morgue. Afterwards they both had a craving for barbecue - their olfactory senses had picked up the smell from the body bag and translated it...

Good point. I thought about the fact that most people are contaminated with either drugs or diseases or don't offer enough nutrition to really make it worth the effort. I would prefer to forage or hunt wild animals but if those options were not available...

Interesting story about your friends. I have read where, in certain third world countries humans are called "long pigs" because of the similarity of their meat to pigs. Presumably, one of the reasons that pork is forbidden fare in many religions.... I could see how the odor would be similar...

20yrsiNBranson

[iknowftbll]

Originally Posted by 20yrsinBranson

Let's say the ultimate SHTF scenario occurs and food supplies are depleted quickly. If you were very hungry and had the means, would you....COULD YOU....eat a person?

Could you kill and eat a person if your life and the lives of your loved-ones depended upon it?

I most certainly could.

20yrsinBranson

Horrible thought. I hope I never find myself in that situation. I'm not sure that I could do it. I would like to think that I could do anything to survive, but that is pretty big. Of course, this indecisive speculation assumes that a person is already deceased. That would be hard enough!

But because you have worded your question, "...kill and eat..." I would have to say definitely not. It's one thing to be in a bad situation and make the most of it when someone else is already deceased. But to deprive someone else of his/her life is taking it to another level entirely. I'd be more likely to end up on your dinner plate than go to that extreme.

[Grandpa Pipes]

Originally Posted by 20yrsinBranson

Let's say the ultimate SHTF scenario occurs and food supplies are depleted quickly. If you were very hungry and had the means, would you....COULD YOU....eat a person?

Could you kill and eat a person if your life and the lives of your loved-ones depended upon it?

I most certainly could.

20yrsinBranson

There will be greater problems than your appitite if society collapses as many think it will. So don''t worry about having to eat people. That said, the family pet(s) may be on the menu!

[iknowftbll]

Originally Posted by Grandpa Pipes

There will be greater problems than you appitite if society collapses as many think it will. So don''t worry about having to eat people. That said, the family pet(s) may be on the menu!

If society completely collapses, I think that we are not far from cannibalistic behavior at all. People are downright savage. Grocery stores carry little more than a 1 or 2 day supply of food at any given time. Look at the violence in the streets in Greece. Or how about when the Soviet Union collapsed? Just this past week, North Korean authorities executed three people for cannibalism during the famine of the 1990s.

I don't think that even Americans at their core are that much different than Greeks, Russians, or Koreans. We are all people and have the ability to commit unspeakable atrocities to our own fellow man. Just last night I watched Hotel Rwanda. No, there was not cannibalism in that episode of genocide, but it demonstrates the level of depravity to which humans are willing to go toward one another.

If things were bad enough, there is not a doubt in my mind that we would see adversarial (not to be confused with opportunistic) cannibalism. That is, people literally hunting others as a source of food.

[20yrsinBranson]

Originally Posted by Grandpa Pipes

There will be greater problems than your appitite if society collapses as many think it will. So don''t worry about having to eat people. That said, the family pet(s) may be on the menu!

I thought about that as well Grandpa Pipes. It would be very difficult to eat my pets, but rather than starve I would have do so. Survival isn't for the weak, that's for sure.

20yrsinBranson

[MissingAll4Seasons]

I think all other available food sources would have to be depleted before I contemplated hunting a human for food. Eating human meat (already deceased) rather than risking life and limb going out to hunt other live game or forage for edibles, maybe. Like Granny, I know all too well the sorts of diseases, parasites, and toxins are in humans and other animals. I'd probably (theoretically) would eat available human meat before killing and eating my pet though... the pet is still alive and still serving a function.

[iknowftbll]

Originally Posted by MissingAll4Seasons

I think all other available food sources would have to be depleted before I contemplated hunting a human for food. Eating human meat (already deceased) rather than risking life and limb going out to hunt other live game or forage for edibles, maybe. Like Granny, I know all too well the sorts of diseases, parasites, and toxins are in humans and other animals. I'd probably (theoretically) would eat available human meat before killing and eating my pet though... the pet is still alive and still serving a function.

You are in a much better position than many of us. Interior Alaska is where I would like to be in this situation as well. I think people in large population centers are going to have it the worst. You are in a place where you can theoretically live off of the land and may be able to avoid hunting humans as a food source.

Am I right, or as an outsider, do I not understand Alaska?

[Mircea]

Originally Posted by 20yrsinBranson

Let's say the ultimate SHTF scenario occurs and food supplies are depleted quickly. If you were very hungry and had the means, would you....COULD YOU....eat a person?

Sure. It would be a last resort. Hopefully, you planned well, and because you had a plan, you could prepare and you wouldn't have to go that route. Still, even the best laid plans are made waste. You do what you do to survive. Anyone remember the rugby team that crashed in the Andes? They had to resort to cannibalism.

Humans are animals, no different from any other animal. The taboo associated with cannibalism is religious based -- humans have a "soul" -- and not based on any other logic.

Food for thought....

Mircea

Originally Posted by Grandpa Pipes

There will be greater problems than your appitite if society collapses as many think it will.

No one with a modicum of intelligence believes society will collapse. Maybe society will collapse after your "too big to fail banks fail." Right?

Still laughing...

Mircea

Originally Posted by iknowftbll

If society completely collapses....

If Mercury crashes into the Sun....

Originally Posted by iknowftbll

I think that we are not far from cannibalistic behavior at all. People are downright savage.

And what does that have to do with cannibalism? I'll make a deal with you, if you complain about us eating you after you die, then we'll stop eating you.

Originally Posted by iknowftbll

Look at the violence in the streets in Greece.

What about it, and how is that even remotely relevant here? Besides, as a people, the Greeks are an helluva stronger than your typical soft weak American.

Originally Posted by iknowftbll

Or how about when the Soviet Union collapsed?

What about it? Maybe you should talk to people who were actually there, instead of just guessing.

Originally Posted by iknowftbll

I don't think that even Americans at their core are that much different than Greeks, Russians, or Koreans.

The only reason you think that, is because you don't know those people and have never been in their countries. You wouldn't last 5 seconds in Greece without whining and sniveling about something. None of you people have any idea what hardship is. To you all, hardship is when the cable goes out, or your cell-phone battery dies.

Originally Posted by iknowftbll

If things were bad enough, there is not a doubt in my mind that we would see adversarial (not to be confused with opportunistic) cannibalism. That is, people literally hunting others as a source of food.

But, of course! It's just part and parcel of Natural Selection. The Strong survive, and the Weak are eliminated. That is the history of Earth. Earth doesn't make exceptions just because you're human and you erroneously think you're better than everything else.

There's 7 Million people in Chicago. What do you think they're going to do when the food runs out? Sit around and sing Kum-ba-ya? Maybe they can pray. Maybe they can call Jesus and he'll come down and bring them all pizza and beer.

Where's the logic in 7 Million people dying when 3.5 Million can live by killing and eating the other 3.5 Million? Why be selfish? Liberals should be ready and willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good, right?

Cannibalizing....

Mircea