News ABC News : North Korea reportedly executing cannibals

[C3PO]

Yeah, but then they didn't have to kill anyone. Eating human flesh from a corpse is a whole different moral event horizon than killing someone to eat them.

I totally agree with that, but killing wasn't mentioned in the quote I was commenting. Read it again.

 

[Ghostrider]

I totally agree with that, but killing wasn't mentioned in the quote I was commenting. Read it again.

I stand corrected.

 

[Codz]

If you have no choice, the idea mutates into becoming an effective solution. Been that way for thousands of years.

I simply could never eat people. I don't care how desperate I got, it would never seem like a valid option. I'd rather take a shot at insects, rodents and grass. Never people. Dead or alive.

 

[N_Molson]

But in the case of the airplane crash, they were in snow and rocks, and there was really absolutely nothing to eat. They tried to eat the seats of the airplane before resorting to cannibalism.

I think that Keatah describe it well. Even if at first you think "I could never do that", starvation makes you change your mind, even if you don't want it.

What is also interesting to consider is the "group effect". The article states that some people were reluctant to the idea, but when the decision was taken by some individuals, it took down the last barriers (if all the group does it, then it becomes more acceptable for me as an individual). That tragedy was on the purely scientifical point of view an interesting social experiment, since the group was fully isolated. And they didn't eat unknowns, but their own friends.

 

[Codz]

I couldn't imagine reverting to such base instincts.

 

[Urwumpe]

We also had a few high-profile cases of cannibalism in Germany... and we are damn far away from a famine here. We live like God in France, to quote one of our proverbs in poor Lübke english.

Can it happen in NK? yes, sure. also in the USA or Japan. even in Vatican City.

Is a famine at least a supporting factor for cannibalism? maybe, but I doubt it. you don't hear much about such cases from Africa, except cultist cannibalism, which is currently pretty often reported when it involves albinos - in that case it is not about getting fed, but about curing minor diseases by eating body parts of an albino. Bad education is like always, the much worse crime causing the punishable smaller crimes.

 

[iamwearingpants]

You can't imagine it, but in those circumstances, it will happen.

 

[Urwumpe]

You can't imagine it, but in those circumstances, it will happen.

I doubt that it is a natural law or a universal survival instinct for humans. I rather think that some will resort to cannibalism, if nothing better can be found. But first of all, there will be a lot of other things to be eaten, and not everyone will become a cannibal. Some will really rather die than eating human flesh.

 

[Codz]

I doubt that it is a natural law or a universal survival instinct for humans. I rather think that some will resort to cannibalism, if nothing better can be found. But first of all, there will be a lot of other things to be eaten, and not everyone will become a cannibal. Some will really rather die than eating human flesh.

I completely agree.

 

[this is an old account]

(removed)

 

[C3PO]

I simply could never eat people. I don't care how desperate I got, it would never seem like a valid option.

I'm in this category as well.

There's no way you can say what descission you would make unless you've been in this kind of situation.

 

[Codz]

There's no way you can say what descission you would make unless you've been in this kind of situation.

I would sooner kill myself. I also find it very disturbing that you guys find these actions acceptable.

 

[Artlav]

I would sooner kill myself.

And be fed upon by the rest of the hungry party?

Seriously, i recommend reading "Survivors of the Chancellor" if you want to get a feel of the kind of desperation preceding cannibalism.

I also find it very disturbing that you guys find these actions acceptable.

It's not a matter of acceptable.
It's a matter of a well fed man being incapable of understanding a terminally hungry man, even himself.

There are examples, in real history, of people who said that they'd rather die, and never the less succumbed to the hunger when the worst came around.

You may stand to your morales or you may not - only a real test, god forbid, can give a certain answer.

 

[C3PO]

I also find it very disturbing that you guys find these actions acceptable.

You're welcome to do that.

The same way I find it disturbing that you think we should condemn people to die from starvation because of YOUR principles.

Principles are cheap until you also keep to them at a personal cost.

 

[Codz]

You're welcome to do that.

The same way I find it disturbing that you think we should condemn people to die from starvation because of YOUR principles.

Principles are cheap until you also keep to them at a personal cost.

Murder is unacceptable. I don't care what principles you're using. I'm almost certain that if you were starving you'd be able to find something else to eat if you absolutely tried unless you are on Mars or Antarctica..(Rodents, Insects, Plants, etc)

 

[C3PO]

Murder is unacceptable.

Your comment was about canibalism, not murder.

I simply could never eat people.

 

[Artlav]

Murder is unacceptable. I don't care what principles you're using. I'm almost certain that if you were starving you'd be able to find something else to eat if you absolutely tried unless you are on Mars or Antarctica..(Rodents, Insects, Plants, etc)

When Lebedev was on a tour in NK in 2006 he often seen old people collecting grass in the parks.
The guide said it was for home rabbits.
He never saw a single rabbit in the whole country.

Some people manage, some succumb.
As always was.

 

[N_Molson]

Ah, Immanuel Kant and the german philosophy... The human being always able to choose and control himself in a rational fashion, because he has to follow moral obligations... I think it is a very optimistic way of seeing things. :2cents:

 

[Codz]

Your comment was about canibalism, not murder.

Many times it involves murder.

 

[C3PO]

Many times it involves murder.

True, but that isn't what I was commenting on. If you had said something like "I could never kill a person for food" , we wouldn't been having a discussion. But you said " I simply could never eat people.", and didn't mention murder or even killing.