Cannibalism (was Sentism)

From: Scott Badger (wbadger@psyberlink.net)
Date: Thu Aug 27 1998 - 23:12:25 MDT


Spike Jones <spike66@ibm.net> wrote on
Date: Thursday, August 27, 1998 9:33 PM:

>Scott Badger wrote:
>
>> ...An anthropology professor I had told me that it was
>> one of the most tender and sweet meats in the world, which is why lions
and
>> the like become man-eaters...
>
>scott i would like to check that reference. i read somewhere that the
taste
>of human flesh is revolting, even to those who are cannibals. likewise
>with chimp flesh. it is easy enough to check: do big cats go
>for chimps only when hungry, chasing antelope first when available?
>could your professor have been trying to squick the
>students just for fun? {8^D spike

Wouldn't put it past him. Not that this is a definitive response, but from
the URL:

http://www.netaxs.com/~trance/cannibal.html

"The Easter Islanders' cannibalism was not exclusively a religious rite or
the expression of an urge for revenge: it was also induced by a simple
liking for human flesh that could impel a man to kill for no other reason
than his desire for fresh meat. (Man was the only large mammal whose flesh
was available) Women and children were the principal victims of these
inveterate cannibals. The reprisals that followed such crimes were all the
more violent because an act of cannibalism committed against the member of a
family was a terrible insult to the whole family. As among the ancient
Maoris, those who had taken part in the meal were entitled to show their
teeth to the relatives of the victim and say, 'Your flesh has stuck between
my teeth'. Such remarks were capable of rousing those to whom they were
addressed to a murderous rage not very different from the Maly amok."

So where's the reference for your claim that human meat is revolting?

Scott



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