# Cannibalism or starvation?



## Ralph Rotten (Jun 25, 2014)

So you have been in a nuclear* winter for about 3 years, and every morsel of food, every seed, every edible plant are gone. There you are with your family, on the verge of starving to death...and only one alternative. Would you resort to cannibalism to save your people?

If so, how would you bring in your dinner guests?





*nuculear for the conservatives


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## csi-tech (Apr 13, 2013)

As a civilized human being I would resign myself to the fact that the world has, in fact, come to an end. I can say with certainty that my family would quietly slip away with me. You should add a glimmer of hope to this tale. Let us say, for example, that a handful of survivors were aware of your existence and were on their way with an ETA of 30 days. That may change some perspectives.


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## CourtSwagger (Jan 3, 2013)

Really? We are seriously going to consider cannibalism? Nope.


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## Ralph Rotten (Jun 25, 2014)

Nope. The scenario works best if there is no hope in sight.


Personally, I'd try a lot of other things before I went there, but once I had exhausted all alternatives I would definately change my menu to include humans. Drink their blood, BBQ their flesh, and use their intestines for bait. 

I brought this topic up on a few other forums and the answers have been interesting. One guy said that he'd draw people in with the scent of sooup. He'd let them eat one last meal (cooked from his predecessors) then wack 'em when they weren't looking. I always thought that was mighty white of the guy.


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## RNprepper (Apr 5, 2014)

Ralph Rotten said:


> Nope. The scenario works best if there is no hope in sight.
> 
> Personally, I'd try a lot of other things before I went there, but once I had exhausted all alternatives I would definately change my menu to include humans. Drink their blood, BBQ their flesh, and use their intestines for bait.
> 
> I brought this topic up on a few other forums and the answers have been interesting. One guy said that he'd draw people in with the scent of sooup. He'd let them eat one last meal (cooked from his predecessors) then wack 'em when they weren't looking. I always thought that was mighty white of the guy.


Ralph, you will never get to that point. In a previous thread you talked about rustling free range cattle. You will be shot dead long before you will ever feel the need to eat another human being. But for the sake of discussion, let's just take it a step further. In past history when cities have been under siege, people killed and ate their babies. Would even you go that far? Is your physical survival so essential that you would actually consider eating your fellow humans? How about their babies? Just how far would you go, Ralph Rotten?


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## Hemi45 (May 5, 2014)

Nope. I have no desire to tough out three years of nuke winter and be faced with that decision. Me and mine will be in the next life watching and hoping you don't do something stupid!


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## HuntingHawk (Dec 16, 2012)

Rotten Ralph, you really come up with some BS.

Three years & you never figured to move since there were diminishing resources.

There is food that thrives on limited or no sunlight.

Maybe you would enjoy yourself more at a zombie website.


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## Big Country1 (Feb 10, 2014)

:hopelessness: Seriously?!?! WTF?!?!
There aint no way. I don't care how hungry I am.


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## HuntingHawk (Dec 16, 2012)

I guess some rather spot crap then do any research. There have been multiple "nuclear winter" events in the past & humans have survived. These have been mostly from massive volcanic eruptions. Try looking up 1816 which was known as the year without a summer.


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## Oddcaliber (Feb 17, 2014)

The only cases I know of were the Donner Party and the South American soccer team who's plane crashed. These were extreme curcomstancs in witch they were under. I doubt I could eat my own butselfpresurvation is a powerful motivator.


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## MaterielGeneral (Jan 27, 2015)

Can I have BBQ sauce?


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

Ralph,
Simple...Neither but I'm coming after you


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## HuntingHawk (Dec 16, 2012)

I don't believe you will have to Slippy. As mentioned, he'll be taken out in his attempted poaching of livestock.


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## TacticalCanuck (Aug 5, 2014)

The only reason I post on this is to publicly wonder why anyone would seriously consider this, respond and then think they were thoughtful or intelligent in doing so. Rubbish. Now back to my berkey search.


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## oddapple (Dec 9, 2013)

Native people of this continent have never eaten the "muslim" or african. Uh uh nope.


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## 1skrewsloose (Jun 3, 2013)

No I would not! But I hear there's a cookbook, "101 ways to WOK your dog".


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## Arklatex (May 24, 2014)

Nope. Very few if any will survive that scenario anyways. The one that do by hunting humans will burn in hell anyways. So what's the point?


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## kevincali (Nov 15, 2012)

This is why I have so many cats. No need for human. Tastes horrible and is too greasy anyway. Takes forever to cook to a tender enough/edible state. Not worth the burnt calories, for the little return.


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## oddapple (Dec 9, 2013)

Arklatex said:


> Nope. Very few if any will survive that scenario anyways. The one that do by hunting humans will burn in hell anyways. So what's the point?


Ha! Bull. Your judgement sends no one to hell and there is nothing in the Bible against cannabalism. Get real.


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## oddapple (Dec 9, 2013)

kevincali said:


> This is why I have so many cats. No need for human. Tastes horrible and is too greasy anyway. Takes forever to cook to a tender enough/edible state. Not worth the burnt calories, for the little return.


Ooh somehow that seems worse. I'm not going to be a wretch. May eat one. 
(That sounds like that other continent too much. Eating your pets...)


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## 1skrewsloose (Jun 3, 2013)

oddapple said:


> Ha! Bull. Your judgement sends no one to hell and there is nothing in the Bible against cannabalism. Get real.


True, already dead, not to lure in and devour.


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## PatriotFlamethrower (Jan 10, 2015)

We have plenty of food that thrives on NO SUNLIGHT.

It's called canned food, both home canned and store-bought.

Plan ahead, and you won't have to imagine your neighbor sizzling on your grill.


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## oddapple (Dec 9, 2013)

You make me think a good way to discourage illegal migration. I bet that turn em around. 
"Gringos out there because their money is gone and they can't buy meat!!!"


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## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

here are a few problems

No Fruits - you will die slowly from scurvy...
No vegetation - you will die from oxygen starvation

and even if you could survive -are you prepared to have a human farm where you breed and slaughter humans for food..

NOW eating a dead body from a plane wreck...different debate

Me NOPE..I would never MURDER another human in order to eat


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## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

oddapple said:


> ...there is nothing in the Bible against cannabalism. Get real.


Actually.... It is clear that God is not cool with it...

Micah 3:1-4 
Lamentations 4:10-11

And there is a LIST of items that are MEAT


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## HuntingHawk (Dec 16, 2012)

If anyone is serious about a nuclear winter type scenario there is a fairly easy remedy. First it to eliminate rotten ralph. Second is hydro or wind turbine to generate electricity for lighting for a greenhouse.
Also to black out the windows of a basement or locate a deep mine & grow mushrooms.


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## csi-tech (Apr 13, 2013)

My neighbor would not make good table fare, too fat. If you are what you eat I would become a liberal with a nasty habit of ignoring property lines.


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

csi-tech said:


> ...If you are what you eat I would become a liberal with a nasty habit of ignoring property lines.


That would make me a large pepperoni, sausage, green pepper, onion and jalepeno pizza!


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## Arklatex (May 24, 2014)

oddapple said:


> Ha! Bull. Your judgement sends no one to hell and there is nothing in the Bible against cannabalism. Get real.


What? Ralph is talking about murdering people to eat. Pretty sure that will send someone to hell.


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## Big Country1 (Feb 10, 2014)

If I stumbled across ANYONE, eating another human being, for ANY reason. They'd earn a healthy dose of lead. No questions asked.... :violent:


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## Prepared One (Nov 5, 2014)

That's it Ralph! Your off my list of people I would bug out with!


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## RNprepper (Apr 5, 2014)

Prepared One said:


> That's it Ralph! Your off my list of people I would bug out with!


Ralph lives in my neck of the woods. I won't let him starve. I intend to invite him to dinner.


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## Prepared One (Nov 5, 2014)

RNprepper said:


> Ralph lives in my neck of the woods. I intend to invite him to dinner.


Yuck! I would rather eat dirt.


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## RNprepper (Apr 5, 2014)

Prepared One said:


> Yuck! I would rather eat dirt.


Back in the early days of gold exploration in New Guinea, cannibalism was not uncommon. The human hand was considered a great delicacy. European explorers quickly learned that the cannibals did not like the taste of people who smoked, so everyone who went to the highlands of New Guinea became a smoker. (The only time when smoking was actually good for ones health!) I don't know if Ralph would taste good enough to be the main course, but the dogs have to eat, too. (Sorry, Ralph, but you really opened yourself up to this!)


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## Prepared One (Nov 5, 2014)

Yes......Yes he did.


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## oddapple (Dec 9, 2013)

Maine-Marine said:


> Actually.... It is clear that God is not cool with it...
> 
> Micah 3:1-4 (that one is believers beung torn up for non belief and god ignoring that? A "this is what happens" passage)
> Lamentations 4:10-11 (another one where God has left the godless to eat their own young)
> ...


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## oddapple (Dec 9, 2013)

Arklatex said:


> What? Ralph is talking about murdering people to eat. Pretty sure that will send someone to hell.


Don't try to be completely slippery....you quote says nothing about murder, so you stand "spoken clearer" but whIle murder is prohibited, no, eating folks is not.

It's a gross subject but some things you all blood covered baby carriages get to fantasizing about deserve a little reality.


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## tinkerhell (Oct 8, 2014)

I'm got 200 pallets of twinkies. Those things will last longer than a nuclear winter


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## oddapple (Dec 9, 2013)

tinkerhell said:


> I'm got 200 pallets of twinkies. Those things will last longer than a nuclear winter


As I understand it you're supposed to live 500 years but be tough and not so creamy


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## tinkerhell (Oct 8, 2014)

serious folks, 3 years without a system of sustainability? Your pocket books and storage rooms must be bigger than mine.


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## chemikle (Feb 16, 2015)

I rather die than eating people !


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## Arklatex (May 24, 2014)

oddapple said:


> Don't try to be completely slippery....you quote says nothing about murder, so you stand "spoken clearer" but whIle murder is prohibited, no, eating folks is not.
> 
> It's a gross subject but some things you all blood covered baby carriages get to fantasizing about deserve a little reality.


I have no idea what you're trying to say most of the time. I find it hilarious that you tell me to speak clearly.

What does the second part of your post even mean?


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## oddapple (Dec 9, 2013)

Dont open cans if you don't want to smell and stop thinking that just because some overbearing white speaks for god doesn't mean it's anything but fantasy of "how it should be!" Whether it is or not.


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## oddapple (Dec 9, 2013)

chemikle said:


> I rather die than eating people !


So many completely understand and think people too beautiful to live may just be shining treasures to god


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## slewfoot (Nov 6, 2013)

You can say what you will about this situation and beat up on Ralph rotten but you do not know for sure what you would do because a hungry desperate man will do strange things.


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## PatriotFlamethrower (Jan 10, 2015)

A word of advice............

NEVER eat a comedian. They taste funny.


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## oddapple (Dec 9, 2013)

PatriotFlamethrower said:


> A word of advice............
> 
> NEVER eat a comedian. They taste funny.


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## Dubyagee (Nov 9, 2012)

Im gonna raise and sell Guinea pig sammiches. Ill feed them people. Its like laundering money.


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## Urinal Cake (Oct 19, 2013)

I always had my preferences when it was alive, may change thing when it's dead....


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## Medic33 (Mar 29, 2015)

starve:68:


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## JAGER (Oct 10, 2012)

Just couldn't do it.


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## Ralph Rotten (Jun 25, 2014)

So we got a round of answers there. very illuminating. Did you know that in the 2 greatest mass starvations in recorded history, the starving nations were exporting food to the nations that ran them. They had the food to survive, but it was being shipped back to the Brits.

*Lemme ask the question another way:* In the movie The Road, there were the people in the basement, and the people who ran the people farm. Which would you be when it came down to it? You got a big 'ol family, you need the protein, and those people were just gonna die out there anyhow because they didn't have aplan like you did. The sun might come out again any day now. Them scientists said it's only last three years, but it been 4. Sun's gonna come out soon, if you can just keep your people alive till then.


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## Ralph Rotten (Jun 25, 2014)

You got kids, you got a wife. Do it right and they don't gotta be traumatized by it. Take in the passerby, treat them to dinner, make them help with the dishes, then hang em up in the smoke house. Maybe you only got to do it for a year or so, till the sun comes out, that's all.


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## Arklatex (May 24, 2014)

Sorry Ralph, still a no for me. You will have to try your luck with hanging me in the smokehouse. But I will be a tough and stringy sob by that time. 

The only way I would eat people would be unknowingly, such as the soylent green scenario.


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

So if you used dead bodies for fertilizer for your crops (got to dispose of the dead anyway) would you consider that cannibalism?


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## Sharkbait (Feb 9, 2014)

If we hit a point,that we HAD to take a life for food or even consider eating a dead body,and my family and I ARE in the process of starving to death.Then we entered into a world that my family and I have chose not to live in.

You cannot prep for everything.I'm not so much of a survivalist that I would want to live in a cave for 3 to 4 years after an apocalyptic nuclear nightmare luring people in for my next meal.


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## Salt-N-Pepper (Aug 18, 2014)

No, I am not going to eat anybody that I know.

Unless I meet somebody named Owen Coffin. If I do, his ass had better watch out.

(Google him)


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

So if they're a stranger, you'd eat them?????


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## Salt-N-Pepper (Aug 18, 2014)

paraquack said:


> So if they're a stranger, you'd eat them?????


Depends


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## PatriotFlamethrower (Jan 10, 2015)

This topic gives a whole new meaning to these phrases:

"Would you like to come inside for a bite?"

"So who is coming over for dinner tonight?"

"I would kill for a nice thick steak right now!"


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## HuntingHawk (Dec 16, 2012)

rotten ralph, are you trying to convince us or yourself that your lack of prepping will justify poor choices later?


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## BagLady (Feb 3, 2014)

Ralph Rotten said:


> You got kids, you got a wife. Do it right and they don't gotta be traumatized by it. Take in the passerby, treat them to dinner, make them help with the dishes, then hang em up in the smoke house. Maybe you only got to do it for a year or so, till the sun comes out, that's all.


You are just ****ed up in the head. Why survive when you would not have the psychological balance to remain a human being?


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## HuntingHawk (Dec 16, 2012)

BagLady said:


> You are just ****ed up in the head. Why survive when you would not have the psychological balance to remain a human being?


I feel sorry for his kids if this is the midset he is exposing them too.


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## PatriotFlamethrower (Jan 10, 2015)

HuntingHawk said:


> I feel sorry for his kids if this is the midset he is exposing them too.


Ralph Rotten to his kids after 3 years of a "nuclear winter": "Don't worry kids. We're having the neighbors over for dinner tonight."


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## Sharkbait (Feb 9, 2014)

BagLady said:


> Why survive when you would not have the psychological balance to remain a human being?


Exactly.Given the scenario that Ralph has presented,it would be considered the loss of humanity with a slim to no chance of it coming back.There would be no reason to attempt to go on.


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## HuntingHawk (Dec 16, 2012)

Wonder how rotten ralph would like it if someone grabbed his kids because they were hungry?


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## TacticalCanuck (Aug 5, 2014)

Finally some logic is coming into this thread.....


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

TacticalCanuck said:


> Finally some logic is coming into this thread.....


Speaking of logic, I'm waiting on Will's or Will2's response and I'm going with whatever "they" say.


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## alterego (Jan 27, 2013)

I have ate a couple women a bimbo and bitch. All met your daily eight essential vitamins including vitamin "P" it is highly enjoyable.


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## shootbrownelk (Jul 9, 2014)

Oddcaliber said:


> The only cases I know of were the Donner Party and the South American soccer team who's plane crashed. These were extreme curcomstancs in witch they were under. I doubt I could eat my own butselfpresurvation is a powerful motivator.


 Please pass the Jeremy!


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## shootbrownelk (Jul 9, 2014)

Salt-N-Pepper said:


> Depends


 Depends? No, I absolutely would not eat those!


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## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

This is a good question!
I have had this discussion many times with close friends and family. If you are dead then the body is just meat and bone. If I was in a situation where my survival was dependent then I would eat the bodies of those that had perished. I don't believe I would kill a person for my dinner but if I killed a person in self defence would it be ethical to eat the remains. It then becomes a question - were your thoughts of self defence or were you thinking of your hunger. The mind is a complex mechanism so I would have to be very sure that my true driving force was defence or I would not eat the body left behind.

If we were alone, unable to get food, and I died first I would hate my body to go to waste. Use it to stay alive, with my blessings! If you die first, I will use the food you provide to stay alive and give thanks for your gift.


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## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

Arklatex said:


> I have no idea what you're trying to say most of the time. I find it hilarious that you tell me to speak clearly.
> 
> What does the second part of your post even mean?


I know right....some times oddapple is like the drunk uncle that is trying to give advise on life....Its mostly mumbling and the only thing you really get is "do not stick your willy in a light socket"


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## RNprepper (Apr 5, 2014)

PaulS said:


> This is a good question!
> I have had this discussion many times with close friends and family. If you are dead then the body is just meat and bone. If I was in a situation where my survival was dependent then I would eat the bodies of those that had perished. I don't believe I would kill a person for my dinner but if I killed a person in self defence would it be ethical to eat the remains. It then becomes a question - were your thoughts of self defence or were you thinking of your hunger. The mind is a complex mechanism so I would have to be very sure that my true driving force was defence or I would not eat the body left behind.
> 
> If we were alone, unable to get food, and I died first I would hate my body to go to waste. Use it to stay alive, with my blessings! If you die first, I will use the food you provide to stay alive and give thanks for your gift.


Ritual cannibalism has been practiced in many cultures. Basically, if a powerful leader dies, his body is consumed by the tribe in order to perpetuate his power and spirit. It has nothing to do with nutrition, but rather spiritual power. Unfortunately, these folks sometimes contract prions from the brain and nervous tissue and end up with deadly spongyform encephalopathy. In New Guinea this is called KuruKuru, or Laughing Disease, with an incubation period of up to 30 years. Because tribes people have still died fairly recently from the disease, it is obvious than ritual cannibalism has been practiced up to the present 30-50 years. Anyway, eating human flesh is not without risk, but perhaps an extreme alternative in an extreme survival situation. But I totally agree with Paul, that eating someone who has died is completely different than eating someone who has been hunted or murdered. Ralph intends to invite guests to a meal, in which they are the premeditated main course. A completely different motive.


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## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

When eating any animal do not eat parts from the central nervous system. Prions are not killed with any amount of heat (or anything else to speak of) but they exist primarily in the brain and spinal cord - not the peripheral nerves. Do not leave those parts exposed for carrion feeders - although prions don't typically cross genetic paths it is possible. Bury the parts and let nature deal with then that way.


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## RNprepper (Apr 5, 2014)

PaulS said:


> When eating any animal do not eat parts from the central nervous system. Prions are not killed with any amount of heat (or anything else to speak of) but they exist primarily in the brain and spinal cord - not the peripheral nerves. Do not leave those parts exposed for carrion feeders - although prions don't typically cross genetic paths it is possible. Bury the parts and let nature deal with then that way.


People in the U.S have contracted a variant from eating scrambled squirrel brains. Leave the brains alone! The diseases can also be contracted simply from butchering and handling the raw tissue, if there happen to be cuts on the hands. Goes for elk and deer as well, which can carry a form similar to Mad Cow Disease.


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## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

Good information ! I have used the brains of an animal to tan the hide but I stopped doing that a long time ago. I now use a special mineral oil that works well.


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## RNprepper (Apr 5, 2014)

I used to use blood and bone meal in my garden, but I don't do that anymore, either. All it takes is one animal that slips through the cracks. I've seen downer cows at a dairy and lots of vultures circling a nearby field. I highly doubt that those downer cows are reported and inspected. I'm sure that near-downer beef animals get slipped through all the time. As you noted, prions are virtually indestructable. It has always bothered me to think about eating particular cuts of meat that involve sawing through the spine. That just seems like such an easy way to contaminate meat with spinal tissue. Once we get set up in our new place, I hope to raise a beef of my own. Nothing beats home grown food for taste or safety, whether it be meat, milk, eggs, or produce. But home grown human doesn't cut it, no matter how hungry Ralph gets.


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## ghostman (Dec 11, 2014)

The other question to ask yourself while you maybe still alive after eating someone can you honest to god be able to live with yourself after committing such a heinous act against humanity?


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## Will2 (Mar 20, 2013)

This is not a realistic question. First of all most soil can be used for growing food you just need to scrape off the top soil, haven't you see all them cold war movies. 

Normally limited exposure is ok after a certain period of time. 

If the world is totally irradiated, it is nonsense. What the hell is the point of a few more weeks. Someone is going to drop dead regardless. Personally I would find that to be a horrendous way to die, spending your last few months eating your family. 

I would risk finding a way out of the radiated zone if there was no chance of people rescuing, or someone getting supplies, but really 3 years and you are still in the hole. 


If there isn't a movement for rebuilding within a few months it would be very surprising, and somewhat idiocy. I think people need a reason to live, and getting to the next meal ain't a reason.


No I can't see myself killing anyone as an act of aggression just to eat them. Dying isn't a big deal for me so as to scare me of my eventual death. What a hellish world. People die, what a crappy world deal, I'd have a word or two to say with the manager after that *ish.


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## Will2 (Mar 20, 2013)

Canibalism is made out to be pretty bad, but really it is just tissue. I think the real moral issue is actually killing someone to eat them. Although really, it is mostly just a cultural taboo. There is nothing inherently wrong with the act anymore than killing an animal to eat them, other than one holding an animal life to be less to hold than a human life. There are the rules of killing, you can kill someone for a political agenda not for a meal, it is a little nonsensical. Ideally there wouldn't be any killing, but cannibalism has happened, the real social taboo is largely due to the fact you probably don't want to chill out with people who may see you as a whopper. Especially anyone really fat, or muscular.

But year from a cultural perspective, cannibalism bad, other food source good. No soylent green for me.


In reality it is more like, oh protein, fat, and other vitamins and nutrients.


It just ain't gonna happen on purpose.

Its like looking at a woman and ordering sex without consent.

Just not ok.

Doesn't change the past. We are socialized to actually not do those things, doesn't get everyone though. The issue is it creates a society where people are a little creeped out. They start wearing extra layers of clothing and collared shirts.


Fact is though ugly people creep people out too, so do smelly people etc..

Why stop at Canibalism, start reading more about WWII germany, or the glam club scene. 

Its all just stuff people like and don't like. 

I sleep better at night knowing that cannibalism isn't a norm.


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## Kauboy (May 12, 2014)

At 9 pages, I can only imagine the way this thread has gone.
To address the OP, in the scenario you describe, life on earth is going extinct.
Prolonging one's existence a few more days at the expense of killing and consuming another human being is not worth the fuss.
You will not survive such an event, no matter what you do, long enough to see the planet recover.(hundreds of years at best)


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## Salt-N-Pepper (Aug 18, 2014)

Maine-Marine said:


> the only thing you really get is "do not stick your willy in a light socket"


Which, nonetheless, sounds like good advice


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## ApexPredator (Aug 17, 2013)

Does anyone think there may be hope. I mean ya it sucks but honestly I think if you could make it to a hydroelectric dam and set up indoor growing conditions you could make it at least the life of the dam. Maybe even start a little community there.
If you are gonna eat people Ive heard you need to supplement with vitamin C don't want to get scurvy you know.


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## shootbrownelk (Jul 9, 2014)

csi-tech said:


> My neighbor would not make good table fare, too fat. If you are what you eat I would become a liberal with a nasty habit of ignoring property lines.


 That's not nice, calling your neighbor "Too Fat". Words can be hurtful. You should have said that your neighbor was "Self-Basting".
Just like a domestic goose or duck when you cook it....pretty soon it's swimming in it's own juices when the fat is rendered..and shrinks to the size of a pigeon.
Seriously, I'd just as soon eat a bullet before I ever got to the point of killing and eating a human.


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