Is cannibalism always wrong? What if you were really, really hungry, and there was nothing else to eat? Like in one of those lifeboat- or mining accident- or pioneer situations you were asked to think about and discuss in school as a child? What if the meal-person was already dead, but presumably still quite fresh? They wouldn't miss an arm or a leg, would they? They're dead, right? What if it was an organ donor, offering you a kidney or a liver or a cornea, but you just chose to eat that part instead of giving it to the surgeons? Would that be so wrong? I mean, the donor donated it, right? For the benefit of others? Truly, cannibalism (per se) does not require killing (per se), does it? When you bite your nails, isn't that a sort of masturbatory cannibalism?
Isn't it sort of racist and xenophobic to be against cannibalism? Cannibalism is an honored tradition among many dark-skinned peoples, so isn't it sort of intolerant and judgemental to condemn it the way so many westerners do? Couldn't we whitebread-types learn something from this sort of ancient wisdom, of living in harmony with nature? Isn't having this knee-jerk, gut-level antipathy to cannibalism a sort of bigotry, after all? Isn't this an indigenous peoples' method of recycling? Like, maybe it's a Black thing, and you wouldn't understand?
How much of a person would you have to eat to be considered a "cannibal" anyway? If you walked up to someone and bit off his or her finger or ear and started chewing, but then spit it out before swallowing, would that make you a cannibal? What if you only bit off a little piece, such as an earlobe or maybe one of those moles that stick out, or an "outie" bellybutton-- and then swallowed-- would you then suddenly be transmogrified into a "cannibal"? What if you swallowed a portion of someone else's bodily fluids? You don't even want to go there, do you? What if it happened completely unawares, say a friendly villager serves you a stew or some soup or something, and you like it, and ask for more, but it turns out the dish was made out of his grandmother, and you had no idea? Would you be a "cannibal" then? What if you ended up liking the idea? What if you wanted to savor some more of this healthy, hearty, native cuisine?
What if it was so good, it started you wondering whether one variety of mankind tasted sweeter than another, or women are more tender and better-marbled than men, or if infants are best served roasted in their own juices, or what? Are Hindus best served with curried rice, Samoans with pineapple, hefty Nebraskans with a side of corn-on-the-cob? What if you could really, really show your sincere appreciation for other people and peoples in this way? Would that be so wrong? Wouldn't that make you a sort of connoisseur?
Why doesn't anyone want to talk about cannibalism? Why are there so few books on the subject of cannibalism? How come none of them contain any recipes?
