It comes up in converstion more than you'd think.

[thornedillusion]

I never understood why Soilent Green was such a bad thing.

I still don't.

Crossposted from Dreamwidth. Comment here or there. http://thornedillusion.dreamwidth.org/4819.html

Comments

[benndragon]

You mean, other than the fact that the best disease vectors for humans are other humans, and that includes both preparation and ingestion? Soilent Green sounds great until you get a Beri-Beri outbreak. . .

[unseelie]

"do you KURU?
Smart cannibals don't eat the brains
of people who died of laughing sickness!"

"Baby; the other other white meat!"

[benndragon]

Heh - unfortunately, the problem goes well beyond prions, particularly for the people who have to prepare the bodies for eating. OSHA would be all, "Oh hell no bitches."

ETA: and the CDC would be OSHA's heavies on this. There's a damn good reason we're revolted by the dead, and it's not just "don't get eaten by the same tiger".

[thornedillusion]

No, people are usually revolted by the dead because of fear of their own mortality. People with no fear of death are generally not upset by images of death or the dead. See young children, El Dio de los Muertos celebrations, and goths.

[plymouth]

I'm not upset by IMAGES of death, but I still wouldn't eat dead people.

[benndragon]

As plymouth points out, not being afraid of death and the dead doesn't translate into a willingness to eat dead people. Which is smart, because not dying from human-borne disease is one hell of an evolutionary advantage. Staying away from dead people, or getting rid of their corpses such that any illness they carry is unlikely to get transmitted, say by burying them sufficiently deep in the ground or putting them high in the sky or burning them to ash, is also an evolutionary advantage. (I have no explanation for throwing them in the river you drink from, unless you don't like your down-stream neighbors.) Speaking of which, reinforcing the tendency to stay away from dead people by encouraging that fear of corpses is a not a bad idea either - playing Left 4 Dead totally gives you an evolutionary advantage ;P.

[thornedillusion]

You said 'There's a damn good reason we're revolted by the dead, and it's not just "don't get eaten by the same tiger".' This statement was incorrect, and the only thing I have commented on. I did not state a lack revulsion equaled wanting to eat dead people. In fact, I never said I wanted to eat dead people.

I said I do not see a problem with Soylent Green; ie: A heavily processed food wafer made from human flesh because we've managed to overpopulate to the point where we've killed off virtually all other sources of food and only the super rich (and their 'furniture') ever even see real food. It sounds like a perfectly reasonable and logical solution to me.

You have gone off on a tirade against an argument that no one is making. This is not the first time you've gone off on some unprovoked, personal crusade in my journal and, frankly, I'm getting a little sick of it. My comment threads are not your personal soap box and I'll thank you not to treat them as such. You have banned people from your journal for less.

(edited for clarity

[benndragon]

Dude, all you said was you didn't understand why Soylent Green was bad. So I gave you the biological/public health reason it was bad. If you don't want Fridge Logic in response to your one-line dark and edgy musings, fucking say so ahead of time.

[thornedillusion]

What I don't want is hostility and hysterics in my journal when I make a semi-sarcastic post in my journal. Every comment you have made in this post has been hostile, and only one did you have any excuse. And no, this isn't the comment you had an excuse to be hostile about.

I asked you to stop abusing my journal, and this is what you come back with? Seriously?

[benndragon]

I came back with exactly the tone I was given. Funny how that works.

[thornedillusion]

Really? You honestly think my initial post was hostile?

Every comment you have made on this post, including your very first one, has been hostile. When I called you on it, you came back with personal attacks. You have done nothing to convince me that my initial premise, that the concept of Soilent Green is a bad thing, was wrong. All you've managed to convince me of is something about my journal renders you incapable of reasonable discourse.

I've given you the benefit of the doubt this long out of respect for unseelie, but enough is enough. Since you are unable to play nice in my sandbox, something you demand of people visiting yours, you are no longer welcome here.

[unseelie]

gonna have to go slap brynndragon around. le sigh. i hate it when people who i think are smart, and worthy of respect, act stupid, in public.

[thornedillusion]

I wonder if she's aware I can see her post mocking me and patting herself on the back for it?

I did not ban her for this post. I banned her for her habit of attacking me every time I post something in my journal she doesn't like. That's not a friendship, it's an abusive relationship that I don't have to tolerate.

Sorry you got drug into it. Thank you :)