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.

[thepikey]

1) Most cultures frown on cannibalism.
2) Lack of respect for the dead.
3) Indicates a callous attitude towards the living. Life in the dystopian overcrowded future of that film was appallingly cheap, and the notion that you could be disposed of and then turned into a dietary staple was creeee-py. It's like thinking of yourself as a cog, but only more so - one serving of you is part of a complete breakfast, fortified with vitamins and minerals, and 20% of the Recommended Daily Allowance of protein.
Gaaah.

The movie was a cheesy and overblown* adaptation of the book 'Make Room! Make Room!' by Harry Harrison.

*heh, it's a Chuck Heston vehicle, this kinda goes without saying.

[unseelie]

i really doubt that I count as either fortified vitamins OR 20% of your daily protein...

[unseelie]

i understand it, in the same way that I understand that "boys don't get french braids"
or
"Don't hire people with facial tattooes"

-these are social norms, that we must comply with, or be outed as a freak, painted blue, and stoned by the village.

[benndragon]

Social norms, public health, same fucking thing, right? That's why we ostracize people who don't give their kids vaccines!

[unseelie]

or we ought to ostracize people who don't give their kids vaccines!

but come on; I can think of religious imperatives that mask public health... something about; if you are wandering the desert, be careful what you eat... so don't mix your dairy and pork, for instance... ;)

[benndragon]

Dude, if you're going to make fun of my birth religion, at least get it right. That's two separate rules, one of which is just a "you're Jewish, not Pagan" rule.

Also, you're getting it backwards re: public health and social taboo. We don't eat people not because eating people is Too Weird or God Said So, but because that's an easy way to get sick and die yourself. You can pin that death on a vengeful deity or on not being normal if it makes you happy, but that is a consequence, not a cause.

[bloodsong1]

Not having seen the movie or read the book in question (parodies on Futurama I'm not counting, Wolf had to explain the joke to me.), the way I figure it is if it's processed properly, like how we currently irradiate ground beef, then there shouldn't BE any health concerns.

So, I'm with you on this, Thorny.