Cannibalism -
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
QUOTE
Cannibalism (from Caníbalis, the
Spanish name for the
Carib people, a West Indies tribe well known for their practice of
cannibalism), is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh of other human
beings. It is also called anthropophagy............
Cannibalism has recently been both practiced and fiercely condemned in several wars, especially in Liberia and Congo. Today, the Korowai are one of very few tribes still believed to eat human flesh as a cultural practice. It is also still known to be practiced as a ritual and in war in various Melanesian tribes. Historically, allegations of cannibalism were used by the colonial powers to justify the enslavement of what were seen as primitive peoples; cannibalism has been said to test the bounds of cultural relativism as it challenges anthropologists "to define what is or is not beyond the pale of acceptable human behavior". Today, the trend is to reserve judgement on cannibalism.
Cannibalism was widespread in the past among humans throughout the world, continuing into the 19th century in some isolated South Pacific cultures; and, in a few cases in insular Melanesia, indigenous flesh-markets existed. Fiji was once known as the 'Cannibal Isles'. Neanderthals are believed to have practiced cannibalism, and they may have been cannibalized by modern humans.
Cannibalism has been occasionally practiced as a last resort by people suffering from famine, as it is speculated happened on colonial Roanoke Island USA. Occasionally it has occurred in modern times. A famous example is the crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, after which some survivors ate the bodies of deceased passengers. Also, some mentally ill individuals obsess about eating others and cannibalize, such as Jeffrey Dahmer and Albert Fish. There is a resistance to labelling cannibalism formally as a mental disorder.
The theme of cannibalism has been featured
in religion, mythology, fairy stories and in works of art; for example,
cannibalism has been depicted in The Raft
of the Medusa by the French lithographer
Théodore Géricault in 1819. It has been satirized in popular culture, as
in Monty Python's
Lifeboat sketch.
UNQUOTE
The pretence that it does not happen
nowadays is refuted by the Wiki, a biased source which would like to cover up
this truth.
Cannibalism - Some Hidden Truths
Someone points to contemporary accounts of happenings. Life back then could be short, brutish and nasty.
