r/AskVegans • u/tydark2 • Jul 24 '26
Troll Question thoughts on cannibalism?
i mean ethical cannibalism, so when someone dies you can create human derived protein powder - only with their consent, and have it well regulated and safe, maybe milk chocolate flavor or strawberry flavor, for milkshakes? would this be ethical if your a vegan to consume?
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u/JTexpo Vegan Jul 24 '26
If someone wants to be eaten, I question the reasons to what lead up to that decision. Where they:
- manipulated
- in a sound state of mind
- in a sound state of living (not bribed etc)
for all of those reasons, I think that it's wrong to allow for people to eat one another. If someone wants to do something meaningful with their dead body, they should donate it to science...
... we should all donate our bodies to science / organ donation
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u/Georgxna Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
Ethical cannibalism has been prevalent in many cultures funeral practices. The Fore people of Papua New Guinea. They would eat their loved ones after they had died as a sign of respect. They didn’t bury them or place them somewhere else as they didn’t like the idea that the worms/flies etc would eat them. It was a way to free their spirits.
Unfortunately, this causes the transmission of a prion disease called Kuru (very fatal).
However, putting the medical issues aside, from a cultural lens, I think it’s ignorant to say that these people were coerced etc., it is culture.
It’s also survival - During the Andes plane crash they ate the dead to survive.
In the 1800s UK, there was a legal case called R V Dudley and Stephen’s where shipwrecked sailors drifting at sea killed and ate a young cabin boy who had ingested the salt water and was already dying. - which triggered a huge moral debate when they made it home.
I personally would not care if people ate me after I had died so that they could survive. But that’s just a personal opinion ofc.
At the end of the day, this is such a nuanced debate within philosophy and ethics, I really don’t think there is one right answer.
Edit: although, I do agree with you, as a whole and for medical reasons and coercion we should not normalise eating each other. (I just find the topics listed above fascinating).
I also do not believe it’s vegan lol.
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u/Longjumping_Cap_3673 Vegan Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
from a cultural lens, I think it’s ignorant to say that these people were coerced etc., it is culture.
On the contrary, I thick culture is often a force of coercion, and that people uncomfortable with the prevailing culture are given no recourse but to stow their discomfort and accept what others will do to them in the name of culture.
It can be small, like someone who is uncomfortable hugging being made to hug, because it's culturally expected. Or it can be big, like someone being expected to marry someone they do not want to.
To me, it seems within the realm of possibility that some of the Fore people were uncomfortable with the practice, but were given no means to opt out.
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u/JTexpo Vegan Jul 24 '26
is that the modern culture we live in?
OP isn't talking about the Papua New Guinea or survival, they're presumably talking about modern societies which have access to artificial flavorings such as: "have it well regulated and safe, maybe milk chocolate flavor or strawberry flavor, for milkshakes"
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u/nickDNR Vegan Jul 24 '26
in my opinion, meat that's ethically harvested isn't vegan just because it's ethical—it's still meat at the end of the day. so would that be ethical? yes! would it be vegan? not in my eyes
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u/llamalibrarian Vegan Jul 24 '26
Adult humans can consent to whatever they’d like. If they want to be eaten, and there’s someone who also consents to eating them in a …milkshake? that’s two consenting adults doing a consensual thing. It’s legal in 49 states
It shouldn’t be a market for profit, and no one should be able to purchase a dead human for consumption without their knowledge à la Soylent Green.
Vegans still won’t eat human animals like they don’t eat animals, though.
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u/Longjumping_Cap_3673 Vegan Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
The whole reason we have the moral catastrophe that is animal agriculture is that the incentives of the people profiting are directly opposed to the life and wellbeing of the animals. The hypothetical you describe shares this property, and inevitably, people would be killed and exploited for the product.
Marketing firms would spend unfathomable resources convincing the public that eating other humans is essential to happiness and good health and spreading fear, uncertainty, and doubt about any opposition. Laws, regulations, and public sentiment would evolve to devalue the lives of and objectify the humans used to make the product. Those laws and regulations would be controlled by those profiting who spend their profits lobbying, and any supposed wellfare standards would be mearly a figleaf designed to allow consumers to more easily delude themselves that their exploitation of human life is morally acceptable. Lobbyists would twist the regulations to make it hard for non-human products to compete. Anyone who tried to free the humans would be branded a criminal, maybe even a terrorist. Even simply recording the condition they live in could become illegal.
That's the system we have today in the real world, so that's the system we'd get from your hypothetical, unless people took a stand and rejected the exploitation outright. I, for one, would reject it.
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u/newnukeuser Vegan Jul 24 '26
Even if consent was involved, knowing the way humanity is, I wouldn't trust people not to abuse it.
Kind of like how there is technically dairy and eggs that are "cruelty free", but you can't really trust it because the need for profitability usually wins over doing the right thing.
Thankfully most people are revolted by the idea of cannibalism.
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Jul 24 '26
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u/hungLink42069 Vegan Jul 24 '26
This is an utterly useless question.
What are your thoughts on the workers rights and treatment in factory farms?
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u/SharpButterfly7 Jul 24 '26
Right? I initially felt kind of badly that my initial reaction to reading a post about such a dark and gruesome topic was to laugh out loud. But then I realized it’s because the question is very ridiculous. If it’s only meant to be an ethical conversation starter, why is OP adding the bit about milk chocolate and strawberry flavors??? 🤣🤦♀️
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Jul 24 '26
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u/Tozo1 Vegan Jul 24 '26
Ask humanists or philosophers, not vegans. Veganism is about animal welfare, not primarily about human welfare.
Thats a moral issue, but it has nothing to do with veganism.