I’m right, you’re wrong. So there.
I just had a fun debate with my roommate over whether eating people is wrong. It started when he was channel-surfing and flipped past “Red Dragon”, the prequel to “Silence of the Lambs”. I mentioned that after taking Human Gross Anatomy, I wasn’t as squeamish about the content of the movie. Here I have recorded what I can recall about the debate that followed. Can you guess which one is me?
- It is wrong, a deviant behavior
- Explain
- murder is always wrong (“Thou Shalt Not Kill”)
- die of natural causes
- not always wrong to kill anyway
- when is it okay?
- self defense
- (no response)
- for the greater good
- precedence…
- Black Death
- not civilized
- have morals changed?
- science can cure stuff now
- Ebola, Marburg?
- (no response)
- Ebola, Marburg?
- not civilized
- Black Death
- precedence…
- self defense
- when is it okay?
- desecration
- What is desecration?
- I don’t own your body
- I’m going to will my body to science
- but that benefits society
- Many things don’t benefit society. does cannabilism hurt society?
- If my final wishes don’t harm anyone, and you don’t respect them, isn’t that also desecration?
- why would someone want to eat someone
- (no response – I really don’t know)
- but that benefits society
- I’m going to will my body to science
- I don’t own your body
- What is desecration?
- Effect on society?
- What would it do?
- It would tell people that it was OK
- That’s what we’re debating. Circular logic.
- It would disturb people.
- We were just watching a guy kill a non-consenting person to eat them. Doesn’t that disturb people?
- People know it’s not real
- People know it won’t happen to them — they aren’t consenting
- People are more affected by the news than by movies (fact vs. fiction)
- I disagree that the difference is so large. We are dramatically
affected by fictitious stories, especially those we can see and hear on
TV. Take the phenomenon of para-social relationships.
- (no response)
- I disagree that the difference is so large. We are dramatically
affected by fictitious stories, especially those we can see and hear on
TV. Take the phenomenon of para-social relationships.
- Cites a study of how children are affected by fiction the same as they are by fact, but that this changes in adulthood.
- It lessens, it doesn’t disappear.
- You can’t argue with the study, it proves it!
- Studies aren’t proof
- Yes they are
- What about evolution?
- That isn’t fact. What about the missing link?
- It’s an established scientific theory based on physics, biology, geology, genetics, and chemistry.
- It’s wrong.
- It’s an established scientific theory based on physics, biology, geology, genetics, and chemistry.
- That isn’t fact. What about the missing link?
- What about evolution?
- Yes they are
- Studies aren’t proof
- You can’t argue with the study, it proves it!
- It lessens, it doesn’t disappear.
- People are more affected by the news than by movies (fact vs. fiction)
- People know it won’t happen to them — they aren’t consenting
- People know it’s not real
- We were just watching a guy kill a non-consenting person to eat them. Doesn’t that disturb people?
- It would tell people that it was OK
- What would it do?
- murder is always wrong (“Thou Shalt Not Kill”)
- Explain
Well, I could see we weren’t going to get much further after he rejected evolution outright, but accepted a sociological study as gospel truth. Plus, he had to study for a test. Before he left, he stated that he had “proved me wrong, and he’ll prove me wrong again.” I told him that neither of us had proven anything, that only in math can you have proof, that science isn’t about proof — even the researchers of the study he cited would tell him that. I don’t think he quite accepted that.
It was an interesting exercise. Maybe next we can cover gender and sexuality. That oughta be a fun one, if his reaction to evolution is any indicator.
Addendum: He also used an appeal to nature as one of his arguments against cannabilism. I might add that branch in later.
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