Are you gunna eat that?

This week in class delt a lot with cultural norms and taboo regarding consumption of various things. It started with saliva. To me saliva out of the mouth becomes this totally unnatural and unpleasing thing. Being a baseball player, I admit to being a little hypocritical because I have developed an unflattering habit of spitting outside of a baseball diamond. Spitting is acceptable in baseball, but in our normal everyday society it is not. Sharing saliva outside of the mouth is, to me, not even comparable to doing the same within mouths. I think the mental difference lies with focus. If asked to sip spit off a spoon, the entire focus of your brain, and not to mention your stomach, is on that spit. There is nothing else happining to divert you from thinking about what you are doing. However, kissing provides an alternate focus and the mind is not concerned with sharing saliva. There enlies the difference.

The whole F227 cannibal article didnt really freak me out too much, because I have read various accounts of people surviving by eating people, most notably the Donner Party in the westward expansion times, circa 1840. I think it is a terrible and harsh reality to have to do this to survive. Needless to say, the article made me think of if I would do it. And the answer came down to pretty much one condition: temperature. If the bodies were frozen, as they were in the article, and the Donner party for that matter, I think I could eat the bodies to survive. However, if it was very hot and bodies were rotting and decomposing as time went on I dont think I could physically digest it. Blood plays a big role too. With colder weather, blood wont be as free flowing, and therefore easier to eat the meat. But in the heat blood would be everywhere and once again I dont think I could handle that. But who knows, ive never been in a position remotely close to this, so these feelings could be completely wrong if a time ever presents itself.