I understand the many benefits of weening cannibals off human flesh. By giving cannibals the alternatives they need, we are restoring the waning populations of humanity back to their healthy levels of existence. Soy products also give the cannibals nutritional elements not present in their former diet. With the help of HuFu, whole tribes of well nourished peoples can be re-socialized into the greater societies with which they belong.
My concern with this product, however, is the availability to the general, non-human eating populous. While cannibals use it to ween their unsavory habits, perhaps this product will also get people used to the idea and texture of a human flesh diet. Given the state of our society at this moment: war, economic inequality and environmental changes, do we need to add rampant cannibalism to an already long and discouraging list of cultural ailments?
Aside from the morality debate of Hufu on the greater society, I wonder after this product's authenticity. How does the founder of Hufu, Mark Nuckols, guarantee that his product has the taste and texture of human flesh? In the past, when a test kitchen is trying to reproduce one product with healthier alternatives, they have the high-fat, unhealthy original present as a control against the taste and texture of the healthier copy. How did Nuckols manage this part of product development? Perhaps he assumed human flesh tastes like chicken. Maybe he found a sample of cannibals willing to test his product. Or, perhaps Nuckols has other things invested in the development of a human alternative, like the desire to kick an socially unacceptable habit himself. Who can know, for sure, the motivations of the master mind?
I think much resides in the future of the Hufu industry. Hufu could be the answer to world peace and global hunger for which we have been searching. Of course, it could also end up becoming another novelty item available through a pluthera of joke sites on the internet, finding itself sold somewhere between fart-scented cologne and imitation barf. Only you, the consumer can determine the future of this promising product. So ask yourself this, is there room enough in your heart (and stomach) for a little Hufu?
3 comments:
Not to play the Devil’s advocate, but more like an advocate against the Devil (which in this case is HuFu), I have to rebut your sentiment for this pro-soy faux-cannibalistic nutrition source.
In reality what are we talking about here? Globalization of indigenous peoples. HuFu, or more to the point Mr. Nuckols, feels a need to westernize and profit from these secluded societies without acknowledging the direct harm that his actions will have on, not only the cannibals, but to a lesser and less grievous degree us.
I have not yet met a cannibal that has asked for fake human flesh. I have not yet met a cannibal. Let’s face facts, cannibals are secluded peoples. While I’ll admit that they have not always been without some outside contact/food source (other cannibalistic tribes, wayward explorers, shipped-wrecked cast-away), to believe that they sincerely need our intervention and our “modern” soy-flesh, is foolishness. What Mr. Nuckols plans to do is upset the time honored traditions of native peoples to have them become reliant on a product in which his company is the sole supplier. He hopes to bring a multi-national corporation into dozens of small communities, many of which are self-sufficient, tell them that they may no longer practice their hundred year rituals and which they must now pay for the right to do so with fake flesh. This sickens me.
What bothers me even further is how little the world would really benefit from a total destruction of these completely unique and vibrant societies. Ultimately I fear they’d be forced to turn from subsistent human farming into the same agricultural farming system that destroys the rain forests and impoverishes a large portion of Central America. I wouldn’t be surprised if the cannibals ended up farming the soybeans which would be then shipped to our factories, processed by our workers, and then sold back to the farmers at an incredible mark up. All this while vast amounts of natural resources are wasted for profit, under the guise of humanitarian principle.
I understand that these practices seem barbaric in the context of what we’re use to. However, you must understand that what we are use to may equally seem barbaric to them. Think about how much extra loose flesh hanging from each overweight and obese arm that we, to them, seem to waste. Think about every chubby little child that can no more run around a city block then from a hungry mob intent on barbecuing his succulent and tender body over a roaring fire. This perspective shouldn’t be ignored. I don’t want to eat a child, but I cannot out of good conscience criticize a culture which does so for substance or religious practice. To do so would be hypocrisy. Hypocrisy that would be prevalent if I didn’t stand up against the Hufu Corporation. Keep big business away from the cannibals.
Brilliant. I applaud you, Steve.
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