[The E]

Humans are decidedly not easy prey. Individual humans, sure, but the thing is, if you kill one there's a probability of several of them banding together to hunt you down in return, which will end badly.

[Lorric]

Humans are decidedly not easy prey. Individual humans, sure, but the thing is, if you kill one there's a probability of several of them banding together to hunt you down in return, which will end badly.

This is very true, but how would an animal know this? Animals aren't stupid, but how many would actually see this to know? They certainly don't have any qualms about going into a herd and seperating out a victim, and are pretty much programmed to single out the weak. And humans are poor physical specimens.

[Aesaar]

The animal doesn't need to know.  Animals who develop a taste for human flesh don't tend to live long enough to breed, and therefore don't pass it on to the next generation.  Same reason humans usually dislike bitter tasting things: natural poisons tend to taste bitter.

[Lorric]

The animal doesn't need to know.  Animals who develop a taste for human flesh don't tend to live long enough to breed, and therefore don't pass it on to the next generation.  Same reason humans usually dislike bitter tasting things: natural poisons tend to taste bitter.

Hmmm, so you're saying the very taste for human flesh is being bred out of them? I suppose it would also mean those animals would be teaching their hunting techniques to their young, and those techniques would not involve hunting humans.

[Luis Dias]

Well the first is a Darwinian straightforward narrative, while the second is not such a straightforward hypothesis. Animals teach their young how to hunt, and they do it on animals, not humans. However, humans are flesh too, so try not to be caught between a bear and a wolf.

[SF-Junky]

I still don't get what people have against eating horsemeat... where I come from it's just sold in the butchery, along with cow, pork, sheep and everything else.

And I'm against destroying food on principle, I'd much rather it be distributed to the poor. People living under a bridge, spending their day begging on the streets, in the hope of gathering enough for a single sandwich that evening - offer them a free lasagna, and I'm confident that they couldn't care less what animal it came from.

The problem with this comment is that it's just like: "Oh, we have a lot of crap here no one of our spoiled middle-class citizens wants to eat anymore for some reason. What do we do with it? Oh well, let's give it to the poor. It's good enough for them."

That's why it is just disgusting. Our Minister of Mental Depletion stroke again (not that I'd expect anything else from this guy).
Why don't we feed the stuff to FDP members on their party meetings? Would help saving the FDP a lot of money which is really important for them as they experience somewhat of a member drain as I heard lately.

[SypheDMar]

I nearly stopped eating meat, but if I hear that someone is about to throw away a lot of good meat, I'm gonna ask for them. Doesn't matter if it's horse, beef, chicken, or donuts.

[el_magnifico]

I still don't get what people have against eating horsemeat... where I come from it's just sold in the butchery, along with cow, pork, sheep and everything else.

And I'm against destroying food on principle, I'd much rather it be distributed to the poor. People living under a bridge, spending their day begging on the streets, in the hope of gathering enough for a single sandwich that evening - offer them a free lasagna, and I'm confident that they couldn't care less what animal it came from.

The problem with this comment is that it's just like: "Oh, we have a lot of crap here no one of our spoiled middle-class citizens wants to eat anymore for some reason. What do we do with it? Oh well, let's give it to the poor. It's good enough for them."

That's why it is just disgusting. Our Minister of Mental Depletion stroke again (not that I'd expect anything else from this guy).
Why don't we feed the stuff to FDP members on their party meetings? Would help saving the FDP a lot of money which is really important for them as they experience somewhat of a member drain as I heard lately.

While I find the morality of your concerns to be solid and your intentions to be quite laudable, I'm not sure I share your viewpoint. If the poor are offered the horsemeat and some of them freely and knowingly choose to eat it, then that's a mutually beneficial agreement between two parties, and it shouldn't be bound to outsiders' opinions. Do keep in mind this is not "a lot of crap" they are being offered, but completely edible food that's currently decaying somewhere just because of a cultural taboo.

EDIT: Added "and knowingly".

[Luis Dias]

It's sad, really, that the people who are desperately in famine are incapable of appreciating Junky's perfectly reasonable moral disgust.

They should be all thinking right now that it's a terribly cruel idea and that such meat should be put to flames instead.

If not for their sake, for the sake of the middle class' valuable souls.

[karajorma]

Well I think the issue is that they said it should be available to the poor. They should have just said that it's freely available to anyone who wants to eat it and not made a judgement over who might want it.

[Woolie Wool]

Humans are decidedly not easy prey. Individual humans, sure, but the thing is, if you kill one there's a probability of several of them banding together to hunt you down in return, which will end badly.

Every introduction of humans onto a new landmass has corresponded with a massive die-off of large animals, despite said humans having been Stone Age hunter-gatherers when they showed up. This is likely not a coincidence.

[Luis Dias]

To imply humans are "easy prey" is preposterously silly. We are almost gods to this planet.

[Klaustrophobia]

i believe the point was a human without tools is stupid easy prey.  we have no natural defense mechanisms and are comparatively slow and weak.

[yuezhi]

i'm expecting a certain trekkie to wander in and comment on this sudden development.

[el_magnifico]

i'm expecting a certain trekkie to wander in and comment on this sudden development.

Ha! Human meat. Too soft. Not nearly as good as targ meat!

Ka'plah!

(I bet you, you weren't expecting that. )

[Ghostavo]

i believe the point was a human without tools is stupid easy prey.  we have no natural defense mechanisms and are comparatively slow and weak.

Humans are one of the best (if not THE best) endurance runners on the planet. Humans hunted by literally exhausting wild game to death.

[Klaustrophobia]

endurance doesn't help much when you need to out-sprint something that wants to eat you.

[yuezhi]

i'm expecting a certain trekkie to wander in and comment on this sudden development.

Ha! Human meat. Too soft. Not nearly as good as targ meat!

Ka'plah!

(I bet you, you weren't expecting that. )

Indeed i wasn't. I was expecting the one with scales!

[el_magnifico]

That one!? He has no honor!

Spoiler:

OK, I'll end this now before I derail the thread.

[karajorma]

endurance doesn't help much when you need to out-sprint something that wants to eat you.

True, but Ghostavo is pointing out the other evolutionary advantage we have over pretty much any other animal. Everyone remembers the big brain, but possibly even before it, we had a major advantage when it came to hunting.

In fact I seem to remember reading a theory once that humans evolved tool use not just in order to make us better at hunting our prey but in order to prevent other animals poaching our kills.

While I'll agree with you that without tools and alone a human is very easy prey, the simple fact is that humans were rarely alone and without tools.
 It's only recently that humankind have become so assured of their mastery over the animal kingdom that we don't constantly have a weapon within easy reach to deal with any large predatory animal stupid enough to **** with us.