Thursday, December 04, 2003

This clearly isn't my planet

Alright, I know that there are people who are into some really freaky shit. There are plenty of wacko belief systems that probably only survive because they contain restrictions against sharing their secrets with the uninitiated (i.e. someone who could point out that you've lost your frickin mind). I've sat in embarrassed silence many times after an otherwise intelligent adult has shared beliefs that seem childish or inane or just fucking wrong. But there seems to be a whole lotta high weirdness floating around these days that I'm just not prepared to deal with.

In a news item that seemed more like a review of a gore film, a man who freely admits to killing and eating another man also told the court about a thriving online community of people who are into cannibalism. The really disturbing part is that this community contains both people who wish to eat someone else, and people who wish to be eaten. In the current murder case, the victim actually responded to an online ad and volunteered, claiming a desire 'since childhood' to be slaughtered and eaten. The cannibal himself said he had a childhood wish for a little brother that he could 'make part of me'... so to him, it was only natural that when he grew up he would start posting ads seeking victims after he built a special 'slaughtering room' in his house that contained meat hooks, a cage, and a butcher-block table.

It's a little bit disturbing that the guy looks a bit like Dahmer.

The charge of murder might not stick, since the victim is shown on video tape requesting that he be killed and eaten. The defense lawyer is seeking charges of "killing on request," a form of illegal euthanasia which carries a maximum sentence of five years.

Whatever happened to people having hobbies? In this age of absentee parenting, are children simply not being told not to eat each other? How fucked up does the world have to get to create people like this? Of course, you can argue that at least the guy wasn't predatory in the sense that Dahmer was... he sought and found a willing participant. I think you might be able to argue, however, that the volunteer was not right in the head. Either way: ewwww. Ewwwwwwwwww.