Craving Respectability – and Human Flesh

My friend, the artist Libby Hague, is an intellectual vegetarian, by which I mean she won't eat beings she regards as sentient. Chickens became safe from Libby's table the day she discovered they could play tic-tac-toe. Beings that can't pass the tic-tac-toe test are, however, fair game. Fish, for instance, are out of luck.

My friend follows a beaten path. Using intellectual accomplishment to distinguish life forms that are worthy of preservation from life forms that aren't is quite traditional. The law used to make such distinction even between human beings. For instance, the original meaning of the phrase "benefit of clergy" referred to a clergyman's exemption from being sentenced for a crime if convicted, but since the word "clergy" also meant scholarship or learning, eventually it came to mean a literacy test in criminal court.

For a convicted felon, this equivalent of Libby's tic-tac-toe test could mean the difference between life and death. Our ancestors weren't soft on crime. In most jurisdictions based on English law, the penalty for felonies — that is, for most serious offences, from larceny to homicide — was death. Luckily for felons, some first offences were "clergyable." After conviction and before sentencing a convicted man could "pray for the book," whereupon he would be given the Bible and asked to read a passage. If he could do it, he was branded on the thumb and released. Offenders who couldn't read went to the gallows.

Quote:

I expected to find a handful of cannibal forums but (perhaps as a side-effect of the popularity of the Atkins diet) found hundreds. Some sites were obviously tongue-in-cheek, some seemed a mixture of humour and fantasy, but more than one featured a user who appeared ready to put his money where his mouth was — or the other way around.

Cannibalism, an activity normally associated with mankind's primitive past, was clearly flourishing in post-industrial society's most modern medium. The interesting thing about contemporary cannibals was how much they craved respectability. The tone of their forums and chat rooms indicated a desire for being part of the mainstream almost as much as for an experience in haute cuisine.

Is long pig served with red wine or white?

At first I thought this would be a thread about Dawn of the Dead, itself a quite respectable little horror film. Gave me something new to pray for: That the apocalypse, however it may come, will not look like that.

Peter Jackson should do another zombie film.

Tic-Tac-Toe Winner Gets More Than Chicken Feed
Aug 15, 2002

A Las Vegas woman beat a chicken at a game of tic-tac-toe Tuesday night and ended up with more than a little scratch.

Barbara Howell of Las Vegas beat Ginger, a chicken specially trained to play the game, Tuesday night at the Tropicana hotel in the "$10,000 Chicken Challenge."

Howell, who lined up three Xs diagonally to walk off with $10,000, is the first person to beat a chicken at the game since it started at the Tropicana in May.

About 500 people play the game a day, said Tropicana spokeswoman Lisa Keim, and all but Howell have lost. It is possible to beat the chicken, she said. It's all in the timing.

"You have to catch the chicken on a bad day," she said.

The game began in Atlantic City in 2001 and was an instant success, Keim said.

"It was so successful we decided to move it here," she said.

The Tropicana is the only hotel on the Strip to offer such a game.

Beating the chicken is more difficult than most people realize, Keim said. There have only been a five winners in Atlantic City. Comedian Phyllis Diller was beaten by Ginger on a national television special in June.

The animal, one of 15 in the Tropicana's Las Vegas coop, was trained in Arkansas by chicken trainer Bunky Boger, who trains chickens for the Tropicana hotels in both Las Vegas and Atlantic City, Keim said.

Ginger's performances are scheduled from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily and a free Winner's Club membership is required. Play is limited to one play per day, Keim said.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.