“This does not bode well”: Netizens blast The New York Times for promoting cannibalism

Netizens took to social media on Saturday to express their disgust and confusion after The New York Times published an article on the subject of cannibalism in the publication's style section. The article titled, A taste for Cannibalism? is written by Alex Beggs and provides readers with an insight into the growing popularity of cannibalism in pop culture, especially in books, TV shows and movies. The article reads:

“Cannibalism has a time and a place. In the pages of some recent stomach-churning books, and on television and film screens, Ms. Summers and others suggest that that time is now.”

In a tweet shared by the publication to promote the article on Twitter, the headline read "Cannibalism has a time and a place." Needless to say, both the article and tweet have left a bad taste in the audience's mouth. One user said that the article "does not bode well" given the current situation of global food shortages.

The article features quotes from the creators of Yellowjackets, a showtime series containing graphic scenes of cannibalism. Series co-creator Ashley Lyle said,

“I feel like the unthinkable has become thinkable and cannibalism is very much squarely in that category of the unthinkable.”

She mentioned the pandemic, climate change, school shootings and years of political cacophony as possible factors for the growing demand for stories based on cannibalism.

Lyle went on to say:

“I think we’re often drawn to the things that repulse us the most.”

To which Bart Nickerson, co-creator of Yellowjackets, adds:

“But I keep coming back to this idea of, what portion of our revulsion to these things is a fear of the ecstasy of them?”

The article also mentions other books and movies with themes revolving around the consumption of human flesh such as Fresh, Tender is the Flesh, Lapvona, Bones and All, and Raw.

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Netizens express their shock and resentment at The New York Times' latest piece discussing cannibalism

Netizens React to The NY Times

It looks like The New York Times' effort to grab the reader's attention with an out-of-the-box topic has not paid off as expected. Netizens took to social media to slam the publication for promoting cannibalism. The post has garnered tens of thousands of comments, most of them being hate comments.

Conservative commentator Ian Miles Cheong tweeted to stop normalizing cannibalism.

One user claimed that The New York Times promotes 'aberrant causes' such as pedophilia, child abuse and now cannibalism.

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Cannibalism- old wine served in a new bottle?

The controversial article points out that fictional plots revolving around the consumption of human flesh are as old as literature itself. Bill Schutt, the author of Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History, gives the example of the man-eating Cyclops in Homer’s Odyssey. Schutt explains:

“When you take something that is so horrible and put it through this lens of fictionalization, we get charged up about it, but we know we’re safe. At least most of the time."

Other examples of cannibalism in his book include “mumia,” the practice of using ground-up mummified bones to soothe various ailments that were popular in 17th-century Western Europe and famine-induced cannibalism in China during the 1960's.