sacrifice

quotation from frank dikotter - mao's great famine: the history of china's most devastating catastrophe, 1958-1962

mao believed that during a famine "it is better to let half of the people die so that the other half can eat their fill." i know that a lot of people who disagree with this statement, but really, isn't this the best way? why share meager and much needed resources just so everyone will suffer? isn't it, in some ways, more humane to kill the weakest so that the strongest can live longer? i guess that a big problem with this type of thinking is that it eliminates the possibility of unexpected change in the situation: donated food, reversal of bad weather, whatever... you can't unkill someone now that an hour after their murder, help arrives.

there's also the huge problem of who to kill first. the sick and feeble (of body) would probably be the first since their bodies are already compromised. the really old (especially women who are post-menopausal) would probably go next since they are of less "physical value" to society (they may be the keepers of our history but they sure can't do heavy lifting). next should probably be the mentally challenged who aren't good with physical labor. and of course, you should at some point start eliminating children. as long as the adults aren't permanently sterile, they can also produce more kids. men should probably also be eliminated more than women since most women can only have one kid a year while men have no such limitations. in the very end you should be left with a handful of youngish men and a larger group of women.

it's easy for mao, in his nice house with plenty of food and blankets and family secure, to say that to sacrifice half a nation so the other half can prosper is the right thing to do. but who could ever be so cold? the "best" solution would be for volunteers. and before you scoff at that, remember that seniors in japan did it as did the inuits (maybe). of course, no infant or mentally infirm would volunteer themselves so we really are left to murder, not suicide.

and on another topic, tho certainly related, if you're interested in learning a bit about cannibalism, this was a pretty good read.