Fri, August 1, 2003

Am I the only one who was completely caught off guard by this German cannibal story? Apparently the guy (Armin Miewes) was arrested recently after a tip from a potential victim. I hadn't heard anything about it until a quote from Miewes showed up in the "Overheard" section of "Newsweek" magazine, a spot most often reserved for compelling or ironic quotes from current top stories which need no explanation. (For example, this issue included quotes related to Schwarzenegger's possible gubernatorial run and the Uday and Qusay Hussein story.)

I did a little digging (regrettably) and uncovered the Miewes story. He is a 41-year-old computer programmer in Germany who says he's had a lifelong fantasy of killing and eating another human. But, surprisingly, he doesn't kidnap or attack his victims – he meets them online and asks if they want to participate. So far, according to the stories I've read, he's had at least three takers. Two of which got cold feet at the last minute and were released by Miewes. Apparently, they liked the idea of being wrapped in cellophane, marked up like a butcher's pig, and placed in a wooden cage; they just didn't actually want to die. One, however, did go through with the entire fantasy, which included having his penis cut off and cooked, eating that with Miewes, and then being stabbed in the heart and cut up into meat for the fridge. He calmly wrote out a will and took the day off work to do so.

What??

I'm not that easily disturbed. (I won't say it's impossible to gross me out; I still refuse to watch Pink Flamingos) But I have to admit I was thoroughly freaked and even a little nauseated by the articles I read about this. Maybe the casual tone of the stories contributed a little, but mostly I'm shocked that anyone would be willing to go through with it. (Not to mention stunned that Miewes would ask.) I remember an article a few years ago that mentioned people who were sexually aroused by having a limb unnecessarily amputated, but somehow I assumed there was a line (however fine) between that and dying. I can even kind of see the people who signed up for it thinking it was a role-playing thing and changed their minds when they realized he was serious. But once you're sitting at the table, sharing bites of your fried penis with the guy, how can you not want to back out?

Adding to the craziness is the fact that Miewes will be tried for murder, since cannibalism is legal in Germany. Wow. Is anything illegal in Germany? Wouldn't you think they'd want to clean up their image on the subject of icky, grisly crimes against nature? Would Miewes have been within the law if he'd just scooped up victims from a car crash, or exhumed strangers from a graveyard to snack on?

Apparently, he takes as casual a view of the whole situation as the journalists I read. His quote in "Newsweek": "It isn't as if I killed anyone against their will."

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