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LoneWanzerPilot t1_iy6bfrz wrote

Reply to comment by Emergency_Document_8 in TIL the plant Oenanthe crocata was purportedly used in the ritual killing of criminals and the elderly in ancient Sardinia. Subjects were intoxicated with the herb and then dropped from a height or beaten to death. by saulbloodyenderby

Yeah the brutal practicality of people back then.

Here in the east, we once left grandparents on mountains or jungles to die, when there's hard times and the grandparent can't provide any more meaningful labour.

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the--larch t1_iy74wu5 wrote

Now we leave them in “care” facilities.

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BrotherGreed t1_iy76puu wrote

I think that it's interesting that the wiki article refers to it as ritual killing of the elderly. While it probably is part of it, the wording doesn't necessarily strike me as something done purely out of necessity.

Maybe in some areas hard times came and the elderly volunteered to die for the good of their village or whatever, recognizing that they would be a burden and never contribute meaningful labor again, and then it became a sort of expectation/ritual? I'm going to try to dig a little more into it. It's certainly piqued my morbid curiosity.

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