Is It Right to Take a 'Bullet' for Someone?

[FunKay the Inevitable]

Last night in the Uruguay vs. Ghana quarter final of the World Cup, Luis Suarez cost Ghana a clear goal when he saved the ball on the line. Suarez is a striker of excellent quality but he is most certainly not a goalkeeper. Ghana received a penalty (and Suarez was sent off) which they failed to convert and ended up losing on penalties to Uruguay. Suarez cost Ghana (and Africa) a spot in the final four. Whatever way you try to spin it Suarez saved Uruguay or took a bullet for the team if you will.

Many people in history have taken the blame or shouldered responsibility for incidents in history. My question is simple, Is It Right to Take a 'Bullet' for Someone? Should you take the responsibility for something someone else has done or in the example above, should you risk your own chance at glory for the benefit of someone else? I believe that the situation plays a key role in this question. What Suarez did last night was cruel but necessary for Uruguay to progress. He did something that anyone would do, he secured his country a spot in the semi-finals of a World Cup and in exchange, he gave up his chance to play in that game.

But what do you think? Is It Right to Take a 'Bullet' for Someone?

 

[Ferbian]

I don't see why it shouldn't be considered the right thing to do to take a bullet for someone, of course that all depends on the consequences and the person that you have to deal with in that term.

I think if someone close to you, a great friend, a girlfriend, a family member, any kind of bullet, be it an actual bullet, or some other way of objectively describing a bullet (something thrown at you nonetheless) or be it taking the blame, I say it's worth it.

with the exception depending on the blame you get for it, if you go to jail, because you take the blame for a robbery, that's probably something I would draw a line at.

But on the other hand, if it was something like my friend touching some hot chicks ass, and I know he was incredibly shy about it, not wanting to get slapped etc. then I would take the blame for something like that, because in the end, it's just a slap.

So I think it all depends on the person, as well as the consequences presented by taking the "bullet" that will leave me to determine whether it's the right thing to do, or just something the other person should deal with, and not me.

 

[LaceKitten]

I don't think it's a right or wrong scenario.

There are certain people on this Earth that I would take a bullet for. Two to be exact and one of them is Evil Fairy Witch.

 

[Razor]

It's an interesting question. I mean, I always assumed it'd be right to do so.

But really, is it?

As in the OP, this Suarez dude completely jumbled the rules to get Uruguay to progress. He worked the rules to get them a win, if I understand the post correctly.

In the US, don't let there be a football player that gets caught doing that. Drawing people into an offsides penalty is one thing, but outright working the rules? I can't think of any ways one could do that beyond a quarterback blatantly exploiting the "no hitting below the knees" rule or someone trying to over-act and get a "using any part of a players helmet (including the top/crown and forehead/hairline parts) or facemask to butt, spear, or ram an opponent violently or unnecessarily" call , but the outrage would be incredible if he was found out. People would want his home burned, I'm sure. We Americans don't mince words 'bout Football.

In that case, working the rules would seem unfair and completely wrong. The fact that he got kicked off the field doesn't even matter.

But then, how about other cases? Like actually, legitimately taking the bullet for someone? Some could say that taking the bullet for someone would (hopefully, if you do it right) keep that person from dying and somehow fuck the cosmic plane of consistency (totally came up with that on my own) up. You could be messing with the world's future in not allowing your Uncle to be killed by that gangsta's bullet.

What if your uncle goes on to kill his girlfriend and daughter in a drunken rage? You've just sacrificed your life for the murder of two others, and the eventual waste of the Uncle's life when he's put in jail for the rest of his life.

Sure, people assume that putting your life on the line for someone else will only end in great happenings and that sacrifice will be honored by some kind of grand Karmic payback the likes of which we've never seen in the world short that guy who made the wheat that was directly responsible for saving billions of lives from hunger.

When you really get down to it, "taking the bullet for someone" just doesn't really work out all that well. Either you've acted unfairly and worked rules or some situation to your advantage, or you might have actually screwed the world up more through the sacrifice of your life.

It's interesting. I'll go ahead and say that I don't mind at all when a player in a game twists rules to their favor. It's a loophole in the rules. If people freely and openly brag about finding loopholes in the tax code, then football players can get a free call here or there with a loophole they find. Unless it happens to the Arkansas Razorbacks. Then I'm calling for blood. As far as sacrificing one's life for another? It's a grand sacrifice. All I'll say is that you better be damned sure that whoever you give your own life up for isn't a murder underneath it all.

 

[Cena's Little Helper]

You should only take a bullet for someone if YOU really want to. American movies and television try to tell us all the time that good things come to those who "take bullets" for others, but this is bullshit. There's about a one in a million chance that you'll actually get rewarded in a way that you see fit should you sacrifice something for someone else just for the sake of compensation, so you should just save yourself the disappointment in these instances. However, this doesn't rule out the possibility that you'd "take a bullet" for someone because you genuinely cared for them and their life meant just as much to you as your own life did. In these instances, taking a bullet is justified, but only if it's for your sake and not theirs.

 

[Барбоса]

I am interested in the moral, specifically the religious, implications of taking a bullet for someone. While it might seem like the ultimate sacrifice, technically should you jump in front of a bullet, you are putting yourself in harms way and that could be interpreted as being tantamount to suicide, which is of course a massive no no in religion

 

[m6usin786]

Religious wise it is known as suicide so no i wouldnt. if it was soemone i cared for and i wouldnt die but would harm myself then i probably would.. *cough*maybe*cough*

 

[Decarow]

I would only do it if I know they'd do it for me as well.

 

[Born To Fly]

Suarez didn't "take a bullet" for someone in that game. He simply did what he needed to do to keep his team from losing. If the guy from Ghana made the ensuing penalty kick, we wouldn't be talking about this right now.

To answer the question, it would depend on who I'd be saving.

If it is someone to whom I am really close (like family) then I would. Otherwise, I'm not too sure.

And this is when we're talking about an ACTUAL bullet.