One Life For Another

[Y 2 Jake]

Hypothetically if you were given the option of killing somebody else so that another person could live, would you take it? Or if somebody said ''Kill this child and you'll save 100 lives'' would you do it?

The basis of the thread is taken from that thought-provoking movie, Swordfish. In that Film Wolverine is asked a similar question only to give the lame answer of ''No, nobody has the right to make that decision''. I beg to differ. If somebody had my daughter and said if you kill person number one we'll let your child live, I'd take it. If I hopped in a time machine and went to a nasty noliday camp from the 40's and I was given the option of killing one Jew to save 100 more I'd do it. It's not right, but I'd do it all the same.

 

[Sparky]

Yeah i would. If i had to choose one or even three strangers to save one person i love i would do it in a heart beat. I know that sounds unfair and such but yeah I love the person i want to save. Would i kill one stranger to save another stranger?..... Yes i would. what if one of the 100 grew up to cure cancer or something? I know that the one person could of been the person to do it but yeah more chance out of the hundreed. but i dont think i could ever bring myself to kill a child.


Closing statement.
But cant i choose to kill my self instead? would be alot easier i would kill myself to save a life. I wouldnt take a bullet for my prime minister but i would for one of my siblings, or close friends. And if i had a choice my own life or 100 others it would be mine.

 

[The Snake]

I see this in a similar way to Jake, but something he said is something I spent hours debating with a few people, all of which disagreed with me.

The point I am referring to is that killing 1 person to save many does not make the act of killing right.

From where I stand, actions aren't just actions on their own, we must consider motive, intention and consequences, as part of the Act, not as biproducts, this therefore in my opinion makes killing completely fine if you are saving more lives in sacrifice for one (or more). I realise that it would not be easy and something that I could do without hesitance, but I would hope that I would be able to carry something through like this, instead of trying to cover my own a*** and shirk the responsibility by saying "I didn't do anything", people who do this are doing something by not acting and they are in part responsible for the deaths of said people.

How I rank who I would kill for who is something very difficult to do - In an ideal world, human's would be objective and do what is best for the majority - But humans are no longer perfect (or they never were) and we have to take our emotions into account (even if we probably shouldnt).

I have no children, but if I did they would come first.
I have 2 sisters, they would be next.
I have 2 parents, they would be next.
I have a lot of family members, they rank next for me.
I have a lot of friends, how I rank them determines who I would kill to save who (interchanging with family members - My best friend vs. a 4th cousin twice removed who I have never met would be an easy choice).

I have a lot of teachers and peers, these would come next
Right - Now lets assume that is everyone I know, how would I rate the rest of society? First we look at the skills these people possess - Soldiers, Nurses, Teachers are all imperative to our society, I think we would be inclined to save these people over people who are let's say a shop clerk or something which is easily replaceable.

Then I think we look at how many people they make happy - So sports people, business owners, celebrities would probably rank above the common man for me, I would save David Beckham over a person that noone really knows, as he brings happiness to many.

After this it would be difficult as i'm not sure where I would go. Of course, we all hope nothing like this would ever happen, and it is largely hypothetical, but I think a lot of people would do the right thing and take a life to save one as opposed to backing off and living a Que Sera Sera life and just conceding that if they don't do anything, they can't take responsibility.

 

[Spunky]

Well it would all depend on circumtance's wouldn't it? If it was kill X number of people to save a loved one, then I'd kill the X, Hell i'd wipe out a continent for my family, You can't put a price on your loved one's.

If it was Kill 100 people to save the most important person to civilisation then you would have to kill them, But if it was just kill X person to save Y person then it would be a no-brainer, I wouldn't do it.

 

[HBK-aholic]

If I had the option of saving the most important person in my life by killing someone else, I can't say I wouldn't take it. And I hate thinking that way, because I'm sure the person I'd be killing was just as important to someone else.

But if it was to kill one stranger for another, no way. Because I know none of these people. And which life is more important? Neither. That being said, if it was to kill a murderer or someone else in jail for an awful crime, and I had to kill them to save some other people, I'd do it. Probably take pleasure in doing it as well.

 

[Tim]

If it was a random person, even if it was to save 100 other lives, I don't think I could do it. I could never kill someone, unless I really hated them. If I had the chance to kill myself to save another person's life, I don't think I could make myself do that either.

I'd like to think that I would do these things, but realistically, if I did it it would haunt me for the rest of my life, even if it was for a good cause, It doesn't matter who it was, I would not be able to do it.

 

[The Snake]

If it was a random person, even if it was to save 100 other lives, I don't think I could do it. I could never kill someone, unless I really hated them. If I had the chance to kill myself to save another person's life, I don't think I could make myself do that either.

I'd like to think that I would do these things, but realistically, if I did it it would haunt me for the rest of my life, even if it was for a good cause, It doesn't matter who it was, I would not be able to do it.

I'm not going to criticize you for not being able to carry it through, as long as you have the will to do it, I realise that it can be difficult to do such acts.

However, what if a situation arose where it was not a physical killing. There was an experiment conducted where students were asked to push a button and would hear that they were shocking a person who they did not know and could not see, they could only hear their screams, they were being "egged on" to do it by the scientist. Basically, almost all of the people were punishing the people until they stopped screaming (suggesting death or unconciousness) of course it was not really causing pain to anyone, but it does raise the question, if you take away the feeling of guilt, would people be more inclined to do it?

If you were never introduced to the people and you knew it was the right thing and it was a simple case of push this button and it'll be done - Would that make it any more/less right to do it, because it also deprives you of guilty feelings.

 

[Tim]

I'm not going to criticize you for not being able to carry it through, as long as you have the will to do it, I realise that it can be difficult to do such acts.

However, what if a situation arose where it was not a physical killing. There was an experiment conducted where students were asked to push a button and would hear that they were shocking a person who they did not know and could not see, they could only hear their screams, they were being "egged on" to do it by the scientist. Basically, almost all of the people were punishing the people until they stopped screaming (suggesting death or unconciousness) of course it was not really causing pain to anyone, but it does raise the question, if you take away the feeling of guilt, would people be more inclined to do it?

If you were never introduced to the people and you knew it was the right thing and it was a simple case of push this button and it'll be done - Would that make it any more/less right to do it, because it also deprives you of guilty feelings.

If this ever happened, I would definately do it. I can't actually see me injuring or killing someone, and I would not feel any guilt. The only reason I wouldn't do it is because of the guilt, and this wouldn't make me feel any guilt, so there would be no reasonto stop me doing it. It is for a good cause as well, so there is no reason not to do it. If it was someone I knew though, there is no way I would do it. If it was a person you know that you were killing, even if it was for a good cause, would you do it?

 

[The Snake]

If this ever happened, I would definately do it. I can't actually see me injuring or killing someone, and I would not feel any guilt. The only reason I wouldn't do it is because of the guilt, and this wouldn't make me feel any guilt, so there would be no reasonto stop me doing it. It is for a good cause as well, so there is no reason not to do it. If it was someone I knew though, there is no way I would do it. If it was a person you know that you were killing, even if it was for a good cause, would you do it?

I'm not going to say Yes or No because I realise that the situation would be intense. I would like to think that in any given situation I would do the right thing, so I would hope I could do it. I would take full responsibility whether or not I could drive myself to do it, because I realise that it is by my course of action I have decided the fate of certain people. I have never inflicted pain on someone out of anger in my life, and that's because I am basically a pacifist (ironically I love wrestling, but that's just playfighting - Which I have done a few times ) but I have been lucky not to have been in a situation where this has arisen. I think these things are hard to decide without personal experience, so I think without my human rational qualities I would do it, but being human, Im not at all sure what would happen.