A question of scruples

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  • rbryntes
    rbryntes Posts: 710 Member
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    I hate questions like this. Nobody knows what they would actually do until faced with the choice. Not only that, this argument is often used to justify things like killing doctors who perform abortions.
  • killagb
    killagb Posts: 3,280 Member
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    follow him for the next hour... wait... if he comes encouter with a bus within the last minute, shoot him before he has a chance to step infront of it... obviously, one innocent man is worth 30 innocent children.

    You are a horrible person. .... Im kidding :)


    that may be ;-) but I just saved 30 innocent children, and obviously one mentally ill man!

    Who says the guy is mentally ill? What if it's a pure accidental thing...it does say he's innocent. Stepping out in front of a bus loaded with children on accident could definitely cause the bus to swerve and crash, so I don't think there's any clear information that he means to do it.
  • kennethmgreen
    kennethmgreen Posts: 1,759 Member
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    A man places a gun in your hand, and proceeds to conclusively prove that if you do not kill another innocent man (who he points out) in the next hour, that man will step in front of a bus which will then go over a bridge and kill 30 schoolchildren. What do you do?
    What kind of person would allow some stranger to put a gun in their hand, then stick around long enough (still holding the gun) for that man to *conclusively prove* the moral dilemma you've spelled out?

    A. a crazy person
    B. a really really bored person
    C. a bored crazed person
  • ErrataCorrige
    ErrataCorrige Posts: 649 Member
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    If I had a dollar for every time a guy has put his gun in my hand and tried to prove to me that I needed to do something with it...
  • My3Rayz
    My3Rayz Posts: 373
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    If I had a dollar for every time a guy has put his gun in my hand and tried to prove to me that I needed to do something with it...

    Amen Sister!!!
  • MassiveDelta
    MassiveDelta Posts: 3,311 Member
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    new question
  • MassiveDelta
    MassiveDelta Posts: 3,311 Member
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    You are an inmate in a concentration camp. A sadistic guard is about to hang your son who tried to escape and wants you to pull the chair from underneath him. He says that if you don't he will not only kill your son but some other innocent inmate as well. You don't have any doubt that he means what he says. What should you do?
  • _eislek_
    _eislek_ Posts: 198 Member
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    For the gun/bus/guy/kids scenario I would tell him no thank you. It's not my place to play God. Fate is fate!
  • SiltyPigeon
    SiltyPigeon Posts: 920 Member
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    I would get in a time machine, go back 500 years, find a magic fairy, rescue her brother from the evil frog king, and have him grant me 7 wishes, one of which would be that a troll eat the great-great-great-great-great Grandfather of the bus driver, so that there would be no bus with children on it for the guy to step in front of. Yep. That's what **I** would do.
  • legacysh
    legacysh Posts: 464
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    Fascinating.......I would try to confine them both until the authorities arrive. In theory.....But I would probably shoot the guy handing me the gun.

    My husband said shoot the innocent man in the knee so he can't walk then kill the first guy.

    Oooh good option!!

    We'll go one step further...shoot them both in the knee then call the authorities...
  • sdwelk11
    sdwelk11 Posts: 825
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    NOTHING... Not my decision to make.
  • CaptainGordo
    CaptainGordo Posts: 4,437 Member
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    I would get in a time machine, go back 500 years, find a magic fairy, rescue her brother from the evil frog king, and have him grant me 7 wishes, one of which would be that a troll eat the great-great-great-great-great Grandfather of the bus driver, so that there would be no bus with children on it for the guy to step in front of. Yep. That's what **I** would do.

    I LOVE that episode!

    RoadGermany2.jpg
  • bonjour24
    bonjour24 Posts: 1,119 Member
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    i love family guy!

    but i haven't seen cameron diaz's box, so don't know that scenario.

    but my answers are:

    question 1- keep the guy that walks infront of the bus occupied. if he's ill, engage him on a topic of his interest. if he is well and attractive, do unspeakable things. but what about the guy who told you in the 1st place? what's he doing about it. i don't quite get it, but then i don't have to.

    question 2- sadistic meinkampf guy. i would unleash my emaciated self as a ninja of vast talent and skill, and take my kid off the chair after having whooped sadistic meinkampf guys *kitten*. then encourage an old or nearly dead person to put themselves in the noose instead to save my kid. or i'd go in the noose myself if no nearly dead people were willing to compromise. but sadistic meinkampf guy would have to shoot me before they could hurt my baby, which if this was wartime and a possibility would likely happen. and i'd have to be in a POW camp for quite a while to become emaciated!
  • rbryntes
    rbryntes Posts: 710 Member
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    You are an inmate in a concentration camp. A sadistic guard is about to hang your son who tried to escape and wants you to pull the chair from underneath him. He says that if you don't he will not only kill your son but some other innocent inmate as well. You don't have any doubt that he means what he says. What should you do?

    Honestly and seriously. I find these questions offensive. "You are an inmate in a concentration camp." Yeah, let's all posit Hitler scenarios and see what people's morals are.
  • MassiveDelta
    MassiveDelta Posts: 3,311 Member
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    You are an inmate in a concentration camp. A sadistic guard is about to hang your son who tried to escape and wants you to pull the chair from underneath him. He says that if you don't he will not only kill your son but some other innocent inmate as well. You don't have any doubt that he means what he says. What should you do?

    Honestly and seriously. I find these questions offensive. "You are an inmate in a concentration camp." Yeah, let's all posit Hitler scenarios and see what people's morals are.

    You find factual history offensive? Lets just ignore that things happened in the past if we dont talk about them they never happened right?

    "Oh those 2 towers never existed. What Terrorism? Whats that?"

    Ya good call Buddy, ignore it and it goes away.
  • rbryntes
    rbryntes Posts: 710 Member
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    You find factual history offensive? Lets just ignore that things happened in the past if we dont talk about them they never happened right?

    "Oh those 2 towers never existed. What Terrorism? Whats that?"

    Ya good call Buddy, ignore it and it goes away.

    Really? I don't recall saying I wanted history not to exist. I majored in history in college. My father was a historian (and a college history professor).

    My earlier point stands. These kinds of questions are often used to turn people around to things happening in the world today, like the schoolbus one has been used to a) justify killing doctors who provide abortions, b) claim that women are morally inferior to men, and c) worse. The reality is that nobody knows exactly WHAT they will ACTUALLY DO until actually faced with these situations.

    Also, re: concentration camp: as someone who lost the majority of her extended family at Dachau, I believe positing cute little "what would you do?" questions involving concentration camps is offensive.
  • TheRoadDog
    TheRoadDog Posts: 11,788 Member
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    If THAT guy put a gun in my MY hand and gave me THAT ultimatum, I would shoot HIM. Problem solved.
  • MassiveDelta
    MassiveDelta Posts: 3,311 Member
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    You find factual history offensive? Lets just ignore that things happened in the past if we dont talk about them they never happened right?

    "Oh those 2 towers never existed. What Terrorism? Whats that?"

    Ya good call Buddy, ignore it and it goes away.

    Really? I don't recall saying I wanted history not to exist. I majored in history in college. My father was a historian (and a college history professor).

    My earlier point stands. These kinds of questions are often used to turn people around to things happening in the world today, like the schoolbus one has been used to a) justify killing doctors who provide abortions, b) claim that women are morally inferior to men, and c) worse. The reality is that nobody knows exactly WHAT they will ACTUALLY DO until actually faced with these situations.

    Also, re: concentration camp: as someone who lost the majority of her extended family at Dachau, I believe positing cute little "what would you do?" questions involving concentration camps is offensive.

    And my statement still stands. Im not using these questions for debate. I find it interesting to hear what people would do. Human nature and the response is an interesting topic. Not talking about it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. The mere mention of a event is not offensive. Im empathetic for your your loss but you are being a little beyond sensitive. Suggesting no one can talk about a historical event because of a connection to it, is crazy. not talking about it doesn't make it go away.
  • Elizabeth_C34
    Elizabeth_C34 Posts: 6,376 Member
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    Shoot the guy who gave me the gun and tackle the other guy.

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