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Strongly Agree

1 (2.9%)

Agree

0 (0%)

Neutral/Tossup

12 (35.3%)

Disagree

13 (38.2%)

Strongly Disagree

8 (23.5%)

Total Members Voted: 34

[Earthquake Damage]

It is the patriotic duty of that innocent man to sacrifice his own life to protect the lives and freedom of other innocents.

It is not your patriotic duty to make that decision for him.

[Sowelu]

It is the patriotic duty of that innocent man to sacrifice his own life to protect the lives and freedom of other innocents.

It is not your patriotic duty to make that decision for him.

Tell that to the guys who instituted the draft for World War II.  What is and what isn't a patriotic duty has always been decided by society.  Sometimes it's a choice to hold up your end of it, sometimes it's not.

[SalmonGod]

Yeah.  It's a case of the purpose defeating itself.  The rapists, murderers, thieves, etc that you're after are punishable because they have taken something from someone else against their will.

Now it's one thing to sacrifice yourself for the greater good.  It's completely different to assume that another person would make exactly that same choice, and I would even say it makes you no better than the guilty people you so desperately wish to punish.  If you do wrong in the process of righting or preventing wrong, you essentially accomplish nothing.

As a pacifist, I've put tons and tons of thought into this over the years.  I'm a very technical pacifist.  I actually don't even believe in defending myself if it means harming another.  However, I will use violence to defend another person, unless I know that they share my beliefs.  Otherwise, I'm basically enforcing my beliefs on the victim, and acting complicit in the harm they recieve through my own self-righteousness.  So in this situation, it is impossible not to contradict my beliefs, and the only thing left is to decide who is more worth contradicting them for.

On that same note, as a parent, I am now obligated to act in self-defense at all times.  My children are completely dependent on me as their provider, so a danger to me is a danger to them.  I would be a lot more reckless with my life otherwise.

[Earthquake Damage]

Tell that to the guys who instituted the draft for World War II.  What is and what isn't a patriotic duty has always been decided by society.  Sometimes it's a choice to hold up your end of it, sometimes it's not.

You sound like you're advocating mob rule.

"They think it should be so, and they outnumber you, so bend over..."

[Shambling Zombie]

I strongly agree that protecting the innocent is more important than punishing the guilty.

Sacrificing yourself for others is a noble deed, sacrificing others is not.

[Tarran]

I vote for a new topic.

[CoughDrop]

I vote for a new topic.

Make a new one. OP said he's out of ideas.

[Tarran]

Make a new one. OP said he's out of ideas.

Problem; I cannot think of any that won't be overly silly, utterly uninteresting, or will instantly result in 90% of the voters going yes or no. Someone else is going to have to think of something.

[SalmonGod]

One of the most viciously polarizing questions I've ever come across was: Given the choice between saving your own pet or a (human) stranger, which would you choose?

[CoughDrop]

Depends on which pet and if I can define who the person is. If you mean my favorite pet and I cannot tell what the person may seem like, I'd go for the person. If for instance it was some stereotypical gangster looking person, I would honestly go with the cat.

[Tarran]

One of the most viciously polarizing questions I've ever come across was: Given the choice between saving your own pet or a (human) stranger, which would you choose?

If the person is a good person; I'd go with the person.
If the person is an okay person; I'd likely go with the person.
If the person is an asshole; I'd go with my pet.

[SalmonGod]

The original phrasing of the question was something like "You're in a burning building.  You don't have much time to get out.  You hear someone screaming for help down the hall, but if you go to help them, you won't have time to save your pet."

But this level of detail caused lots of people to abuse and circumvent the nature of the question.  Let's just assume there is a person who is in just as much trouble as your pet, but you have no way of making any assessment of this person.

Just throwing this out here, btw.  It's not one I'm especially interested in discussing, but people seemed to be asking for a really difficult question.  This one caused a massive flame war when I was introduced to it.

[Sowelu]

My answer to the original phrasing is "The person", unqualified.  I've never been that close to a pet but I think that would be my answer even if I was.  Even if the person was an asshole.  I think some people's responses would change if you added the words "And nobody would ever know", though.

[Shambling Zombie]

Yeah, saving the person would be the way I'd probably go. I'd try to save the pet too, but I guess that's not allowed due to the nature of the question. 

Poor dog/cat/fish/mountain lion.

[SalmonGod]

I would also go for human nearly unconditionally, unless maybe I had an ape, dolphin, elephant, or something approaching sentience.

On the forum where I learned this question, most people responded that they would save their pet.