Quote:

You join the army... knowing that your life is on the line for your country so our children can grow.

I don't think that this is correct. Ask people who have joined the army. did they do it to save some hypothetical family? No - they did it to earn money, to have a laugh, to be one of the lads - a bit like any other job. Soldiers are not the only people who die; all sorts of people die on the course of their work.

Do you believe in moral absolutes? (eg - to kill someone is wrong. full feckin stop) if you beleive this then you wouldn't kill to prevent the death of many more people. if you don't believe in moral absolutes then you're in the world of making very difficult judgements, and that is the world that most of us live in.

jesus [rant over]

 

In answer to the original question "let 'em swing" Why would I be prepared to die to save anyone else? Survival of the fittest or in my case survival of the one who the good Lord forgot to give a conscience.

 

I did not join the forces to die defending Life, Liberty and Fruit of the Loom.
As the man said above, I joined the forces to fly 'planes, have a generally great time and get paid well for doing it. Downside of it is every now and then we go somewhere crap and get shot at.

The 5 families? Byeee.

 

 

Ima,don't understand you! Are you saying that in a situation as you describe you would sacrifice yourself to save others which are presumably not close family? WHY?????????

 

Die

Self-preservation

PP

 

Oh, alright Ima, there’s slightly more too it than that. I’m quite patriotic and would defend our way of life so don’t worry the military won’t let you down
That said, I still didn’t join up to get killed
The military exists to project Government Foreign Policy when required and defend UK assets and allies where necessary. The concept of charging gloriously to our deaths in some foreign khazi to defend the green, green grass of home is, I’m afraid, terribly American and not something you’d find that much of in the UK armed forces. We do our job professionally and well. The doing it well bit includes not getting your head blown off.
Obviously, if the filthy Boche were charging up the beaches at Dover then it would be a different story as one would be defending one’s homeland. Which is why a war with Iraq won’t be quite as “clean” as Gulf War I.....but that’s another topic.

In answer to your original, deeply bizarre, question I think enough people have stated why it cannot be answered in a context like this. So many other factors would come into play including spilt second decision making. The concept of someone coming in 1/2 an hour to kill you or 5 families is such that one’s survival instincts would probably take over and, as I said in my previous post, byeee.

Given today’s date, I’m sure there were hundreds of incidents where people in the Twin Towers made decisions that cost them their lives in an attempt to save people who they most likely didn’t know.
I’ve never been put in that situation personally and although I’ve been shot at once or twice (usually in Liverpool or Manchester ) I’ve not had people relying on me to save them (apart from the passengers and crew on the aircraft at the time but that’s not really the same and frankly they're at more risk from my landings anyway....), so I don’t really know how I’d react. Correctly, I hope.

Don’t give up on humanity and human nature but also don’t try and draw conclusions on the nature of people from random and unlikely scenarios such as the one postulated in your opening post.

 

Very tough question Ima.......and in all honestly i dont now what i'd do until i was confronted by the situation for real,something i hope will never happen.

 

Yep a very difficult question to answer..i aint saying i would die to save others...as said nature is survival...but..its the guilt of KNOWING i could have saved them....thats all.

Bizarre i know..but hey it is me..LOL.

Great input SimonH..

 

Where's the guilt? As has been said before, there would only be guilt if it was your fault they were dying. Assuming it was somebody else issuing the ultimatum, there would be no guilt.

Also, what about the fact that you'd be subjecting the 5 people to a lifetime of guilt, knowing you'd died to save 'em? That's hardly fair, now is it?

 

MarkO...point taken.....like i said just a bizarre question.

 

With all this war talk going on in the world..i want to ask you a very serious question that you may not be able to answer.

Say you could save 5 families lives by having your own life taken...What would you do??????

Same principle to people who dont beleive in war....many innocent people will be killed,but you could save many more lives be doing it.

BTW THE FAMILIES HAVE YOUNG KIDS

What would you honestly do??????If asked in half an hour?

[Edited by imatrukahs - 9/10/2002 2:24:10 PM]

 

Missy,yes the families would be saved...and you also dont know them

No background just simple choice....

[Edited by imatrukahs - 9/10/2002 1:36:50 PM]

 

Interesting question Maybe, maybe not. It's difficult to say until you're in the heat of things, isn't it?. Although there is a chance i would sacrafice meself

Edited to say, i was answering Ima's question about the 8 year old.

[Edited by The Crushinator - 9/10/2002 2:25:50 PM]

 

Jesus man....thats deep..LOL.

I am just a nice person.....but dont get me wrong...i would still kick serious butt if it needed...LOL.Plus i would kill if put in that position.

(I mean in any other situation other than sacrificing...)

[Edited by imatrukahs - 9/10/2002 2:57:27 PM]

 

LOL

Sounds like you are just acting like a big poof

(oops - is that PC these days?)



D

[Edited by diablo - 9/10/2002 3:05:16 PM]