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comment by fr33lunch
fr33lunch  ·  4654 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: An awful moral dilemma.
How do you respond to such an absolute paradox? For me this goes one of two ways, neither of which result in me slaying my own child:

My existence on this planet is to protect my baby. The other villagers have the right to do what is best for them, but I protect my baby. If that means that I die trying to save her/him, then I've done everything in my power. If I can sacrifice myself by luring the soldiers away from the hiding villagers and I have an able bodied wife to raise that child, then I go that route. It is an awful dilemma indeed, but I could not ever choose my neighbor over my child.





dublinben  ·  4654 days ago  ·  link  ·  
Your existence on this planet is to protect yourself. You cannot place the life of a helpless child over your own and many others' lives as well.
fr33lunch  ·  4654 days ago  ·  link  ·  
I disagree. If this were a more primative time, and the fate of humanity was at stake, then maybe. But as far as I'm concerned, the survival of my child is more important to me. Further, I'm assuming the other village members are old enough to fend for themselves. A baby cannot. I would give my life for my child. I just would. Am I condemning the other villagers to death? No. They have a better chance than the baby does to fight or flee. My guess is that if such a situation came to pass, one of the villagers would try and make that decision for me.
mk  ·  4654 days ago  ·  link  ·  
Sounds like everyone dies then, no?

Not judging it. In fact, I feel it's not completely different from my first response, but instead of me killing myself and the baby, you make the neighbors kill yourself and the baby.

Oddly, I'd almost rather my baby die by my hand than my neighbor's. I think the idea of someone else doing it is particularly terrifying. I would hate to put his/her last moment in someone else's hands. They might be brutal.

fr33lunch  ·  4652 days ago  ·  link  ·  
Not necessarily. I wasn't implying that I would let the other villagers kill my baby. I really try to look at things for the greater good of this world in my life. But when the rubber meets the road, my family comes first. If it came down to it, I slit their throats too.

On a similarly odd note, I have been fascinated by this new show "Doomsday Preppers". If you are unfamiliar with the show, there are two distinctly different subcultures among the "preppers". The first is your stereotypical gun-wielding troglodyte who is absolutely certain of the zombie apocalypse. The second are stockpiling pacifists who belief that hugs and apple cider will get them through a nuclear holocaust. I love this show!

Though I know I've grossly oversimplified these good people, which camp would you fall in? The community garden or the one man army?