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What would you kill for?

devoirdevoir Registered User regular
edited September 2007 in Debate and/or Discourse
I'm curious; in a completely serious way, what would you kill for?

For those people who's instinct is "I wouldn't kill for anything", what about your own life? The life of an innocent child? Your innocent child?

Provide some things you wouldn't kill for that you think some other people might kill for. Is it just an instinct thing, or is there a logical divide in your own mind?

devoir on
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Posts

  • HacksawHacksaw J. Duggan Esq. Wrestler at LawRegistered User regular
    edited September 2007
    A klondike bar

    Hacksaw on
  • MedopineMedopine __BANNED USERS regular
    edited September 2007
    My life

    The life of the people I love

    Not for:

    money
    fame
    power

    Medopine on
  • BistiboyBistiboy Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    What ever George Bush wants me to die for.

    Bistiboy on
  • SenjutsuSenjutsu thot enthusiast Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    an end to daft hypotheticals

    edit: Seriously, no one can honestly answer this question unless they've killed someone or are in a situation that makes them feel compelled to. Outside of that, it's just uninformed guesses.

    Senjutsu on
  • devoirdevoir Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    Wow, two derails already. =/

    Edit: I actually had a line asking for no derails if the topic didn't interest you, but I had this weird thought that maybe I wouldn't need to.

    devoir on
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  • devoirdevoir Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    A store clerk at your local convenience store.

    Please tell us where you are so we can make sure to check that you actually do kill someone.

    devoir on
  • Al_watAl_wat Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    I'll kill every motherfucker who looks at me cock eyed.

    Al_wat on
  • JacobkoshJacobkosh Gamble a stamp. I can show you how to be a real man!Moderator mod
    edited September 2007
    Realistically? I think I'd be capable of it to save lives, both my own or other people's. I mean, I don't know having never been in the situation, but sitting here cold-bloodedly thinking about it I'm not intrinsically opposed to serving as a policeman or fighting in a war I deem to be just.

    And who knows, in extreme circumstances I might be capable of it for terrible reasons - revenge or anger or god knows what, although I certainly don't want to be. With subjects like this I'm uncomfortable saying "oh I could never do ______" because that smacks of tempting fate.

    Jacobkosh on
  • FeralFeral MEMETICHARIZARD interior crocodile alligator ⇔ ǝɹʇɐǝɥʇ ǝᴉʌoɯ ʇǝloɹʌǝɥɔ ɐ ǝʌᴉɹp ᴉRegistered User regular
    edited September 2007
    I'd kill for love.
    That's because I'm a lover, not a fighter.

    Feral on
    every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.

    the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
  • devoirdevoir Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    jacobkosh wrote: »
    Realistically? I think I'd be capable of it to save lives, both my own or other people's. I mean, I don't know having never been in the situation, but sitting here cold-bloodedly thinking about it I'm not intrinsically opposed to serving as a policeman or fighting in a war I deem to be just.

    And who knows, in extreme circumstances I might be capable of it for terrible reasons - revenge or anger or god knows what, although I certainly don't want to be. With subjects like this I'm uncomfortable saying "oh I could never do ______" because that smacks of tempting fate.

    I was kind of hoping that the whole war/religion/leaders thing might pop up. Note that I don't consider them the same thing, but I meant some motivating force beyond yourself that basically 'instructs' you that someone has to die for your way of life.

    devoir on
  • PharezonPharezon Struggle is an illusion. Victory is in the Qun.Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    I'd kill everyone for world peace.

    Pharezon on
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  • Al_watAl_wat Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    Pharezon wrote: »
    I'd kill everyone for world peace.

    I think that is like, why half of all super villains exist.

    Al_wat on
  • FirstComradeStalinFirstComradeStalin Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    Mo' murdah, mo' problems

    FirstComradeStalin on
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  • JacobkoshJacobkosh Gamble a stamp. I can show you how to be a real man!Moderator mod
    edited September 2007
    Wars are mostly about going in an and saying "we're in charge now". People tend to shoot each other when that happens.

    That strikes me as overly reductive. I know it's all hip and modern to look for the profit motive behind any conflict but they really do arise over genuine differences of belief - which isn't necessarily any better than fighting for oil or territory or whatever, but still.

    Jacobkosh on
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  • ViolentChemistryViolentChemistry __BANNED USERS regular
    edited September 2007
    I would kill for great justice.

    I wouldn't kill "for" anything, that is to say I wouldn't kill in order to gain. And assuming I have the capacity to just decide to kill someone and then do it, I also have the capacity to maim them instead, and I would take that option first. Killing is against my religion, as one of our Holy texts quotes Him as saying "I will fight men like this, but I will not become an executioner". For while our compassion is a weakness our foes will not share, that is precisely what makes it so important. "It seperates us from them". But if it was the only way to prevent the death of someone who wasn't trying to kill people, I might do it, because I'm merely a man, not a terrible thought, not an idea.

    ViolentChemistry on
  • NexelauNexelau Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    Not sure what I would kill for, but I would hope to be able to kill for the safety of myself or my loved ones. I mean, its a fairly simple survival of the fittest kinda deal when you get right down to that level.

    Of course, it just depends how you define "safety of myself and my loved ones".

    Nexelau on
  • ViolentChemistryViolentChemistry __BANNED USERS regular
    edited September 2007
    Nexelau wrote: »
    Not sure what I would kill for, but I would hope to be able to kill for the safety of myself or my loved ones. I mean, its a fairly simple survival of the fittest kinda deal when you get right down to that level.

    Of course, it just depends how you define "safety of myself and my loved ones".

    What makes you "the fittest"? What makes your loved ones who apparently need you to defend them "the fittest"? Does the ability to successfully kill someone make you the fittest between the two of you? If so, in what way does that not make "survival of the fittest" a pretty way of saying "kill to prove you can"?

    ViolentChemistry on
  • ShogunShogun Hair long; money long; me and broke wizards we don't get along Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    A new president.

    Shogun on
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  • MedopineMedopine __BANNED USERS regular
    edited September 2007
    How is using lethal force against someone and acting to kill them different?

    Medopine on
  • NexelauNexelau Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    Defending the life of oneself and ones immediate family.. or pack.. is a basic biological urge.. we can clean it up as much as we like but thats a fact. If you or your pack dies, your genetic strain does not continue.

    Whatever humanity decides to put on top of this is just sugar coating. Individuals may consider their "pack" to just be themselves, or their immediate family, or their community, or their nation, or whatever.. but like you said in your own post..
    I might do it, because I'm merely a man, not a terrible thought, not an idea.

    When push comes to shove, thoughts and ideas are nothing to do with it.. in a situation where it is either kill or be killed (or watch someone important to you die) then instinct takes over.

    Nexelau on
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  • ShogunShogun Hair long; money long; me and broke wizards we don't get along Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    In the first case your responding with lethal force with the intent of suppressing an attack. In the second case the goal is to kill them.

    Put it this way - the police aren't trying to kill a guy when they shoot him, they're trying to remove the threat. That's why if he survives we rush medical attention to him.

    Most of the time.

    Shogun on
  • MedopineMedopine __BANNED USERS regular
    edited September 2007
    Remove the threat...by killing him.

    I guess I don't really see the difference. If you use lethal force, you intend to kill.

    Medopine on
  • ViolentChemistryViolentChemistry __BANNED USERS regular
    edited September 2007
    Medopine wrote: »
    How is using lethal force against someone and acting to kill them different?

    Well, if lethal force stops them but doesn't kill them, you don't generally go ahead and put two in the brainpan anyway. If you're acting to kill them, you don't stop until they're dead (as opposed to stopping when they're no longer a threat). The phrase "lethal force" carries a silent "potentially" at the front of it. Seriously, that's the usage. Shooting someone is application of deadly force, even if they don't die of the gunshot wound you inflicted (or even if you miss, for that matter).

    ViolentChemistry on
  • ShogunShogun Hair long; money long; me and broke wizards we don't get along Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    Medopine wrote: »
    Remove the threat...by killing him.

    I guess I don't really see the difference. If you use lethal force, you intend to kill.

    As well as hollowpoints.

    Shogun on
  • MedopineMedopine __BANNED USERS regular
    edited September 2007
    Medopine wrote: »
    How is using lethal force against someone and acting to kill them different?

    Well, if lethal force stops them but doesn't kill them, you don't generally go ahead and put two in the brainpan anyway. If you're acting to kill them, you don't stop until they're dead (as opposed to stopping when they're no longer a threat). The phrase "lethal force" carries a silent "potentially" at the front of it. Seriously, that's the usage. Shooting someone is application of deadly force, even if they don't die of the gunshot wound you inflicted (or even if you miss, for that matter).

    Well. Stupid silent words.

    Medopine on
  • ViolentChemistryViolentChemistry __BANNED USERS regular
    edited September 2007
    Medopine wrote: »
    Remove the threat...by killing him.

    I guess I don't really see the difference. If you use lethal force, you intend to kill.

    Also false, see above. Deadly force/lethal force is just a notation of the destructive potential of the means you employ, it does not reference a requisite or intended result. Applying deadly force to stop someone is not synonymous with just outright trying to kill someone.

    ViolentChemistry on
  • IncenjucarIncenjucar VChatter Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    edited September 2007
    I'd kill if absolutely necessary, and my background prepares me more than the average for actually ending life (fresh-murdered wild bunnies are DELICIOUS), but I frankly don't relish the idea.

    My core values really come down to being allowed to live a relatively free life (obviously requiring me to LIVE)

    No being forced to work where some jerk with a gun tells me to work, no being someone's sex toy unless I opted in, no living in a cage, no forced ceremonial garbage, no being forced to give up my possessions or land unfairly, no removing body parts of mine I didn't sign a release for...

    If someone threatens those for myself or for others...

    World War IIIncenjucar.

    But generally speaking, while I'm very comfortable with using force, I have no interest in unnecessary force, and I'd tend to meet a threat with adequate, rather than maximum response.

    Incenjucar on
  • MrBallbagginsMrBallbaggins Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    I would be willing to kill in any situation where I could truly justify it at least to myself, if not everyone else.

    I would like to believe that I wouldn't kill for for revenge. Unless it was in a Bruce Willis movie sort of way, when those fuckers just have it coming.

    MrBallbaggins on
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  • ViolentChemistryViolentChemistry __BANNED USERS regular
    edited September 2007
    Nexelau wrote: »
    Defending the life of oneself and ones immediate family.. or pack.. is a basic biological urge.. we can clean it up as much as we like but thats a fact. If you or your pack dies, your genetic strain does not continue.

    This is of no concern to me, there are plenty of half-pollocks in the world making my particular genes irrelevant to the future of human civilization. Unless I'm somehow miraculously genetically immune to cancer or AIDS or something in an identifiable and replicable way. I don't live in a pack, I don't kill my dinner with my teeth, I live in civilization. "Biological urge + spread your seed lol" isn't a valid argument against gay marriage nor in favor of running around the alleys uptown with a wooden club to spawn successors, I don't see how it's a valid argument to kill people (which I think is fair to say is at least worse than two gay people tying the knot if not the other thing).
    Nexelau wrote: »
    Whatever humanity decides to put on top of this is just sugar coating. Individuals may consider their "pack" to just be themselves, or their immediate family, or their community, or their nation, or whatever.. but like you said in your own post..
    I might do it, because I'm merely a man, not a terrible thought, not an idea.

    When push comes to shove, thoughts and ideas are nothing to do with it.. in a situation where it is either kill or be killed (or watch someone important to you die) then instinct takes over.

    WWBD? I'm not talking about snapping and returning to my predator-roots (which I don't have, being a human), I'm talking about failing to find a better way before I run out of time.

    Edit: I'm saying I don't have plot-armor.

    ViolentChemistry on
  • darthmixdarthmix Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    Well, in addition to the obvious stuff, like defending myself and my family, I'd be willing to use lethal force as part of a coordinated effort to stop genocide, and even to depose a government prone to genocide. In principle I really don't have many objections to deadly force in service of a greater good. The catch is that I'd have to not only believe that there are good reasons for using it - stopping genocide, and fighting human suffering - but also that the people behind the effort are doing it purely for those good reasons. And never, in my life, has there been a government or fighting force on the planet that I thought I could trust in that way.

    So I end up being a kind of de facto pacifist.

    darthmix on
  • ege02ege02 __BANNED USERS regular
    edited September 2007
    I'd kill for some dirty, dirty sex right this moment.

    ege02 on
  • DalbozDalboz Resident Puppy Eater Right behind you...Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    For fun.

    I'd kill a man in Reno just to watch him die...

    Dalboz on
  • devoirdevoir Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    So, a lot of people have mentioned being willing to use (potentially) lethal force against someone to protect their own lives and that of close family.

    But what about a baby that's not yours? If you are willing to do that, then what about a child that's not yours? A teenager?

    Is there a point where someone else's child becomes theoretically capable of protecting themselves and you no longer feel a moral responsibility?

    Take a race riot, would you kill to protect an innocent toddler/child/teenager/man from being hammered by a crowd for no reason other than his skin?

    devoir on
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