# American secret agent must choose between saving small US city or Chinese metropolis. What to do? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 5, 2011, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-secret-agent-must-choose-between-saving-small-us-city-or-chinese-metropolis-what-to-do/584445 "2011-06-05T22:06:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-secret-agent-must-choose-between-saving-small-us-city-or-chinese-metropolis-what-to-do/584445/101 "2011-06-08T16:15:32Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > [QUOTE=me] > What should she do about the moll? I don’t understand? What would James Bond do? Do that, only with less penis. [/quote] I asked what to do about the moll because, if Bail chooses to follow the most narrow construction of her duty and save Wheeling, she will be creating a huge international incident if her sacrifice of Beijing ever becomes known. She wouldn’t want that to happen, and now matter what magic mojo she has, the moll is not going to forgive her. Thus saving Wheeling will necessitate [del]silencing the moll[/del] breaking the moll’s neck with dispatch. > [@Wolverine](#): > > Beijing. This is easy because I live in Beijing and want to live. So if you lived in Wheeling and/or wanted to live there, your answer would be different, no? ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-secret-agent-must-choose-between-saving-small-us-city-or-chinese-metropolis-what-to-do/584445/102 "2011-06-09T18:45:18Z")
> [@Hawkeyeop](#): > > This. I don’t really see how this is even a question. Yup. Beijing in a heartbeat. ---
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2011, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-secret-agent-must-choose-between-saving-small-us-city-or-chinese-metropolis-what-to-do/584445/103 "2011-06-18T13:00:49Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > I wonder if so many people would be as willing to see London destroyed as Beijing. Yeah - the question is about a city in a country that America regards as a frenemy at best. It would be interesting to re-ask the question would be about a country that Americans have an unthinking warm fuzzy emotional reactions towards - preferably one full of white people culturally similar to Americans. (In this thread I fully expect people to pooh-pooh the idea that they, _personally_ can be swayed by mindless nationalism or ethnocentrism, but that’s why randomized controlled trials beat cheap talk every time.) ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2011, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-secret-agent-must-choose-between-saving-small-us-city-or-chinese-metropolis-what-to-do/584445/104 "2011-06-18T13:38:16Z")
Fuck Beijing. World would be better without the pollution so go for Cabbage Valley. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2011, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-secret-agent-must-choose-between-saving-small-us-city-or-chinese-metropolis-what-to-do/584445/105 "2011-06-19T15:33:51Z")
> [@athelas](#): > > Yeah - the question is about a city in a country that America regards as a frenemy at best. It would be interesting to re-ask the question would be about a country that Americans have an unthinking warm fuzzy emotional reactions towards - preferably one full of white people culturally similar to Americans. (In this thread I fully expect people to pooh-pooh the idea that they, _personally_ can be swayed by mindless nationalism or ethnocentrism, but that’s why randomized controlled trials beat cheap talk every time.) You have precisely captured the point. The question would be entirely different if we were talking about London or Ottawa. ---
**Author:** ![gladtobeblazed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@gladtobeblazed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gladtobeblazed)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2011, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-secret-agent-must-choose-between-saving-small-us-city-or-chinese-metropolis-what-to-do/584445/106 "2011-06-19T22:24:39Z")
The correct answer, of course, is to save neither city. If I save Beijing, all of America will hate me, and I might get charged with treason. I’d be a dead man to do that. If I save Wheeling, all of China will want to see me dead. Better to let them both be destroyed and simply tell everyone I didn’t have time to stop the death rays. It’s a tragic, but necessary choice to save my own ass. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2011, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-secret-agent-must-choose-between-saving-small-us-city-or-chinese-metropolis-what-to-do/584445/107 "2011-06-20T18:00:20Z")
> [@gladtobeblazed](#): > > The correct answer, of course, is to save neither city. If I save Beijing, all of America will hate me, and I might get charged with treason. I’d be a dead man to do that. If I save Wheeling, all of China will want to see me dead. Better to let them both be destroyed and simply tell everyone I didn’t have time to stop the death rays. It’s a tragic, but necessary choice to save my own ass. Um, no. If you’re being that pragmatic and selfish, you save Wheeling and kill the moll, so there’s no danger of word getting out. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-secret-agent-must-choose-between-saving-small-us-city-or-chinese-metropolis-what-to-do/584445/108 "2011-06-21T11:22:24Z")
Replace Wheeling with **Detroit** , I would say enthusiatically, Nuke Detroit from Outerspace. It could only improve matters. However, saving Beijing would mean loads of political favors for a very long time and that means…SEQUELS to SKALD’S Hyptotheticals: The Electric Bugaloo. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-secret-agent-must-choose-between-saving-small-us-city-or-chinese-metropolis-what-to-do/584445.md?page=5)