# An ammoral question: **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 6, 2003, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ammoral-question/199863 "2003-09-06T01:58:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ammoral-question/199863/1 "2003-09-06T01:58:05Z")
If you could go back in time and kill Mother Teresa’s mother before she was born, would you? ---
**Author:** ![Not\_In\_Anger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ab097/32.png) [@Not\_In\_Anger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_In_Anger)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ammoral-question/199863/2 "2003-09-06T02:01:47Z")
Nah, that would be bad kharma. ---
**Author:** ![Vlad\_Dracul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/50afbb/32.png) [@Vlad\_Dracul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vlad_Dracul)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ammoral-question/199863/3 "2003-09-06T02:35:29Z")
Sounds like a lot of work… what’s in it for me? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ammoral-question/199863/4 "2003-09-06T02:50:53Z")
What the hell? Why would you even want to? I mean, if it were Hitler’s mother, you’d have the moral dilemma of killing an innocent person to prevent a terrible one from being born. But mother Teresa? What the hell? ---
**Author:** ![green\_bladder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@green\_bladder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_bladder)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ammoral-question/199863/5 "2003-09-06T03:04:33Z")
What did she ever do to you? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ammoral-question/199863/6 "2003-09-06T03:06:13Z")
> [@](#): > > What the hell? > > Why would you even want to? I mean, if it were Hitler’s mother, you’d have the moral dilemma of killing an innocent person to prevent a terrible one from being born. > > But mother Teresa? What the hell? Fun? Profit? Both? Perhaps **MC Master of Ceremonies** is really Christopher Hitchens, who’s written a bit about the, err, less happy and publicized bits of Mother Theresa’s career. ---
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ammoral-question/199863/7 "2003-09-06T03:19:06Z")
What’s my motivation? ---
**Author:** ![Nvme77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Nvme77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nvme77)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ammoral-question/199863/8 "2003-09-06T05:16:01Z")
Wow-travel in time. And this is all I would do, expend my energy and science to go hunt someone down and end their life? Is what Marley intimated your motivation? Did you read the book or see the tv show about Mother Teresa? There are so many questions, MC, so how about expanding on your OP? ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ammoral-question/199863/9 "2003-09-06T11:47:01Z")
I guess it would depend on what was on TV that night. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ammoral-question/199863/10 "2003-09-06T11:53:34Z")
How could you not? ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ammoral-question/199863/11 "2003-09-06T13:09:44Z")
If I got really bored I might, just for something to do. ---
**Author:** ![Anonymous\_Coward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/94ad74/32.png) [@Anonymous\_Coward](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anonymous_Coward)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ammoral-question/199863/12 "2003-09-06T14:44:46Z")
OK, but I want a bronto-burger first, with an extra heaping of Dodo pate. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ammoral-question/199863/13 "2003-09-06T14:48:25Z")
What??? Why? If I could do time travel, I’d go back to November 28, 1981 and rescue [Natalie Wood](http://strelnfan1.tripod.com/nataliewood/) from her unfortunate drowning. Hopefully, the lady would prove to be _very_ grateful. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ammoral-question/199863/14 "2003-09-06T15:00:01Z")
All this would do is send me to an alternate universe in which Mother Theresa was never born, and she would be born as normal in this one. You’d never know the difference. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ammoral-question/199863/15 "2003-09-06T15:36:14Z")
Or you could go back to the U.S.S. Ropper with an anti-TB shot! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ammoral-question/199863/16 "2003-09-06T16:55:54Z")
I’m told that Mother Teresa, in person, was a proper stroppy old bat. And some of her charitable enterprises, however well meant, have attracted legitimate criticism. However, tampering with the fundamental structure of the universe and the reliable operation of the mechanism of causality, just to get rid of her, seems a bit much. ---
**Author:** ![DreadCthulhu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DreadCthulhu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DreadCthulhu)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ammoral-question/199863/17 "2003-09-06T19:57:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Polycarp \* > \*\*Or you could go back to the U.S.S. Ropper with an anti-TB shot! 🙂 \*\* Good idea - I want my atomic-powered spacecraft. 😃 Back to the OP, yes, but that is because I am evil. ---
**Author:** ![hebesphenomegacorona](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b9e5f3/32.png) [@hebesphenomegacorona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hebesphenomegacorona)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ammoral-question/199863/18 "2003-09-06T20:32:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by John Carter of Mars \* > \*\*What??? Why? > > If I could do time travel, I’d go back to November 28, 1981 and rescue [Natalie Wood](http://strelnfan1.tripod.com/nataliewood/) from her unfortunate drowning. Hopefully, the lady would prove to be _very_ grateful. 😃 \*\* I’d simply blow up the people who killed [The porcelain Kid](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=183223) So we could get some Bill Clinton/Lobster boy scandal goodness from stupid newspapers everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Not\_In\_Anger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ab097/32.png) [@Not\_In\_Anger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_In_Anger)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ammoral-question/199863/19 "2003-09-06T20:34:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Steve Wright \* > \*\*I’m told that Mother Teresa, in person, was a proper stroppy old bat. And some of her charitable enterprises, however well meant, have attracted legitimate criticism. > > However, tampering with the fundamental structure of the universe and the reliable operation of the mechanism of causality, just to get rid of her, seems a bit much. \*\* Exactly, bad kharma. I’m sure MT had her legitimate mission, however dubious the results may seem to be people with different missions. She was one dodgy gash, though, no doubt. ---
**Author:** ![Ferg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/cdc98d/32.png) [@Ferg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferg)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ammoral-question/199863/20 "2003-09-06T20:40:36Z")
If I could travel through time I’d go back to the 1920s and see what all the fuss is about. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ammoral-question/199863.md?page=2)