For me, it would depend on who it was. If it was a random person, of course I would try to help if I wasn’t endangering myself. But if it was someone who just took a purse off someone, and I absolutely new I could save them? I wouldn’t. Not everyone is worth saving.
[QUOTE=xtisme]
It seems despite the Mods firm warning we are back to elaboration and, dare I say, debate? 
/on the soap box, tongue in cheek
A beautiful post, and I agree with much there. I will tell you that I don’t like to belittle mankind. I spend an inordinate mount of time tryin’ to figger how Not to do that. However, if we are the dominant form , with acknowledged consciousness that makes us so precious and special, Doesn’t it make us a muy bit responsible for understanding acknowledged ecological connections?
I
Since this is going to turn into a debate no matter what, I’m moving this thread from IMHO to Great Debates.
Hmmmm…it’s been years, but I read once about some so called “humanists” who call for the death of sentient A.I.s, intelligence enhanced animals and aliens. I sometimes use the first two to point out that people can even be bigoted against people who don’t even exist.
Thank Og that hypotheticals are only hypothetical.
But, would you really kill someone you didn’t know who happened to have the correct organ compatability in order for your child to get a required organ donation? Considering no other suitable organ (lets say heart) was going to be available in time to save your child?
Not that this seems to be part of the OP, but my own answer is: Yes…certainly. I don’t know of many parents who WOULDN’T make this choice. For that matter, if it was MY heart that was the only one that could save any of my children (a much more likely scenerio since we would most likely have higher compatability than some stranger), I would do it in a heartbeat. No second thoughts.
Trust me, as a parent who lost a child to a heart problem…its a no brainer.
-XT
Absolutely. I can’t imagine not doing it and the only problem would be facing any legal consequences. If you take that out, I don’t see any issues at all. I would feel bad if it was another child but adults would be no problem at all (assuming that transplant would work).
I already lost a child this year and no what it is like to be willing to do anything to save them and yet you can’t. I would kill my own mother to save my child in that situation. A stranger or a group of strangers would be of no consequence at all. I don’t have any particular affection for people in general, just the ones I know and love. My semi-feral cat holds more value to me.
I must admit to be shocked at the idea people would murder another on behalf of their own child. Not kill someone who was threatening their own child, but actually kill someone simply because they have something that could save there own childs life.
I must admit to having no children of my own, but I have relatives I would happily die one hundred times for but for whom I would not commit murder.
Yep. Any dadgum aliens try to move into my neighborhood, and we’re gonna burn a Vitruvian Man on their lawn.
So would Lazarus Long… and possibly to probably Robert Heinlein. I can’t recall if it was non-fiction or fiction RAH included that statement in, but I do strongly recall Long saying it.
When/if you have a child of your own then come back and truthfully answer this question…or answer it in your own mind while looking down on your sleeping baby one night. If you can still say that you wouldn’t kill to protect or save your child (including the ridiculous scenerio described) then…well, in my book you aren’t really fit to be a parent.
Also, realize that its one of those stupid very implausable questions that get asked (like if you could save 10 people by killing this child…what would you do? How about a hundred? A thousand? A million? Some other ridiculously large number of people I’m pulling out my ass to try and put the philosophic thumb screws to you?). How often is this situation really going to come up? Really…never or as close to never as you can compute. So…its a silly question you are getting your panties in a bunch over (being shocked and all).
-XT
But this isn’t completely implausable. If your child had an incurable heart disease, you and your wife were not suitable donors, but your brother was a potentially suitable donor. Would you really kill your brother to save your child?
I love my Nephew and Neice as much as I am capable of loving, but I would not murder a stranger to provide a heart transplant to save their life.I would kill any number of people who tried to harm them, I would kill a stranger in prefference to killing them. But I can’t imagine commiting cold blooded murder (not murder of someone who was of any danger to the Children) in order to save them.
Does that make me a bad Uncle? I don’t know?
Oh boy, a poll!
IMHO, our first duty is to preserve the human species. Next come other species (I’m not real rigid on this, I’d be ok with losing some insects or bacteria species in order to save a lot of people), then human individuals, then non-human individuals.
Of course, for humanity to flourish, the earth’s ecosystem needs to be favorable towards humans, so it behooves us to not muck it up too much. (We aren’t powerful enough to destroy either the earth or its ecosystem. We can alter them enough in such a way as to make it either unpleasant or uninhabitable for humans and many other species tho.)
Well, first off…I’ve been there. My daughter in fact HAD an incurable heart disease…AVHD if you know what that is. Would I have killed my brother to save her? Damn straight…I’ve have killed ANYONE to save her, including myself or my wife. I and my wife had to see her suffer through 4 months of surgeries and other painful stuff, only to watch her die a little bit at a time. Do you have any idea how heart rending it is to have a baby sitting in a hospital bed crying and asking for dada or looking at you confused and in pain…and not be able to do anything about it? You probably don’t and I hope you never do Bippy. But I’ll tell you…I was so frantic at the end there I would have done ANYTHING to save her.
No…it makes you not the parent man. There is a huge difference between when its YOUR kid, and when its someone else’s…even if its someone close to you. For instance, when my daughter was sick I doubt my brother OR my brother in law felt the same way I did…despite the fact tht they both love me and loved her.
Anyway, lets not hijack this thread further with this. For one thing its a painful subject even after years. For another you really can’t know until you are in the situation. Lastly you really need to be a parent, to bond with YOUR child (biological or even adopted) to understand. It becomes more than an intellectual excersize at that point.
-XT
Oh, and as a parent with a child who has an incureable fatal illness, I would try to move heaven and earth to save her, sacrificing myself. But I don’t believe I could sacrifice an innocent person to save her. I’d ask them to volunteer, give them the hard sell, but I do not believe I could cross that line. To save her, would I burn the world, and use my soul for kindling? I don’t think I could, nor do I believe she would want me to.
That’s what she said.
Fair enough…we all react differently. Not that it probably means much but…I’m so sorry for you and your child…and my best wishes are with you 
-XT
Thanks xtisme, and thanks for sharing, I am very sorry for your loss.
Thanks, and you too.
Words are empty things for these sorts of situations. But out of my sorrows has come at least a small amount of wisdom.
I’d still give all the wisdom back to be shed of the sorrows, tho.
Yeeps, I posted my half-funny flip comment before this part came up, now I feel like an ass. Sorry, Qadgop.