# Is there anything you would you choose to die for? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 27, 2008, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-you-would-you-choose-to-die-for/439435 "2008-02-27T23:37:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-you-would-you-choose-to-die-for/439435/21 "2008-02-28T06:15:26Z")
I’m dyin’ for a beer right now. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-you-would-you-choose-to-die-for/439435/22 "2008-02-28T10:48:43Z")
[QUOTE=madmonk28] I I am willing to die for certain principles I believe in, although I would certainly rather not. It’s hard to explain clearly, but I am willing to put myself in danger to work towards making the world a better place. If I can contribute towards some kind of common good that means giving a large group of people at a chance to live in a stable society, I’m willing to takes considerable risks to achieve that and have done in the past. [/QUOTE] When I opened this thread, I didn’t think I would have anything to contribute because hey! I like being alive. But I agree with this statement. Like **madmonk28** , I’m also a humanitarian aid worker (well, one in training, sort of) and at the moment I’m in a safe and politically stable country so I don’t need to worry too much. But I am sure that I will be working in less stable countries in the future, and I’m okay with that. ---
**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:** [February 28, 2008, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-you-would-you-choose-to-die-for/439435/23 "2008-02-28T10:50:30Z")
I would die to save the person I love. As others have pointed out- situational is different- I have chased robbers where (in hindsight) I could have been killed- it was not a clever move. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-you-would-you-choose-to-die-for/439435/24 "2008-02-28T11:32:22Z")
Dude, what’s up with all the “die for” threads? Is there something wrong? No offense, but it sure sounds like it. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-you-would-you-choose-to-die-for/439435/25 "2008-02-28T12:19:36Z")
Boredom. If I knew there was nothing more interesting ahead… ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-you-would-you-choose-to-die-for/439435/26 "2008-02-28T14:46:25Z")
[QUOTE=Skald the Rhymer] Lastly, though I wouldn’t die to anything I’ve written, I suspect I were in the Art Institute of Chicago and [this painting](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Sunday_Afternoon_on_the_Island_of_La_Grande_Jatte) were about to be destroyed in a fire, I’d succumb to the incredibly stupid impulse to try to save it. [/QUOTE] This is my absolute favorite painting in the entire world!!! :eek: Ok - dying for someone else? I’ve already said my son, no hesitation. My husband. My nephew. ETA - and to keep someone from flying a plane into a building like a previous poster said (sorry I can’t tell who it was - the edit window doesn’t show all the other posts). ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-you-would-you-choose-to-die-for/439435/27 "2008-02-28T17:03:54Z")
20 years ago, I’d have died for freedom - the chance to vote, to not suffer under a repressive racist regime. Now, there’s nothing I’d willingly (pre-planned) die for - not my kid, not my wife, nothing. Been raped, twice, it’s bad, but not so bad that I’d sacrifice myself to save someone else from experiencing it - it’s not the end of the world. And no-one’s worth more to me than me, so same-same with murder. And \*no \*ideology is worth it, seeing how the much-desired freedom of my youth has turned into another _Animal Farm_ ending - meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Certainly not for something as silly and frankly poisonous as a nation-state or ethnic group. Wouldn’t sacrifice myself if you told me it’d lead to World Peace (and a pony) for all the surviving human race. “Fuck’em” would be my short answer. Of course, that’s (like the other thread) with malice aforethought. No telling what I’d do if a bus came at my little girl or whatever. But this thread’s not about impulse decisions, I gather. And I’m not saying I wouldn’t endure hardship, pain or sacrifice for family, friends or ideology. Just not at the cost of my own life. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-you-would-you-choose-to-die-for/439435/28 "2008-02-28T18:12:15Z")
There are things I’d like to believe I’d die for but if push came to shove I’m a _wuss_. 1. Die rather than deny my faith 2) Die to save a child 3)Die to save certain other people There are no inanimate objects worth dying for, but there are such things I’d take a great _risk_ for. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-you-would-you-choose-to-die-for/439435/29 "2008-02-28T21:38:09Z")
In reality probably not, because I’m a coward who panics when under stress. In the land of make-believe? To save a child, my own or otherwise: Possibly, but it would depend on the situation. To save my own pet: It would depend. If they were an old friend, probably. To save a friend: Probably. To save something material: No. For civil liberties and human rights: Yes. You can have my Bill of Rights or Universal Declaration of Human Rights when you pry it out of my cold, dead hands. All of the above is said with full knowledge that I’m a 21-year-old college student, studying philosophy no less, and therefore know exactly nothing. ---
**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:** [February 28, 2008, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-you-would-you-choose-to-die-for/439435/30 "2008-02-28T21:39:16Z")
[QUOTE=An Arky] Dude, what’s up with all the “die for” threads? Is there something wrong? No offense, but it sure sounds like it. [/QUOTE] This one was suggested by the other. What, you want another world conquest one? Can’t oblige anyway. I gave up evil for lent. ---
**Author:** ![NightRabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbce88/32.png) [@NightRabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NightRabbit)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-you-would-you-choose-to-die-for/439435/31 "2008-02-29T01:14:13Z")
$5 and a beer that **Olivesmarch4th** comes in here and says she’d die for her husband… I remember being amazed at the guy about a year ago who dove into the subway tracks to save an NYU kid who had a seizure and fell in front of a train. IIRC, he was a construction-worker… seemingly normal guy… and, of a crowded platform, the only guy to jump in and save the kid. I can’t say I would do the same. I’ve thought about it late at night, though, who I would die to save. My mom and dad, maybe, although they would, I’m sure, rather be the ones to die to save me. My brother, definitely. I don’t know if I’d die to save a stranger, I’ve never been in a situation like that to know how I’d respond. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-you-would-you-choose-to-die-for/439435/32 "2008-02-29T03:17:29Z")
Bacon. No, wait…yeah, okay. ---
**Author:** ![fervour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@fervour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fervour)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-you-would-you-choose-to-die-for/439435/33 "2008-02-29T04:19:09Z")
I can’t quite wrap my mind around the question as posed. The question is too absolute for me. If you were to word it as, “Is there anything you would risk your life for?” then YES, ABSOLUTELY. Plenty of things. The question as it is is too abstract. I can’t imagine a real world situation where it’s actually my life versus a bus load of kids. A real world scenario would involve an amount of risk to my life and some increase in chance of safety for the kids. I don’t know what the magical percentage of risk vs reward would have to be but certainly there’d be some split-second intuitive figuring. Would I risk my life if there were a 99% of dying and only a 1 % chance of saving a bus load of kids? No. 50%/20%? Yes. 50%/1%? Probably not. It’s all in the odds for me. ETA: to=too; left out an is too—I better go to bed ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-you-would-you-choose-to-die-for/439435/34 "2008-02-29T04:29:16Z")
Sure. Tons of things are worth more than my life. But just to save one individual? No, although if I had kids I’m sure I’d give my life for one of theirs in a second. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-you-would-you-choose-to-die-for/439435/35 "2008-02-29T13:39:41Z")
[QUOTE=Skald the Rhymer] This one was suggested by the other. What, you want another world conquest one? Can’t oblige anyway. I gave up evil for lent. [/QUOTE] No, it just that dwelling on this stuff seems rather disturbed to me. Thanks for the dodge. :rolleyes: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-you-would-you-choose-to-die-for/439435.md?page=1)