# Moral Question: Phelps or Gold?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-question-phelps-or-gold/596578
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [September 17, 2011, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-question-phelps-or-gold/596578 "2011-09-17T00:47:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 6
### Author:  [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2011, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-question-phelps-or-gold/596578/101 "2011-09-19T20:02:19Z")
Either/Or? I’d just take some of each; that seems fair.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2011, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-question-phelps-or-gold/596578/102 "2011-09-19T20:18:47Z")
I’d save Phelps - because it seems the right thing to do. Right as in the opposite direction of wrong things such as picketing funerals, etc.
The world might well be a nicer place without Phred, but I’m not going to become a monster to bring that about.
Anyway, is this gold just floating there? How?
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### Author:  [@Mekhazzio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mekhazzio)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2011, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-question-phelps-or-gold/596578/103 "2011-09-19T20:37:58Z")
I don’t believe that all human life is intrinsically special and worth saving. Giving people in general the benefit of the doubt is a healthy practice for a civilized world, but the specific human in this case does not respect that concept: he’s dedicated his life to increasing the misery of others, including his own family. I could watch him drown without a shred of guilt, and that’s even without starting on any justifications such as expenditure of lifeboat resources, the principle of the greatest good, or the chest of gold.
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### Author:  [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2011, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-question-phelps-or-gold/596578/104 "2011-09-19T21:51:28Z")
I’d save Phelps. Not because I think the world’s a better place with him in it, but because I couldn’t live with myself if I let another human being die. It would haunt me for the rest of my life. It’s a purely selfish act, but there it is.
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### Author:  [@sugaree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugaree)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2011, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-question-phelps-or-gold/596578/105 "2011-09-20T00:42:37Z")
I would rescue Phelps because it would allow me to feel even more of a sense of moral superiority to him than I normally do. I could then sit in the lifeboat and stare at him. Smugly.
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### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2011, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-question-phelps-or-gold/596578/106 "2011-09-20T00:46:46Z")
Maybe… offer to save him if he promises to stop all the public gay-hating. Give him a choice.
Oh, and, of course I would have my waterproof camcorder to document what he says.
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### Author:  [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2011, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-question-phelps-or-gold/596578/107 "2011-09-20T01:09:54Z")
> [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](#):
>
> **Qin** , out of curiosity, why make this poll public? Are you hoping to use the results to throw it back in someone’s face at the right moment? What’s the purpose?
> [@boytyperanma](#):
>
> He has a tendency to make his polls public, including polls many would only answer privately. I don’t think it’s him so much looking to throw results back in peoples faces as much as it might be he’s trying to evaluate individuals for his own personal reasons. I’ve yet to see him come back on anyone directly for a poll result one way or the other.
> For the most part I just don’t participate in public polls involving moral or political issues.
This. Public polls are usually my default option.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2011, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-question-phelps-or-gold/596578/108 "2011-09-20T04:05:40Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#):
>
> Maybe… offer to save him if he promises to stop all the public gay-hating. Give him a choice.
>
> Oh, and, of course I would have my waterproof camcorder to document what he says.
Suppose he goes on record telling you he’d rather die that give up his sincerely held religious beliefs.
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### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2011, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-question-phelps-or-gold/596578/109 "2011-09-20T04:10:32Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> Suppose he goes on record telling you he’d rather die that give up his sincerely held religious beliefs.
The camera goes to the bottom – so does he.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2011, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-question-phelps-or-gold/596578/110 "2011-09-20T06:27:33Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#):
>
> This. Public polls are usually my default option.
Did you just agree with a statement to the effect that you’re trying to evaluate individuals for your own purposes? Something about that makes me kinda itch.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2011, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-question-phelps-or-gold/596578/111 "2011-09-20T06:51:36Z")
Unlike many of you, I don’t feel any obligation to treat all people as if their lives have value. Yes, there’s a default value if I know nothing about the person, but for people I know of, there’s a certain level of respect that has to be earned.
I have lost literally hundreds of friends to AIDS, and Phelps’ minions taunted us at many of their funerals. I’d be shitting on my friends’ memories if I saved his life.
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### Author:  [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2011, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-question-phelps-or-gold/596578/112 "2011-09-20T16:39:58Z")
I want the Magic Floating Chest of Gold.
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### Author:  [@Bibliothecarius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bibliothecarius)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2011, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-question-phelps-or-gold/596578/113 "2011-09-21T11:44:55Z")
He is one of the exceptions whom I have a moral obligation _not_ to save. The sharks can have him…there is sharks, right?..If not, can it wait til we reach shark-infested waters? 😃
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### Author:  [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2011, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-question-phelps-or-gold/596578/114 "2011-09-21T11:59:32Z")
This is how I’d have it go down.
Me: “OK, Mr Phelps. It seems we have a dilemma here. I’ve been gay since I was born and also an atheist too. I currently hold the fate of the rest of your life in my hands and I also have the delicious option to get a lot of gold. If you’re saved by a gay atheist, it will be all over the news which will give you the chance to denounce everything you’ve said. You will also have to spend the rest of your life and insist the same upon your family to make reparations for all of the funerals you’ve picketed, all of the problems you’ve created, and all of the frustration you’ve generate. You have 5 seconds to decide while Tallulah Bankhead and I start pulling this magically floating gold chest into our lifeboat.”
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### Author:  [@What\_i\_think](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_i_think)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2011, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-question-phelps-or-gold/596578/115 "2011-09-21T13:34:57Z")
fred we could eat him if we need to cant eat gold 😛
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### Author:  [@What\_i\_think](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_i_think)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2011, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-question-phelps-or-gold/596578/116 "2011-09-21T13:37:24Z")
and even if he did not kill or ect his ranting lies help contribute to hate and those who hate have committed crimes
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### Author:  [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2011, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-question-phelps-or-gold/596578/117 "2011-09-21T14:11:59Z")
> [@Walmarticus](#):
>
> As a symbol, Phelps’ can become more than just a man. He can either die a hero, or he can live long enough to see himself become a villain. Phelps can do those things because he’s _not_ a hero. He’s whatever Gotham- er… America needs him to be.
Exactly, I’m glad he showed himself to be a villain before he achieved elected office(Whilst he was still a respected human rights lawyer, he came close to getting the Dem. nomination for governor). Having someone with his bigotry influencing Democrat homosexual-rights policy would have been an utter disaster.
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### Author:  [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2011, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-question-phelps-or-gold/596578/118 "2011-09-21T23:55:37Z")
This is a tough question: not because I’m choosing between “save a human life” and “have a bunch of gold,” but because I’m choosing between “have a bunch of gold” and “have an ability to deeply undermine Fred Phelps’s ugly message.”
Depends how much gold.
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### Author:  [@willthekittensurvive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willthekittensurvive)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2011, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-question-phelps-or-gold/596578/119 "2011-09-22T11:54:41Z")
why isn’t half of both a Poll option?
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### Author:  [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2011, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-question-phelps-or-gold/596578/120 "2011-09-22T14:00:17Z")
> [@Namkcalb](#):
>
> I’d rescue him if he swore to paint my house.
>
> Not paint a picture of it mind you, I actually want him to paint the walls and interior of my house. It would be the only circumstance I’d enjoy seeing a supercenturian struggle and wheeze
Hijack: I am 73 years old and to the best of my knowledge I have never seen the word “supercenturian” before today. And now I’ve seen it twice in 15 minutes in two widely different contexts. Amazing!
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