OTOH, maybe God in his omniscience sent **LouisB **knowing full well he wouldn’t pull the fucker into the boat and in so doing sent a clear message to Phelps that He only helps those who help themselves. You know, you reap what you sow and all that. Proverbs 22:8, right?
As for me, I save the jerkwad, not because of some deity, but because I want to live in a society in which the lives of ALL people have value, even those which disgust and appall us.
I hope to use the resulting publicity to undo the damage Phelps has caused for mankind. Fucking hater.
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?
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.
I would compromise by taking the gold and filling Phelp’s pockets with it so he will sink faster and drown sooner, but he would feel better because he’d be dying rich.
I would take the gold and donate it to GLAAD, PFLAG, and AIDS research. I don’t know if I could outright kill a man, but Phelps has led a long, unbelievably cruel life and I wouldn’t bat an eye if he died.
I picked the gold, but of course that rests on knowing, for sure, that it’s actually Phelps. But that’s in fantasy, sitting at my desk.
What would I do in real life? I’d probably save the cantankerous old man…I mean, he really hasn’t directly hurt me or mine. He protests at funerals and does a bunch of crazy shit. Now if we were to switch to the CEO of Enron or maybe Dick Cheney or someone else who I feel was actually directly responsible for the suffering of millions of people, that might be a little different and I might just do it out of vindictiveness.
Not even worth a thought. I would rescue the chest, empty out the gold, smack Phread over the head with it until he’s dead, put the body in the chest and let it sink.
And I would donate half the gold to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
I know this is pretty much a thought experiment, and that many people are overstating their cases to express a negative opinion of a person, but I find it odd that people are actually willing to entertain the notion of negligent homicide or even outright murder over a(n admittedly extreme) difference in world view.
Regardless of what people are saying, I think the actual situation would bear out different results. It’s very easy to say you will let someone die, but completely different to actually do it.
Morally, one has to save Phelps. Just as one can lie by omission, failure to save a life when it is trivially easy to do so is tantamount to killing that person. He may be a terrible person, but life is still worth more than gold. Further, regardless of how dispicable he may be, I don’t think he’s done anything that warrants death nor is it my place to decide so even if I think he did. Even if I came upon someone who I felt deserved death, I should still morally save that person and arrest them so that he can receive a fair trial.
So, sure, I would probably be pissed off at passing up a chance to be financially comfortable to save someone I personally found detestable, but it’s absolutely the moral action.
I’ve already said that I’d save Phelps, but I feel compelled to add that taking a chest of gold onto a lifeboat is stupid. My life is worth too much to risk it.
ETA: All you folks who’d save the gold: do you realize that what you’re contemplating is as evil as half the things I suggest in my silly hypos?
“To live outside the law, you must first be honest.” Your motives in letting Phelps perish are dislike and approval of him, and I seriously doubt you’d sacrifice a random person whose identity you didn’t know for the gold.
If you want him dead, kill him. Just don’t lie to yourself about your motives.
You’re fine on the heinous crime and the murder, but I haven’t seen the show of force yet.
I don’t give a good goddamn what Fred’s god wants, as his god is an asshole.
As for MY god, I’m not asking her counsel here. Athena will simply raise an eyebrow and advise me that I already know what I should do and am simply looking for an excuse, adding that she is irritated at having to entertain such a ridiculous question and that I should be doing something clever and subtle and ruthless and to glorify her anyway.
OK, I’d hate myself for it, but I probably would take Phelps vs. the gold. I’d feel dirty… and I wouldn’t necessary keep from actively drowning him on the boat trip back to shore.
If the question is Fred Phelps or something else, my answer is always going to be “something else” unless the question is “Which would you rather blow up with dynamite?”
I would pay money to save Phelps’ life for this reason:
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.