For the purposes of answering the question, assume that you have either (1) enough disposable cash to hire someone to commit the murder or (2) the will to perform the murder yourself, as well as reasonable assurance (though not an airtight guarantee) that you will escape punishment for the act.
The point here is not to get distracted by the mechanical practicalities of arranging the killing. The point is also not to indulge empty fantasies about killing famous figures who have no direct connection to your life, like grotesquely sadistic criminals or loathed politicians. The intended discussion is limited to two questions: whether or not there is someone in your extended social circle (assume a single degree of separation) whom you honestly believe needs to be eliminated from the world, either for your own personal reasons or for purposes of cosmic justice; and whether or not you, morally, could take responsibility for the deed.
Also, to keep this question somewhat abstract, if your answer is “yes,” please do not identify or describe the individual whose death you would welcome. A simple yes or no will suffice. Feel free to philosophize, but please don’t make your desires particular.
My answer: no. There is nobody in my monkeysphere whose death I would welcome to the degree of undertaking it myself.
No - unless I can say, repeat child molesters. I mean, sure, people annoy me, but I don’t want anyone specific dead. Even when I was in my worst times of life I never wished anyone dead.
Oh wait, I didn’t read the entire OP… I have no desire to kill people who don’t directly effect me and my day to day life… So no, killing a celeb is not on my list…
I am so tempted to say yes, because there is this one woman…but I don’t actually think I could do it. However, when Karma catches up with her, I hope I hear about it so I can throw a party.
Hmmmm… having once met a man who later turned out to be a child molester, the idea has some appeal.
Then again, he’s been caught and stopped and will be languishing in prison for several decades. And killing him now won’t undo what he’s done, so there’d be no point to it. Though if I happened to be stuck in a small room with him, it’s conceivable I might decide to claw his throat out with my bare hands. The OP specified “hire it done” and “chance you could get away with it” so that doesn’t quite meet those criteria.
Other than that, and ruling out hated politicians, then no, there’s nobody in my sphere of contact that I could truly want dead.
Absolutely not! No there is noone in my social circle who I want eliminated from the world. I’m anti-death penalty so answering yes would be unbelievably hypocritcal. If I don’t believe it should be up to the justice system to decide whether or not someone needs to die, what kind of incredible arrogance would it take for me to think it should be up to me to decide?
If I DID want someone dead, I’d at least have the stones to kill them myself. Anything else is cowardice.
No. While there have been a couple of candidates deemed worthy of consideration over the course of a lifetime, eventually it becomes apparent that both the risk of things not going as planned and the fear of supreme regret dictate that simply them having to live with themselves is probably punishment enough.
Now, if ever a persistent threat to life and/or limb of a loved one appeared… well… all bets would be off.
There are no people whose death I would actively seek.
There are also no people whose death I would feel gladdened by. There is one person of my acquaintance whose death would fill me with relief - for her sake and the sake of her family. She has diabetes and severe Alzheimer’s and related dementia.
There are a number of people whose death would not disturb me in the slightest, though.
There are some folks whose death would give me a sense of mild satisfaction - but not actual joyful happiness.
I devoutly hope I never become the sort of person who gleefully lusts after another person’s life, or the sort of person who views murder as a solution.
Well, as I’m actually quoted in the OP I guess I don’t really need to respond, but No, I don’t want anyone dead.
I guess I’m lucky that I’ve never met anyone that did something so horrible to me that I would want them DEAD. In jail maybe. Bad case of hives for sure. But not dead.
No. I just don’t have it in me. I tried to have it in me for a while, when I was really, rip-roaring mad at someone for something they did to seriously hurt me deeply… but in the end, even if I could have gotten away with it, I would have let them live.
I’m pretty glad for that. That person is still around today and I just don’t have the energy to hate him that much. With time, I’ve become indifferent. Imagine if his death was on my head? With time, I’d have gone insane, instead. It would be like making absolutely sure you never, ever got over something. Erg.
No, although there’s been a candidate or two. But I’m just one person and however bad they may have hurt me, they’re not evil & sadistic monsters, therefore I can’t justify killing them.
This is going to be another pat myself on the back thread. There was one about who voted and who didn’t awhile ago… talk about your chest thumping. You’ll get piles of I am above that responses, and very few responses like mine. Why bother?
I’d say yes, except that were this person to die things would be even more complicated and it wouldn’t fix anything. I’d pay to have him have never existed, though. I’d pay a lot.
