# Suppose you HAD to choose someone to die? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 5, 2000, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-choose-someone-to-die/15831 "2000-04-05T14:42:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2000, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-choose-someone-to-die/15831/1 "2000-04-05T14:42:00Z")
Imagine, that you HAD to choose one (and only one) person to die. It can be anybody you know or anybody you ever heard of. You also must choose the method of death, so it can be as painful or pain-free as you like. You are guaranteed not to suffer any penalty by God or man. Who would you pick to die? By what method? Why? To make it a bit more interesting, if you choose yourself, you MUST die in the worst, slowest, most painful way you can imagine. Also, you can’t pick the person or entity or whatever it is that is making you chose a person to die. And don’t try to think of more loopholes to dodge the question. Either answer it or don’t bother to post. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2000, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-choose-someone-to-die/15831/2 "2000-04-05T14:44:00Z")
I would choose that RevTim suffer, “Death by BONGA!” But, that’s just me… ---
**Author:** ![aha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eada6e/32.png) [@aha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aha)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2000, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-choose-someone-to-die/15831/3 "2000-04-05T14:48:00Z")
OK but how about you choose first revtim. 🙂 * * * Yours truly, aha ---
**Author:** ![SwimmingRiddles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SwimmingRiddles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SwimmingRiddles)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2000, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-choose-someone-to-die/15831/4 "2000-04-05T14:52:00Z")
Pat Buchanon. Burned at the stake. ---
**Author:** ![SkySlash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@SkySlash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkySlash)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2000, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-choose-someone-to-die/15831/5 "2000-04-05T14:54:00Z")
Hmm…President Clinton, by partial birth abortion! Let’s see if the asshole veto’s it after that! -SS 😃 * * * Join the “Free SkySlash From His Ego” Movement Today!!! Visit your local chapter office for details! ---
**Author:** ![Glitch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/0ea827/32.png) [@Glitch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glitch)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2000, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-choose-someone-to-die/15831/6 "2000-04-05T15:37:00Z")
That depends on how specific I would have to be. If I could pick a singular general person I would choose any single violent criminal currently committing a crime on a person who couldn’t fight back for any reason . If I have to be specific and such a criminal wasn’t handy. I would choose myself even knowing that it would be slow and painful. I couldn’t cause the death of another person unless it were in a legitimate personal defense, defense of another or defense of my community. ---
**Author:** ![Glitch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/0ea827/32.png) [@Glitch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glitch)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2000, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-choose-someone-to-die/15831/7 "2000-04-05T15:39:00Z")
Based on the OP, it sounds like I would have to be specific, so I choose me, and that’s my final answer. ---
**Author:** ![Glenoled](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Glenoled](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glenoled)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2000, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-choose-someone-to-die/15831/8 "2000-04-05T15:51:00Z")
warning: this might be a little disturbing to more sensitive readers: well, last fall, they found many of the body parts of a little (about 5 years old) child who was murdered, and chopped up and discarded, in (IIRC) New Brunswick, somewhere… I’m not sure as to any of the details, since I didn’t really follow the story when it ws current, but I think it may have been a parent who did this. anyways, whoever it was who did that, I’d choose him/her to suffer the same fate as the murderer who was sentenced to strangulation, being chopped up, then dropped in acid. anyone who’d do that to a little kid deserves 10 times worse * * * I don’t suffer from insanity… I enjoy every minute of it! ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2000, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-choose-someone-to-die/15831/9 "2000-04-05T15:52:00Z")
Glitch, do you perhaps think a better choice would be a terminally ill person who is suffering? You could give that person a painless death, with his/her permission. ---
**Author:** ![Glitch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/0ea827/32.png) [@Glitch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glitch)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2000, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-choose-someone-to-die/15831/10 "2000-04-05T16:16:00Z")
Personally, I don’t know any terminally ill people, so if I had to be specific this wouldn’t do me any good. The OP doesn’t specify an ability to ask anybody if they want to die either. If so then what is my time limit? If I have time to go and find somebody then I would go and find a violent recividist in the commission if a crime. So assuming that I do not have time to go and find somebody. i.e. the decision must be immediate. I think otherwise we have a loophole, in fact, I would be inclined to keep it for my own personal use as the ultimate self defense. Also, pretending that I did know a terminally ill person, I still would pick myself over them. Why? Personally, if I were terminally ill I wouldn’t want to be put to death. The only reason I want my wife to pull the plug is if I am in a coma. If I can’t be here to experience life than there is little reason to be here. But if I can be here and still love my wife and child then I wish to remain. I wouldn’t want to kill somebody who was terminally ill without making absolutely sure that at that moment they definitely wanted to die. So, with the assumption above that the decision must be made promptly I could not choose a terminally ill person, even if I knew one. ---
**Author:** ![Glitch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/0ea827/32.png) [@Glitch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glitch)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2000, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-choose-someone-to-die/15831/11 "2000-04-05T16:25:00Z")
Revtim: If you like questions like this you should pick up the book “A Book of Questions”. There is another series called “If?”, but I liked “A Book of Questions” more. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2000, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-choose-someone-to-die/15831/12 "2000-04-05T16:39:00Z")
**revtim** - the problem with coosing the terminally ill person is, they can choose death for themselves. Not legally, in most cases, but they can do it. It would be presumptious to choose that, in my opinion. And having watched my father die from lung cancer, I know that he fought for every day he had on this planet. I wouldn’t take that from him. I am also not a proponant of the death penalty. I feel that it is society doing to the condemned what he was condemned for. If it was wrong for him, it’s wrong for us. Alos, it doesn’t neccesarily give the comdemned the opportunity to truly regret his actions. How can there be atonement or expiation without regret? Perhaps I’d choose a historical figure, like Hitler or Stalin. Painless, and before they had an opportunity to commit the atrocities they are later associated with. Even then, I feel uncomfortable with the idea that I could be the cause of someone’s death. It’s an interesting question to ponder. StG ---
**Author:** ![WIGGUM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ce7236/32.png) [@WIGGUM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WIGGUM)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2000, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-choose-someone-to-die/15831/13 "2000-04-05T16:54:00Z")
Ricky Martin. I would have him shake his “bon-bon” for days on end until utter exhaustion caused his death. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2000, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-choose-someone-to-die/15831/14 "2000-04-05T18:43:00Z")
Fred Phelps. I would kill him by inserting vibrating bullets of increasing size up his ass until I ruptured his sphincter. Then I’d let him die of the ensuing infection. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2000, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-choose-someone-to-die/15831/15 "2000-04-05T18:46:00Z")
For the sake of argument, lets say you had a week to think about it. You could use this time to find a terminally ill person to volunteer for it, or research a person on death row. At the end of the week, if you don’t pick somebody, by default you die the slow, horrible, painful death. Also, I guess I’ll have to exclude people who are already dead, so there’s no changing history. ---
**Author:** ![evilbeth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/evilbeth/32/2268_2.png) [@evilbeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilbeth)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2000, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-choose-someone-to-die/15831/16 "2000-04-06T06:19:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Drain Bead: > \*\*Fred Phelps. > > I would kill him by inserting vibrating bullets of increasing size up his ass until I ruptured his sphincter. Then I’d let him die of the ensuing infection.\*\* I love you, Drain! * * * “You don’t have insurance? Well, just have a seat and someone will be with you after you die.” --Yes, another quality sig custom created by Wally! A Jesusfied sig: Next time I covet thine opinion, I’ll ask for it! ---
**Author:** ![MrKnowItAll](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrknowitall/32/87_2.png) [@MrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrKnowItAll)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2000, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-choose-someone-to-die/15831/17 "2000-04-06T12:59:00Z")
I choose my 5 year old nephew. The method, I would like to see him die peacefully of old age. (Sorry. Can’t help myself. I’m a born loophole finder.) * * * _God is my co-pilot. Blame Him._ ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2000, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-choose-someone-to-die/15831/18 "2000-04-06T13:09:00Z")
**Of people I know personally:** The asshole co-worker I sold a car to a few years ago. He gave me bad payment checks, and constantly lied about aspects of giving my plates back (which I graciously let him use _just to get the car home_). He was a compulsive liar about a bazillion other things too. A friend at work made a web page and cataloged all the BS he spouted. **Of people I’ve heard of:** anyone who murders a child. * * * Wrong thinking is punished, right thinking is just as swiftly rewarded. You’ll find it an effective combination. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2000, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-choose-someone-to-die/15831/19 "2000-04-06T13:11:00Z")
OK AWB, where’s that webpage? I wanna see it! ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2000, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-choose-someone-to-die/15831/20 "2000-04-06T16:15:00Z")
President Clinton. Executed based on someone else’s false testimony which was initially believed. And then, when it’s proved false, people ignoring the evidence because the witness was such a popular guy. * * * Chaim Mattis Keller [ckeller@kozmo.com](mailto:ckeller@kozmo.com) “Sherlock Holmes once said that once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the answer. I, however, do not like to eliminate the impossible. The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it that the merely improbable lacks.” – Douglas Adams’s Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-choose-someone-to-die/15831.md?page=2)