Save a shipmate before a stranger.
Save a stranger before a dog.
Save a dog before a soldier.
Alleged saying of British sailors.
If its between my dog and Alietta, then I am definitely saving my dog.
if it were anyone else, my dog comes second. I love my dog but if she’s stupid enuf to not know how to swim then she floats home. I would make the person I saved get me another dog tho.
[astonished] I agree with Brutus! [/astonished]
And, I will add: People do horrible things to other people, every single day. It’s just not usually as clear-cut as this - you don’t see the people that are harmed by your actions, and the causation is not so clear. But around the world people die, daily, so that others can benefit - indirectly. It’s just the way things work. Se we can say to ourselves : this act that I am committing, when combined with countless other commissions of this act, will bring harm or death to some people that I can’t identify. This makes the action much more acceptible than when it is so clearly defined.
People do cruel things, but a lot of people also do wonderful, loving things to each other every day.
The person you save might be a serial killer. Or he could be the next MLK or Ghandi.
I seriously question the morality of anyone who would chose a dog over a person.
I would save my Princess Puppy. I have 5 kids and none of them love me like this dog. I would be lost without her. Besides I don’t believe animals go to heaven and people do. So the person drowing has a better chance of landing in a better place.
I’d save the person. IMHO, a human life is worth more than that of a dog.
Oh hell, I would (have) killed for my cat so it wouldn’t even be a thought process over who I would save. The dog (in my case my late cat) would have been saved and even if I had the time to try to save the stranger, I might not bother until I was sure my dog/cat was fine.
Yeah yeah, cold hearted and evil (and all that stuff) but as others have pointed out, humans are the only animals that have done me harm. My cat on the other hand has been by my side (figuratively speaking) for 18.5 years.
I would rather know people who would feel devotion to their animals, whom they have bonded with and feel responsible for, than a human who would throw all that away for a total stranger just because they were human. That is immoral in my books.
My morals are very strong and I will not harm my fellow humans without a good reason but I also feel that my bonds are unbreakable and I will hold faith with my friends, my loves and my dependants. My cat (or dog in this case) will have become my dependant and I will honour my agreement with my animals to provide shelter, food and a loving environment and protection from any and all that would do them harm. I wouldn’t save a child over anyone I care for (and by “care for” I mean any and all life dear to me).
If you feel this is immoral, that’s cool, I like being at least consistant in my morality. People who say “I love animals” and then save a human they don’t love (aka a stranger) is rather odd to me.
I would rather know people who would feel devotion to their animals, whom they have bonded with and feel responsible for, than a human who would throw all that away for a total stranger just because they were human. That is immoral in my books.
My morals are very strong and I will not harm my fellow humans without a good reason but I also feel that my bonds are unbreakable and I will hold faith with my friends, my loves and my dependants. My cat (or dog in this case) will have become my dependant and I will honour my agreement with my animals to provide shelter, food and a loving environment and protection from any and all that would do them harm. I wouldn’t save a child over anyone I care for (and by “care for” I mean any and all life dear to me).
If you feel this is immoral, that’s cool, I like being at least consistant in my morality. People who say “I love animals” and then save a human they don’t love (aka a stranger) is rather odd to me.
I sincerely doubt that your bonds are unbreakable. There’s always a breaking point, even for me. What if you had to choose between your dog or a school bus loaded with kindergarteners? Say a bomb was strapped to your dog and the bus, and you only had time to diffuse one of them? I feel confident that even the most adament of the I’d-save-my-dog people would save the busload of children.
I think this may hold the key to the differing opinions. I like animals, but I have found that I am completely incapable of loving an animal to the same degree that I’d love a human. Frankly, the fact that people can love a dog as if that dog were their child baffles me.
Actually I remember seeing an episode of Animal Rescue where a normally docile dog practically bit the face off of a rescuer who was trying to save it from drowning. Apparently it’s quite common and when a dog panics like that it can get dangerous.
So I guess from a purely practical stanpoint it depends on the size of the dog’s jaws.
Personally, I would want to save my dog…I would save the human.
So… If you would save a bus load of children, you should also give up your dog for some fully grown stranger that could possibly sue you for all your trouble? Uhhh, ok.
Or are you saying that if you would choose the dog over the stranger then you would also have to choose the dog over the bus load of children? I’m confused.
I was merely pointing out that badmana’s statement of “I also feel that my bonds are unbreakable and I will hold faith with my friends, my loves and my dependants” was not quite true. Even if he considers his bond with his pet unbreakable, there exists a situation where the bond will be broken. It’s just a matter of the situation being severe enough.
So far, the discussion has been about passively letting someone die, and I wonder how everyone would react if it were made active, instead. New question:
If you were given a gun and told to shoot either your dog or a stranger in the head, and you were garanteed not to suffer any legal ramafications regardless of your choice, who would you kill?
I’m curious to see if anyone changes their mind.
And not only can I apparently not spell “guaranteed” or “ramifications”, but I also failed to answer my own question.
I’d shoot my dog (or cat, or hamster, etc), no doubt about it. It wouldn’t even be a difficult decision. Sure, I’d feel bad about it, but I’d feel even worse if I shot the person.
save a dog over a human life? LOL
Neither. You didn’t stipulate that I had to choose. 
If you’re going to say that I do, indeed, have to choose, I’d turn the gun on myself. There are some things I couldn’t live with.
Julie
Well, for the purposes of my question, you have to choose to kill either your dog or a stranger. It may be an unfair question, but no more unfair than the question posed by the OP. It all boils down to who you will condemn to die, your dog or a stranger.
And would you really kill yourself to avoid killing your dog? I have had pets (both dogs and cats) and while I would indeed put myself at risk to save them, I would never go to my certain death to keep them alive.
I would kill myself to remove myself from the hands of someone who would force me to kill someone else, whether dog or human.
Julie
Sit there thinking about it until they get bored and walk away, and shoot them. I love multiple choice.
sigh You people are missing the point. Let me rephrase.
You are captured by some crazy guy (the specifics don’t matter) and are placed in cell. In the cell to your right is a stanger locked in an air-tight, plexiglass container. In the cell to your left is your dog, in a similiar container.
In front of you are two buttons and a timer. One button floods water into the container in which your dog is sealed. The other button floods the stranger’s container. If you fail to press either button before the timer runs out, both containers will flood.
The containers and cell doors will open automatically one hour after the timer expires, so someone is guaranteed to die.
So, which button do you press? Or do you try to relieve yourself of guilt by pressing no button and then deciding that you didn’t kill anyone?
Extra credit: Is this any different than the question posed by the OP? If you take action, you are deciding who will die. If you take no action, both will die.