# The Jewish barber's dilemma. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 24, 2014, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jewish-barbers-dilemma/696369 "2014-08-24T13:34:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2014, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jewish-barbers-dilemma/696369/21 "2014-08-28T06:00:37Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Cutting his throat makes you no better than he is. I’d cut his hair. Oh my God. Do you really believe this crap? There are good solid reasons for not killing the Nazi. Killing a Nazi makes one just as bad is not one of those reasons. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2014, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jewish-barbers-dilemma/696369/22 "2014-08-28T07:28:12Z")
Does it have to be “just as bad”? What about just “bad”? ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2014, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jewish-barbers-dilemma/696369/23 "2014-08-28T10:50:17Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Does it have to be “just as bad”? What about just “bad”? Nope. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2014, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jewish-barbers-dilemma/696369/24 "2014-08-28T15:04:52Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > Nope. Let me get this clear : “Killing the Nazi would make me feel like a bad person” is _not_ a valid reason to hold off, is what you’re saying? Even if it’s true that you _will_ feel like a bad person e.g. you think all killing is wrong? I’m not asking if you, personally, think all killing is wrong. I’m asking if, given that, feeling it makes you bad (not “just as bad”) is not a valid reason? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2014, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jewish-barbers-dilemma/696369/25 "2014-08-28T15:55:39Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > \*\*Cutting his throat makes you no better than he is. \*\* I’d cut his hair. By this logic, were the people who tried to assassinate Hitler, as bad as Hitler? Were the SEALs who killed bin Laden, as bad as bin Laden? ---
**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:** [August 28, 2014, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jewish-barbers-dilemma/696369/26 "2014-08-28T16:42:30Z")
Did anybody else open this thread expecting some kind of variation of the “free pork” joke? I did, at least when the thread was young, since that probably would have been closed pretty quick. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2014, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jewish-barbers-dilemma/696369/27 "2014-08-28T17:27:46Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Let me get this clear : “Killing the Nazi would make me feel like a bad person” is _not_ a valid reason to hold off, is what you’re saying? Even if it’s true that you _will_ feel like a bad person e.g. you think all killing is wrong? > > I’m not asking if you, personally, think all killing is wrong. I’m asking if, given that, feeling it makes you bad (not “just as bad”) is not a valid reason? Ohhh, OK. If killing a Nazi would make you feel like a bad person, then of course, it’s a valid reason to hold off. I thought you meant that killing a Nazi is objectively bad, which is what I said “Nope” to. If YOU think/feel it would make you a bad person, then OK, it’s a reason for you to refrain. As to if it were objectively bad… if by some miracle, all the Nazi leadership was being shaved similtaneously by Jewish barbers, and some further miracle of revelation made all the Jewish barbers aware of this, then may their razors be sharp & the ghost of Sweeney Todd guide their hands. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2014, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jewish-barbers-dilemma/696369/28 "2014-08-28T19:04:23Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > As to if it were objectively bad… if by some miracle, all the Nazi leadership was being shaved similtaneously by Jewish barbers, and some further miracle of revelation made all the Jewish barbers aware of this, then may their razors be sharp & the ghost of Sweeney Todd guide their hands. G-d could have arranged this. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2014, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jewish-barbers-dilemma/696369/29 "2014-08-29T00:13:07Z")
I’d cut the man’s hair. It is unethical for a barber to deliberately cut someone while shaving. Nobody’s life would be saved, no statement would be heard. I don’t object to Nazis having a nice haircut and shave to go with their snappy uniforms. Did Eichmann get a shave and a haircut before and during his trial? Yes. A barber is not an execution, he is a professional. (Or she.) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2014, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jewish-barbers-dilemma/696369/30 "2014-08-29T04:19:29Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > I wouldn’t kill him - not for any personal reasons, but because the retaliation against the other prisoners would almost certainly be brutal, relentless, and total - and if it really was Hoess, probably carried out at Dachau, Sobibor, and Treblinka as well. Two of those are death camps, where people are brought to be murdered, and part of Auschwitz-Birkenau is too. So it’s hard to see how things can get worse. Thinking of the other side of [another hypothetical](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=712769) where a Jew gets a knock on the door from the Gestapo. He throws acid in one of their faces and in the ensuing struggle another is killed. The Jew escapes, but the Nazis kill 100 in retribution and let it be known that they’ll shoot another 5000 if he doesn’t turn himself in. He turned himself in, but most people thought it best to stay on the run since those people are screwed anyway. > [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > I’d cut the man’s hair. It is unethical for a barber to deliberately cut someone while shaving. Nobody’s life would be saved, no statement would be heard. I don’t object to Nazis having a nice haircut and shave to go with their snappy uniforms. Did Eichmann get a shave and a haircut before and during his trial? Yes. A barber is not an execution, he is a professional. (Or she.) But this isn’t an employer-employee relationship, it’s that of a master and slave. Just playing Devil’s advocate. For my own part I wouldn’t either, since the chance of successful escape is incredibly remote and I doubt I’d have the nerve to top myself after slicing up the commandant. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2014, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jewish-barbers-dilemma/696369/31 "2014-08-29T08:03:26Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > I’d cut the man’s hair. It is unethical for a barber to deliberately cut someone while shaving. Nobody’s life would be saved, no statement would be heard. I don’t object to Nazis having a nice haircut and shave to go with their snappy uniforms. Did Eichmann get a shave and a haircut before and during his trial? Yes. A barber is not an execution, he is a professional. (Or she.) > [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > But this isn’t an employer-employee relationship, it’s that of a master and slave. > > Just playing Devil’s advocate. For my own part I wouldn’t either, since the chance of successful escape is incredibly remote and I doubt I’d have the nerve to top myself after slicing up the commandant. Re TSS’s post: some “tradespersons” are indeed, borderline fanatical about their craft: it’s a quasi-religious thing with them to perform it correctly and to the best of their ability, no matter how hideous the circumstances. I find this admirable, in a crazy sort of way. (If I’d been the barber; I’m a coward, and no escape artist – not wanting to invite an even more horrible death than was coming my way anyhow, I’d do as good a job for the guy as possible, and then go about my business.) ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2014, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jewish-barbers-dilemma/696369/32 "2014-08-29T08:40:54Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > I’d cut the man’s hair. **It is unethical for a barber to deliberately cut someone while shaving.** Nobody’s life would be saved, no statement would be heard. I don’t object to Nazis having a nice haircut and shave to go with their snappy uniforms. Did Eichmann get a shave and a haircut before and during his trial? Yes. **A barber is not an executioner, he is a professional.** (Or she.) I think this wins the award for strangest rationale. So much life and death and suffering hangs in the balance – the commandant’s, mine, the rest of the prisoners in the camp – and I’m worried about _professional ethics_? That’s kinda monstrous, when you think about it. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2014, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jewish-barbers-dilemma/696369/33 "2014-08-29T10:11:55Z")
> [@VarlosZ](#): > > I think this wins the award for strangest rationale. So much life and death and suffering hangs in the balance – the commandant’s, mine, the rest of the prisoners in the camp – and I’m worried about _professional ethics_? That’s kinda monstrous, when you think about it. Well that’s why my response back in post [post #10](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17673318&postcount=10) was no laughing matter. I was talking about making the ultimate sacrifice. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2014, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jewish-barbers-dilemma/696369/34 "2014-08-29T17:59:28Z")
I’m surprised that **FriarTed** and I are in the same denomination. I’ve had killing is bad and vengeance is the Lord’s hammered into me more times than I can count. I couldn’t morally justify the action even if I believed everyone else would be better off. It’s also why I could never be a part of the military. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jewish-barbers-dilemma/696369.md?page=1)