Here’s an alternate hypothetical for you: A crashed bus teeters precariously on an overpass, partly blocking the commuter rail line. You can push the bus to the east, and it will fall off the overpass to crush an minority orphanage, or you can push the bus to the west, where it will fall and destroy a home for the cheerful mentally disabled, or you can leave it, in which case a train full of concerned environmentalists and civil rights activists will be derailed and careen into a series of refinery storage tanks, creating a huge fire. Above it all, an anal-retentive angel with a penchant for symmetry waits, eager to rebalance the equation any time you come up with a justification for a choice. Don’t like orphans? The orphanage is now an animal shelter. Don’t care about the disabled? It’s now a veteran’s home for Medal of Honor winners. Don’t like environmentalists and activists? The train is now full of AIDS researchers and Nobel Peace-prize winners.
So what do you do, hotshot? What do you do?! And this time shooting the hostage is not an option!