Moral Dilemma #10 - Concentration Camp

[lily.]

10. Concentration Camp

You are an inmate in a concentration camp. A sadistic guard is about to hang your son who tried to escape and wants you to pull the chair from underneath him. He says that if you don’t he will not only kill your son but some other innocent inmate as well. You don’t have any doubt that he means what he says. What should you do?



Going to put these all in their own threads now

Source: Top 10 Moral Dilemmas (http://listverse.com/2007/10/21/top-10-moral-dilemmas/)

[Benjamin]

Oh, they are interesting, especially the pregnant woman one.

[Niamh.]

I'm only half way through, the only two I can answer so far are the one about the man who raped your daughter, I would let him rot in jail. And the one about the emergency worker, if it were my husband and another woman, I would save my husband, as even if he's been cheating, he's my sons dad

[Black Dagger]

An extremely interesting read.

I might have read one wrongly though, the concentration camp one... so my son would still die even if I let a innocent victim die as well?

[lostalex]

You should pick one and made a thread for it and get us all to give our decision, that would be more fun.

[Ammi]

The first is not exactly the same but similar to 'Sophie's Choice'

[lily.]

You should pick one and made a thread for it and get us all to give our decision, that would be more fun.

I agree. Ok, let's discuss the first one:

10. Concentration Camp

You are an inmate in a concentration camp. A sadistic guard is about to hang your son who tried to escape and wants you to pull the chair from underneath him. He says that if you don’t he will not only kill your son but some other innocent inmate as well. You don’t have any doubt that he means what he says. What should you do?

[lily.]

I would not assist him in killing my son. People like him get off on power, and will inevitably do what they want anyway. You may end up assisting him to kill your son, then having to watch and/or assist him in killing someone else anyway. It seems like the kind of sadistic thing he would do. At the end of the day, he has all the power, and you have none, so any deaths would be on him.

[Ammi]

I think I'd probably do it then kill myself afterwards

[lily.]

I see what you mean about Sophie's choice. Of course, both were her children in it, whereas this dilemma implies that one is your son, and one is a random other person.

[lily.]

PS. Can a mod move this to the debates section please? :)

[Kizzy]

oo eck i dont like this i feel awful now haha ming the merciless me, i would let the mistress in the car die, not having an affair then are they?.. hehehe

[Kate!]

This is a really interesting thread, and as LostAlex says, maybe they could be done as individual threads, get some debates going?

For the first one I personally would refuse to kick the chair away, no matter what, I could never bring myself to do it.

[Ammi]

I've just realised I've misread this...I thought it was several others, not just one...I don't think I could do it

[Benjamin]

I would kill my son. Harsh, but if he is going to die either way it would spare another life.

[MTVN]

I think I would pull the chair away, if you have no doubt he'll kill your son and another person anyway then you might as well do it with the chance that you could at least save someone else's life

[Black Dagger]

I'd have to unfortunately kill my son, yes he'd have a lot to live for, but if he was to die anyway, I'd at least spare another life.

[lostalex]

I wouldn't kill my son, i'd attack the guard and hope they killed me before i had to see my son die, and then i'd welcome my son to heaven when he got there.

[Kizzy]

i wouldnt do it then ask someone to kill me

[Niamh.]

I don't know, I really don't think I could do it though

[Z]

I enjoyed reading that, they're all very tough to decide upon!

[Crimson Dynamo]

Bearing in mind this type of thing happened at various camps during wwii I dont think it should be a topic for casual chat

[Z]

This one is hard to decide upon. As you said, the guard seems like someone who kills people for the fun of it, I don't think I'd believe him if he said that me killing my son would save him killing someone else.. I mean, he's a guard at a concentration camp, he kills people for no reason all the time. And I certainly couldn't live with the guilt of being the one to kill my son. In this case, although I like to try and save as many lives as possible in these scenarios, the cause of death is unpredictable and untrustworthy so I think I'd choose to not take the chair away.

[Visage]

Nope, couldn't do it. I'd try and attack the guard with anything I could get my hands on. Except the chair. I would go down fighting.

[Tom4784]

I wouldn't give the man the satisfaction, given that I'd be in a concentration camp the situation would be grim for everyone so I wouldn't play the nazi's games since we'd all probably die regardless of whether we co-operated or not.

[Jack_]

No chance that I'd pull the chair. The thought of contributing to the murder of my own son is a very upsetting thought, and I'm not even a parent. Couldn't do it, I could never live with myself. Plus we'd all probably end up dead anyway, so there wouldn't be any point.

[Niall]

I'd refuse. I'm not going to be responsible for the death of my own child to ensure my own survival. I could never live with that.

[MTVN]

To be honest, if it was me on the chair and I knew that if my Dad pulled it away he'd save another persons life I would want him to do it

[lostalex]

To be honest, if it was me on the chair and I knew that if my Dad pulled it away he'd save another persons life I would want him to do it

That doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. If yu are in a concentration camp, EVERYONE is gonna die. PERIOD.

If that's how you'd feel, then kick the chair out from under yourself.

[MTVN]

That doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. If yu are in a concentration camp, EVERYONE is gonna die. PERIOD.

That isn't necessarily true at all, and it's not the point anyway, it's all hypothetical and we're simply going on the basis that either just the son dies or the son and one other man dies

[Ammi]

I definately wouldn't pull it away..no question..as the guard is sadistic he's probably going to kill the other person anyway..he just wants to get maximum suffering

[Angus]

What if, instead of your son having a quick death by hanging, the guard killed him slowly by torture? Then you would have that on your conscience. Also why would you take the word of a sadistic nazi guard anyway?

NB: why would my son be escaping without me anyway?:suspect:

[Ammi]

What if, instead of your son having a quick death by hanging, the guard killed him slowly by torture? Then you would have that on your conscience. Also why would you take the word of a sadistic nazi guard anyway?

NB: why would my son be escaping without me anyway?:suspect:

..ha....would you pull the chair then...ungrateful little b*stard...you bring them into the world........

[Doogle]

I'd ask to take my son's place. But then how would my son cope ahh. Then again, if I was in a concentration camp I don't think I'd ever recover from the horror. Well out of the choices I would just kill my son. I doubt I'd live too long afterwards anyway.

[lily.]

Bearing in mind this type of thing happened at various camps during wwii I dont think it should be a topic for casual chat

I hardly think this is 'casual chat'.

1. It's in the 'serious debates' section.

2. It's a 'moral dilemma' discussion getting people to think about what they would do if faced with such a terrible situation.

I feel like you only posted that to get a reaction, and whilst I should probably just ignore it, I can't.

[Jords]

:o

I couldnt remove the chair, never ever. This is quite depressing.

[Vicky.]

I wouldnt/couldnt do it.

The other person would probably get killed anyway

I would, however...try and persuade the guard to kill me instead of the randomer. Not that it would work.

[Jordan.]

Chances are he's probably going to kill a bunch of people for you refusing then kill you and your son anyway. I'd rather revolt and get myself killed.

[GypsyGoth]

I would refuse to kill my child regardless. The evil person is responsible for all the deaths.