Hypothetically, could you kill an innocent to save a loved one?

[spiffleh]

Assuming that the only way to save your loved one (parent, sibling, child, significant other etc)) was to kill someone who wasn't a criminal and presumably was a nice and decent person.
You choose if you get caught and go to jail for this.

I started pondering this due to a video game (unnamed here to avoid spoilers). Personally I couldn't because:
1) If my loved one cares for me as much as I care for them, he/she would know it would destroy me mentally.
2) It's incredibly selfish.
3) If I did, said love one would probably never look at me in the same way again.

So what about you? Did you ever have to think about the answer or was it a difficult choice?

EDIT: Sorry about the lack of poll. Didn't occur to me at the time.

EDIT 2: If you are curious then the game was

Spoiler

Heavy Rain.

 

[AmbushIntheDark]

Yes.

Also, I probably wouldn't feel too bad about it as my loved ones mean a great amount to me and far more than some random innocent person therefore I would care less about them.

Edit: woops a few spelling mistakes

 

[Leon Last Lord Shyle]

I've thought about it and i can safely say yes i would with ease i stopped caring about people i didn't know several years ago and if made to choose the one that makes my life better gets to live call me cold if you want but that's my way.

 

[holy_secret]

I don't care for selfish or unethical.
I would kill the whole planet if it would bring back my loved ones.

I would not hesitate a second. There is simply nothing that would keep me from having them in my life.

Does this make me evil?

 

[KEM10]

They do a lot of psych tests along these lines. It actually comes down more to how do you kill them?

If you have to flip a switch or just push a button, most people say yes. However, if you have to get physical people stall and sometimes don't answer.

 

[GeorgW]

Hell yes!
Screw the innocent, if I love someone they deserve to live more than others. They're just better people.

 

[CATB320]

I read this and immediately thought, "yes." But I imagine that once I'm actually in that situation, it'll be easier said than done.

 

[danintexas]

No I would not. Everyone dies. When it is your time it is your time. I will not sacrifice my morals to bring someone I love back in exchange for killing another person. Even if that person was a murderer or not.

The only time I would take a life is in defense of a loved one. But if the loved one is dead I would not.

The only exception to this would be if someone killed a loved one. Then it would be a struggle to not kill the person who killed a loved one.

 

[Scabadus]

I'm pretty sure I would be able to, though thankfully I havn't been in a situation where I'd have to make the choice. I know that my loved ones are all fairly decent people, and some random person will either be as bad or worse. If one of them had to die, it may as well be the one I don't care about. Selfish, yes, but what are you going to accuse me of; being human?

 

[Withall]

I would sacrifice one innocent stranger if it meant saving a loved one. Simple as that.

 

[The Afrodactyl]

Hypothetically, yes. In practice, probably yes as long as I don't see the fear in the innocent person's eyes.

That'd stop me dead.

 

[HontooNoNeko]

I feel like the odd one out when I say I instantly said no. My constant need to shove rationality into anything including emotional situations prevents me from having any bias in the situation. Whether they are a childhood friend or parent their lives mean no less to me than a stranger on the street.

It is not my right to decide who dies so I will not make the choice.

Well that or my complete lack of emotional attachment to anything is getting the better of me.

 

[8bitlove2a03]

The killing of a human being is not and cannot be justified. Ever.

 

[Beryl77]

Many people think that they would do it, when they hear a question like this one but when they are actually in that kind of situation, the answer is often different.
The problem with questions like this is, that it's a big difference between saying something beforehand and actually being in that situation and doing that.
Many don't realise that it feels completely different when they're in that situation.

So for me the answer would be yes at the moment but I can't tell whether I'd do it if I was in that situation.

 

[Jacob Haggarty]

I read this and immediately thought, "yes." But I imagine that once I'm actually in that situation, it'll be easier said than done.

I imagine that this is probably the case for many of the people who instantly say yes. It's all well and good saying you would cut and stab your way through swarthes of innocent people on paper, but in reality, it would take a collosal amount of courage to make a descision like this.

OT: I dont think i could. A lot of the people who have answered so far have just said yes, but could you really? This person is a total stranger. They could have someone in their life that they care about just as much, maybe more, than you care about the person you will save by their death. Is it justifiable to take them away from their attachments, just to fulfill your own? I say it isn't. No matter who it is that you are saving.

The point i'm trying to make, is that this choice has deeper implications than what is presented to you. Often, people try to justify their choice by saying the stranger might be a lowlife, or a beggar etc, but even so is it right to end their life to make yours better? They might not have much at that point in time, but they also might have memories and attachments with people who have died etc. Is it ok to take away these memories?

This reminds me of another thread, which was something along the lines of "which do you think would be easier (emotionally) to kill? and old person or a baby?". Fairly obviously, most people said they would kill the old person sooner than the baby. But the same issue is raised, what gives you the right to end the life and memories of a person?

So, we come back to the original point, stranger or loved one? I would have to save the stranger, because i just don't feel there is any way to justify killing this man or woman i have never met before. They have a life that i just don't know about. It isnt fair to slaughter this person on the basis that they might be a bad person, or that i don't know them, because thats exactly the point; I dont know them.

 

[lacktheknack]

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcROFQwgEx-11c5i_9oPtQkfBeyBvVVs870xao2tt-1QG3FfRxTM&t=1

As I've said thirty times before - I wouldn't know until I'm in the situation.

 

[OniaPL]

Yes, I could. I don't understand why someone would not.

 

[ramboondiea]

yeah i probably could, keeping in kind its a situational thing so cant say for certain, but when it comes to those i care about consequences are a second though,
example- although not an innocent person when a dickhead attack a friend of mine in a pub i didnt hesitate to crack him with a chair so this is potentially a good benchmark to judge how far i would go

 

[Shirokurou]

I probably would.