Poll: Morally Correct?

[RedxDecember]

I edited this question from a documentary.

Your country is attacked and bombed. The invaders enter your town and are ordered to kill anyone and everyone they find. You are couped up in the attic of a abadoned home with a group of refugees when your own child starts crying. He won't stop. You try everything to quiet him down, but nothing works. If your baby continues to cry the invaders will find you and the group, ending everyone's life.
Is it morally correct to suffocate the baby?


This is your only option.

Think hard before you choose.

NOTE: Ethic or morally correct, whatever you feel is the correct term for right and wrong in this situation. Almost forgot something too...

Thank you for reading.

 

[Versuvius]

One life to save many. Sounds good to me. God forbid i end up in a similar situation lest i bottle it and fuck everybody over.

Incidentally this really should be "Ethically". Im under the impression Moral is opinion and ethics are something greater. Could be wrong.

 

[Sylvius the Mad]

No. The concept of moral correctness is meaningless, therefore nothing can be morally correct (or incorrect). The very idea is nonsensical.

 

[Peteron]

There are more people than that single baby at risk. He is also being noisy, which pisses me off. Choke it out.

 

[Averant]

I edited this question from a documentary.

Your country is attacked and bombed. The invaders enter your town and are ordered to kill anyone and everyone they find. You are couped up in the attic of a abadoned home with a group of refugees when your own child starts crying. He won't stop. You try everything to quiet him down, but nothing works. If your baby continues to cry the invaders will find you and the group, ending everyone's life.
Is it morally correct to suffocate the baby?


These are your only two options.

Think hard before you choose.

I think morals went to hell in a handbasket when you started doing whatever you can to survive. Suffocate the damn thing, you can always make more.

 

[Mr Thin]

Obviously it depends on your definition of morality, what you consider right and wrong, etc.

Going by the modern understanding of what makes a 'decent' human being, it is unquestionably the morally correct thing to do. To suggest otherwise is to place your own emotional comfort over the well-being of other people, which is morally repugnant.

 

[Nargleblarg]

On a moral level I would say No, I just couldn't bring myself to do that.



If we are being hypothetical though why have I not yet gone down fighting in fashion whilst using a device equal to this...

Spoiler

Kills Commies dead

 

[4173]

Someone's been watching M*A*S*H*.

 

[Xolaeth]

I don't think suffocation would be the first choice. But the baby needs to be silenced somehow. Maybe if I had low doses of tranquilizers, I'd do that first. Either way, utilitarian views are always on the winning end of Occam's Razor.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

I'd say it's morally wrong to ever harm something as truly and utterly defenseless as a baby (and that's coming from someone who doesn't particularly like babies). However, it's also logically the best thing to do for yourself and everyone else.

Would I, in the name of self preservation, do it? I honestly do not have a clue.

 

[Luke5515]

Yes, it results with the least loss of life, so I consider it morally correct to kill the baby.
Great episode of M*A*S*H about this.

 

[WeBeNukin]

Do it, I wanna live.

 

[zehydra]

No, of course not. But morality isn't always high on the priority list for people in these kinds of situations.

Yes, it's possible to survive that situation without killing the baby.

 

[Machocruz]

It's more immoral to pro-actively kill a child than to inactively let people be discovered and killed, but not completely moral not to smother the child either. However, there are too many mitigating circumstances for it to be that cut and dry, such as whether you have agreed to a leadership position, you've advised/coerced everyone to hide there, insisted on being a part of that group.

I have the capacity to be cutthroat when it comes to my family vs. others, so I'm not claiming to be a model of humanity or morality. The tragedy is is the child dies either way.

 

[RedxDecember]

Quite honestly, I think the dilemma is who kills the baby.

 

[SidingWithTheEnemy]

What's the problem?

Well, really use it as a distraction and get the hell out of there. If the guards find a lone baby the probably find it cute and might even keep it, while you have a serious chance of escaping.

Wait a minute! How the hell do you know those "invaders" are going to kill you?
Well I know one reason, because you are a baby eating cannibalistic monster and most likely deserve to get shot in the first place.

Why is your country attacked anyway? What kind of president did you vote last election? Who did he p*ss off? Probably someone with bigger guns, well tough luck, you just brought that sh*t all over yourself.

Oh and lastly, in any case of such random apocalyptic happenings, if you head for the attic make sure you have some escape route in mind or maybe even have a helicopter on the roof, waiting for you. Because if your brain isn't able to process that kind of information fast enough that the attic is a dead end, according to Darwin you will probably not survive anyway...

Sorry, no offence meant but moral questions of such sort only work when take several things involving morality for granted - like having an "Invaders" outside "who are going to kill you" No they are not. At least I think it is immoral to think the "invaders" are going to kill you.... Have you tried negotiating with him? They probably just want to have a cup of tea with you, maybe they are looking for a Coop game of COD.

 

[Phlakes]

No. The concept of moral correctness is meaningless, therefore nothing can be morally correct (or incorrect). The very idea is nonsensical.

Thank you for contributing, you're such a good sport.

OT: Needs of the many > needs of the few. In a perfect world (well, excluding the whole invasion thing), you would be obligated to kill the baby.