A difficult question dealing with ethics

[Faulty Turmoil]

Why does she have that decision though, I mean to take her own life?

Because there's no reason she shouldn't have it. What says she shouldn't be allowed to, and why?

Where does it say that? Well no where... but where are we basing any of our morals?

I think that people base their morals on what feels right, or what they've been told by other people. Secondly, she is allowed to take her life because it's her's. It's like destroying property that belongs to you, albeit more extreme, it's your stuff so you can do what you want.
Thirdly, didn't you say that you could risk war if you tried to stop this? This would mean many more lives would be lost in addition to her's, because she would probably kill herself anyway or be killed in the resulting conflict. Also, you asked what is more important than a human life? Implying that you value the lives of people quite highly yes? So why would you risk countless more people getting killed in a war over one person who has decided to end her life?

Of course I'm looking at this mathematically and cold-heartedly, but any other way seems a waste or just silly to me.

 

[Thyunda]

I would send a small squad of armed men to oversee the funeral. They will not stop the widow burning herself alive. I just want the natives to know that, not only am I well aware of this practice, that I am deliberately not stopping them despite having the power to do so. Otherwise they might get to thinking they're subverting me somehow.

And should the widow have a change of heart, or a sudden realisation that maybe it wasn't entirely her decision...well...now there's a group of soldiers right there to make sure she receives no punishment for betraying tradition.

 

[The Night Angel]

Fairly straight forward, if she wants to end her life, she will succeed, one way or another. So, just make sure it's what she wants, try to talk her out of it, but make no attempts to forcibly prevent her carrying out the tradition.

 

[Shadowcreed]

I don't have much difficulty choosing my options here;

If she wants to die alongside her husband cause of her believes then my all means let her.
I feel in no way responsible for people doing stupid things in regards of their even more stupid religious aspects.

Just to clarify this - Religion is, in my eyes, well, pretty damn stupid. That's my opinion and if you want to practise your religion then you're entitled to do so - I don't mind and frankly I wouldn't really care either so long as you don't go about blowing people up who have a different belief than you, or possibly the same belief but aren't as fanatic as you are. Go ahead and do that silly monkey dance that summons up spirits from the dead or guides them to their new home, as long as it doesn't have a negative impact on someone else that doesn't want anything to do with it.

 

[Akimoto]

I hate to see people do silly things, but tradition and culture is really tricky. I do know that in old Indian culture the widow is seen as a living curse and even if she refuses to self-immolate her life will be absolutely miserable. Short of bringing her back to my homeland and train her in something like fishing or what to get a new start in life... I'll let her burn if she wants to.

 

[Dandark]

I would let them do it. I would ask if she has to be burned alive or if it's possible to give her a less painful end but if she wants to do that and itsn't just being pressured into then it is her choice and I couldn't do anything to stop it.

You should always try and respect local customs.

 

[Davih]

As long as she lights the fire and walks into it/stands into it herself I would allow it. If someone else lights the fire or pushes her into it, I would class that as murder and not her killing herself, therefore intevenning as murder is wrong.

 

[Random berk]

No moral dilemma? You having the resources and ability to stop this from happening, from killing a human being? Yes she is willing to die, but how much is a human's life or soul worth? If I was the officer in charge, I would have used my soldiers to stop the funeral. I would not want any violence, but I would willingly to put my life and my soldier's lives at risk for the idea of a human's soul being worth more than tradition and political correctness.

That would have been a bad idea. If they'd been dragging her kicking and screaming to the funeral pyre, then I would have stepped in, in your hypothetical position. Ancient tradition is not a good enough excuse for cold blooded murder. In the case of a simple suicide, I would also try to prevent it, but I would do it by reasoning with the woman, not forcibly pulling her back. In this case however, the suicide case is complicated by the fact that if you stop it, you interfere with the customs of the tribe, and even risk a violent reaction, which would leave you directly responsible for many more deaths. In this case, I'd have the troops stand down. Of course in the long term, this tradition would have to be stopped. Again, not through force of arms, but through reason. If anything, you could at least prevent the natives from forcing the wife of the dead man to burn with him, and only carry out the tradition if she chooses death of her own free will.

 

[archvile93]

This burning of widows is your custom; prepare the funeral pile. But my nation has also a custom. When men burn women alive we hang them, and confiscate all their property. My carpenters shall therefore erect gibbets on which to hang all concerned when the widow is consumed. Let us all act according to national customs.

I wodered if this quote would come up. I think rather than stop it outright, it would help if other Indian customs of the time were changed. One of the primary reasons for the suicide was because a widow in India had about the same social status as a bacterium. They really didn't have much to live for.

 

[Olas]

I know this might sound crazy, but yes, I would try and stop her.

Personally, I don't subscribe to the philosophy that people have the right to end their own lives. If you stop them from killing themselves it's possible in the future they may change their minds and want to live, in which case they would be glad you stopped them.
If you let them commit suicide, they're dead forever, even if they weren't thinking clearly when they decided to do it.

I don't subscribe to the "it's their culture" argument either. We shouldn't allow horrific acts like human sacrifice to take place simply because some people consider it a custom. Murder is murder, and as a more evolved culture we would have a duty to protect citizens from their own unethical traditions.
If she wanted to die, it's because she's essentially been brainwashed by her culture into thinking that way. She isn't really thinking clearly for herself.

 

[BrassButtons]

Why does she have that decision though, I mean to take her own life?

Because it's her life. It belongs to her, and she gets to decide what she does with it.

I would try to make sure she wasn't in an impaired mental state, and if not then I would respect her wishes. I don't own her, and have no right to make decisions for her so long as she is capable of making them herself.

 

[Fatboy_41]

No moral dilemma? You having the resources and ability to stop this from happening, from killing a human being? Yes she is willing to die, but how much is a human's life or soul worth? If I was the officer in charge, I would have used my soldiers to stop the funeral. I would not want any violence, but I would willingly to put my life and my soldier's lives at risk for the idea of a human's soul being worth more than tradition and political correctness.

Congratulations Sir, you have just lost the region.

You have just disrupted and funeral of a village elder and forcefully restricted an elderly woman from willingly joining her husband, as per HER traditions. Hearts and minds is a tactic utilised for a reason. IT WORKS. Without the support of the local people, you will not hold a region without bloodshed, or genocide. Storming into a funeral with armed soldiers against local villagers as pretty much on par with overturning the coffin and desecrating the corpse.

So, now word gets spread around that the evil British are forcing their ways on the people and that local culture will die if they don't fight back. Soon, other villages are rebelling and people are being killed. But don't worry, little old lady that can never see her husband again in the afterlife is still alive. Soon, you're looking at an all out civil war. Alliances with India will never be fixed, and India is not sided with Britain for World War 2. Japan takes Asia with little resistance and quickly re-enforces the Germans in Europe.

Ok, now that is a pretty extreme outcome, but all things start at a single instance.

The point is, your position as an Officer of the British Army gives you no right to destroy her traditions if she is not breaking a law. In fact, it actually requires you to attempt to support her tradition. Sure, if you had any doubt as to the woman's free will, then by all means remove her from the situation temporarily and question her about it. You've made it clear there were no such doubts here.

Your position as a human still gives you no right to shit on someone's beliefs. You may not like it. You may openly oppose it. But if you try to stop it, expect the repercussions.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Being the British imperial asshole that I'd likely be, I'd probably impose my own will (imperialism kind of implies imposing your will onto other people). However if I were teleported back into this situation with my current knowledge I'd just look at it as a foreign culture and probably not a good idea to interrupt since death is a touchy issue and disturbing their rituals would likely make them mad. Then my superior officer would find I let someone burn to death and fire me (HA HA, terrible pun).

 

[TehCookie]

Let her do what she wants. Who am I to tell her what to do and her village what to follow. People have different morals, and one of my morals is don't force mine on others.

 

[Daffy F]

Doesn't seem like a particularly hard ethical dilemma to me.

I was just thinking that, I have no attachment to this woman, what is it to me if she wants to kill herself? I'm certainly not going to risk war over it.

 

[Estranged180]

What would you do?

What would I do? Light a match I suppose. The whole 'winning the hearts and minds' thing. Besides, stopping the funeral would cause a serious uproar, and an international incident that can easily be avoided by a single stick of wood with some sulfur on the end.

 

[Spinozaad]

If I were an 18th century British officer, I'd forbid the practice of suttee, as it would conflict with 18th century British morality.

This thought experiment isn't really a thought experiment, because the historicity of the question makes it impossible to transplant our 21th century considerations onto our hypothetical actor.