Could you kill a person?

[Elo125]

I could if I had to. I'd really rather not though, so it'd have to be a pretty damn good reason. Despite what every game-bashing journalist says I can clearly distinguish between real violence and fake violence like in movies and games. One can be fun, the other almost exclusively isn't. I'll leave it up to you to figure out which is which in this case. ^_^

 

[Dr. wonderful]

Yeah, I could do it.

But I'm sure as hell better be defending someone and If I have a non-lethal solution to the problem, you bet I'm going to take it.

 

[GigaHz]

Could you you kill a person? Could you both mentally and physically bring yourself to end a life? And if you did, would you be able to live with guilt over it, no matter what sort of person you killed?

I would never be able to do it, I wouldn't be able to live with guilt, and I deeply fear if it will have consequences in the afterlife (not trying to start religious debate).

No matter what side they're fighting for, or whether they're a good or bad person, I just wouldn't be able to do it.


Also, by 'could' I mean, could you make yourself do it? As in, WOULD you?

I'd like to think of myself as an optimist and a diplomat first and foremost.

If I was put in a one on one situation with someone labelled as bad, and it was either take him out or have him take out several others, I would always try to negotiate first. I don't believe in a Hollywood reality with absolutes. Yes, there are crazy people in the world but even they have their weaknesses and many of them need to dehumanize their targets before they can kill them.

I would only consider killing the person if we were unable to reach an understanding, and I'd likely apologize for doing it. I wouldn't think of the act as an act of good because I have a strong belief in the right to life for all creatures. Chances are, I'd probably dwell on what got their life to take such a nose dive in the first place. It would more than likely haunt me for years.

 

[LarenzoAOG]

Maybe if that person is threatening my family or running at me with a crowbar or something, or that person was recently arrested on charges of murdering an enitre orphanage, with video tapes, witness statemnts, and C.S.I. blood skin semen whatever evidence all showing that that person did it, and an incompetent jury let him go or he got off because of some technicality.

I could probably live with the guilt of killing someone like that, its the actual physical and possible divine punishment I might recieve for murdering sucha person that I'm worried about.

 

[quantum mechanic]

In cold blood? No. In anger? Probably not. In self-defense or by accident? Probably.

 

[Bigsmith]

Well, simply put, I have trouble speaking up for my self, let alone even hitting someone.

So no, I would never be able to bring my self to kill someone.

 

[Chris646]

I want to say that I could, but I'd be lying. I mean, I might be able to, but only if the person were John Wayne Gacy or something. I could probably live with myself knowing that the world's a better place without them.

 

[Daaaah Whoosh]

Depends on the method, I'd think. If I had to rip out their eyes with my tongue, then probably not. And anyway, I'd look for an alternative to killing first. That's what I do in video games.

 

[Blake69]

I could say over and over that I could kill somebody but I don't really know if i could or couldnt untill I was in a situation that required me to. I like to think that I couldn't take someones life but if someone i loved was in danger and in the heat of the moment I think I would.

Another factor would be what you have to kill the person with. I think a gun would be easier to kill someone with than a knife or my hands. The question is a little vague. There are so many different possibilities that I don't think anyone can really know until they are in a situation that requires it

 

[FolkLikePanda]

Some people I'd like to kill, its the getting into trouble and being thrown into prison thing that makes me not want to do it. I don't think I would have any moral problems because the people I want to kill are complete tossers but then again if I did I probably have to feel some guilt due to the victims family.

 

[Sosabowski]

All of you on this page who have a live and let live attitude on this page are as capable of taking another mans life as I am. I have.
The irony is that it is your social circumstance that allows you to think this in the first place. As an ex squaddie I was deployed in Iraq, the former Yugoslavia and then Iraq again and I used to think like this too. I was then subjected to sights that the most graphic of horror writers couldnt comprehend. Things done to women and children by young men who have mothers, wives and children of their own. Callous and without thought for anothers life.
Did they believe they were right in their actions? Yes.
Religion? Sometimes.
Social circumstance? Always.
Problem is that the world isnt rosy and when people watch the worlds troubles through a TV screen and enact their bravery through the media of gaming they become complacent enough to think that troubles in real life are not going to affect them personally.
Ultimately, it is your personal circumstances that allows you to be a pacifist. The human animal is not a pacifist. It is confrontational and warlike. Terratorial and possesive. Just remember back to when you were a child and never knew it was wrong to hit another child because he or she had a toy that you wanted to play with. Maybe you were on the receiving end of this innocent violence. Why do you know its wrong now? Because your social circumstance taught you this.
It was a good question by the OP. Unfotunately some people on here have dealt with it in a very immature, obvious and flippant way.

 

[wax88]

Yes actually, if it's justified/warranted. i wouldn't hesitate to kill if i needed to. Not even pause to think. Yeah, military training does that to people...

 

[James Crook]

If I were told to pick up a gun and shoot right dead some guy like Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, bin Laden or Al Capone, or ranging up in these levels of douchebaggery, I'd do it.

 

[Griffolion]

Could you you kill a person? Could you both mentally and physically bring yourself to end a life? And if you did, would you be able to live with guilt over it, no matter what sort of person you killed?

I would never be able to do it, I wouldn't be able to live with guilt, and I deeply fear if it will have consequences in the afterlife (not trying to start religious debate).

No matter what side they're fighting for, or whether they're a good or bad person, I just wouldn't be able to do it.


Also, by 'could' I mean, could you make yourself do it? As in, WOULD you?

I don't want to, but I can't guarantee ever that I won't. The same applies for everyone.

 

[Woeps]

Probably not but if I have to save my own life(or that of a person close to me) I maybe can

 

[Kl4pp5tuhl]

If I was told for example, to kill the Norwegian Shooter as an act of justice, I wouldn't.

I'd drag him to court.


...except he won't need his arms and legs there.

(Yes, I've got Norwegian relatives, can you tell?)

There's a great movie about this topic called Vortex. Could be up on YouTube.

 

[-Torchedini-]

Depends on motivation and relation to the person.

But I could do it, and if I realize what I've done Im eiter in a psychiatric institution or running around like a mad man.
So yay for blissfull ignorance if I ever kill somebody
Thats with no good reason.
If I have a good reason, yes I could kill.

 

[Vykrel]

sure, if i had a good reason to. like if someone put Anders Breivik in front of me and gave me a hand gun and a free pass, i could take him out.

and i dont think there would be any change in my character afterwards. i realize that people are basically just animals, so i would have no problem killing someone who is a TRUE animal.

 

[Whispering Cynic]

Yes. I'd have to have a good reason for it... like self preservation. If someone attempts to kill me I am perfectly comfortable with ending their lives.

Come to think of it, I feel I am capable of doing pretty much anything, given a sufficiently good and rational reason...

 

[Dominic Burchnall]

It the purely mechanical sense, yes. I know the weak points on a human body to kill quickly and with minimum danger to myself.

Ethically, it would be dictated by the situation. Could I kill someone I knew personally? No. Would I kill for money? No. Would I kill if someone was threatening people I cared about with lethal force, or meant them permanent harm? Yes. In that situation, I would have no qualms about killing that person. They threatened people I love, and if it is a choice between sparing their life or saving my friends'/familys', then there is no choice at all.

Just as a point in clarification, when I say I could not kill for money, I mean in the sense of in a civilian envionment. If a war broke out and I was conscripted, or I joined the armed services voluntarily, then I would kill, but it would sit very heavily on my concious. If wounding or maiming was an option, I would prefer to wound or maim.