(I'm not sure if there's already a thread on this)
Okay guys, I want to know, and answer this truthfully.
If your best friend or boy/girl friend was about to be shot and you knew it, but you couldn't push them out of the way, would you take the bullet for them? Or would you let them die?
I thought this was an interesting question, and I wanted to see how you guys would react to it.
(btw, I think this belongs here because it has to do with your friends and the value of your own life)

Oh yeah, and BarabiSama, COME AT ME BRO!
Just kidding, Ily, but please if you guys think this is in the wrong board (I thought either here or random) please tell me and I'll move it.

It belongs here :O

If my legs weren't frozen with fear - which they shouldn't be, mainly because I've handled a gun before - then I would take the bullet, friend or foe. I don't want to see blood. I don't want to see someone hurt nor killed in front of me. The emotional pain of not taking the bullet would eat me up worse than the physical pain that the bullet would have caused, and I don't feel like forever regretting that one horrible decision. I'd rather not always feel some inner guilt regarding someone's death.

>>3 Well, not friend or foe, but rather friend or stranger. If it was a horrible person who deserved to be shot, I wouldn't save them. I wouldn't be feeling guilt after if I helped rid the world of anyone who I felt deserved such punishment.

To be honest, I don't have good friends, but I'll still take the bullet because it's in my nature to sacrifice myself for others.

I would take the bullet but not in anywhere vital, I have been shot, and I am the only one of my friends that can get up from it. everyone else can not stand the pain.

I'd take a bullet for anyone. In all honesty, I always put others before myself so, whether that person was my bestfriend or not I'd take a bullet.

As with everyone who commented on my thread, I would take the bullet for them.I don't exactly have a high respect for myself,plus I have a feeling anyone else I know can't handle pain at all.It both makes me happy and sad that everyone so far would sacrifice themselves.

hmmm... a morality thread. I would push them out of the way. they're my friend, so if I got in the same situation, I would trust them to do the same, and >>7 that miiight not be the best approach

>>9 unfortunately for you, as I stated before, you cannot push them out of the way.
So, take the bullet (with the possibility of death),or let them die?

I believe that I'd want to take the bullet for them; however, I don't know if my body would move in a situation like that. I believe that in situations regarding life and death, you must act before thinking so I doubt anyone would because I don't think many people have it in them to actually be generous enough to give their life. I have little faith in humanity. Again, I want to say that i would take the bullet, but until im in that situation its all up for grabs.

Yeah I probably would. I always pretend I'm a superhero like Superman, Spiderman, or Batman. I don't think I'd even do it mainly because they are my friend but also just to be living my fantasy.

i would take the bullet but have it hit my shoulder or leg or something. knowing that my friend would rush me to the hospital seeing is how i saved there life. or is you try to push them away the bullet is too fast and will hit you in the and right? just slide and knock your friend down that way the bullet will hit something else.
i know sounds stupid right. but its just a fun thought

I love philosophy, and because of that, I like to incorporate it into my answers. There are three generalized fields of morality, (a branch of philosophy) descriptive, normative, and applied.

In its descriptive sense, "morality" refers to personal or cultural values, codes of conduct or social mores. It does not connote objective claims of right or wrong, but only refers to that which is considered right or wrong.

In its normative sense, "morality" refers to whatever (if anything) is actually right or wrong, which may be independent of the values or mores held by any particular peoples or cultures.

Applied ethics is the philosophical examination, from a moral standpoint, of particular issues in private and public life that are matters of moral judgment. It is thus a term used to describe attempts to use philosophical methods to identify the morally correct course of action in various fields of human life. Applied ethics is distinguished from normative ethics, which concerns what people should believe to be right and wrong, because it asks what action would be considered moral.

Given the question, the third category seems the best fit despite also being able to fit into normative, and to some degree descriptive.

Much of applied ethics is concerned with just three theories:

1) utilitarianism, where the practical consequences of various policies are evaluated on the assumption that the right policy will be the one which results in the greatest happiness.

2) deontological ethics, notions based on 'rules' i.e. that there is an obligation to perform the 'right' action, regardless of actual consequences.

3) virtue ethics, derived from Aristotle's and Confucius's notions, which asserts that the right action will be that chosen by a suitably 'virtuous' agent.

If this is accepted to be true, than these three principles help explain what course of action we should take, absent of what we actually take.

I feel as though a utilitarian outlook best answers the question for me because it emphasizes the end based results rather than the present action, i.e., the ends justify the means so long as they out-weight the negative consequences.

>>14 I would take the bullet so long as it's utilitarian to do so.

...

I would take the bullet.

Hey guys, I want to do something extra:
Explain why you would do what you chose?What's your reasoning?

>>18 hmmm I guess its because, I'm not afraid to die and I know were I'm going when I die so I would want the person I took a bullet for to be able to live on their lives happily. I believe that you should always put others before yourself even if it means losing your lufe in the process.

Bump

I would take the bullet. In all honesty, I don't ever think I'll find that special person who makes you feel like life's worth living. So in all probability, this scenario would never happen.

But seriously, why wouldn't you take the bullet? This person is potentially the only person who makes your life worth living. The only reason why you wouldn't take the bullet is if you don't want to see your special someone mourn you, and you'd rather shoulder the grief than let them take it. But that's just a bs reason, and from what I scanned from this thread, most people took the bullet.

But what most people would do is take the bullet, but in a non-fatal manner (like in a limb or just not in the head/heart/excessively-bleeding-part). But I'd take it fatally. If this guy who wants to kill, well, wants to kill, and if he just sees an injured person then that would aggravate him and kill both hostages etc., then just give the dumb fuck the satisfaction and get killed. At least you don't see whether the guy's gonna kill your beloved, because you're already dead.

Gosh, this just sounds callous. But these are my thoughts

Lets hear you all lie

I'd take the bullet because I believe that it's probably the best thing to do. I don't believe in any God or anything but I do believe there is a way the universe should be. Especially since it's someone I love...
>>22 I would take a bullet for you.

>>22 This actually made me lol, just because it's probably so very true.

Fuck them, I'm getting the hell outta that situation.

That is if I don't get incredibly scared to the point that my legs won't move. Which is more likely to happen.

>>22 I actually thought similarly. But not all of them, maybe some said the truth.
I thought (just my opinion, no offense to anyone) that when we read the "what-would-you-do" question, we all used our first impulse that is to do the "right thing". And without even considering the conditions and what will we really do we answered the "right answer"
(just like in my old tests where there is a question: When your friend tripped and fell, what do you do?
a. Laughed at him/her
b. Helped him/her get up
c. Ignored him/her
d. Laughed then helped him/her
I will be honest that my answer is d. But we all know the right answer is b. And on the paper I wrote b as that the right answer. This is what I mean.)
Then for me, I would also say that I'll take the bullet without thinking because knowing that I could save my best friend and not doing it hurts.
And when the situation calls (if it will ever happen) I won't know if I'll act like my answer as in this kind of situation we acted first then think about it.
Or maybe if the situation is the same as my imagination (the shooter was beside or near me), I would tackle him/her or do something that will make the person miss his/her aim.

I want to know why they couldn't move and know that if I took the bullet and died that they wouldn't get shot anyways because they were part of some scheme that could ultimately kill even more people. It sounds selfish, but I don't want to die knowing that it was to help someone I knew to end the world. It might happen. Either that or I'm just paranoid.

No matter what, I'd take it for someone younger than I was or my family. I'd probably take it for someone who couldn't move
because of a physical disorder ...

If I had to guess though, nobody would take a
bullet for me. Even if they knew me, they'd
just move on to mourn my death. I'm not
saying that I'd be sad over having to die and
watch people standing around figuring that
at least one of them could've saved me. I
would understand why they'd just stand there, some of them screaming. After all, most of us are only human. If anyone else died, there would be the same reaction, just a different way of playing out.

So if someone ends up taking a bullet and dying for someone else and dies, I'd hope it was for the right reasons. If they take it and live, I'm glad you were brave enough. And if you were merely human in a situation like that, nobody should blame you. If somebody dies they die.

>>28 sorry the paragraphs got all weird.

I think no matter how much I loved or cared about that person, I'd be too scared to do to anything and I have an intense fear of dying, so I'd let them die. I can deal with the emotional guilt that comes after. -_-...I'm an awful person.

my heart says yes... my mind says no

>>6 Whoa. Badass over here.

I would honestly let them die.
Because fuck that.
I don't have friends for this exact reason. Friends get you in to a whole mess of silliness.

let them die. they fucked themselves bigtime to get shot.

>>33 have you never heard of robbery gone wrong? Seriously

all depends i love the girl yes im just dating the girl no

This is an extremely old thread, only reason I'm bringing it up to the top is because I love morality and people's true nature. I want to see what new members would do in a situation like this.

As for me I when I read the OP I understand it to mean that if they were to die from being shot the bullet would kill me as well. Why would you think otherwise? In the context of this situation I understand it to be something like a gunman has you and your best friend or partner tied to different chairs and is going to shoot one of you in the head to kill you, your choice. This scenario meets the parameters that someone will die no matter what and you can't avoide the issue by pushing the other person out of the way. Understand the scenario your own way, to each your own, in my head this seems the most logical.

Now if it were me I'd have my best friend shot instead and if it were a lover I'd also have them shot. My desire for self preservation is too great, sure I'd grieve (more for a lover) but I'd move forward. I'd probably feel guilty for a good 2 years afterward and find it hard to grow attached to others for a while, but I'm not the self scraficing type. Pyt me in a life and death situation and I'll do anything to live. My life means more than anything I own or anyone I currently know. I truly am self centered and self prioritizing.