Introspection, Fishy's Moral Dilemmas thread

[Fishy]

We used to have a game like this on the Sanctum, but I can't for the life of me remember the name, introspection...I changed the title ~Skwid~ so it's back with a new name....

The game pretty much explains it self.

I create a moral dilemma somebody answers how they would deal with it and creates a new one...

Easy, so here's one to start.

You have a young daughter five years old terribly sick, doctors say she won't live long a few years at most, but then the doctors find a medicine it might cure the child. Problem is that it's highly experimental, nobody knows if it will work. They estimate a 10% chance, 10 more then she has now. Downside is however that she will be pretty much unable to do anything during the treatment.

What do you do?

[sween]

I don't know if this thread allows a question, but assuming that it does, and assuming an answer, I'll give it a shot.

Assuming that treatment won't last an extremely long time, I'd go with the medicine. In my opinion, a small chance is better than no chance at all, and that chance is worth taking. Seeing as the daughter is only five years old, she won't be missing out on much, just being able to be a happy child. And to me, the possibility of the child living longer would be the happiest outcome of all.

A young man lives with his mother, who suffers from near insanity and paranoia. She controls his life to the point of not allowing him to go outside and have a social life, but rather forcing him to stay indoors all of the time. He has friends that he cannot see, and he slowly realizes that he'll be stuck caring with his mother for the rest of her life, as she is unable to take care of herself. However, he wants freedom and happiness, as he is anything but happy. Unfortunately, since he is all that his mother has, he fears that if he leaves home, she will do something drastic. However, if he stays, he will be stuck without a life and unhappy for a very long time.

This post has been edited by sween on Apr 26 2007, 04:13 PM

[Nokomis]

Insanity-legal term, not a clinical term, meaning if found sane by court of law said person knows difference between right and wrong. If found insane by court of law, does not know the difference between right and wrong.

Even so, with the paranoia, I will assume that you mean the mother has a disabling mental illness. Does her son have any medical training in order to correctly deal with her illness? If she is so bad off that she can not be left alone, he should take pains to find a good hospital, or other living arangements that have qualified staff on hand to properly take care of her. He could and should visit her when he is not fullfilling his own needs for a social life.

To have to take care of someone in such a mental state when one is not even qualified, is not fair to either party. However, it is understandable for people who have no access to quality care, due to lack of funds or lack of actual quality care to not take that route. In that case, he should look for other avenues, such as, other family, church, friends, and the such to help out. The alternative is for him to become a social recluse, against his wishes. That would most likely end up as two mentally unstable people living in the same house, with the possibility that he would become resentful of his mother and harm her.

It would be the fun house at Halloween. Psycho!



Moral Dilema:

Your sibling, be it brother or sister, completely misunderstands something that you did and this misunderstanding creates much hostility and anger. Your sibling will not budge in any way to figure out what actually happened or to try to work this out. Do you stand your ground and give up the relationship, even though it's affecting the whole family, (i.e., you could lose more family relationships over the distress) or do you give in and pretend that your sibling was correct just to keep the family peace?

This post has been edited by Nokomis on Apr 26 2007, 04:40 PM

[Skwid]

I wouldn't even consider giving up my stance, if I knew I was right. Someone else's misunderstanding is exactly that...their misunderstanding. I would explain my position to the family members (or anyone else) that it may be affecting, if for no other reason than to give them another side of the story. If my sibling doesn't want to listen to reason, and possibly make things amicable again, then to hell with 'em.

You find something out about a co-worker. This 'info' can be particularly damaging to their life (i.e. marriage, job, etc) if it gets into the wrong hands. It doesn't affect you in any way...but you don't particularly like this person, either. In fact, you wouldn't exactly shed a tear if they were to be fired and/or left for dead. Still...setting out to destroy someone isn't exactly a Good Thing to do.

Do you let what you know slip out to a few 'choice' people, or do you keep your mouth shut and hope someone else finds out on their own?

[Looshkin]

In a heart-beat. Let them rot and their families too. If I hate you, I don't wish for bad things to happen to just that individual, I wish death and ruin upon their families and loved ones.

There is someone is rl who I would be more than happy to destroy in this manner. This person cost me the last job I had, and I wish that he dies a horrible, horrible death, and his ugly girlfriend and his annoying family.

On a lighter note -

You have had a disagreement with your father in your youth, and over the years the void between the two of you has grown. For many years you have had little contact with him and when you do meet it always ends in a major arguement.

One day you receive a call. Your father is on life support after an accident, leaving him bed-ridden for what remains of his life.

When you get there, he asks forgiveness from you, but refuses to give any of his own. He then asks you to end his suffering by pulling the plug, as he doesn't want to live as a vegetable.

Do you pull the plug and end his suffering by letting him die with dignity?
Do you pull the plug out of malice?
Do you keep him on life support, and pay for his medical costs, after all, he is your father?
Or do you keep him on life support as your final say in the arguement, prolonging his agony deliberatley?

[El Stormo]

I'll pull the plug and forgive him, but I will tell him that if he can't forgive me, then he'll simply be admitting he was wrong. Still, just because he won't do the right thing doesn't mean I don't have to.


A friend you know and care for has really let himself go lately, due to depression. He stopped bathing and caring for himself, but somehow he still wants a social life. He doesn't have many friends and he's counting on you to help him rebuild his social network. However, due to his bad hygiene and social ineptitude, he has a bad reputation, and this reputation will doubtless rub off on you, not to mention the fact that someone with bad hygiene isn't exactly pleasurable to be around either. Telling him to go wash is not an option, since the slightest bit of criticism, no matter how carefully worded, could break him mentally. Do you take it to the chin for someone you care about, or do you cut him out of your life so you don't lose any other friends?

[Fishy]

I'd try to do some social activities with a few of my more understanding friends a few times. Not to much not to often and definitely not to long or something I would be required to be near him for. If he wouldn't start showering or shaving after a very small time I would tell him to either do it and stop being such a whiny bastard or lose the only friend he has left...

No personal hygiene just freaks me out hugely...

You have a large family that has a hard time getting money, your job is the only thing that gives them shelter food and all that stuff. You are already living in a welfare home and have been declared bankrupt. Your current employer was nice enough to hire you.

You however find out that the company you work for is dumping chemical waste illegally in water nearby a school and a large farmland, you know this will hurt the entire town and make many people sick. You luckily enough don't live in this town. Going public with this information would no doubt make the company go bankrupt and make you lose your only job. Confronting your boss will just get you fired, so what do you do? Confront him, spill it to the press or just leave it be and take care of yourself and your family first?

[Skwid]

I'd try and cut a deal with the press first. I'd at least see if they could hook me up with some work in trade of info. That failing, I'd go straight to the local authorities, even if it meant losing my job. I figure the 'human interest' stories that would come out of it would likely present some more opportunities for jobs. The important thing is that the company be stopped from what they're doing.

In need of money, you are offered a chance to make some extra coin dealing marijuana. The person giving you this opportunity says that if you do a good job, they'll promote you up to selling some of the harder stuff. By year's end, they say you could end up making an excess of $100,000 a year or more, depending on how good you are. Your main focus would be local schools and hangouts, obviously. You've known this person a long time, so you trust their word. The reason you know them, however, is that this person is your girl/boyfriend's mother/father. They urge you to keep it to yourself, however, and not tell your 'partner'.

Do you take the 'job'? Do you rat them out to your partner? To the police? Or just smile, nod and be on your way...

[Fishy]

Well the first thing isn't illegal here, but I still wouldn't do it. It may be legal but I don't do drugs and don't feel like having anything to do with them. I don't know if I would tell my partner, depends on what kind of person she is really.

If she's anything like my ex girlfriends then yes I would tell her. She would want to know. If she however probably wouldn't care, then I would have no real reason to tell her.

You are Harry S. Truman, just before the nuclear bombs are ready to be dropped on Japan.

You however are fully aware of the effects that these weapons will have, do you still drop them to end the war, or do you decide to end the war the normal way? Knowing full well that you will win anyway?

[Teek]

Any war is a waste of human life. With that said though I see that if I did NOT drop the bomb I would only have 2 alternatives: Remain to keep sending poor innocent youths to their death for years to come because japan wouldn't back down so easily and were more fierce and determined fighters, or eventually withdrawing support to save troops lives and focusing on a 'home defense' tactic.

This really is a tough question because you have to take your own sworn enemy into consideration over your own people. I feel that deep down I would choose not to drop the bomb because to many civilians were involved with it and innocent deaths are always a pitiful outcome of war. It is one thing to give one's life to a cause and be willing to die for it, but for the common people, MOST, no matter how patriotic they claim to be would choose not to fight unless directly threatened with death.

--I've kinda missed these--

What's better: To live solely for the joy of onesself or to deny thyself for the greater good of others?

[Fishy]

The second is better, but pretty much the same as the first. You wouldn't do the second if it wouldn't make you feel good as hell about yourself. People are selfish like that even when helping other people. Still being selfish by helping others is a hell of a lot better then being selfish and not helping others.

- You have a young daughter, five or six years old, she was raped by somebody that is set free by the court. You of course do not want to accept this, but know that if you kill him in revenge you'll go to jail for life, and your daughter will go into foster care as you are the only family she left. Do you let him go in order to give your daughter a life with you her family instead of strangers? Or do you kill him because you want to see justice done?

[Teek]

I'd leave him alive to be there for my daughter because she needs me more there to help her deal with the catastophe of being raped. I would ofcourse be glad to have someone deal with him in prison for me so he doesn't totally escape justice.

You sleep with a girl on the first date and find out she's really not what you want to be around. She comes to you later saying she's preggo tho you know she sleeps around. The timing's about right so it 'might' be yours, then again maybe not. Do you step up and be there for her till you can find out one way or another or tell her to fuck off completely till she can prove it?

[Fishy]

I'd hope I would be there for her until she can prove it's hers, I would definitely require prove though and would tell her honestly that I don't want a relationship with her. So I'd just try to be her friend. That shouldn't be to hard I hope.

- One day you are staying in a hotel and open the door to the wrong room, inside you find a famous politician having sex with a hooker. You know that bringing out this story will make you rich, but it will also ruin the politician his reputation. Normally you wouldn't even think about it, because you really like this politician his idea's, but you also desperately need the money.

Talking to the politician and asking him for some money to keep it quiet is not an option as you can't reach him anymore. What do you do?

[Teek]

Let the guy alone and live his life. Blackmail is petty no matter what the reward is, so is the cost because eventually it'll come out and people will dig through your own past.

You're out late and have been drinking heavily while driving down a backroad in the middle of the woods. Suddenly you feel a thump along side of your car and stop to examine the situation thinking you had just struck a deer. You realize you had just ran into a homeless looking man on the side of the road. Do you go for help or try to justify leaving him there and going home to cover the evidence?

[Fishy]

I'd hope I would call the police, knowing me when I'm drunk though I would probably keep on driving. Bah it would suck anyway as I never even got behind the wheel with one beer let alone stand drunk... Good thing is that there is a reasonable chance I wouldn't remember the next day, that would surely make the guilt go away fast. If I would, I would call the police anyway... I hope

You are alone on a large field when a UFO lands before you, the alien inside has a magical power cause he's ET come back, and he offers you two choices.

1.) You would be happy your entire live, have everything you could ever need and your children and everybody you care about would profit.

2.) You get the cure for Aids...

Which one do you want?