Ethics Problem #1

[marieldraconis]

Here we go...this is a series of ethical dilemmas posed in a class I'm taking. I want to invite participation of any sort, on any level, because I think this sort of discussion could be fun. That means that anyone who sees this can comment, tell their friends to comment, tell their worst enemies to comment, whatever. The only problem is that people will see your reaction--but if you mind, you can just discuss it in school, with your friends, etc.
Problem #1 has multiple parts. I'll post the first part, let you discuss it, then in a while post my reaction/decision and the second part. So, here we go:

You've known Johnny since pre-school, and hated him just as long. He stole your favorite truck in pre-K, your top prize at the middle school science fair, and in high school, stole your girlfriend--and married her. [feel free to change details and/or genders as appropriate for the situation] You really hate him, and might even think the world would be better off without him in it.
You also have a friend from high school named Larry. No matter how much you hate Johnny, Larry hates him worse. One day, Larry gets his hands on a gun. You walk into a room/deserted alley/forest clearing...and Larry is pointing the gun at Johnny. You may hate Johnny, but you personally don't want to kill him--however, there is the risk that Larry will turn on you if you try to stop him. What do you do?

Comments

[chalavienne.livejournal.com]

I guess for me it would depend upon the exact details of my hatred for Johnny. If those were the only reasons, I would seriously dislike him but not hate him (I personally make a very fine distinction there). If I only seriously disliked him, I would take the risk and disarm Larry. If Johnny had ever seriously harmed someone close to me or was a monster who slaughtered children and drank their blood and made a sofa out of their skins - something extreme like that....I'm not sure. I would be a lot less inclined to intervene.

Although if he had done something that horrible already that I knew of, I probably would have tracked him down and killed him/had him arrested already, and if I let it go long enough that Larry had that chance to kill him, I don't think my motives for hating him would be strong enough to actually stand by and witness his death. So...in that situation, I would almost certainly take the risk and disarm him, because if I truly hated him, Johnny would have already been taken care of some way or another.

[marieldraconis]

I'm not particularly surprised by your choice, and I sympathize with it.

[azn-wanderer.livejournal.com]

save Johnny! Killing is wrong! And you're equally accountable for the murder if you don't try to stop it. Maybe it looks childish (or shockingly Christian) to say you have to stop it even if you hate the victim, but that's my opinion. Who knows...you could have a profound effect on the both of them for the better.

[marieldraconis]

Remember...I'm Christian, too. That will show in my answer.

[fshfsh.livejournal.com]

He doesn't deserve death unless he has, in good conscience, killed another person (or more than one person). Hatred for being a bad person is not reason for death.

[sablemoonsilk.livejournal.com]

I would turn around and walk back the way I came.

The enmity between Larry and Johnny is not my problem, and if I hadn't come along Larry would have continued to do the same thing. Will probably continue to seek chances to kill Johnny even if I did stop him here and now. I am not oathbound to save every single life in the world, no matter what they mean to me either positively or negatively; I would save people's lives only if I was sure I myself wanted to and not pressure from society to do the bland "right thing".

If the law enforcement catches up to Larry and he has to live with the consequences of his actions, good for them. If he never gets caught and has to live with the emotional consequences of his actions, knowing inside something that's hidden from all the rest of society, good for him; he may learn something from it.

Then again, I'm not a nice normal ethical person.

My answer

[marieldraconis]

My answer...my gut-instinct, this is the only way for me to behave answer, is: my actions here have nothing to do with Johnny. Murder is a sin, and murder has, as Kaiya said, emotional consequences. So for Larry's sake--not Johnny's--I should stop Larry from killing Johnny. I believe we are obligated to protect our friends from things that they may do, in the heat of the moment, that will later come back to haunt them. At least on the scale of murder and such.
It may help you to understand my answer if I admit that my second reaction on reading this was to think of my favorite werewolf and a similar problem he was part of. If "Larry" was temporarily insane or somehow couldn't help his actions...and there's no way to know, just from the scenario as given, if that is the case.
Anyway, go comment on Ethics Scenario #1a now.