prosequence

Could you kill someone?
There are sooooo many factors that could be involved... such as war, self defense, anger/rage etc....
Could you? Can you imagine it?

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And now here I stand because of you, Mister Anderson, because of you I'm no longer an agent of the system, because of you I've changed...

irateplatypus

i could. but only if i were convinced that more good would be done, or more evil would be avoided, by my actions.

for instance, if i knew that killing a serial killer would prevent him from killing again... i would do it. the horrible act of killing him would be more bearible than knowing that an innocent person would have to suffer the same fate if i did not act.

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If you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance for survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.

~ Winston Churchill

spived2

I could but only if it meant protecting myself or my loved ones.

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"This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is it vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished, as the once vital voice of the verisimilitude now venerates what they once vilified. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose vis-à-vis an introduction, and so it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V." - V

ForgottenKnight

The sad thing is that right now there is someone I want to kill they've intentionally pissed me off again and again)... buy I know that I couldn't actually kill them.

I think I could if it would somehow do good towards someone or the world, or if they were a direct threat to me. But if it would do no good at all, then no, I couldn't kill them. I don't think that I could kill anyone if there was any way of solving the situation. For example, if there's someone threatening the life of me an many others, and I could kill him, I'd rather talk down the situation or wound him.

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"People say I'm strange, does that make me a stranger?"

Jasmar

If the person was a direct threat to me at that time or int he near future

sailor

Yeah, I think so. If they were posing a direct threat to me or others that I care about, I dont think I would have a problem killing.

This may sound cold, but I have always thought that whenever you bring a weapon into the mix, you open yourself up to the consequences. For example, if someone breaks into my home with a gun and I then shoot him, I feel that he brought it upon himself--had he broken into my home unarmed, he wouldnt have been shot. By introducing a gun into that situation, he opened himself up to the consequences. Once you bring a firearm into the equation, the gloves come off.

I realize that this way of thinking swings both ways--that by my introducing another weapon into that situation, I also open myself up to the consequences. However, I would like to hope that I wouldnt bring a firearm into a situation that didnt already seem to require one (I hesitate to use require, for lack of a better word).

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"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws."
--Plato

CSflim

I find it difficult to answer such a broad hypothetical question.

If it came down to you or me, I would have no problem in killing.

But at the same time, realistically, how often do things really come down to such black and white choices?

Ultimately, try to aim for the situation where nobdy dies. Faling that, then aim for the one where I survive.

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floonine

I don't think I could kill somebody. I like to say that I would die for someone, and I would like to think that I would kill someone to protect my loved ones, but I haven't been in the situation yet. Don't know.

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Political arguments do not exist, after all, for people to believe in them, rather they serve as a common, agreed-upon excuse. Foolish people who take them in earnest sooner or later discover inconsistencies in them, begin to protest and finish finally and infamously as heretics.

Lebell

Yes.

Under the proper set of circumstances, no question about it.

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"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." – C. S. Lewis

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nirol

I have. I am not proud of it, but circumstances required it (Gulf War I). I dont think war gives a special dispensation for killing but it seems to be the only way to solve some problems. I have trouble now even killing bugs if I can avoid it.

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'Tis better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than open one's mouth and remove all doubt.
Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)

seretogis

I think that if it came down to it, our basic animal instinct would kick in and nearly everyone would kill a threat to their family or loved ones. In a "kill or be killed" situation, I would not allow myself to be the one that is killed.

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seretogis - sieg heil
perfect little dream the kind that hurts the most, forgot how it feels well almost
no one to blame always the same, open my eyes wake up in flames

SuperMidget

In self-defense, no problem. In war, no problem.Basically any situation where it is unavaoidable I don't believe I would have a problem. It sounds cold, but there are worse things in life.

Kyo

Could you, or would you? Which is the real question you are trying to ask?

I don't think "could you kill someone" is really much of a question - anyone can kill anyone else. If, for some strange reason, the overwhelming urge suddenly overtook me, I could walk outside, beat someone to death with my bare hands, and go eat lunch all inside of an hour. Some people think that it takes something special and twisted to be able to dispassionately murder someone - to just walk up to some random person and kill them. I don't believe this is true at all.

But would would you kill someone? What's in it for me? Will I be caught? There's no point in just walking out and killing someone, even if you could. You don't gain anything by killing someone, and you run the risk of getting killed yourself or spending the rest of your natural life incarcerated in some dank dungeon.

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Sure I have a heart; it's floating in a jar in my closet, along with my tonsils, my appendix, and all of the other useless organs I ripped out.

sixate

I could easily kill someone. If there were no laws and there was no way I could get in trouble I would rid the world of many worthless idiots. I can name about 50 idiots I work with that I would love to see die, and sometimes I would love to do it. Lucky for them I follow laws.

If someone was attacking me or some people I care about I would kill them with a smile on my face.

Mr. Moe

if it benefited me sure I would

anti fishstick

this struck me as funny because of your username

i could never kill anyone. probably not even for self defense. i would just harm them. or outsmart them.

i don't believe in capital punishment either.

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And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
~Anais Nin

GakFace

Yeah, like I didn't see that one coming.

Personally, I'm sure I could... if I had to. But i'm sure I'd try my damndest to avoid it at all costs. Violence is not something I care for, but sometimes its the only available "option" (not really an option when its the only one). I have yet to get in a fight or get in any type of situation where it would be needed. If it were to arise, I'm sure I'd at least try.

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RoboBlaster:
Welcome to the club! Not that I'm in the club. And there really isn'a a club in the first place. But if there was a club and if I was in it, I would definitely welcome you to it.

thejoker130

Only if I absolutly had to.

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WHAT MORE CAN THE HARVEST HOPE FOR IF NOT FOR THE CARE OF THE REAPER MAN?
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I like you. When the world is mine your death will be quick and painless.

Smoey

to everybody that says they could kill someone, make sure that you shoot them twice, or pull the trigger twice. If you only fire one shot, it may look accidental, but twice there no way you can accidently pull twice, handguns are the worst invention ever?

Darkeryet

Done it before and will do it again.



MUHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAA!





Seriously, If my family was in danger or my life was threatend I would and could.

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Darkeryet

rogue49

Yep...and that's what's scary about it.
Emotions can control you.

But lack of empathy is even scarier.

I think that's what stops me in my tracks,
I empathize about the other person and their life.
However, some people don't deserve it,
and have used up their quota in life by their own cruelty.

I do believe in justice.

hy_

I would; actually, I know how, with my bare hands.

Only if I had to, obviously, as a way of defense or if someone did something to my kids, I'd get really pissed, maybe to the point of killing if it was necessary.

mml

I hope that I never have to, but given the right circumstances (self-defence, protecting family, war), yes I believe I and most humans could and would kill. I think the violence throughout human history proves this.

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Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so."
-Douglas Adams

gremlinx8

Perhaps if the circumstances were right I could kill someone, but even worse than killing them, would have to be living with myself for killing them. That would be so much worse than the actual deed.

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Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted. -Lennon

prosequence

I'm afraid to say I could kill someone without a lot of thought.
As long as there was sufficient reason (obviously) I believe I would.

__________________
And now here I stand because of you, Mister Anderson, because of you I'm no longer an agent of the system, because of you I've changed...

xtreemmar1ne

Absolutely without a doubt. First I'd start with the little punk that murdered my girlfriend. Also, if there were a situation where my life, that of my fellow Marines, or my loved ones were in danger and the only way to prevent it was to kill the other person.....I'd drop them in their tracks. Sounds cold I know, but once they've taken it to that point, they've brought it on themselves.

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A true gentleman believes that others are more important than he, that kindness is not a sign of weakness, and that respect is a necessity.

MahlerIsGod

Yes. Put my family or loved ones in danger and I wouldn't hestiate to take a bat to anyone's head. Barbaric? Sure. But that's life

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"But a work of art is a conscious human effort that has to do with communication. It is that or its nothing. When an accident is applauded as a work of art, when a cult grows up around the deliciousness of inadvertent beauty, we are in the presence of the greatest decadence the West has known in its history."

Kyo

I don't understand why all of you seem to believe that the capacity to kill is somehow evil or barbaric. You seem to need to defend your willingness to kill by attaching restrictive and defensible conditions ("ONLY in self defense, or to protect my loved ones"). And even then, some of you seem ashamed to admit it, or are afraid that others might think less of you because you are willing and able to take the lives of others.

I claim there is nothing wrong with it, nor is there any need to attach such useless conditions. The capacity to kill is within each and every one of us - but we have inhibited the cold-blooded murderer with layers and layers of civilized behavior and 'proper upbringing.' I may never actually kill anyone in my entire life, but I know without a doubt that I could kill the next person I see on the street, for no reason at all and not have any problem with it - and I'm sure that a lot of you could too.

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Sure I have a heart; it's floating in a jar in my closet, along with my tonsils, my appendix, and all of the other useless organs I ripped out.

shileno

i agree...it would be really hard for me to kill someone but i would do it if i have to protect myself or loved ones

drewg

I think there are very few people in this world I wouldn't kill to save myself. I probably wouldn't feel to good about it, but I think I'd still do it.

pocon1

The less chance there is for thinking, the more likely I would be to kill someone. You come into my house with my family home, you die. You attack me on the street, you die. I get drafted into the military and you are the enemy, you die. The more opportunities I have to thnk, the less likely I would want to kill someone. There is no one I now personally that I would want to kill. But my neighbor was attacked by a masked, knife-wielding man during the summer in her garage(she came out ok, just a few small scars on her leg), and if I had come home an hour earlier and encountered him, then I would have attacked and tried to beat him to death. It is a simple fact that anyone who was this premeditated to hurt someone will not even have the opportunity to waste averyone's time with a jury trial. And I would not feel guilty.

Eldaire

Ugh, it makes me feel dirty just to think about it. I understand it though and I don't condemn those to do. Don't get me wrong, I take the Vash stance on killing. "When you stop to think about it, there are plenty of ways to save everybody."

Kyo

Vash is an idiot. You cannot save everyone. And even if you could, it would not nearly be worth the effort, quite frankly. Knives had it right - spiders eat butterflies. To save one, the other must die.

Vash's philosophy is exactly what made me hate Trigun as much as I do. Rem and her moronic idealism completely ruined an otherwise excellent anime.

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Sure I have a heart; it's floating in a jar in my closet, along with my tonsils, my appendix, and all of the other useless organs I ripped out.

Torinn

I don't think you can save everyone, but you can definitely decide not to kill someone if you don't want to (when given time to think). There is likely a condition for anyone in which they would kill. It kinda troubles me, but my conditions could probably be met fairly easily. The only way it would bother me at decision time is if the person were innocent, but a "greater good" would be served. I don't think I could kill 1 innocent to save 50.

If you had to kill someone then so be it, but those things are never easy to handle mentally. As has already been said, If you have time to think, you have time for alternatives, but when you are in the heat of the moment, don't be so sure that you won't kill. Having experienced an intense attack, I will tell you, the urge to defend yourself is so overwhelming that if you have the power, don't expect that you won't use it, and that can include killing.

dragon2fire

yea i could kill some one

wannabenakid247

I could in extreme circumstances such as protecting myself, my family or any innocent people. If the person was dangerous and this would prevent anything worse happening. However it would be horrible having to do it and I don't know if i could live with myself as happily after the event.

Thats a really good question.

taliendo

no i couldn't kill anyone.

If i were in war and two hundred enimy troops were rushing towards me guns blazing, i would raise my weapon and fire endlessly into the sky. maybe better luck in the next life....

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-LIFE IS ABSURD-

meembo

I have little doubt that anyone is incapable of killing, given the right circumstance. Survival is a very powerful, visceral force. This isn't to say our beliefs aren't compelling, but in the right circumstances we revert to what we are in our "reptilian brain", organisms driven to survive.

Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" is a great illustration to me of what's in people, and how and why we become "dark"

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less I say, smarter I am

Kyo

Natural selection weeds out people like you - an inability to protect oneself is equivalent to an inability to live. Fortunately for those like you, civilization is holding nature in check.

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Sure I have a heart; it's floating in a jar in my closet, along with my tonsils, my appendix, and all of the other useless organs I ripped out.

water_boy1999

I, like the most of you, would kill under the most extreme purposes. If something bad were to happen to my family and I was there, I think my emotions would take over my immediate reasoning and I would definitely and thoroughly handle the situation. I consider myself to be a mild mannered and peaceful man, but there are lines that can not be crossed. Up until that point, I would do everything I could to avoid a confrontation.

The thread asks, "Kill or be killed?" Well Duh! Kill baby!

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Doh!!!!


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