Kill or be killed
 

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?

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.

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

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.

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

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).

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.

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.

Yes.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

if it benefited me sure I would

:lol: this struck me as funny because of your username :D

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

i don't believe in capital punishment either.

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.

Only if I absolutly had to.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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."

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.

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.

yea i could kill some one

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.

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....

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"

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.

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!

Yes, I could kill.

I have not been tested on this, but I'm sure I will within about 2-4 years. I just joined the Army ROTC, and will be deployable within 2 years.

Will I like killing? I don't think so. I at least sincerely hope that I won't like it. But I do believe that I can do it.

It is almost a scary feeling, knowing that you have the power to compel yourself to kill...

But sometimes ugly things are neccesary.

I'm with the majority; I would always choose to kill in order to preserve my life or another innocent's life (especially of those I love).

I'd rather live with my decision of killing a potential killer than if there was an innocent person who was killed and I had the potential to stop that action from ocurring. (run-on :\)

I also agree that it is scary to think of the power that I (or even any other person) have to kill. I could choose, throughout the course of the day, to kill just about anyone. If a 'chose' to drive my car into a busy office building, I could very well do that... and end up with deaths.

I'm not a dark person at all, I can just see the potential that any given person has to kill. I'm sure most people have thought of something like this at some point... so don't view me as a morbid, psychotic killer or something. :)

Still, hard to say whether I would hesitate enough to get me killed. In Viet-Nam, I and many of my outfit were not inclined to kill and even omitted carring M-16 for personal defense...I once drove a chaplan from Dong Ha to a camp up in the hills late in the afternoon, both unarmed. But 99% of the time I was armed(a medic) but more afraid of mines and RPGs. Things haven't changed much. However, as a parent, I am confident there would be zero hesitation with someone endangering a child.

Ooooooohhhhh... my antithesis. My yang. Cool. I wish I could meet you in person.

I am saddened to say that yes, I would kill if the circumstances warranted. Would I revel in it? No! Would I hesitate at some crucial moment? Probably. I think that in a situation that would limit your options to kill or be killed the adrenalin would be thick in your blood and you would do about anything for self preservation or the lives of those you love.

At this point, I can't resist cautioning you with the old cliche, "Be careful what you wish for ..."

I think you said in another post "Civilization weeds out people like you" to someone who said they couldn't kill.

With regard to the first quote - dude, you need help (I hope i didn't put my location in my profile.

as far as the second - to the contrary, civilization weeds out people like you (I hope they fry John Mohammed and Lee Malvo).

yes.. i could kill someone.. but only in the kill or be killed circumstance... but to jus randomly kill someone.. no..

First, I think that if people really looked in themselves, the capacity to kill - for any reason at all - is there. Over the years, we build up a shield, or container, if you will, over this capacity, either out of fear, denial, or social pressure (after all, nobody likes a serial killer).

My point is that everyone can kill, for any reason. It is my belief that this is not a special quality, but a trait intrinsic in all living things. It is simply another animal instinct that we have tried to hide and supress, as opposed to the instinct of lust, which we have allowed to flourish.

Therefore, there is nothing extraordinary about the ability to kill random people without guilt or conscience. Actually committing the act complicates things, but simply have the ability to do it, without actually doing it, means little.

As for your second comment, it depends on what you mean by civilization, a distinction which I admittedly failed to address. People who are unable to kill are unable to defend themselves and therefore unfit to live. The only reason people can manage to live without committing such acts against each other is the structure of laws and the universal moral brainwashing of our children. We are taught that killing is wrong, therefore we are less likely to do it, even when the urge is upon us. We are told that murder will result in incarceration or death if we are caught, therefore we are less likely to do it. So in one sense, today's society does indeed weed out murderers and other deviants.

However, consider the other side of the coin. Serial killers routinely prey on helpless, innocent individuals. They will not, for instance, go after mafia bosses or professional bodyguards. They go for the little 12 year-old boy living next door, the housewife down the street, or the petite 18-year old girl at the local mall.

If you take everything into account, you will find that society, and those within society, have a way of 'weeding out' all manners of people - the only difference being the method in which they are extracted.

And even then, we are talking about modern society - if you consider societies in both distant and near history, might makes right is not uncommon. Not so long ago, arguments were solved with duels, in both hemispheres of the world, and perfectly legal killings in the streets for what we consider today to be trivial things were commonplace. On a larger scale, wars are a direct measure of a country's ability to fight and destroy another. To paraphrase a fairly well-known quote, the West is dominant today not because of the superiority of its morals but because of its ability to apply organized violence. Therefore, we have applied our western morals and beliefs on those that we have defeated, and demanded that they acknowledge our superiority in all matters.

Quite simply, we are here today because of our collective capacity to kill one another.

All of your posts have suggested that there is in each an everyone of us an innate capacity to kill for no reason at all - an animal instict (i believe you called it) that is suppressed by years of social moray's and "proper upbringing."

The only instict that comes into play in this realm is survival. That is found in every animal species, not the instinct to kill for no reason at all. Animals obviously don't/can't justify when they kill, because, well - their animals. But name me one animal species that kills randomly and is not motivated by one of the conditions you mentioned above that you trivialize and write off as some sort of defense mechanism to suppress our instinct to kill randomly and go eat lunch at the local deli with a second thought.

One animal species? Humans, of course.

Do you deny that humans we, as a race, are attracted to violence? The sight of blood has stirred the beasts of humans and animal alike for countless centuries. My guess is that animals do not kill more often because they lack the capacity to enjoy it. Just as they do not spend all of their time procreating, they do not kill when it is not somehow necessary, according to their genetic and environmental programming. Humans, on the other hand, do not lack such capacity, and tend to engage in what we find pleasurable whenever an opportunity presents itself.

We, as a race, enjoy fighting. Violence sells as well as sex. We have perfected sports, martial arts, and various other non-lethal activities as substitutes for true combat - a gentleman's fight, in other words. It is obvious that somewhere within our minds, there is a trigger that equates violence with pleasure, so long as said violence is not inflicted upon ourselves (though to some, it is pleasureable even then).

If you read Lord of the Flies, or watched any movies that expanded on the primary thrust of that novel, do you find it so unreal and terrifying that children could kill so easily? That people who might have once called each other friend now hunted one another like game? Certainly, those who live in modern society might find it disturbing, but it would be naive to think it unreal. To kill simply because we are able is not such a strange and remarkable thing.

We can consider this from a different angle. A concience is developed - it is not innate. There are no such things as a priori morals. Right and wrong must be taught. Therefore, our view that killing is wrong is actually a massive social brainwashing - for our benefit, certainly, but a brainwashing nonetheless. There is no way for you to say that, beyond any doubt and with absolute authority that killing is wrong. No, that's simply what you believe. What you, and everyone around you, has been told since the day you were born.

Because this is so, we must consider all morals to be additions - not innate. Therefore, the actions that they were designed to inhibit must be innate - we are taught that hurting others is cruel and wrong, therefore we stop. Otherwise, we would continue to hurt others. Children can be surprisingly cruel before they are taught sufficient moral responsibility to feel bad about what they are doing. I argue, then, that the capacity to kill is no different. A child who has not been taught any morals can kill anyone without guilt - someone who has no concience can act at a whim.

yes easily in a second, but only in a situation where it was justified, and the consequences would be minimal.

The only reason I dont is because its socialy unacceptable...

Actually, I think I might have a little difficulty, not much mind you, but some, unless someone elses life (or my life) was in danger.

Could I execute someone? Probably, but Id need some convincing before I could convince myself it was the right thing to do.

"One animal species? Well humans of course"

Ya know you've said alot. Every sentence you say i've got at least two or three things to say back too, but what it boils down to is again...you need help.

If you're not playing the devils advocate (which i kinda think you might be), you are one demented soul. So I'm gonna try to simplify this. You said in the first quote killing for any reason at all is a trait intrinsic in all living things. You have made it perfectly clear that YOU can kill anything for any reason, and tried to justify you're feelings as being again "something intrinsic in all living things." So you should have no probs coming up with another living thing that does this.

It doesn't require 3 paragraphs either. It's real simple, this is the crux of your argument. My argument is that your demented. All the 3 syllable words in the world that go nowhere is not gonna make your viewpoint any more ligitimate.

Get Help!!

if it was between life and death, and depending on the reasons, who it is, etc... i could prob kill them