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If the world ended tomorrow, what would you do?


BunsOnToast

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I don't get the killing thing. Killing someone is pretty much the thing I least want to ever do' date=' and certainly not something I'd do by choice just because I thought I wouldn't get in trouble.[/quote'] Muh, it's easy for me to visualize killing someone. I suspect actually doing it would be much harder and very emotionally scarring. Maybe when I'm older I'll manage to summon up some compassion but as it stands I've got a shocking deficit of that particular virtue. Still, the way the question is framed is an invitation to iniquity. When one removes the consequences for an action I immediately think to myself 'what is the most gratifying sinful thing I could do?' So of course hurting people I hate comes to mind.
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violence is fun ? Anyway the question and thus my answer wasnt 100% serious, if i was to answer seriously i d turn up my music and kill people in an online game(like i did this morning)
Yeah, I get it. Video games are fun, the OP was a kind of dumb hypothetical, none of us would ever be in this situation. But it has gotten a lot of serious responses, and we've had a couple of folks on here advocating violence in the past, and I don't get that and I don't respect it. I'm not the thought police, but I take issue with the urge to casual violence.
Muh' date=' it's easy for me to visualize killing someone. I suspect actually doing it would be much harder and very emotionally scarring. Maybe when I'm older I'll manage to summon up some compassion but as it stands I've got a shocking deficit of that particular virtue. Still, the way the question is framed is an invitation to iniquity. When one removes the consequences for an action I immediately think to myself 'what is the most gratifying sinful thing I could do?' So of course hurting people I hate comes to mind.[/quote'] It is easy to visualize, far too easy if you ask me. The desire for revenge certainly seems ubiquitous. I'm sure nearly everybody has violent thoughts; it's really cool that most people don't act on them. Some people seem far too comfortable with their own judgements about who deserves to live and die. I don't think either the OP or Ghouly's question were an "invitation to iniquity", though... I mean, Ghouly wants to start a "global revolution" (knowing her, one can only assume it's for the greater good :D), Relentless wants to ride his bike, JBaker wants to enjoy some good beer. Deathstorm wants to have a family. If I was in this situation, I don't know what I'd do, but the happiness of the people I love and care about is far more important to me than the misery of people I dislike. My intent isn't to open another can of worms about morality here, but I have to point out that not everybody has an urge to jump right into doing bad stuff as soon as the monitor gets turned off.
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It is easy to visualize, far too easy if you ask me. The desire for revenge certainly seems ubiquitous. I'm sure nearly everybody has violent thoughts; it's really cool that most people don't act on them. Some people seem far too comfortable with their own judgements about who deserves to live and die. I don't think either the OP or Ghouly's question were an "invitation to iniquity", though... I mean, Ghouly wants to start a "global revolution" (knowing her, one can only assume it's for the greater good :D), Relentless wants to ride his bike, JBaker wants to enjoy some good beer. Deathstorm wants to have a family. If I was in this situation, I don't know what I'd do, but the happiness of the people I love and care about is far more important to me than the misery of people I dislike. My intent isn't to open another can of worms about morality here, but I have to point out that not everybody has an urge to jump right into doing bad stuff as soon as the monitor gets turned off.
I don't know how 'cool' it is, it's eminently reasonable not to act on violent thoughts. There are repercussions quite outside the legal; the effect it would have on your social life, your own mind and your family comes to mind as serious. For the most part, the decision not to resort to violence does not betray any significant quantity of moral goodness so much as just the same dose of rationality doled out to most of us. The way the question is framed is 'if you could do something without suffering consequences, what would you do?'. So no negative consequences - no sorrow, no guilt, no legal penalties, no resulting psychosis. That immediately brings iniquity to my mind. Usually the things I want to do that are morally good are also entirely legal and would not weigh upon my conscience, so they are moot as far as this thread is concerned. The thread is not the Mirror Of Erised - if that were the case we might see some happier thoughts - but as it is the question is about removal of negative consequences for action, which are usually the primary motivators for deciding not to do things that are either wrong or irrational. Once the rational inhibitions are released, I would expect to see the darker side of people.
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I'm not trying to explain those responses.
Maybe you should! The first question was about what you would do, either "if the world ended..." (no consequences of any kind for anyone, leaving aside for a minute your belief in eternal consequences for everybody), or "if you were going to die..." (no legal or social consequences for you), followed by some pretty absurd pranks as examples. Ghouly's question was, "if you could do one great act without suffering any repercussions, religious or otherwise, what would it be?" I don't see any bias towards vengeful or malicious acts in those questions. I also don't think anyone in this thread would actually go out and start shooting people if they found out they had terminal cancer or something, or just out of a desire for revenge, but those responses bother me because some people actually do. And again, I disagree with the notion that most people would jump right into being violent and malicious if they found out they wouldn't get in trouble for it. Stars in my eyes? Maybe...
The responses here go every way, which was exactly the intent of the opening post. If you wish to share your views about violence in a serious discussion, please make a new thread.
Oh, come off it. We have all kinds of discussions in every thread, whatever seems pertinent. Half of it's in good fun, the other half is nitpicky bullshit, and you'll just have to learn to love it. :D The last thing I want to do is make a serious thread called "Violence" and have another dragged-out debate about morality, or gun laws, or some other divisive topic. I get that you and Iceni and hopefully metal_nerve aren't going to go out and kill people. But the comments, and the assumptions behind some of them, bother me just the same.
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As to what I'd do, I'd be with my family, and hopefully my close friends; if I had a chance to do a "great act", I'd try to think of something to help my parents, and provide for my wife and kid. If I had time, I'd finish everything I started recording, and complete all of my painting ideas. I don't know enough about IP anymore to make any moves toward world peace and I don't have a solution for hunger or poverty, so that'll have to do.

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Maybe you should! The first question was about what you would do, either "if the world ended..." (no consequences of any kind for anyone, leaving aside for a minute your belief in eternal consequences for everybody), or "if you were going to die..." (no legal or social consequences for you), followed by some pretty absurd pranks as examples. Ghouly's question was, "if you could do one great act without suffering any repercussions, religious or otherwise, what would it be?" I don't see any bias towards vengeful or malicious acts in those questions. I also don't think anyone in this thread would actually go out and start shooting people if they found out they had terminal cancer or something, or just out of a desire for revenge, but those responses bother me because some people actually do. And again, I disagree with the notion that most people would jump right into being violent and malicious if they found out they wouldn't get in trouble for it. Stars in my eyes? Maybe...
I won't address the first question since I'm only trying to explain the motives behind the violent answers to the second - that said, I think the removal of consequences is a moral hazard problem. I think the different answers might lie in the different approaches taken. When I was answering the question I was thinking 'what is the most consequence-riddled thing I could do that would still make me happy?' - in order to make the most use of my ability to escape consequences. However, I think the other answers came from the posters asking themselves 'what is the thing that would make me the happiest but I don't do because the potential consequences are too high?' That is why hurting people I dislike was what first occurred to me, and why tanking up on beer was what JBaker put down. And I don't think this is based on metaphysics, I think this is a personal pathology I can just file away in that bulging, increasingly strained manila folder marked 'My Flaws'. If I had to answer the question using the second approach, I would probably say I'd like to get married. If there are no negative consequences that implies no divorce, adultery or theft - so if you want you can take that as an alternate answer. You know, while I'm dreaming...
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