the case. You're starting to confuse me. Please, gather your thoughts before we resume."
Not liking the direction this is taking, I decide to stop the conversation. I shouldn't have to explain why killing is wrong... well, why it sometimes is when other times it isn't.
God damnit. Now I'm getting confused! I think about the lady’s dog, and that makes me think about her family. They'd have no problem explaining why what he did was wrong... Ah ha! "It's wrong because it hurts people. That woman’s family is going to suffer years of pain because of what you did."
"Okay. So since her loved ones will be devastated by her death, that makes it wrong."
"Exactly."
"Huh... but doesn’t that contradict what you said before, about the situations where killing is okay? If killing is wrong because of the pain it causes others, how would you justify killing me to stop me from killing that woman? Despite what I was about to do, killing me would still cause my loved one’s grief, so wouldn't that still make it wrong?"
"Um... not necessarily. If that was the only way I could have stopped you, then-"
"Then what, it becomes okay to hurt those who care for me because of something I was about to do? What if torturing one of them was the only way to stop me, would that have been okay?"
I pause, trying to think. The stranger doesn't wait.
"Or what if that woman was a bitch, and her family, and everyone else who knew her for that matter, are elated by her passing? Would it still have been wrong then?"
"That seems a little farfetched."
He shakes his head dismissively. "Maybe it is. The truth is, it doesn't matter. You've gotten off base. If you say that killing is wrong because of the pain it causes others, then essentially what you're saying is that it's wrong to hurt people, and killing just happens to be wrong because it does that. You're moving the wrongness of killing from the victim to those who care about the victim. That's a problem in a number of ways."
"What do you mean?"
"You've basically said that killing is okay so long as there is no pain involved."
"No I didn't! And besides, there's always pain involved."
"That isn't true. What about, I don't know, delivering a point blank shotgun blast to the head of a sleeping bum that no one knows or cares about. No pain there. Are you ready to accept that it's okay to kill outcast bums?"
"No, of course not."
"Then you better take another look at your reasoning. Why would it be wrong to kill a bum in that type of situation? You certainly aren't hurting anyone."
"Well, because, it uh..."
"Let's make this more simple. Imagine that you are the aforementioned bum. Why would it be wrong for me to blow you away?"
"It... I..." Here I am, being forced to argue for my life less than an hour after I tried to end it. "Cause it's my life, and I have the right to live it."
"Indeed. But don't I also have the right to live mine?"
"Yeah... What does that have to do with anything?"
He takes a deep breath and places his first two fingers against his forehead, as if struggling with some massive thought. "This isn't the place to start..." He starts tapping his head. “Let’s go to the beginning. For killing to be wrong, death would have to be bad, right? So what makes you think that dying is bad?"
I almost laugh. He has no idea who he's asking. "I really don't know that it is."
He gives me a tight lipped grin, the kind of smile one conspirator gives to another. "Me neither, but for the sake of the discussion, we better figure it out. It's safe to say that most of the world considers dying a bad thing, and since 'wrong' and 'bad' are so closely tied, it's easy to make the jump that if someone causes you to die-something that's bad for you-they did something wrong. Imagine you are talking to someone who was terminally ill. What sort of things do you think they'd say to explain why they thought dying was a bad thing?"
"Um... they'd probably talk about places they never got to go, things they
Not liking the direction this is taking, I decide to stop the conversation. I shouldn't have to explain why killing is wrong... well, why it sometimes is when other times it isn't.
God damnit. Now I'm getting confused! I think about the lady’s dog, and that makes me think about her family. They'd have no problem explaining why what he did was wrong... Ah ha! "It's wrong because it hurts people. That woman’s family is going to suffer years of pain because of what you did."
"Okay. So since her loved ones will be devastated by her death, that makes it wrong."
"Exactly."
"Huh... but doesn’t that contradict what you said before, about the situations where killing is okay? If killing is wrong because of the pain it causes others, how would you justify killing me to stop me from killing that woman? Despite what I was about to do, killing me would still cause my loved one’s grief, so wouldn't that still make it wrong?"
"Um... not necessarily. If that was the only way I could have stopped you, then-"
"Then what, it becomes okay to hurt those who care for me because of something I was about to do? What if torturing one of them was the only way to stop me, would that have been okay?"
I pause, trying to think. The stranger doesn't wait.
"Or what if that woman was a bitch, and her family, and everyone else who knew her for that matter, are elated by her passing? Would it still have been wrong then?"
"That seems a little farfetched."
He shakes his head dismissively. "Maybe it is. The truth is, it doesn't matter. You've gotten off base. If you say that killing is wrong because of the pain it causes others, then essentially what you're saying is that it's wrong to hurt people, and killing just happens to be wrong because it does that. You're moving the wrongness of killing from the victim to those who care about the victim. That's a problem in a number of ways."
"What do you mean?"
"You've basically said that killing is okay so long as there is no pain involved."
"No I didn't! And besides, there's always pain involved."
"That isn't true. What about, I don't know, delivering a point blank shotgun blast to the head of a sleeping bum that no one knows or cares about. No pain there. Are you ready to accept that it's okay to kill outcast bums?"
"No, of course not."
"Then you better take another look at your reasoning. Why would it be wrong to kill a bum in that type of situation? You certainly aren't hurting anyone."
"Well, because, it uh..."
"Let's make this more simple. Imagine that you are the aforementioned bum. Why would it be wrong for me to blow you away?"
"It... I..." Here I am, being forced to argue for my life less than an hour after I tried to end it. "Cause it's my life, and I have the right to live it."
"Indeed. But don't I also have the right to live mine?"
"Yeah... What does that have to do with anything?"
He takes a deep breath and places his first two fingers against his forehead, as if struggling with some massive thought. "This isn't the place to start..." He starts tapping his head. “Let’s go to the beginning. For killing to be wrong, death would have to be bad, right? So what makes you think that dying is bad?"
I almost laugh. He has no idea who he's asking. "I really don't know that it is."
He gives me a tight lipped grin, the kind of smile one conspirator gives to another. "Me neither, but for the sake of the discussion, we better figure it out. It's safe to say that most of the world considers dying a bad thing, and since 'wrong' and 'bad' are so closely tied, it's easy to make the jump that if someone causes you to die-something that's bad for you-they did something wrong. Imagine you are talking to someone who was terminally ill. What sort of things do you think they'd say to explain why they thought dying was a bad thing?"
"Um... they'd probably talk about places they never got to go, things they
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