To kill or not to kill?

I'm not entirely sure if this is the right subforum for this kind of thing...

Answer the following question with a simple yes or no. Please don't dodge the question; be serious for once.

If you had the opportunity to kill just one person without facing any legal consequences,
would you do it?

If your answer is yes, everyone else will view you as a psychopath in need of psychiatric help, while those others pretend to be morally superior innocents.
If your answer is no, everyone will know you're lying—even if they don't call you out on it—because it would be obvious they'd all lie too if they said no.

My answer is yes.

So, you’re basically demanding specific answers.
Look, nobody can just snap their fingers and give a flat "yes" or "no"—because let's be honest, who can say with absolute certainty under what exact circumstances they would or wouldn't kill someone? It's impossible to provide an answer that's actually sincere (or even remotely truthful).

.. yeah ..

---

.. if there weren't penalties involved, we'd run into a massive issue with choice .. but one thing is certain .. in any case ..
.. that’s the struggle .. my own internal moral compass .. it doesn't just tell me that certain people definitely deserve to die .. it actually makes me feel somewhat like a hero .. if I were .. well .. killing them ..
.. and honestly .. it wouldn't be the first time someone felt that way ..

No.

Perhaps luck was on my side.

I’m pretty sure Dostoevsky actually wrote a whole book dedicated to this exact thing, I think it’s called Crime and Punishment...

Look, it’s like this... now that I’m at peace and don't have an issue with anyone... I wouldn't. Who am I to take a life?

But life has a way of backing you into a corner. You never know where it'll put you, how things will play out, or what you might be forced to do just to survive..

Get what I'm saying?

So, this whole topic feels pretty trivial to me...

NE

Look, I struggle enough just dealing with myself when I say something shitty to someone—threatening them, even—and then end up beating myself up over it. So what happens when things actually cross the line into killing someone?

It’s not that I wouldn't pull the trigger in self-defense or to protect someone I care about. It's the aftermath—what happens to my own head afterward—that's the real question.

It isn't just Dostoevsky, we're talking Balzac's Old Man Goriot here;
- if you had the chance to just mentally take out some wealthy old tycoon in China and inherit his entire fortune, would you actually pull the trigger?

Patrick Wright2 said:It isn't just Dostoevsky, we're talking Balzac's Old Man Goriot here;
- if you had the chance to just mentally take out some wealthy old tycoon in China and inherit his entire fortune, would you actually pull the trigger?

Nothing is worth sacrificing your peace of mind for. Now, if someone could manage to stay perfectly calm after committing a murder? That's a different story entirely.

.. it’s really about finding some kind of inner peace .. or maybe just following my own internal moral compass .. how am I supposed to look at someone like Hitler and not feel this overwhelming urge to just take him out?

redtinker36 said:.. it’s really about finding some kind of inner peace .. or maybe just following my own internal moral compass .. how am I supposed to look at someone like Hitler and not feel this overwhelming urge to just take him out?

Look, I’d kill him—and plenty of others if it meant making the world a better place—but personally? I don't think I'd find much peace in killing anyone, regardless of what they did.

The way this thread was set up is honestly kind of ridiculous.
It basically boils down to the fact that the only thing stopping us from just going out there and swinging on people is the fear of getting busted by the cops and the legal system...☕

.. No.. you've framed this perfectly.. honestly, it's just our own fear that keeps us from starting to sway the people around us..

Patrick Wright2 said:The way this thread was set up is honestly kind of ridiculous.
It basically boils down to the fact that the only thing stopping us from just going out there and swinging on people is the fear of getting busted by the cops and the legal system...☕

I have to agree with that.

Regarding the OP... I don't think I could ever actually kill anyone, mostly because as a rational human being, I just don't see how murder provides any kind of solution or relief to anything, but at the same time, I feel like I could pull a trigger without hesitation if I had to. It's that raw, animalistic instinct buried deep inside us, 😉 but since we also possess logic and complex emotions, I just don't find any purpose in taking a life. 🤷

Patrick Wright2 said:The way this thread was set up is honestly kind of ridiculous.
It basically boils down to the fact that the only thing stopping us from just going out there and swinging on people is the fear of getting busted by the cops and the legal system...☕

👍I’m with you.
It’s obvious the OP has never actually been in a life-or-death situation.
You only kill because you're afraid.
Anyone killing for fun or for some material gain is just mentally ill.

Robin Palmer6 said:I'm not entirely sure if this is the right subforum for this kind of thing...

Answer the following question with a simple yes or no. Please don't dodge the question; be serious for once.

If you had the opportunity to kill just one person without facing any legal consequences,
would you do it?

If your answer is yes, everyone else will view you as a psychopath in need of psychiatric help, while those others pretend to be morally superior innocents.
If your answer is no, everyone will know you're lying—even if they don't call you out on it—because it would be obvious they'd all lie too if they said no.

My answer is yes.

The way you phrased that—"would you"—is interesting. 😬

I don't quite follow the premise. Are we talking about a specific individual? In other words, are you asking if there is someone out there we refrain from killing solely because of the legal consequences? Let me guess—there’s some kid in your class you can't stand... 😍

As far as I'm concerned, that person doesn't exist. I'm not saying such a person couldn't exist, but as things stand right now, my answer is no. However, if someone ever actually crossed the line to the point where I wanted them dead, I wouldn't care about the punishment. LOL.

That’s hard for me to wrap my head around, though. Just one person? 😕 If I were even capable of thinking in a way where I'd decide someone else's life or death, I certainly wouldn't stop at just one. No single person is significant enough to justify killing just one individual. I'd find a whole list of people... maybe a million... or perhaps closer to 6 billion... 😈

Robin Palmer6 said:I'm not entirely sure if this is the right subforum for this kind of thing...

Answer the following question with a simple yes or no. Please don't dodge the question; be serious for once.

If you had the opportunity to kill just one person without facing any legal consequences,
would you do it?

If your answer is yes, everyone else will view you as a psychopath in need of psychiatric help, while those others pretend to be morally superior innocents.
If your answer is no, everyone will know you're lying—even if they don't call you out on it—because it would be obvious they'd all lie too if they said no.

My answer is yes.

LOL. ☕

Robin Palmer6 said:I'm not entirely sure if this is the right subforum for this kind of thing...

Answer the following question with a simple yes or no. Please don't dodge the question; be serious for once.

If you had the opportunity to kill just one person without facing any legal consequences,
would you do it?

If your answer is yes, everyone else will view you as a psychopath in need of psychiatric help, while those others pretend to be morally superior innocents.
If your answer is no, everyone will know you're lying—even if they don't call you out on it—because it would be obvious they'd all lie too if they said no.

My answer is yes.

But why kill someone just because you won't get caught? If the answer is yes, then we aren't just talking about a lack of ethics—we’re talking about pure immaturity and a total lack of perspective, both in the response and in the premise itself.

So, the real question is whether punishment alone actually stops us from killing.

It reminds me of that old joke... where a son asks his dad about the difference between theoretical and practical reality. The father asks his wife: "Honey, would you cheat on me for $33?" She says, "Are you out of your mind?" He follows up: "What if it was for a billion dollars?" She replies, "Well, then yes, I suppose I would." Then he asks his daughter, gets the same answer, and tells the boy: "See, son? Theoretically, we have two billion dollars, but practically, we have two prostitutes."

If we were to say, for instance, that we would kill someone if there were no punishment—say, for some specific reason X—then theoretically we have X, but practically, we are killers. It doesn't matter if there's supposedly no penalty. In truth, this kind of logic is what lures people into becoming murderers, hookers, thieves, or addicts... you convince them it's just a one-time thing, a trial run, that it will be forgotten and there won't be any consequences... and even those serial killers are quite capable, because their biggest chance is actually not being caught or punished since they lack a realistic motive beyond the urge to kill, which makes them hard to track. And people like that might stop in an instant, but mostly everyone keeps killing until they get caught, because deep down, they often have a desire to be discovered and punished. Otherwise, it isn't "fun," and the urge to kill can sometimes be stronger than the instinct for caution.

A person who is a killer at heart will kill, regardless of whether there is a punishment or not, provided there is a strong enough motive. On the other hand, someone who isn't a killer won't kill, no matter what the motive is. Punishment as a deterrent might only work on those killers whose motive is relatively small, like stealing a $33, but even that isn't a guarantee when a killer has $0.00 tucked away in their pocket...☕

Personally, I believe that all goals worth achieving can be accomplished without taking someone else's life, and I have no need to kill just for the sake of it, so—no.

Jonathan Brooks8 said:But why kill someone just because you won't get caught? If the answer is yes, then we aren't just talking about a lack of ethics—we’re talking about pure immaturity and a total lack of perspective, both in the response and in the premise itself.

👍

Given that murders happen regardless of fear or legal consequences...
I'm with you on this one.

And dustyskipper3 put it perfectly.

Is there anyone out there who possesses—deep down, in their very essence—the soul of a killer? Isn't the soul itself fundamentally composed of both the slayer and the slain... isn't the world nothing more than a vast, swirling pool of violence, killers, and victims into which the soul is forced to plunge?