Poseidon adventure,lift shaft,deep moral dilemma.?

Question

For those not familiar,one person hangs from the leg of another ,struggling to hang from the edge of the shaft,while the lift hurtles out of control toward them.Its not possible for the lower person to survive and only possible for the top person to survive if he kicks the other person off his leg.
On the movie,someone shouting from above shouts this decision to kick away the guy.Easy decision,hes a mexican minor character threatening to remove a major character.
However,in real life,if the lower guy was your son/brother/sister,would you bark out these instructions knowing your family members fate is sealed regardless?
Is it immoral and to instruct the death of another in good sense to save a life,if one is not prepared to give the same order if your family member is being kicked down the shaft?

Summing up,we are not just looking at whether it is correct to make such a decision,but whether it is correct to give it for someone who you dont care for and incorrect for someone you do

Enough dummies answered already.

Intelligent answers only please.

Answer 1

Tough call, but cold logic I think would steer me.

But if the person hanging is going to die whatever you do and assuming you know this and are certain this is the situation. Well then, I would think that as he is lost regardless. I have a choice of saving one or neither.

I would like to think the person hanging would understand in their last few moments, and harsh as it sounds, I wouldnt feel bad. I simply couldnt do anything for them and took the decision not to try and condemn myself to die needlessly too.

Answer 2

Many of us have an inbuilt instinct to help others, even if it puts our own life in danger. You see this with policemen trying to talk down suicides off bridges.

I've heard of people in plane crashes literally treading on others to get out, to survive, but then feeling guilty afterwards. Other people stay to help others, and perish.

You mention family members - it doesn't apply. The instinct is to help, to save, even complete strangers. Look at some of the caring answers given to pleas for help on here. It must be a species survival thing.

So to answer your question, some would 'kick'. Most wouldn't, though. They'd keep hoping for another way out, and die.

Answer 3

hmm, i think a major factor would be how well you knew the top person..
if this was someone you didn't know or care about it would probably be easier (though not right, of course) to let them die than if that person was also close to you.
The right thing to do would always be to give the order to drop the lower guy, better one dead guy than two, but the right thing to do isn't always easy, and if someone in my family was the lower chap i think i would do everything i could to save themeven if i knew deep down it wouldn't do any good...

Answer 4

It is better for one person to live instead of two people dying but how many people would give that order (even if it gives a Nazi the chance to kill a Mexican)?

Answer 5

Morals would dictact each individuals response, I'd prefer to die trying than live with the guilt of killing another. However having said that, if G.W.Bush was hanging from my leg I'd drop him for the greater good of humanity

Answer 6

With a question like this I wish you was in my family then the decision would be oh so simple..........I wouldn't only give the order I'd kick your legs myself.

Answer 7

when the crunch comes its self preservation all the way and you can always carry the memories on and the fact that they died for a greater cause

Answer 8

Not sure. All I can say is the first movie wasn't good enough to justify a remake. That I care about......

Answer 9

Who cares ?

Why don't you think about a situation that might actually happen in real life.... or are you a budding movie director.

Answer 10

I think you need to see more daylight and stop watching, and getting too deep, into make believe!!