Do you believe you have potential to murder someone?

Question

Could you take someone's life? Whoever it is. (I'm leaving this open so you could answer honestly)

Answer 1

I wouldn't murder anyone intentionally UNLESS they were threatening me or others. e.g. terrorists on a plane - it I knew I could overthrow them I wouldn't hesitate even if that meant killing them to protect many others.

Answer 2

Being that you specifically use the word "murder" in the first question, then I am going to have to go with no. Never.

Regarding your second question... could I take someone else's life? Sure! In self defense or the defense of a loved on or person in need, I may well be able to do so. I guess you never really know until you face the situation in reality, but I think that under the right circumstances I could kill. I would have to be positive that my life, or the life of others, was in serious danger.

But that is different than murder.

Answer 3

In advance, I apologize for the gore and gruesome situations described in the following. I am not one to jump at the chance to see blood and gore, yet neither will I avert my eyes. Life is fragile, and to look upon it, and to view it in its fragility is a step down the path to comprehending it.

Is the question one of physical capability or of mental stress?

If if it is of the former, then certainly.

It wouldn't even be difficult. The human body is a very fragile system-breaking a single bone sets off massive chain reactions. A blood clot smaller than the head of a pin can kill a person. These few simple examples do not even discuss chemicals, toxins, wounds, or diseases.

Furthermore, murder is quite an easy thing to commit in today's society. Black-market dealings can provide one with weapons, drugs to make the victim an addict, knives, and a whole host of lethal tools. Yet then again, anything can be a lethal weapon when applied correctly. Take, for example, a ski pole. Removing the plastic circular disk at the end is easy, then it is simply a matter of forcing it through a vital organ, say the heart or the stomach. A newspaper, rolled up so that one end is irregularly rolled and very tough to fold, could be forced at a certain angle right into the nose, thus forcing bone fragments to be shoved into the breaking, killing the person instantly. However, explaining how to kill a man does no more good answering this question than it does informing all the psychopaths of the world new ways to wreak havoc upon society.

I believe that by asking this, you question a person's mental capacity. For me, it is not a question of sheer capability, so much as curiousity. In this situation, who exactly would I be killing. If I was left in a room with Osama bin Laden, Al-Zarqawi, Hussein, Hitler, or any other evil-doer from history, rest assured that I would have murdered them. I would have felt no guilty conscience afterwards. And, depending on the person, I might even have enjoyed it, taking retribution for all those they had killed, tortured, left for dead, and for all those whose lives they had completely destroyed. Please, do not look upon me as an insane man. If given the opportunity, would you not do the same?

Yet if it was someone whom I didn't know, someone who I had never met before, there would have to be a reason. Murder is a grevious and mentally unsettling thing-I would need a good reason to put such strain upon myself. If it was for self-defense, or for the defense of others, or for the good of humanity, then I would.

However, perhaps a far more troubling question is "Who would you choose to let die?"

Example: Your two best friends in the entire world are kidnapped and placed before you, bound and gagged. They are blindfolded. You are handed a gun with only a single bullet. You are told that your tormentors are leaving the room, and when they return, there must be a dead body in the room. You cannot free your friends. There is nothing you can to do improve their condition. Who do you kill?

To me, that seems to be more of a question to haunt your soul than merely questioning one's potential to kill.

In short, anyone can kill. The effect on them just depends on the person, and the situation.

-A. Rialonia

NOTE: If you read this, ignoring my apologizes in advance, and now feel sick, disgusted, or in shock of the horrors than wind their way through my conscience, I give a sincere apology. The human psyche is not well understood, and I get a feeling sometimes that mine, if examined, would prove to be even more complex, as I can barely understand myself in most instances. Again, sorry. There is little I can explain to you in words over the Internet.

Answer 4

Murder, no I have way too many morals (former law enforcement) but if confronted with a situation where my or someone else's life was in danger then I would have no problem with killing someone. I was trained to do just that and I will continue to do it. I have a sign on my business door that says, "The owner of this property is armed, there is nothing inside worth risking your life for".

Answer 5

If it was my STEP mother in law YES!!!!!!!
she has made my life a misery in the last 11 years.
I honestly think anyone is capable of murder, depends on what THAT button is, I know if anyone ever attempted to harm my kids I'd kill, but other than that only in self defence.
(did kill a mouse once that my cat had gotten hold of and left, dropped a brick on it as the poor little thing was still alive but half mangled, not a very nice thing to do but it was in pain and I couldn't leave it like that)

Answer 6

We ALL, without exception have within us the ability to kill, in fact the armed services rely on this primeval instinct to train the troops in service throughout the world. We also have the ability and depth of reason not to kill, this has been manipulated by Hollywood blockbuster movies where life , so precious, is exposed as cheap and throw away. The recent spate of knifings and shootings of innocent people is a result of this policy of more blood, guts on the big screen.
What happenned to the `good' old days in movies when you had a beginning, a middle and a happy ending?

Answer 7

No, I couldn't murder someone. However, I would have no problem at all taking a life in defense of myself, my family, or even a complete stranger that was in obvious imminent danger of severe bodily harm.

There is a huge difference between murder and defense.

Answer 8

I used to think I could never do something like that and then I became a mother and I know if some one abused or hurt my child then yes I think I would have the potential to kill.

Answer 9

I believe all people have the potential to murder if driven to a certain point. I personally feel that I could murder someone.

Answer 10

Everyone has the potential - but fortunately most leave it unrealized. The reasons for taking a life come into play for most people . . . sanctioned kill, self defense, protection of loved ones, or cold blooded murder - all will motivate differently. let's hope you never have to do it.

Answer 11

Murder = no. Kill - yes, but the circumstances would be 1. to defend someone who is in mortal danger, 2. to defend myself if I feel that I am in mortal danger, or 3. war. I hope to avoid all 3 if possible. If not, I hope I am very well armed.