I'm really loving the second half of the second season of the Walking Dead and last night's show was no exception. One of the things that I like about the show was brought up in the talk show that airs late in the evening. One of the guests pointed out that the awful moral choices that characters are making in the name of love is fascinating. I agree with that and it's the hook that brings me back.
Okay...so here's the real reason for my post. Last night's "question" was about whether or not you would save someone from zombies if they had previously been trying to kill you.
Here's the situation. Guy was on a roof shooting at you with his rifle, he fell off the roof and got his leg impaled. Zombies are coming out of the woods everywhere, and you are low on ammunition. The guy that fell off the roof though is just a teenager. He could have been just doing what someone told him to do and his buddies left him to die. Do you shoot him to spare him the agony of being eaten alive? Do you try and save him by unimpaling his leg off of the fence that he fell on? Or do you not even shoot him but leave him to be eaten?
Myself...I would have tried to save him despite the fact that zombies are coming at me, and I have only like 30 seconds before they start munching on me. I just don't think I could leave a teenage boy to die to zombies...not when I could do something. In a zombie apocalypse, humans are almost extinct, and I would hold onto the hope that people could survive if they just chose to help one another. This attitude probably means I would not live very long in a zombie apocalypse. However, what is being human if we lose hold of our humanity?
What would your choice be?
I have yet to see last night's show (it's DVR'd) but I must agree that the season's second half has already proven to be better.
ReplyDeleteSame as yours. I don't know what that majority vote was thinking (I watched that conversation, too), but I couldn't leave a kid in a state like that or put him out of his misery (and if it were me in that situation, I'd yank my own leg out of that mess). Weird jump that kid made, eh? :)
ReplyDeleteI hope I would have the courage to save him.
ReplyDeleteI did not think I would be able to watch all the zombies movies my children shared with me but I did watch them and watched till the end. I can't even begin to imagine how I would act if I were to live in zombie world.
ReplyDeleteOh, you've got to save the kid. Definitely. Although even looking at that picture is freeeaking me out. :P
ReplyDeleteOh Geezo, I'm gonna have nightmares all week just lookin at that image.
ReplyDeleteSo jealous... season two hasn't come out in Australia yet... Hmm my guilt would probably see me saving the guy too
ReplyDeleteYeah, we are still waiting to watch here in Aus, like tfwash said, but I did enjoy season one. Hey, just dropped by to thank you for the help you have been giving Rach with the Platform Building Campaign!
ReplyDeleteI would try to save the kid if possible. Might be hard to do if he keeps shooting at me.
ReplyDeleteHmm... given the apocalypse and that he was shooting at me (to kill me) a few seconds ago, I'd probably shoot him. Because it will be hard enough to survive the zombies without an injured guy who might smother me in my sleep. :-/
ReplyDeleteMeh, out-of-shape fat guys like me are the first who'll be eaten so it really wouldn't matter to me.
ReplyDeleteYour kind heart is gonna get you eaten by zombies, but I would probably do the same thing. Can't leave a fellow human behind.
ReplyDeleteI guess I would have to save him. I might be mad about it though. LOL. I'm that person who cried when I watched dogs on the roofs of houses during the Hurricane Katrina mess.
ReplyDeleteI would attempt to save providing he let me get close enough but hopefully have a couple of bullets for him and myself if we could not hold off the zombies.
ReplyDeleteHm. I tried watching the pilot of Walking Dead and wasn't impressed. Your post makes me re-think this obviously wrong opinion.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
BTW, 30 seconds is not enough time to save the kid. He wouldn't want you to sacrifice yourself in a losing battle. *sigh* Shoot the teen and run.
I would like to think that I'd try and save the kid but the truth is, I would've been eaten by a zombie long before that situation ever came up.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to say that I would help but who knows what anyone would really do until they were actually in that situation. Sometimes adrenaline makes people do strange things.
ReplyDeleteI guess it would really depend. I mean, i wouldn't just leave him. I'd either save him or shoot him, because if you leave him, that's potentially one more zombie in the world.
ReplyDeleteI haven't watched Sunday's episode yet. The show is really hit and miss for me, so we'll see how it goes once i find the time to watch it. Gotta finish Downton Abbey first
Honestly I really doubt they would have been able to free him in real life considering the fence was barbed. You only heard the grisly sound when they yanked him free but in my head I imagined that most of the muscle mass in his calf was pulled off. There's no way he'd be walking on that leg anytime soon and I doubt he'd ever move faster than a limpy walk.
ReplyDeleteFor that reason alone I would have gone with the bullet.
I haven't seen the last 2 episodes, but one of the reasons I like it so much is because of the moral conundrums it raises. It's really good stuff.
ReplyDeleteI stopped reading after the second paragraph. I have't seen it yet and i was afraid of spoilers.
ReplyDeleteI'd try to save him. He's just a kid. Even if he wasn't, I'd still try.
ReplyDeleteProfound comment; "What is being human if we lose hold of our humanity?" Thanks Michael.
ReplyDeleteYeesh, good question. I don't know what I'd do.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to think I'd do the "right" thing and save him, but heck, when it's pure survival, IDK.
Let's overcomplicate this.
ReplyDeleteFirst, if you don't save him, you're appointing yourself the judge, jury, and executioner, so unless you're pro-death-penalty and anti-real-trials, you have to try to save him.
But more importantly, aside from that, you have to consider the Drowning Man paradigm, or Why They Tell You To Put Your Own Airmask On First:
What will do the most benefit? Let's say you save that guy... temporarily, and you both die. What's the benefit there?
Or you save that guy, but let other people die because you have no ammo. Are you certain that benefit exists? This guy was TRYING TO KILL YOU, so that's a knock against him.
"Trying to save everyone no matter what" isn't a moral choice: it's a refusal to make a moral choice, and, as a metaphor for, say, our health care "system," it's why we have some of the problems we have: Americans in particular are uncomfortable deciding how much life is enough and what measures are to be taken. We say stuff like "Safety at any cost," but if you could prevent 1 person per year from dying at a cost of $100,000,000,000,000,000, would you do that?
I hate to sound horrible, but those are the choices we have to make.
Me: I say that people who shoot at other living human beings from rooftops are very unlikely to be helpful to me in rebuilding society, and so that guy's a goner. You're forewarned, society.
On the other hand, I have no useful skills in a postapocalyptic world, so I'm monster bait in the future no matter what.
Also: Zombies. Pleh.
I'm with you, I would save the kid. Because if the situation was turned around, I would want to be saved.
ReplyDeleteAs a mom, I think it would be almost impossible for me to leave a kid behind! I'd try to save him.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to think I'd save him, but know I would be paralyzed by fear.
ReplyDeleteI'm all for redemption. I'd save him, but if he continued to be a d-bag I'd let the Zombies have him.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why I haven't gotten into the zombie thing yet. They are everywhere!
ReplyDeleteHowever, the question you pose is fascinating, and holds true. If there was any chance I could save the person, I totally would. If not - I'd take him out and save him the suffering.
I heart The Walking Dead. (Did you see their Valentines? So hilarious!) I am two episodes behindk, though, so I haven't seen the one you talked about. But just like you pointed out so well, "What is being human if we lose hold of our humanity?" I'd try to save him.
ReplyDeleteI would like to think that I'd have the courage to save him. You showed me enough, that don't think I'll be watching the Walking Dead -- don't like zombies.
ReplyDeleteZombies are as terrifying to me as spiders. I'd be looking for a way off the planet. With that said, I couldn't let someone die if I could do something about it. Even if I hated said person. Wonder if I'd regret saving them later though... Or could I use it to guilt them into being nicer...hey, I saved your life...
ReplyDeleteI'm with you, Alex -- I'd try to save the teenager. If we don't remain human in the best of ways while in the worst of circumstances, then why try to survive?
ReplyDeleteYou are brave. Honestly, I wouldn't know what to do and hope never to find out. =)
ReplyDeleteUm, I don't like zombies at all. Thank god they don't exist. As to your questions, I'm not sure I have an opinion. I would leave anyone behind but I doubt I'd be in that situation.
ReplyDeleteI'd try to save him despite his age. Not a second thought about it, unless my kids lives would be threatened, I honestly don't know what I'd do. I'm such a momma bear when it comes to my babies.
ReplyDeleteI would definitely try to save the guy; but if it came down to it, I'd shoot him in the head and run like hell to save my own . .
ReplyDeleteWasn't that great when Ric just yanked his leg up?
.....dhole
Because we are human we have to at least try to save him even if the zombies wipe us out in the process!
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen any of the second half of the season yet, but given the situation you describe, I wouldn't help some creep who had been shooting at me. Life would be harsh enough without helping someone who may still want to kill me. I don't mind there being fewer people in the world, as long as those that do survive are decent ones.
ReplyDeleteYeah but what about Rick saying they were going to doctor the kid up and send him on his way? Why do that? I would take him and put him to work. There are plenty of chores to do on that farm. Right?
ReplyDeletethis is not at question at all, for me. It's an obvious moral choice, and everybody who wouldn't save a person's life isn't really a good person. This is why we love Rick and Glenn and hate Laurie and that idiot Shane.
ReplyDeleteI've yet to see this season, but I'd like to say I'd save him. If doing so put my family in jeopardy, however...
ReplyDeleteI would shoot him. Simply because I would probably be too big of a chickenshit to go and save him, but I can just imagine being eaten alive... It is horrendous.
ReplyDeleteI guess I would have to save him! the important is you try..
ReplyDelete