Would you risk your life to save a stranger?

Only if they were hot and there was mouth-to-mouth since that's like totally making out...

If there was no other help available and I could be reasonably sure of success then yes. This probably means yes to drowning, no to burning building.

ah kevin got there first with the 'only if they are hot'.

I'd definitely look around for help first because I'm not a great swimmer so I might be making things worse jumping in too quickly.

I'd like to think I would but I'm usually quite hesitant, uncertain and slow to react in high drama situations. A lot of rescuers say they just did it without really thinking so maybe instinct to help would surpass instinct to protect self. Hopefully it'll never come up.

ah kevin got there first with the 'only if they are hot'.

Sloppy seconds? If I do it right it won't be necrophilia...

I'd like to think I would, but it'd probably be a bad idea (bad knees, weak muscles, smoke way too much, etc.)

That's for burning building type situations, though. Drowning? Yah no probz water ain't shit.

In all seriousness, I in all probablity would. Especially in water, I trained as a lifeguard and remember enough to be of some use.

i don't know what i'd do, to be honest. you're kind of fucked if you don't help though, conscience-wise.

You can't ask this as a hypothetical. I once stepped in to 'save' a friend who was being held up at (supposedly Aids-infected) needlepoint. It's probably the bravest thing I've ever done, but I didn't think twice about it. If I ever think about it now, I think there's no way I would step in. But at the time it was the obvious thing to do. You need some kind of filter on your poll.

What, a poll-disser filter?

I have no idea what I would do. I'm not so good in everyday moral situations, why would I be better in a heroic one? But I know what I *should* do, conscience-wise.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

ha. this poll is strangely appropriate. there has been a news story this week in which two british police auxiliaries failed to save a boy from drowning in a deep pond (flooded gravel pit) cos they didn't have the requisite training. the police have backed them but a lot of people are like 'what the fuck'.

Well, it could have been another life or two lost, if they truly had no idea how to proceed, or didn't know v important stuff or whatever, and that's a terribly sad thing -- maybe not a waste, precisely, because you have to honor the attempt, but.... But on the other hand, they're POLICE, they're guardians of the public, in positions of authority, and I do tend to think that that risk comes with the job. Hmm.

I don't know -- if water, I believe I'd try cos I also did lifeguard training and while I'm not in shape for a triathlon, I have v good water comfort level and + skills + floatability. I think...the kind of thing where you put yourself in front of human violence may be different from striving against impersonal forces (cold, water, fire). I don't know what I'd have to offer in a gun- or knife-point situation, for instance.

Actually aren't people WAY more likely to take action, on the whole, if they believe they're the only ones who can? Crowds of witnesses are some retarded amount more likely to just stand there and watch people die, basically. Hi dere Kitty Genovese and so on.

You can't ask this as a hypothetical. I once stepped in to 'save' a friend who was being held up at (supposedly Aids-infected) needlepoint. It's probably the bravest thing I've ever done, but I didn't think twice about it. If I ever think about it now, I think there's no way I would step in. But at the time it was the obvious thing to do. You need some kind of filter on your poll.

-- Ismael Klata, Tuesday, September 18, 2007 2:35 PM (6 days ago) Bookmark Link

what did you do??

did you threaten him with a needle full of the antidote?

U GONNA HAVE TO GO PAST ME TO INFECT HIM

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2174507,00.html

the drowning kid story is difficult partly because it's the grieving family themselves who the media has given the big voice, and i don't know if that helps anyone. they say you don't need any training to jump into a river and save a child. and the thing of it is that the boy died trying to save his stepsister, who'd got into trouble. horrible story.

Would you do what he did? A boat would be near, a lifebuoy. Naturlich, put there for you. Would you or would you not? The man that was drowned nine days ago off Maiden’s rock. They are waiting for him now. The truth, spit it out. I would want to. I would try. I am not a strong swimmer. Water cold soft.

https://www.smestore.com/images/RadioButton.gifOnly if I could dress up as Batman to do it.

In my town a year or two ago, we had really heavy rains and some flooding, and a guy died trying to get one of his small children out of a usually knee-deep and narrow river (he failed as well, unfortunately). Maybe in a still pond things would have been different, but it isn't necessarily true that you don't need training to jump into a river and save a child, or obviously this family would have been okay. That is a really sad story though.

Hi dere Kitty Genovese and so on.

URBAN LEG END

http://www.oldkewgardens.com/ss-nytimes-3.html

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Okay wahtever, she still got killed in a parking lot where a bunch of people could hear her fighting with her assailant...who ran away and then came BACK when no help arrived. Anyway in emergency response training they tell you to give people specific orders -- as in, you don't say "someone call 911!", you single out a particular person and say "YOU, call 9111" It's just simpler and guarantees that there is ONE person who perceives that it's his or her job to respond.