Reply #28: Emotion

[droidamus2]

You have to understand that these kinds of people are very emotion oriented. Therefore, the what if question that includes the most emotional scenario they can come up with. They figure if the scenario is extreme enough emotionally it will show you the error of your rational ways. They do the same thing when discussing whether the death penalty is good or bad. They will come up with a scenario of the most heinous serial killer and then ask 'now would you be for it'. My answer to them on the death penalty is my opposition is to the government having sanction to kill people when we know that some innocent people will be executed if it is allowed and therefore any particular crime is not pertinent to my opposition. If somebody killed my mother would I want him dead? Damn right at a base emotional level even though having him rot in jail for 30 or 40 years would work. Would I want to sanction the government to execute him? No. The same with this if a terrorist kidnapped a family member would I want the information as soon as possible. Yes. Would I use torture to get it. No, first because I want good information and there is no guarantee that torture gets you that. Second, my time would probably be better spent actually doing some work figuring out what was going on. Lastly my opposition to torture is that it is wrong, questionably effective and lessens us as citizens of the world and if the person really doesn't know anything (is innocent) then it just becomes an evil thing to do.