1 Civilian Girl vs 10 Soldiers

[Infected Mushroom]

This is a moral dilemma.

It is set in the USA, you are an American and the USA is involved in a number of wars abroad against developing countries. You are just going on about your own life but something goes wrong. One day a demon comes to you and forces you to choose between two options and they are both bad:

Option 1:
1 American civilian girl dies immediately (if you did not choose this option, the civilian girl is left to live her normal life for however long it lasts)

or

Option 2:
10 American soldiers die immediately while stationed in a foreign country where US forces are fighting (if you did not choose this option, the soldiers are left to live their normal lives for however long these lives last)

There's another fact that I forgot to mention:
You have repeatedly been told by both the news, movies, your parents, your teachers, and your peers that under no circumstances should the killing of civilians be acceptable; you are fully aware (and well-immersed) in international law principles and conventions surrounding war crimes (but you don't have to agree with these points of view of course.... moving on).

Discuss:

1. Which option do you choose? Do you save the civilian girl or the 10 soldiers?
2. How do you justify your choice?

Personally, despite the propaganda surrounding the unacceptable killing of civilians, I would choose to save the 10 soldiers. It's unfortunate that the hypothetical in practice makes me a killer but I have to limit the number of lives lost. There is no reason to privilege civilian lives over the lives of soldiers, to do so would be to discriminate against soldiers and I don't believe in discrimination against soldiers. Therefore, I would choose Option 1.

[TimberWolves]

Is your correlation to the death(s) announced or exposed, or only you and the demon know?

[United Hylla]

I'mma gona be selfish and save the girl. I might know her after all.

[Central Strategic Alliance Treaty]

Option 1. While unfortunate that any innocent must die, there is no reason to kill any more people than necessary. Having one civilian die is less of a loss than ten soldiers.

[Infected Mushroom]

Is your correlation to the death(s) announced or exposed, or only you and the demon know?

what do you mean by correlation?

[Tekeristan]

10 > 1

That's how it is working in my head at the moment.. 10 lives or 1 life? Easy choice for me.

[Polar Svalbard]

The lives of the many outweigh the lives of the few in this case. 10 to 1 ratio is very harsh.

[Galloism]

Per Article 14, section 36, subsection A-5-3 of the intergalactic supernatural beings arms reductions treaty, demons are not permitted to force people to make no win choices anymore.

They are only able to make trades for souls now.

Ergo, your hypothetical is invalid.

[Polar Svalbard]

Is your correlation to the death(s) announced or exposed, or only you and the demon know?

what do you mean by correlation?

Do people know you had the choice?

[Souseiseki]

i reject the premise as being insufficient in detail. you can't throw something like a war in without treating it as a factor. it seems like you're just asking the old "there's a train coming, you pull the level and save 5 people or let one die" dilemma except you made it a sweet pure american girl and are brave troops to try and tug at people's hear strings.

[Infected Mushroom]

what do you mean by correlation?

Do people know you had the choice?

We'll assume No

[Infected Mushroom]

i reject the premise as being insufficient in detail. you can't throw something like a war in without treating it as a factor. it seems like you're just asking the old "there's a train coming, you pull the level and save 5 people or let one die" dilemma except you made it a sweet pure american girl and are brave troops to try and tug at people's hear strings.

good point, let me change Option 2 a little bit

[New haven america]

Neither, due to insufficient reasoning about why I was being given this responsibility and choice.

[Infected Mushroom]

Neither, due to insufficient reasoning about why I was being given this responsibility or choice.

The demon was cruel and decided to see what your moral compass is made of

[Infected Mushroom]

Give me a sec here... the grammar is a bit tricky with the OP...

[Unified Sera Government]

In this scenario, it isn't as clear cut as "1 person will die while 10 will live". It's more so, "1 person will die while 10 will live and probably go on to kill more people." I don't think you threw in the war thing just because you felt like it.

With this reasoning, I'm going to save the girl. She probably won't kill anyone else as opposed to the soldiers who definitely will.

[Galloism]

Neither, due to insufficient reasoning about why I was being given this responsibility or choice.

Honestly, it's a fucking demon. Either choice you're no doubt screwed.

In option two, the demon rotates those ten guys home and 15 guys get killed in their place, and in option one, the drunk driver swerves to miss the girl, hits a bus load of nuns, and the whole scene bursts into flame.

The only winning move is not to play.

[New haven america]

Neither, due to insufficient reasoning about why I was being given this responsibility or choice.

The demon was cruel and decided to see what your moral compass is made of

But what caused him to do this? Why did he pick me specifically? What happens to him after this? What happens to me?

I go with my answer of neither.

[Infected Mushroom]

In this scenario, it isn't as clear cut as "1 person will die while 10 will live". It's more so, "1 person will die while 10 will live and probably go on to kill more people." I don't think you threw in the war thing just because you felt like it.

With this reasoning, I'm going to save the girl. She probably won't kill anyone else as opposed to the soldiers who definitely will.

Not an American patriot then?

I mean, most American troops don't go on to commit war crimes; they generally (if they kill anyone at all) end up taking out enemy combatants lawfully.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong but a lot of people in combat zones never end up killing anyone (a majority? or not?)

[The first Galactic Republic]

Missing Dead White Girl Syndrome.

[Infected Mushroom]

The demon was cruel and decided to see what your moral compass is made of

But what caused him to do this? Why did he pick me specifically? What happens to him after this? What happens to me?

I go with my answer of neither.

Well since the OP doesn't talk about that, life just goes on for both of you

[New haven america]

In this scenario, it isn't as clear cut as "1 person will die while 10 will live". It's more so, "1 person will die while 10 will live and probably go on to kill more people." I don't think you threw in the war thing just because you felt like it.

With this reasoning, I'm going to save the girl. She probably won't kill anyone else as opposed to the soldiers who definitely will.

Not an American patriot then?

I mean, most American troops don't go on to commit war crimes; they generally (if they kill anyone at all) end up taking out enemy combatants lawfully.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong but a lot of people in combat zones never end up killing anyone (a majority? or not?)

Depends on the job.

[Soldati Senza Confini]

So what the hell is the dilemma?

Has anyone noticed you are basically told both ways you're fucked, and no one gets anything in return for the lives lost in this, meaning, there's no plus in either of them dying?

The entire dilemma is incomplete. It gives you an option, but the chain of events you'll unleash because of it are not revealed to you.

[New haven america]

But what caused him to do this? Why did he pick me specifically? What happens to him after this? What happens to me?

I go with my answer of neither.

Well since the OP doesn't talk about that, life just goes on for both of you

Then neither, for I have been given no reason to answer.

[Vassenor]

Is this going to be a thing where you post a different take on the trolley car dilemma every few weeks?