Week # 12 - The Trolley Problem

  Warning! I'm feeling cynical.  
     A trolley is racing down the tracks, as it reaches the crest of the hill the driver sees that there are five people on the track. The driver slams on the brakes, but the brakes do not work. There is an alternate track coming up that the driver could  take to avoid the five people, but when the driver looks at the alternate track he sees that there is a person on that track as well. No one can here him yell and he can't stop. Which track should he take?
     For me, the answer to this question is quite simple. There is no good option, but there is a better option. Obviously the better option is to take one life instead of five. The discussion should really end there, but as it goes with these aimless scenarios it does not. Some people say "well if you continue to go straight you accidentally kill five people, but if you take the alternate track, then you are intentionally killing one person." That logic however is weak at best. These what ifs literally serve no purpose but to start fruitless arguments among the foolish.
     If you actually use logic to solve this (non-)problem you will realize that five lives > one life. Simple math. which number is bigger, 1 or 5? Obviously five. End of story.
     Or not. The next scenario starts off in a similar fashion, however this time there is no alternate track but rather two friends on a bridge above watching the scene happen. One friend is described to be "fat" (which by the way is weightism, and is neither cool or okay to use the "fat" person in this scenario as the disposable person. Not cool bro.) while the other person is not described at all. The non-fat friend sees that the trolley driver is going to kill all five of these people because he cannot stop. So in an effort to save the five people the non-fat person pushes the "fat" person off of the bridge and in front of the trolley; successfully stopping the trolley, saving the five people down the track, and killing the "fat" person. So the question now is "Is it okay to sacrifice one life to save five?" The answer is hell no. If you wanted to throw a body off of that bridge to save those people you can throw your own damn body off of the bridge. Throwing your friend off of a bridge is bad. (Remember this little life lesson kids!) In this scenario the "fat" person is murdered because he neither willingly gave his life nor was his life accidentally taken.
     I am tired of these hypotheticals. They are bullshit. Sorry for my language, I told you I was feeling cynical. Also, I'm a big kid now so I get to use big kid language every now and again.