Would you be willing to cut off a pinky finger

[anunitu]

Re: Would you be willing to cut off a pinky finger

Grabs B. De.'s hand,and with a wicked smile...and a LARGE butcher knife chops a carrot right next to his pinkie,VERY close,very very close...Muhahahahaha and a high berry,and a low merry merry,and a schiddley do neighbors.

[Hawkfeathers]

Re: Would you be willing to cut off a pinky finger

I wouldn't do this to a stranger. My belief in Karma is too strong for that. But I might cut something off my ex for free...... LOL

[B. de Corbin]

Re: Would you be willing to cut off a pinky finger

Notice that I posted this in "Rants and the Decline of Humanity."

Here are the wicked follow up questions:

Let's imagine an insane hypothetical situation. The stranger is under anesthesia. He/she feels nothing as the finger is cut off. The finger is surgically reattached, and the person remains under anesthesia until it heals, perfectly. Somehow it is possible to make it so that the stranger never notices the lost time when he/she comes out of anesthesia. You get $20,000,000 dollars, the stranger never knows that anything has happened.

Has the stranger experienced any tramma? No. Not in any real, material sense.

Ok. Here's an analogous situation. A woman gets drunk and passes out. While she is unconscious, a man rapes her. He wears a rubber so she doesn't get pregnant or an STD. He isn't brutal, so she sustains no injury. When she wakes up the next day, she doesn't even know it has happened.

Has she experienced any tramma? No. Not in any real sense.

Or maybe she is raped, then offered $10,000,000, just as that stranger is offered 1/2 of the $20,000,000.

Does that suddenly make its OK?

IMHO - I'm going to suggest that the act of violating another person's body is, in itself, oh so very wrong, even when no physical or psychological damage is done, or even if the person is payed off.

I would not cut off a finger. There is not enough money in the world for that.

[anunitu]

Re: Would you be willing to cut off a pinky finger

Grabs B. De.'s hand,and with a wicked smile...and a LARGE butcher knife chops a carrot right next to his pinkie,VERY close,very very close...Muhahahahaha and a high berry,and a low merry merry,and a schiddley do neighbors.

I should add I am also thinking about stabbing your belt buckle...or hitting you in the head with a Yale lock.....

Only thinking about that,cause you never know when I might run for POTUS..

[B. de Corbin]

Re: Would you be willing to cut off a pinky finger

I should add I am also thinking about stabbing your belt buckle...or hitting you in the head with a Yale lock.....

Happens all the time. I have calluses on my solar plexus and head.

[DavidMcCann]

Re: Would you be willing to cut off a pinky finger

Perhaps this ends up as a situation of the "ends justifies the means".

That argument has been used to justify more crimes than any other, up to and including dropping (atomic) bombs on civilians.

Williams James had a good example here, later used in Ursula Le Guin's beautiful story The ones who walk away from Omelas. Imagine a demon offers a community this deal. Everyone currently alive will be guaranteed a long and healthy life, with one exception: a randomly chosen individual who will have a long life of unspeakable suffering. On utilitarian beliefs, the happiness of a million is more important than the suffering of one. But, as James wrote, how many could bring themselves to make such a deal?

[Herbert]

Re: Would you be willing to cut off a pinky finger

I also voted Hell Yeah, and have the same sentiments as Munin-Hugin.

[nbdy]

Re: Would you be willing to cut off a pinky finger

But, you see, this is why I answered "Hell, no!" without hesitation. Violation is not a matter of perception. In a world made mostly of shades of gray, this is black and white for me.

[Munin-Hugin]

Re: Would you be willing to cut off a pinky finger

But, you see, this is why I answered "Hell, no!" without hesitation. Violation is not a matter of perception. In a world made mostly of shades of gray, this is black and white for me.

Thing is, I've not heard of anyone who has lost a finger, either through accident, injury, or intentional attack, claim that they feel "violated". If done in a manner for torture, the act of being tortured itself could make them feel as such, but I doubt any would say "he beat me, he cut me, he burned me. But what really violated me was when he cut off my little finger". Rape, on the other hand, is a TOTALLY different offense. If someone cuts off your finger, I doubt that you'll be afraid to walk down the street, to leave your house, to open your door. Not so with rape. The psychological damage is no where NEAR the same thing.

Also , the idea that either act taking place without any knowledge or experience of it , is an impossibility. Lost time, scars, aftereffects of feeling, are all things that someone would experience. Of course, there was that movie I saw where the creepy neighbor could resurrect people, and so would wait until the woman fell asleep, kill her in interesting ways, then bring her back. But in reality ...

[B. de Corbin]

Re: Would you be willing to cut off a pinky finger

Grabbing an uwilling victim and lopping off their little finger is not a violation of their body?

Well, you have your opinion, I'm going to keep mine

[anunitu]

Re: Would you be willing to cut off a pinky finger

Do the name Bobbitt ring a bell?I guess it depends on what is cut off.
Sauce

[Hawkfeathers]

Re: Would you be willing to cut off a pinky finger

^^^ Yup! Thats what I was alluding to!