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submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by moral_quandary@lemmy.world to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world

It appears that in every thread about this event there is someone calling everyone else in the thread sick and twisted for not proclaiming that all lives are sacred and being for the death of one individual.

It really is a real life trolley problem because those individuals are not seeing the deaths caused by the insurance industry and not realizing that sitting back and doing nothing (i.e. not pulling the lever on the train track switch) doesn't save lives...people are going to continue to die if nothing is done.

Taking a moral high ground and stating that all lives matter is still going to costs lives and instead of it being a few CEOs it will be thousands.

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[-] zephorah@lemm.ee 13 points 1 week ago

A nurse sub, because they always seem to have the inside healthcare scoop, posted active litigation on the guy. Something about stock dumping in advance of stock value drops, I know very little about trading or the lingo, such that shareholders lost money. And then he died outside a shareholder meeting. Speculation, but so is all of this.

That said, social contagion factors still apply. The idea is sticking with people, as scary as that thought is.

[-] Mango@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago

That CEO isn't on either of the tracks. He's the engineer who got shot for choosing mass death himself.

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[-] Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 week ago

That’s only if this becomes a trend and many rich people die.

Even then, it’s not a guarantee that the rich won’t manipulate the masses with scapegoating.

Just like with a lot of thought experiments, you have to assume people will react rationally, so far they have which is kind of rare.

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[-] vatlark@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

This has been reported a few times for inciting violence. While it is walking a line, I don't see OP asking for anyone to be harmed. It was presented in the context of a popular thought experiment. Other posts with the trolley problem often include wealthy people in the scenarios, so I think there is good precedence for keeping this post up.

I agree that this post is uncomfortable and possibly insensitive due to timing as someone has actually died and this post is questioning the value of that death. Many fields of economics assign a monetary value to human life, which similarly makes people feel uncomfortable, but those are valuable conversations to have.

I thought this through a bit and try to error on the side of keeping posts up, but I make mistakes and I am open to feedback. If you want to give anonymous feedback you leave a report (I can't see who writes reports but presumably admins can).

EDIT: Deep breath everyone. Just to be clear, I greatly value people that make reports, I think we all should, its an important part of the ecosystem.

[-] ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 1 week ago

Don't worry he'll be replaced with someone just as bad by the end of next week and they still have the same policies in place now that they did on Tuesday, it's like the trolley problem but the "diversion" split the train so it could kill both sides of the track and they'll recouple the cars on the other side.

[-] SparrowHawk@feddit.it 10 points 1 week ago

No, it sends a clear message that people are becoming willing to use force to stop injustice. When we did it in the late 1800's, we got the weekend, the 8 hour work week, and we kept (white) kids out of the factories. They are not omnipotent, this killing is what the rich have been paranoid about for ever, they are terrified of this becoming a trend.

Only when the powerful fear the people they relinquish their privilege.

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[-] Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

It wont save any lives. The next ceo will be a scumbag as well. the scum floats to the top of any organization.

[-] CooperRedArmyDog@lemmy.ml 12 points 1 week ago

Just once, will save no lives, make this a pattern, and lives will start to be saved

[-] unknown1234_5@kbin.earth 7 points 1 week ago

not a terrible point really, but it's also important to remember how quickly "kill bad guy to save many good guy" can turn into some government just labeling anyone who disagrees with them a bad guy and killing them, or can turn into anarchy. either way preventing murder from taking place, however justified, is an important part of what keeps society from collapsing.

[-] Tinidril@midwest.social 11 points 1 week ago

But society is collapsing. The system is completely failing to prevent murder on an industrial scale.

We just elected Trump for a second time. The next four years will make the problems that let that happen even worse. This is what societal breakdown looks like. We're just in the slow phase right now.

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this post was submitted on 05 Dec 2024
733 points (91.4% liked)

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