Would you fight for your friend?

[Danbo]

We were discussing this one day in TOK class.

If you were walking on the side of the road one day, and you saw a friend of yours being gang banged. Would you jump in and help or would you walk away?

Would your answer be any different if instead of being gang banged, you saw your friend at gun point?

If you walked away in any of the scenarios would you be considered weak and selfish because you were looking out only for yourself and you were unwilling to pluck up the courage to save your friend? Does self preservation prevail for you whenever you yourself are in danger?

Would love to hear what you guys would do and why

Edited April 9, 2012 by Edwina Wong

[CkyBlue]

In situations like this, I don't think it is possible to generalize what someone might do; it depends very much on the situation, type of friend and environment at hand. For me, I will do whatever I can to help my friend as long as I do not get seriously injured, hurt or killed.

Some may argue that this viewpoint is selfish, but in a scenario where one cannot do anything, it is likely that both the friend and them are likely to be killed. It is an inherent nature for us to protect ourselves. Of course, at the same time we and the norm may consider that person to be weak, but I believe that is to a large extent due to socielal criticisms and expectations. While it is by definition selfish, I consider that to be perfectly alright.

Now the community is going to have thoughts of me betraying a friend

[Danbo]

In situations like this, I don't think it is possible to generalize what someone might do; it depends very much on the situation, type of friend and environment at hand. For me, I will do whatever I can to help my friend as long as I do not get seriously injured, hurt or killed.

Some may argue that this viewpoint is selfish, but in a scenario where one cannot do anything, it is likely that both the friend and them are likely to be killed.It is an inherent nature for us to protect ourselves. Of course, at the same time we and the norm may consider that person to be weak, but I believe that is to a large extent due to socielal criticisms and expectations. While it is by definition selfish, I consider that to be perfectly alright.

Now the community is going to have thoughts of me betraying a friend

Don't worry, as much as I would like to say otherwise, I think I'd probably do the same as well. But I guess one doesn't really know until they themselves are faced with that situation.

[URA BOAT]

It maters greatly on the nature of the relationship you are in with this friend. Their are different types of friendships out there. For example my brother and I are friends and yes i would that a bullet for him but their are some people that are my friends but at the same time I would not risk my well being for theirs. also another factor that comes into play is how dangerous the enemy is. Less people would go into a gun fight but will jump into a fist fight even though both can end up with the same conclusion. Also something that can motivate you to jump in to a fight is the cause. Personally i rather help a helpless woman the is getting attacked then my friend that is calling out the fight him self for stupid reasons.

P.S. in my opinion us IB kids are more likely to jump in to a fight that might kill them because that would end their suffering in IB...jkjk

[marauder7]

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm that is a hard question.

The "correct" thing to say would be that I would help my friend. But, thinking realistically probably I wouldn't. I am a girl and have absolutely no fighting skills. So I don't think I would help much if I got involved anyway. I think I would probably try to get helped.

However, if something happened to my friend I would feel terribly guilty, selfish and weak.

[Award Winning Boss]

Why are things like this just thrown into tok... when it has little relevance to tok lol

Erm I think most people will say they'd help their friend because that's the good thing to say but whether they'd actually do it would have to wait until they're in that position.

[Babydolleyes]

We were discussing this one day in TOK class.

If you were walking on the side of the road one day, and you saw a friend of yours being gang banged. Would you jump in and help or would you walk away?

Would your answer be any different if instead of being gang banged, you saw your friend at gun point?

If you walked away in any of the scenarios would you be considered weak and selfish because you were looking out only for yourself and you were unwilling to pluck up the courage to save your friend? Does self preservation prevail for you whenever you yourself are in danger?

Would love to hear what you guys would do and why

I think it's impossible to truly answer the question without actually having been in the situation, but I really can't say that I can imagine ever being in that situation and just ''walking away''. Obviously there are situations (such as a friend being held at gun point) that can seem almost self destructive to try and simply ''jump in'' to help. Jumping in, isn't necessarily the best option, but I wonder what the other options are, do I have my cell phone, do I know anyone close by that I can get to come asap and the police etc, is there something I can throw at the person threatening my friend.. I can't believe the only two options are either ''jumping in or walking away''. But if the situation is truly either I save myself or try to save my friend too, I think it depends on how close my relationship is with the person.. it depends on everything really.. If I have no responsibilities in the world (no children or a long term commitment such as a boyfriend of 3 years) and the person being threatened is someone I love unconditionally then I don't know if I could live with myself if I just walked away..