Absurd hypotheticals

[Upgradable]

If you went back in time and met an 8 year old Adolf Hitler, could you find it in yourself to kill him?

 

[Amber St. Clare]

If you went back in time and met an 8 year old Adolf Hitler, could you find it in yourself to kill him?

Could you?

 

[Upgradable]

Knowing what I do about his future actions, I still don't know if I could knowingly take another's life. I would spread my beliefs wide and far, and probably be institutionalized, but I'd try to target the people who would be close enough to him as he was taking power so as to be more able to stop the devastation. But I don't know that I would have enough bravery and conviction to do it.

 

[packrat]

What would happen if I did? Would someone else rise to power even worse than Hitler? Can I try to change him into a normal person so that he grows up to be like Mr. Rogers? If none of the above, then yes. The many outweigh the few or the one, or in this case, the psychotic and evil. Even if he wasn't psychotic and evil at 8, all I'd have to do is close my eyes and remember the movies we watched in school and that would be enough.

 

[Upgradable]

Maybe if you were with me Packy, we could get it done together!

 

[Nashville]

Yup. It would save generations of people.

ETA: And yes, I know that in theory changing the course of history is dangerous and learning the lessons of the past and all that... I'd still do it. Nazis used INFANTS for target practice, murdered millions, tore families apart forever. All I'd have to do is think about my daughter getting ripped out of my arms by some soldier and never knowing what became of her. The mere thought of it makes me cry.

 

[Stone-cold11]

Probably not as I believe past is unchangeable. If you try to kill him it will probably fail and the trauma you inflicted in the attempt is what causes him to be a psycho in his future, our past.

 

[Dancing Fire]

one good thing about WW 2 was that it took the U.S. out of the Great Depression by creating so many factory jobs for Americans.

 

[packrat]

Maybe if you were with me Packy, we could get it done together!

K, let's get our Way Back Machine set up and go fix the world Uppy! We'll make a couple side jaunts to get some pretty gems that are hard to get now!

 

[Upgradable]

Peabody here. Let's go, Sherman!

 

[Steel]

Why kill him?

You could adopt him and cure his inferiority complex then he would not have been a nut job - pardon the testicular challenged pun.

 

[packrat]

Peabody here. Let's go, Sherman!

Rock on Peabody! I didn't think anyone else ever watched that!

 

[Circe]

In a heartbeat.

I believe in the death penalty whole-heartedly: if I knew I was operating in the same time-line, I wouldn't have a problem.

However, there speaketh a science fiction fan: if I *knew* such things as time-travel and time-lines existed, I would be operating in a much more morally accessible universe.

As matters stand? I would never condone the execution of an 8-year old, because 8-year olds do not have the power to enact crimes worthy of execution.

I would, however, quite literally, be happy to stand as executioner for every child molester, rapist, torturer, and murderer in my vicinity. My basic principle is, anything that leaves a lasting effect on a victim, the perpetrator dies for. I have yet to meet the argument that dissuades me.

 

[Nomsdeplume]

Weird fact of the day: Hitler's mother wanted an abortion, but was talked out of it by her doctor.

 

[MissMina]

I would rather go a bit farther back in time and be sure his father never met his mother.

 

[Stone-cold11]

Killing that man may also have unintended consequence. Probably half the world will still be a colony of one of the major powers or another major war or two could have broken out with Japan or/and USSR and both are mass killers on the same order as Nazi Germany.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Why kill him?

You could adopt him and cure his inferiority complex then he would not have been a nut job - pardon the testicular challenged pun.

You can't cure crazy.

 

[rhbgirl24]

If not him, probably someone else would have caused that amount of devastation.

However, not sure I would kill him, but I would love to have removed the influence in his life and pushed him into the wrong thinking. Children are not inherently evil so there has to be some reason he was the way he was.

But then again, just taking him out would be an easier way than all of the above.

 

[Tuckins1]

Perhaps I could try to take him out of that situation before he grew up to be a hate mongering psychopath.... If not, yes I would off him to save millions.

 

[radiantquest]

I am replying before I read everyone elses post.

I would say no, I wouldnt kill him. He was a horrible man, but I dont think that the simple fact that he was alive caused what happened. There is a long line of wrong information and hatred that caused him to do what he did. Killing him is not the answer. Changing how he viewed people is.

 

[TravelingGal]

maybe I could just cut out his tongue?

Actually, ack...just the thought of doing something like that makes me ill.

 

[zhuzhu]

I will recruit him into my study and follow him till his adulthood....

 

[dragonfly411]

Gosh this is hard. Part of me wants to say I'd off him, mostly because of the horrible things he did. But the horrible things he did also brought so many people together, and taught lessons, and strengthened many, and helped the world to wake up to what kind of evil is out there and work harder to prevent it.

 

[doodle]

Nope. If I could kill an eight year old, I wouldn't be any better than he was.

 

[dragonfly411]

I wanted to add to this, just to emphasize what it would mean to say we'd have to kill this one person. If we killed this one person, wouldn't we need to go back in time and kill:

Any slave buyers, traders, and owners who were known as having killed slaves?

Any members of any war who kept any prisoners in prisoner camps?

All of the American Founders who knowingly killed Native Americans without mercy?

Napoleon for waging merciless war?

I could go on and on back to biblical times.

The fact of the matter is this: Throughout history there have been countless men and women who were brutal and ruthless. If we went back and killed all of them, we would be living in a completely different world. We may not know the same people we do. We may not even be born, because there would be that much of a chance that our parents would have met someone else, versus meeting each other.

 

[Gypsy]

Hmm. If I could travel back in time... I'd take 8 year old Adolf and transport him to the middle of the Australian outback right after the ice age. Nice place for an 8 year old, and no real way he could cause trouble.

Would I kill him? Not if I could find another way to contain him and negate his effect. Actually T-gal, giving him a deformity of some sort might be a good answer to the problem. I'd pop his ear drums and cause him to go deaf. The handicapped had no rights or respect back then, so he probably couldn't make much of an impact. And in a way... taking a way his status and his future, while leaving him his life (though permanently damaged) is poetic justice.

 

[TravelingGal]

Thinking about it...if I saw an 8 year old Hitler, I'd probably cry...thinking that this BOY would become a monster. Because every monster was a child once.

Unless he was an 8 year old toolbag...then I'd give him over to Gypsy to send him to the outback.

 

[brazen_irish_hussy]

Maybe. despite what people want to believe, there is increasing evidence that monsters are born that way. The structure of their brain's are simply not the same.
The only thing that would stay my hand is not knowing if that would make things worse. If it weren't for the holocaust the idea of equality might have been much farther back without such a dramatic eye opener. If the Jews weren't forced to leave Germany the scientists that came here and built the atomic bomb might have built it for an enemy, etc.

If I knew it would turn out better for the world to kill him, there would be a very large dose of opiates in his last glass of milk.

 

[diva rose]

I'd do it - better him than the thousands of people who will die in the future.

If I can go back in time and kill rapists/killers who are responsible for the murder/torture of innocent people - I would do that also.
I think if I was their victim or the victim's family member/loved ones, I wouldn't want to take any risks of 'changing' the person to make them good or not commit the horrible crime.

 

[packrat]

What if Hitler's mom could have jumped into the Way Forward Machine and witnessed what her son was going to become? What if she wasn't able to know *how* he got that way, just that he *would*. She wouldn't know if it was not enough attention, too much attention, forcing him to play the piano, someone mistreating him as a child, whatever. Would she do it? Would she cross her fingers and hope for the best? Maybe try to keep him shut away?

Makes me think of those books from Middle School..Choose Your Own Adventure books. If you'd like to give Hitler a glass of milk, turn to page 18. If you'd like to leave Hitler alone, turn to 97. If you'd like to try to be Hitler's friend turn to page 41.