The Greater Good

There are many agruments that attack this subject. Lets say that your girlfriend is strapped to railroad tracks and there is a train about to come and crush her, taking her from you forever. Your only option to divert the train is a switch that changes the trains tracks. The tracks that you could change it to contain a swarm of people leaving a baseball game, therefore if you switch the tracks you'll inevitably kill around 80 people. What do you do? These are difficult decisions one must make to sacrifice innocent life for innocent life. What presents the greater good?
This argument poses many interesting questions but I find that it can relate to Watzman's 'When You Have to Shoot First' article. He states that sometimes suspicious people who very well could be innocent may have to be killed under certain circumstances. I think that I would have to agree with him as long as proper procedure has been taken and appropriate threat is drawn. His discussion about the 27 year old innocent electrician who was shot dead does pose many questions. But it's a game of what do you do? Do you sacrifice the innocent life because there is a probable chance that he isn't, just because he displays all the characteristics of someone who is about to blow you and the surrounding 4 blocks to smithereens?
I think that I would have to agree with Watzman's argument that precautions must be taken when the situation that presents itself may even be construed one time out of every hundred. It seems to fit well with the old cliche' which has now been appropriated to so many movie villains 'In order to make an omelet you have to break a few eggs'. But in this case, in order to save the eggs, sometimes you have to make an omelet.


BB