Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

If you found a death note would you use it?

52 replies

SummerOf17 · 02/09/2017 18:07

Inspired by the netflix death note. You pick up a book that allows you to kill anyone by just writing their names and knowing their faces. Do you try to engineer a new world?

OP posts:
LaurieFairyCake · 02/09/2017 18:14

Well that's just terrifying

Fairly sure if I wrote 'Mugabe' in it then some other even worse scum bag would just replace him

By the end I'd be scribbling furiously trying to out murder the other murderers Hmm

Original poster
SummerOf17 · 02/09/2017 18:17

Laurie I think if you decide to use it you'd have to be strategic. I'm not sure... if bad people keep dying then it may dissuade them from doing bad things especially if they don't know what is killing them...

OP posts:
PotteringAlong · 02/09/2017 18:18

No. You'd be no better than the worst serial killer.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Art & design
LaurieFairyCake · 02/09/2017 18:19

That's definitely why I'd not be writing - I'm not strategic Grin

I would lose at Risk.

Boatmistress17 · 02/09/2017 18:19

Would use it on exh. . Wouldn't need a new world coz this one would be a better place without him in it. .

SuzukiLi · 02/09/2017 18:20

Yes. But I already know I'm a psycho.

Stellato · 02/09/2017 18:21

I'd definitely use it! There are some obvious candidates...

HateSummer · 02/09/2017 18:22

Wow.. I'd write down trump's name first. But what if there were other people with the same name? Would they all die?

Notsoaccidentproneanymore · 02/09/2017 18:24

I'd kill the bitch of a manager who made my life hell - in the days before personnel recognized that things like that go on. I eventually went off sick for 6 months, and was only forced to go back for financial reasons. My union was involved, and personnel said that just for a level transfer I'd have to apply for any vacancies, same as everyone else. I did manage to move jobs about 4 months later. It was a very large organization.

It still surprises me the amount of vitriol I feel towards her.

But in general, no. I mean who/where would you start (or even stop?)

Original poster
SummerOf17 · 02/09/2017 18:24

Hate Summer No. You need a face and a name to kill so it would hit the right person. Besides that there are rules in the book.

I'm just curious being a super nerd I mean super fan of the anime whether most people would do what the main character did.

OP posts:
nancy75 · 02/09/2017 18:29

If you could use it alongside propaganda it could be really useful!

Imagine if you could get rid of the top 10 Isis nutters & then make it known that they had been struck down by god because god hates violence - that would put a stop to most other Isis nutters.

Or you could do away with the whole leadership in North Korea - ho e the people there a chance at a normal life & get rid of their nukes

Original poster
SummerOf17 · 02/09/2017 18:30

Notso That is awful. I hope you are doing better now Flowers.
There are people who have hurt me and those I love but now I don't think I could do it. But if I had such a book... who knows. I think it would be best to keep it academic.

OP posts:
Cavender · 02/09/2017 18:31

Summer killing bad people doesn't dissuade them though, American states with the death penalty don't have lower homicide rates than those without.

Besides which, who are you (or I) to decide who deserves to die.

I suspect that even if you started using such a tool with the purest of motives it wouldn't be that long before you'd consider killing all sorts of people who weren't "bad" but that you had cause to personally hate.

"Power tends to corrupt and absolutely power tends to corrupt absolutely"

John Dalberg-Acton

HateSummer · 02/09/2017 18:32

Oh ok, that's good. I wouldn't want innocent Donald Trumps in the world to die Grin.

I wouldn't kill anyone I know in RL, even if they piss me off a lot.

Original poster
SummerOf17 · 02/09/2017 18:32

nancy I agree! You would be a good candidate. I think you wouldn't even need to make much propaganda yourself. The world will be watching and making so many theories that you can use to your advantage. The protagonist of death note makes some of his victims write things before they die. You could really make others think you are God.

OP posts:
indulgentberries · 02/09/2017 18:33

Notso no, I wouldn't use it but only because I'd have too many possible candidates and I'd worry about choosing the wrong one. I mean if I chose the leader of NK and then the replacement was worse I'd feel awful..

xTinkerhellx · 02/09/2017 18:35

Oh I'm worse than even I thought. I read the title and started listing all the people I would kill... None of whom are evil terrorist dictators.

My list is like, the guy at work that clicks his pen lid 959056 times a minute, my ex, the woman that looked at me funny one time.

This is clearly why I can't have nice things.

DragonsandDungeons · 02/09/2017 18:35

The correct answer is no. Personally I believe that the book corrupts people, and it's almost impossible to resist.

I definitely think I have a Light Yagami lurking in me somewhere. Like most do!

Twinkletowedelephant · 02/09/2017 18:37

Dd loves Japanese animee I bought her a 'deathnote' notebook complete with feather quill pen....

Reading her first page was enlightening ;)

Ninjakittysmells · 02/09/2017 18:40

Oh god even thinking about this gives me the panics

I would worry I would write someone by accident and be trying so hard not to think of their face that I did anyway. I realise that's hard to do, but you know!

I'd also worry Ds got hold of it and scrawled his name, my name and the cats in there while singing merrily.

All in all. The ninja house would not like this book!

OurMiracle1106 · 02/09/2017 18:41

There's someone who came to mind, which I feel the world would be better off without but that's not my job to implement that. So no I wouldn't. However I would appreciate the book so that should I ever be diagnosed with terminal cancer I could say goodbye to loved ones and write my own name in there. (Both my parents died from cancer, dad was a 3 months fight, mum was 29days)

Original poster
SummerOf17 · 02/09/2017 18:42

Cavender I have no doubt that such power would corrupt anyone completely.

It is not about the right though is it? I'm thinking if I had the chance to engineer a new world I would want one where the average person could live peacefully. I'd be doing right by my own mind as anyone else would and as God does I suppose.

xTinker Grin.

Dragon The world's crime rate did reduce dramatically when Light was in power... I was routing for him before he became completely crazy. I always thought I'd never use it though if I was in that position. The world isn't worth my soul.

OP posts:
Pigoon · 02/09/2017 18:42

It would be so difficult not to have one go to see if it worked.
I've read this thread planning who that person would be...

Cavender · 02/09/2017 18:45

You can't engineer a perfect world though Summer. Each choice has multiple consequences, what if you kill one person and something worse comes to pass?

Personally, I'd destroy the book.

Mummyoflittledragon · 02/09/2017 18:48

How could you engineer a new world based on murder?