Animals vs humans round 2

[livingzuid]

I was enjoying our previous debate started by Fifi. Not sure if we were done!

AIBU to think if faced with choosing a pet over a human (even if a stranger), you should choose the human?

The idea was brought up in another thread and put in life or death situation. Building on fire contains your pet and a stranger. You could only save one, who would it be?

I had a dog, Ralph, I cried my heart out when he died 3 years ago. The only dog I wasn't scared of! But I can't imagine leaving a person to die instead, no matter how my heart would break.

Maryz I take it you would save your family over any of my family in a fire, how is that any less selfish than me saving my family over someone else's? Also I find your commnt about feeling about many people's dogs helping them to be incredibly offensive, far more than someone saying they would save family over a stranger.

Yep 100% selfish. As I've said on last thread and this one. My dog saves my life. If you don't understand that well ok. I'd understand if you would chose to follow the path you do. But it's obvious we will never agree.

Binkybix but to anyone you ask, their child is more important. They would probably put a sibling or parent before another person's child too; does that make it any less right? Either way, someone loses a family member, and losing my dog would have more of an impact on me and my DCs than losing a stranger, no matter their age. I don't just value my dog for what she means to me, but for what she means to my kids.

But I care more about my children's grief than someone else's. does that make me a bad person, for putting my kids above others?

But surely there is no way on earth that your children's grief for their pet could compare with, for example, a parent's grief for their child? Even if that child is now an adult.

We will never agree but will be checking with anyone that ever has my kids over night what their policy is on this, first stop my DM who has 2!

But I care more about my children's grief than someone else's. does that make me a bad person, for putting my kids above others

That's a rather far fetched way to try and justify putting your dog's life above another person's.

I wouldn't have respected my mum for bringing the dog home "to spare my grief" while telling me she'd left another person to die. I'd have left home and disowned her before the person's family tracked us down.

Yes it would be a bad thing to do urgent

If it's a choice between a dog and someone else's DC you could save them that pain. No one HAS to lose a child in this scenario. Yes, you would lose a dog with maybe 15 years left to live, but that pain would be less than losing a child for the other family. And you could spare them that, but you don't.

But in the actual situation, in the heat of the moment so to speak, you wouldn't physically have time to weigh up all the options and consider the far reaching consequences. It would be a split second decision, or everyone dies.

I'd save my cat.

Interestingly, if the choice was between my neighbours dog and the neighbours child - I'd save their child.

I have been trying to work out just how much or how little some people on here value a human being's life. And purely from reading this thread and the first one, you would think, very very little.
But there is one person on here who I am on another thread with, and she is being very helpful indeed to a person [presumably a stranger], who is in much distress.
So maybe things in reality are not so bad as they could appear to be?
That the loving thy neighbour as thyself ideal isnt as far off after all.

urgent you can extrapolate my logic out to read any close family member really - it doesn't have to be DCs only.

I also think the fact that the person being left to die loses their own life is enough to mean you should choose human tbh, let alone all the arguments about how those left will be affected.

I do think it makes you a bad person to choose to save your DCs grief at losing a dog by leaving a human to die, yes.

At a stretch I can see myself at about age 6 blaming my parents if they had made such a choice (hypothetically). From about that age on I think I would have been horrified if they'd have made that choice. Even though I would have been v upset to lose my cat.

Parents who have lost a child never recover, they just learn to live with the grief.

I'm always baffled by the 'my dog is as much of a family member as anyone else' argument, because if a child is going to be utterly traumatised by the death of a pet, to the point of never recovering (to give a fair comparison to the situation where parents lose a child), then perhaps pet ownership is not in their best interests. Pets have, in general, a fairly limited lifespan. If a child is going to never recover from the loss of a pet, why put them through that in the first place?

treaclesoda I never said they would experience the same grief, only that I would put their feelings above someone else's.

Maryz I can't at the moment because they're with their gran, however I asked her, my sister and my dad about the question last night and they all said they would save the dog over a stranger. Maybe being someone with a difference of opinion evil runs in the family.

everlong Yes I could, and I would be able to for the rest of my life. Their child means nothing to me compared to the happiness of my children and the life of my family.

But catoftheday it's not split second now and you're still saying you'd do it, even hypothetically.

It would be different to say that you would hope that you'd go for the human, but under the pressure you might go for your pet. But that's not what people are saying!

I love the furry little fuckers. I'd save my cat over MYSELF.