Techspert

Myriad Reality

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No, far from it. I don’t exactly kill people regularly. But you want to know how you make the difference? You take yourself, and you fill as much of that hole as you can. It doesn’t fix everything, because not enough people want to fill the hole. But it makes enough of a difference to be worth.

@Intrepid

By that logic, everyone should give away everything they have to the poor. Not a bad solution if we're being real, but again, the natural inclination to be evil destroys that premise. Every person would have to be an equally benevolent giver, and every receiver would have to be entirely legitimate. Instead, there's corruption on both sides. How about you become the change you want to see instead of harping on people who actually do make a difference. I'm not even a "professional 'hero;'" I'm an engineer and Tier Five member who happens to be really good at beating up bad guys.

Myriad Reality

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You can’t just leave broken systems to their devices. So many people suffer that way. Too many to ignore, and certainly a number comparable to the number of people threatened by those you fight. It in itself is one of the biggest threats anyone could try to face.

@Intrepid

Are you one of those guys who's like "Let's kill everyone because then the total number of people suffering will actually be lower because nobody else can be born!"? Because if not, until you figure out how to solve everyone's natural badness, your issues are problems with no resolution. Every system is broken because all of us are broken, not because there's some magic silver bullet that we don't choose to load out of our own corruption.

Myriad Reality

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It sounds to me like you see the problem I do. If it’s not the man’s responsibility, or the police officer’s, then who? There is absolutely no one placed in charge of this particular kind of saving. And the lack of concern everyone has for it is the appaling part. Most societies never implement one. And that means that a job of helping the people is only ever half done. That is the part that gets me. Heroes don’t do it. Cops don’t do it. Not lawyers or politicians or volunteers.
*Shakes my head*
And why do they deserve the saving less than the people who actually are?

@Intrepid

Many societies have public safety nets for those who have no ability to care for themselves. You also have charities and things like that. For us, stopping bad guys is often on a planetary or universal level, whereas people starving is on an individual level. You can also ruin societies by getting involved like that because you can push them off of an internal equilibrium. If you become the provider for everyone, then if you die, everybody starves. You'll also probably end up a dictator. Living creatures are naturally corrupt and evil and no amount of good any of us do will ever change that. So we do what good we can and let people who can do more do what they do best.

Myriad Reality

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That’s not what it’s about. It’s about helping people. When you save people, you help them. But why does it end there? It most certainly should not change a person’s decision to make the call in the moment, but you’d better believe that the only people who need saving aren’t the one’s at the lethal end of a weapon.

@Intrepid

That's not their job, role, or responsibility. That's like asking a police officer to also provide medical care and then food after helping someone. The whole reason we have societies is because we have specialization, where people do what they do best and exchange their services to increase the quality of life for everyone. And that's when it's their job, let alone a random guy on the street. Do you think he has a responsibility to visit and care for a killer's family? What about his own family? That man never asked to be there or to deal with that, but when he does the right thing, you decide that he all of a sudden has to bear the weight of the crimes of the killer, or of society when it is too corrupt to do anything.

Myriad Reality

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We’re getting closer to an understanding. I feel there is a weight of responsibility on every shoulder here. Being a person to take such a big and influential action of that kind carries with it a weight and a responsibility. I’m concerned for the mental state of the man who shoots another who is doing something threatening, then takes the glory and walks. Not even having a concern for the people who knew that man, and whether or not they can continue to exist or function as people... It’s genuinely surprising that such thoughts never occur to people. The biggest victims of all are those who lose.

@Intrepid

If you kill someone to save the life of another, there's not going to be time to figure out the impact because someone is going to die. Even if you could, what are you going to decide? "Oh, because this might hurt people he knows, I'm not going to save this person's life?" What about others he's going to hurt? And who said anything about glory? Do you think there's glamour in any of this? In almost every instance, the one who saves is given absolutely no credit or thanks.

Myriad Reality

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And you don’t see something wrong with these people just being left to rot?

@Intrepid

Yeah, I do. You brought up a good point: If she starves because she's lazy, that's on her. If she starves because society is too corrupt to help her, that's on society. If she dies because the loan sharks come by and she can't pay her debt, that's on them. One guy did the right thing, and yes, someone suffered as an indirect result, but the weight is always on the real cause of the pain, not the catalyst. That'd be just like saying "I'm going to shoot you next time someone walks across this sidewalk" and then getting mad at the person walking across the sidewalk instead of the guy shooting someone.

Myriad Reality

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I’m not talking lazy here.

@Intrepid

Say she had a bad arm, then. Couldn't hold a job. No matter where you transfer the blame, it's not going to end up on the guy who saved the dude's life. Not only is it not his responsibility, but he just did what was right given the circumstances. Transaction over.

Myriad Reality

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That’s not at all what it is. These are helpless people we’re talking about.

@Intrepid

So was the guy's wife.

Myriad Reality

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It was a pretty cruddy everything. For everyone involved. No one is exempt from that.

@Intrepid

So when a police officer, or even better, a lucky guy walking down the street stops a criminal from killing someone and that criminal's family starves because his wife can't get a job, you blame the guy who saved someone else? There's a HUGE flaw in your reasoning.

Myriad Reality

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After the fall of Waternaux City, when ex-President Indigo was killed, people who were being taken care of in charitable establishments, such as for the sick and homeless, were berated, shunned, and sometimes even beaten for having accepted his aid. And no one wanted to pick up the stragglers that he left behind. Many starved, or otherwise met ill fates. People hated the man’s legacy so much that they wouldn’t take any of the good things he left and continue them.

@Intrepid

Sounds like a pretty cruddy society.