Gotta admit, the dog is my family.
A stranger - if an adult - is responsible for his own safety - and he has nobody to blame but himself for getting in ‘over his head’.
Women and children I would save first. An adult male - sink or swim while I save my dog- THEN I will save him.
Is the stranger wearing an Obama T-Shirt?
Logically speaking, of course, a human's life is worth more than a dog's. However, when humans are operating in a crisis, we don't always behave logically.
Really tough to answer. Two of my dogs I helped whelp, the third is the dam.
What if the generic person was a child? Would the answer change?
Guaranteed the dog did NOT vote for Obama.
Ya don’t know about the “stranger”.
You save the person, not the dog, for the same reason that unborn children should be protected: with rare exceptions, human life has priority over other concerns.
Why Young Americans Can’t Think Morally (Moral standards have been replaced by feelings)
A very good read. Read it.
LOL I’m going to catch “H” for that one I just posted, because somebody is going to hit me on Democrat dogs voting, but OK. Guaranteed the FReeper’s dog didn’t vote for Obama.
Wow! I was actually surprised that many people feel that way. I’m curious, any Freepers here that would answer in favor of the dog?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Heh heh. If you were surprised that many people felt that way, then based on FReeper responses...
How do you feel now?
Nobody really knows what they'd do in a situation like this until they're in it.
Depends...if it was a child, I’d save the child.
I’d have a hard time deciding any other situation, and I think it would be decided only upon being put in that circumstance. Like they say, you never know how you’re going to react until you’re in the situation.
“Saving the person serves me in no way”
And after all, it’s all about ME, isn’t it?
I was at a party once and a similar question was asked except they had a specific person in mind:
Who would you save from drowning?
Hitler or a police dog?
There was one woman who took the side of saving Hitler because he was human and the dog wasn’t
I’m sick of Dennis Prager.
My dogs! DUH. Ain’t nobody’s business to moralize at me. It’s between me and G-d.
“I’m curious, any Freepers here that would answer in favor of the dog?”
You’re kidding right? There have been thousands of posts by people threatening to kill any police officer/stranger/burglar who harmed their pet.
And many, many more posts of people calling for abusers of animals to be put to death.
There are many sick people on FR.
Information might help clear this up.
Most dogs are naturally good swimmers, but many people are not. Lots of cases of dogs who fell off ships and still managed to swim miles to shore. If the dog can’t swim, say because of a swift current, it is likewise too swift for you to do a swimming rescue. So this means throwing a rope or using a pole.
However, beyond these points, anthropomorphism sucks. While you may think of a dog as a beloved member of your family, it is not. It is an animal that will likely only live about 15 years. courts have consistently held that the value of the life of a dog is small, excepting rare pure breeds with a documented *sale* value.
So, if you are not going to rescue the person, don’t, because you don’t want to rescue a person.
This is neither “criminally negligent homicide or manslaughter”, because the law stipulates that, “Criminally negligent manslaughter occurs where there is an omission to act when there is a duty to do so, or a failure to perform a duty owed, which leads to a death. The existence of the duty is essential because the law does not impose criminal liability for a failure to act unless a specific duty is owed to the victim.”
Unless you are a lifeguard, there is no duty to attempt a rescue of a stranger.