Re: Would you kill a puppy for $1,000,000?
Revised deal: Torture the puppy with extreme malice for a few days, killing it at the end, and you receive $1,000,000 free of consequence and completely anonymous.
I proposed this deal when my mind took a morbid twist, but I have to say that, in my own self-interest, I would neither kill nor torture the puppy for the money.
There is a difference between killing in support of one's country (and, in doing so, indirectly defending one's friends and family) and destroying what one must assume to be an innocent life, while not under lawful orders to do so.
One cannot overestimate the importance of receiving lawful orders to kill. It allows the killer to spread the responsibility for the death to a proper authority, instead of having the blame focused entirely inward. The same can be said for physical distance (firing missiles is easier than sniping, which is easier than close-distance shooting, which is easier than hand-to-hand killing) and mechanical distance (computer-directed weapon easier than rifle, rifle easier than throwing knife, and so on). It also helps to have colleagues doing the same work as you (spreading responsibility for the killing among members of your unit).
In addition, military members generally then return home to a (hopefully) grateful country, and to friends and family who applaud the sacrifices made by the service member. The better military organizations help their veterans integrate themselves back into society with veteran's groups, counseling, education, scholarships and job placement programs.
If someone independently kills this puppy at point-blank range with a gun, they will have the money, but I cannot believe that most could do so without also having nightmares and even guilty daydreams. It would tear at a normal person's psyche. To go further and torture the animal would inflict more self-destruction than most humans could bear, let along shrug off.
I could allow the puppy to die, if I didn't have to participate or witness its demise. Cuter animals have died to provide me with breakfast. I cannot say that it is a moral or ethical consideration that would stay my hand.
Rather it is a selfish motivation, a need to be able to sleep at night with a relatively unscathed emotional well-being.
