About a week before Halloween, the New York Times took to social media to get an idea of how people would act if they had an opportunity to go back in time and kill an Adolph Hitler who was still adept at leaving scheize in his Huggies. According to the survey results, 42 percent of us felt it was justified to commit infanticide, while 28 percent were unsure about whether or not they would kill a damn baby. Moreover, the inquiry has become a presidential campaign question, as both Jeb Bush and Ben Carson have weighed in on it after being asked by the media.
While Ben Carson said he would not abort Baby Hitler, Jeb Bush responded with an enthusiastic “hell yeah” when asked if he would go back in time and kill Li’l Fuhrer.
Why is this even a thing?
While I understand the question is a heavily-modified, dramatic version of the Trolley Problem, the key factor in the inquiry involves killing an innocent child. This is what we’re weighing on when we ponder this question.
I get it. Hitler is a boogeyman, responsible for the senseless slaughter of millions. But, as a baby, Hitler is guilty of nothing, and as such, when the New York Times asks “if you could go back and kill Hitler as a baby, would you do it” they’re effectively asking if we are content with murdering a baby who is without sin.
That is what makes the inquiry fallacious and, truthfully, disgusting.
The horrors one could commit as an adult are not reflective upon them as a child, and as such, the child is not guilty of the actions their adult selves will commit. If this were the case and it is ethically sound to kill the most depraved as babies to prevent the crimes they will commit as adults, then why stop at Hitler? He’s the only one who seems to be the subject of this question. Why not kill the guys who approved and executed the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment? Jim Jones? How about Andrew Jackson or George W. Bush?
Would you go back in time and kill President George W. Bush as a baby?
Featured image by CityGypsy11, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.
