[quote=joec] For people who have had great dogs, the choice is very easy, especially if, say, they just got messed with in a foreign country (more hate for foreigners) or, say loss their job to outsourcing, whatever…

I think the situation just leads to feeling one way vs. the other…[/quote]

I’ve had two great dogs, and, yes, the choice is very easy for me. I wouldn’t for a second even consider letting a human die before either of those dogs.

I really have trouble believing what I’m hearing here. You think that the average person would blame outsourcing (or whatever) on an individual foreigner and save their dog over that person partially for that reason. The troubling part is that you’re obviously correct.

The average person is a real schmuck.

Let me ask you this, joec and flyerinhi and anybody else who would save their dog:

Say you can only save one of: your dog or a foreign tourist. You save your dog. You find out that the foreign tourist had two kids. Those kids loved him dearly. They cry every night because they miss him so much. Their lives are permanently (negatively) affected by the pain of his death and the lack of his guidance. Not an unlikely scenario at all. Would you feel you’d made the right choice? Would you feel guilty? Would you still (assuming you do now) feel that you were a moral human being? If you’re religious, do you think your god would approve? Would you lose any sleep? Would you ever think about the 12-year-old girl and the 7-year-old boy whose father you let die?