There's a philosophical thought experiment called The Trolley Problem. You're on a speeding trolley bearing down on five people working on the tracks, unaware of your approach, and they will certainly be killed. However, there's a junction and a stretch of tracks where only one person is working. In front of you is a lever that, if you pull it, will make the trolley switch tracks and save the five people, but kill the single person. What do you do?
The Trolley Problem was first proposed 50 years ago, and variations of it have been making the rounds lately, appearing in a few TV shows, video games, and even the NPR show, Radiolab. There are several variations on it, including a recent high school assignment called the Zombie Apocalypse, which caused a bit of a controversy in west central Minnesota.
Imagine it's 2024, and the AMC Network's wildest fantasies have been realized: We're in the early days of the zombie apocalypse. You've got to escape, but the only way to do it is to sacrifice three people. Who do you choose? Who will you sacrifice so you and your family and friends — well, the rest of your family and friends — will survive? List three people who you might shed a quick tear over as you speed away to safety and think of a few reasons why you're giving them up.
That's a nice morbid thought as we enter the holiday season. But since we just finished Thanksgiving, you probably had your three names before I finished this sentence.
The Zombie Apocalypse assignment is really just a form of the Trolley Problem, but with a post-apocalyptic flair the teens seem to like these days. It's an interesting way to get people to discuss the morals and ethics of sacrifice, and our willingness or unwillingness to do harm to benefit others.
Thinking about issues like this are how we develop as people. This is how we clarify our ethics and learn where to draw the line on certain behaviors. It's an excellent way to examine our value system and understand how we developed our principles.
But some people don't feel that way. Some people just take the fun out of everything.
Recently, the Zombie Apocalypse assignment stirred quite a bit of controversy at Parkers Prairie High School in Minnesota. Geography teacher Will Grieger gave a bunch of freshmen an assignment that asked them to consider their survival during the zombie apocalypse. The students could choose, either list 50 items they would have in their apocalypse survival guide or list 25 household items that could kill a zombie. Next, they had to write about how they would "sacrifice three of 'your' people to survive. . . No martyrs here — you must sacrifice three people."
As one might expect, some helicopter parents swooped in to save their children from the big bad philosophical quandary. Michelle Diedrich told the (Minneapolis-St. Paul) Twin Cities Pioneer Press, "I told her (the principal) I want a copy of the zero for my daughter's grade. I will be proud because that zero is how many children she (the daughter) gave up."
Apparently, Diedrich went to principal Carey Johnson and expressed her displeasure with the assignment. After being told the assignment wouldn't be graded, her daughter reported back that it was still being required.
So Diedrich did what any helicopter parent does in these kinds of situations: She swooped in and took a principled stand that her daughter was not going to participate in an intellectual discussion to help her understand human ethics. She told the Pioneer Press, "I read it and told her she’s not going to do it. We do not sacrifice others to save ourselves."
Diedrich may have had to shout to be heard over the police cars and fire engines racing to a Welcome Home Troops ceremony.
Diedrich was also concerned over the part of the assignment that asked people to name 25 objects in their home that could be used to kill a zombie, and then write a scene about killing a zombie with those objects.
"I don’t think it’s healthy for anyone to think about 25 ways to kill someone," she said.
To be fair, there are only three ways to kill a zombie — bludgeoning, stabbing, and shooting. So you're really only looking for objects that will accomplish one of those three goals.
So there, I've saved you 22 ways of thinking about killing someone.
Also, remember, this is a school assignment about zombies. You're not really thinking about killing someone, you're thinking about killing a pretend monster.
Besides, they're the ones that made it necessary to sacrifice your friends in the first place. Maybe if you knew how to kill more than a few zombies, you wouldn't need to sacrifice everyone else.
In the end, the assignment was canceled and ruined for everyone. All because one mother didn't want her child to contemplate ethical problems or to grow through self-reflection.
Unfortunately, righteous indignation and moral outrage aren't effective against zombie attacks. Instead, the poor freshmen of Parkers Prairie High School will be wiped out when the zombie apocalypse finally comes.
Unless they can just escape in their parents' helicopters.
Photo credit: H. Michael Miley (Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons 2.0)
The 3rd edition of Branding Yourself is now available on Amazon.com and in your local Barnes & Noble bookstore.
The Trolley Problem was first proposed 50 years ago, and variations of it have been making the rounds lately, appearing in a few TV shows, video games, and even the NPR show, Radiolab. There are several variations on it, including a recent high school assignment called the Zombie Apocalypse, which caused a bit of a controversy in west central Minnesota.
Imagine it's 2024, and the AMC Network's wildest fantasies have been realized: We're in the early days of the zombie apocalypse. You've got to escape, but the only way to do it is to sacrifice three people. Who do you choose? Who will you sacrifice so you and your family and friends — well, the rest of your family and friends — will survive? List three people who you might shed a quick tear over as you speed away to safety and think of a few reasons why you're giving them up.
The Zombie Apocalypse assignment is really just a form of the Trolley Problem, but with a post-apocalyptic flair the teens seem to like these days. It's an interesting way to get people to discuss the morals and ethics of sacrifice, and our willingness or unwillingness to do harm to benefit others.
Thinking about issues like this are how we develop as people. This is how we clarify our ethics and learn where to draw the line on certain behaviors. It's an excellent way to examine our value system and understand how we developed our principles.
But some people don't feel that way. Some people just take the fun out of everything.
Recently, the Zombie Apocalypse assignment stirred quite a bit of controversy at Parkers Prairie High School in Minnesota. Geography teacher Will Grieger gave a bunch of freshmen an assignment that asked them to consider their survival during the zombie apocalypse. The students could choose, either list 50 items they would have in their apocalypse survival guide or list 25 household items that could kill a zombie. Next, they had to write about how they would "sacrifice three of 'your' people to survive. . . No martyrs here — you must sacrifice three people."
As one might expect, some helicopter parents swooped in to save their children from the big bad philosophical quandary. Michelle Diedrich told the (Minneapolis-St. Paul) Twin Cities Pioneer Press, "I told her (the principal) I want a copy of the zero for my daughter's grade. I will be proud because that zero is how many children she (the daughter) gave up."
Apparently, Diedrich went to principal Carey Johnson and expressed her displeasure with the assignment. After being told the assignment wouldn't be graded, her daughter reported back that it was still being required.
So Diedrich did what any helicopter parent does in these kinds of situations: She swooped in and took a principled stand that her daughter was not going to participate in an intellectual discussion to help her understand human ethics. She told the Pioneer Press, "I read it and told her she’s not going to do it. We do not sacrifice others to save ourselves."
Diedrich may have had to shout to be heard over the police cars and fire engines racing to a Welcome Home Troops ceremony.
Diedrich was also concerned over the part of the assignment that asked people to name 25 objects in their home that could be used to kill a zombie, and then write a scene about killing a zombie with those objects.
"I don’t think it’s healthy for anyone to think about 25 ways to kill someone," she said.
To be fair, there are only three ways to kill a zombie — bludgeoning, stabbing, and shooting. So you're really only looking for objects that will accomplish one of those three goals.
So there, I've saved you 22 ways of thinking about killing someone.
Also, remember, this is a school assignment about zombies. You're not really thinking about killing someone, you're thinking about killing a pretend monster.
Besides, they're the ones that made it necessary to sacrifice your friends in the first place. Maybe if you knew how to kill more than a few zombies, you wouldn't need to sacrifice everyone else.
In the end, the assignment was canceled and ruined for everyone. All because one mother didn't want her child to contemplate ethical problems or to grow through self-reflection.
Unfortunately, righteous indignation and moral outrage aren't effective against zombie attacks. Instead, the poor freshmen of Parkers Prairie High School will be wiped out when the zombie apocalypse finally comes.
Unless they can just escape in their parents' helicopters.
Photo credit: H. Michael Miley (Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons 2.0)
The 3rd edition of Branding Yourself is now available on Amazon.com and in your local Barnes & Noble bookstore.