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Entry tags:
hostage situations
So the bad guy has captured your child or spouse or whatever and is holding a gun to its head. Fortunately, the scriptwriters have given you a gun of your own, which you're pointing at the bad guy, at close enough range that you're likely to do serious damage. The bad guy says "Drop your gun, or the kid gets it." What do you do?
If you drop your gun, the bad guy still has a gun pointed at the hostage's head, and will next demand something else from you, and something else, and something else again. You haven't actually gained anything: the hostage is still alive, but only as long as the bad guy feels like it -- which is also true if you don't drop your gun. Indeed, the hostage was keeping the bad guy alive; if he kills the hostage while you still have a gun pointed at him, he won't live very long either.
Now, what if you don't have a gun? The bad guy will instead order you to do other things that strengthen his already-strong position and weaken yours. Again, the hostage is alive as long as the bad guy feels like it, regardless of whether you go along with the demands. If you refuse and he kills the hostage, he's just given away his most valuable asset and made the playing field more level than it was, which is not in his interest. (Killing the hostage isn't in your interest either, but the bad guy, if at all rational, makes decisions based more on his own interest than on yours.)
If somebody threatens you to encourage you to make a "deal", and the deal doesn't come with the verifiable and irrevocable elimination of the threat, it's not a deal; it's a protection racket. The price will keep going up and up and up as long as the bad guy has the power to threaten you and you keep giving him what he asks for. If the price eventually gets too high, you refuse, and he makes good on his threat, you're no better off than if you had refused from the start. (Delay might be a good strategy if you have reason to believe reinforcements will arrive soon to help you, but not if you're on your own.)
This has been a public service announcement, in case you happen to be a University or a law firm or a city, state, or national government....
If you drop your gun, the bad guy still has a gun pointed at the hostage's head, and will next demand something else from you, and something else, and something else again. You haven't actually gained anything: the hostage is still alive, but only as long as the bad guy feels like it -- which is also true if you don't drop your gun. Indeed, the hostage was keeping the bad guy alive; if he kills the hostage while you still have a gun pointed at him, he won't live very long either.
Now, what if you don't have a gun? The bad guy will instead order you to do other things that strengthen his already-strong position and weaken yours. Again, the hostage is alive as long as the bad guy feels like it, regardless of whether you go along with the demands. If you refuse and he kills the hostage, he's just given away his most valuable asset and made the playing field more level than it was, which is not in his interest. (Killing the hostage isn't in your interest either, but the bad guy, if at all rational, makes decisions based more on his own interest than on yours.)
If somebody threatens you to encourage you to make a "deal", and the deal doesn't come with the verifiable and irrevocable elimination of the threat, it's not a deal; it's a protection racket. The price will keep going up and up and up as long as the bad guy has the power to threaten you and you keep giving him what he asks for. If the price eventually gets too high, you refuse, and he makes good on his threat, you're no better off than if you had refused from the start. (Delay might be a good strategy if you have reason to believe reinforcements will arrive soon to help you, but not if you're on your own.)
This has been a public service announcement, in case you happen to be a University or a law firm or a city, state, or national government....