Erik's question for the day is:
If you believed your life to be in danger, would you act in self defense, even if doing so meant harming the attacker? (For those not living in the US, please note the legal policy on this issue.)
If someone was attacking me, I would try and defend myself, but only with reasonable force. If someone tried to steal my bag or something like that, I'd probably try and get away. However, if I found someone in my house, and knew that they were trying to rob the place, I'd probably get a baseball bat (errr… make that a cricket bat. Who has a baseball bat in Australia?) and thwock them with it.
If someone was threatening my life, there's no way I'd intentionally try and take theirs. Maim them? Yes. Pummel the shit out of them? Probably not. I see killing someone in self defence as stooping to the level of the attacker. If I can stop them from attacking (be it by knocking them out, tying them up or whatever), then that's a much better option that taking a life. I'd rather let the police deal with the person than having the loss of life over my head.
