Ethics Thought Experiment: The Alligator River Story

[LovePrevails]

I came across this at a workshop once, I would love to see your responses and your rationales behind your responses before telling you why I wanted to post it and giving you my thoughts

 

THE ALLIGATOR RIVER STORY


Instructions:
Please read the following story. After reading the story, rank the five
characters in the story in the space provided below it, beginning with
the one you consider as most offensive, and ending with the one you
consider as least objectionable. Also, briefly note your reasons as to
why you ranked them in that order.
From LovePrevails: Please don't just rank them, explain why you have ranked them as such


There lived a woman
named Abigail who was in love with a man named Gregory. Gregory lived on
the shore of a river. Abigail lived on the opposite shore of the same
river. The river that separated the two lovers was teeming with
dangerous alligators. Abigail wanted to cross the river to be with
Gregory. Unfortunately, the bridge had been washed out by a heavy flood
the previous week. So she went to ask Sinbad, a riverboat captain, to
take her across. He said he would be glad to if she would consent to go
to bed with him prior to the voyage. She promptly refused and went to a
friend named Ivan to explain her plight. Ivan did not want to get
involved at all in the situation. Abigail felt her only alternative was
to accept Sinbad’s terms. Sinbad fulfilled his promise to Abigail and
delivered her into the arms of Gregory.

When Abigail told
Gregory about her amorous escapade in order to cross the river, Gregory
cast her aside with disdain. Heartsick and rejected, Abigail turned to
Slug with her tale of woe. Slug, feeling compassion for Abigail, sought
out Gregory and beat him brutally. Abigail was overjoyed at the sight of
Gregory getting his due. As the sun set on the horizon, people heard
Abigail laughing at Gregory.

[ribuck]

Great thought experiment!

Slug is the most offensive, for the violent beating he gave to Gregory.

Abigail is almost as offensive. She was happy for Slug to beat Gregory. Plus she's a jerk.

Sinbad the riverboat captain offers Abigail what appears to be a win-win proposition. Can't fault him for voluntaryism! And yet ... he is somewhat offensive. I think Sinbad is trying to exploit the situation, because I reckon he knows that Gregory won't be happy and that this isn't going to work out well for Abigail.

Ivan has my respect. No-one needs to get involved if they don't want to.

Gregory is the least offensive. We assume that Gregory is in love with Abigail, so it's natural that Gregory won't like that Abigail slept with Sinbad. I can identify personally with Gregory.

The preferable outcome? Abigail should have waited a few days until the bridge was fixed, or gone the long way round, instead of sleeping with Sinbad.

[LovePrevails]

 

Great thought experiment!

Slug is the most offensive, for the violent beating he gave to Gregory.

Abigail is almost as offensive. She was happy for Slug to beat Gregory. Plus she's a jerk.

Sinbad the riverboat captain offers Abigail what appears to be a win-win proposition. Can't fault him for voluntaryism! And yet ... he is somewhat offensive. I think Sinbad is trying to exploit the situation, because I reckon he knows that Gregory won't be happy and that this isn't going to work out well for Abigail.

Ivan has my respect. No-one needs to get involved if they don't want to.

Gregory is the least offensive. We assume that Gregory is in love with Abigail, so it's natural that Gregory won't like that Abigail slept with Sinbad. I can identify personally with Gregory.

The preferable outcome? Abigail should have waited a few days until the bridge was fixed, or gone the long way round, instead of sleeping with Sinbad.

 

 

Hey! Attention! I posted the wrong version of this story!!

 

In the original, Ivan was - ABIGAILS MUM!!! which makes a massive difference, look:

 

Once upon a time there was a woman named Abigail who was in love with a man name Gregory.
Gregory lived on the shore of a river. The river which seperated the
two lovers was teeming with man eating aligators. Abigail wanted to
cross the river to be with Gregory. Unfortunatly, the bridge had been
washed out. So she went to ask Sinbad, a riverboat captain, to
take her across. He said he would be glad to if she would consent to go
to bed with him preceeding the voyage. She promptly refused and went to
her mother to exaplin her plight. Mother did not want to get
involved at all in the situation. Abigail felt her only alternative now
was to except Sinbad's terms. Sinbad filfilled his promis to Abigail and
delivered her into the arms of Gregory.



When She told Gregory about her amourous escapade in order to cross the
river, he cast her aside with distain. Heartsick and dejected Abigail
turned to Slug with her tail of woe. Slug feeling compassion for
her, sought out Gregory and beat him brutally. Abigail was overjoyed at
the sight of Gregory getting his due. As the sun sets on the horizon we
hear Abigail laughing at Gregory.

 

Please reassess!!

[TDB]

Abigail: enjoyed the violence, vindictive

Slug:  violent, compassionate?

Gregory: uptight asshole

Sinbad: kind of a lowlife

Ivan:  not clear what he could do if he wanted to, no obligation to do so

 

Only question in my mind is how to order Abigail & Slug. Did she encourage Slug to engage in violence, or just feel pleased that he did so? If she would have discouraged Slug, I'd have found her less objectionable. I am assuming she could have dissuaded him, but that's a pretty big assumption. Although there are no lifeboats mentioned in the story (perhaps that was how Sinbad took her across the river?), it seems pretty artificial, so I don't give much weight to my answer. Sounds like they should all get therapy, or learn to swim.