PATREON EXCLUSIVE: Would You Sacrifice A Spot On A Lifeboat To Save A Woman? (Titanic Poll)

If I'm not in a professional capacity...no. Equal rights... equal life. For children and babies yes...but how do you place a child on a boat without their mother...so I guess single ladies would be out of luck with me....I don't think woman are more valuable...man produce life...man build society....etc....man can do everything women can do but give birth woman cannot do everything a man can. Just the facts....man do and will always self sacrifice probably wouldn't ever fall below 20%....I think the sacrifice for female family members is obvious. Man with or without children are simply more valuable....

I would like to think I would sacrifice myself in a similar scenario. As a Christian, the way I see it is I know where I'm going when I die. If I don't know you or your relation to Christ, then I would want to give you as much time for redemption as possible, rather than potentially condemning you. However I'm also a single male with no one depending on me, so perhaps my opinion will change in the future.

If women valued me as a person in general, in everyday life, I would be more prone to sacrifice myself. But women largely ignore me and are often disrespectful towards me.

Um, no. Fewer kids and women in the world would be an improvement. I don't care about the species. My 5 younger siblings, their kids and their kids' kids can all die now, and I don't care.

Roger Hayden

Absolutely not. The vast majority of people posses little virtue, moral or ethical value. There is nothing inherently more valuable about being a woman, especially today. It could be argued that children have more potential, but take a clear look around. No, it's not my place to play god. I'm getting in the boat and a higher power can sort it all out. I've spent my entire life working to become a better person for myself and the people around me. I have a long history of kindness and generosity. I've sacrificed and suffered for other people, and because of other people my whole life. I'm not bitter about that, but the suggestion that now I should lay down and die??? That after all that, my life is somehow worth less??? Yeah, NO.

I would not give up my place for anyone. I am handicapped and have as such been mistreated by women, people and society. I don’t owe anything to anyone. I am from Sweden BTW.

Drown her and use her to catch sharks. The next girl probably likes fish and chips. lol.

This is a fantastic question. My opinions: In general, an old-fashioned man is encouraged to be self sacrificial in popular culture. But specifically? I realized I would not bc I feel a responsibility to live on to take care of my mom. This has saved me from thoughts of self harm in the past. If a man is the primary caregiver/breadwinner for his family he might think the same. A single young man might do self sacrifice, for the sake of honor to his family name where that is the culture. Maybe if he expects his family to be well treated by the tribe or society after he's gone. When I think about other people's opinions, my female friends would not expect me to self sacrifice either. But of course they'd accept it if offered :). The idea of giving up one's life otherwise " society disapproves" is a man's viewpoint and perpetuated in "society" by other men, not by women. What other ideas do we press on ourselves, on men by men and on women by women?

No never , in the past yes but now never ever in my dream

Honestly Alex, WHO CARES about what people think?? I don't say this to be rude, but just to be honest with you. Your masculinity isn't determined by arbitrary standards like others' opinions and shame and social stigma. You're masculine based on how well you line up with your masculine person. It has NOTHING to do with social stigma and such, and I THANK GOD that that's true. Being masculine is about doing the right thing regardless of what others think. Women are the ones who are more prone to care about what others think, but men are more emotionally independent, and they are the ones who set the standard and pave the way for others to follow. I think it's pointless to go by what society says because society today is completely confused. I've learned the hard way that if someone doesn't have a logical explanation to get you to do what they want, then it's worthless to listen to them. When someone shames you for "not being man enough/a real man", calls you an incel/MGTOW, woman hater, sexist, sexually frustrated, etc because you don't fit their twisted ideal of masculinity (which is oftentimes toxic masculinity), then that shows their character, not yours. These people are oftentimes immature and childish, and their juvenile mentality manifests through their hollow and meaningless banter. People who have little to no sophistication and social skills manifest their jackass selves by using such sophomoric words that teenagers are more likely to use since teens aren't emotionally developed as an adult (on average, so yes I do know there are exceptions, but work with teenagers and you'll see what I mean). The decision about whether you want to sacrifice yourself for somebody else, regardless of gender, should be up to YOU, not THEM. A masculine man takes charge and has a reason for the things he does; he doesn't allow emotions to dictate how he feels and acts. This is something women do because they have evolved to maintain social cohesion, but men are not designed and have not evolved to be like that; we are social disrupters, and that's why we are creative. Men and women are equal, but there are things men are better at and things women are better at. We need to stop pretending that only the female way of looking at things is valid and the male way of viewing things is "toxic". Good video, Alex. Keep it up my brother!

Anosh Orahim

sure I might be low value when it came to reproduction but i refuse to believe that I was lower value than women in general. in the end, the chance of male birth is 50% and not 25%.

I said NO because women should earn my protection and no just granted it from me. If my life has no meaning or value to that titanic tribe then why should I contribute to that tribe?

No, I don't think I would. The traditional social contract is no longer in play. We're not in small tribes anymore. I as a man am no less deserving of life than a woman. Like Alex, I know I'm living a high-quality life in which I'm not harming people and am generous toward others. I don't know that to be true of a random woman on a boat.

Blair

I agree that younger lives are more valuable than older ones and that all lives do not matter equally. This thinking applies too when considering the impact of covid. I believe we should go against any biological instinct and not sacrifice our own life if we are healthy. That instinct if it exists at all is presumably an extension of kin selection rather than group selection. For example Steven Pinker concluded that "group selection has no useful role to play in psychology or social science". I think the main issue with arguing that the whole tribe would be wiped out unless males perform this sacrifice is that this scenario doesn't happen frequently enough relative to other survival events to influence the genes. Also in other contexts a tribe that sacrifices most of its female members might be more likely to survive.

Andy

If I have to live a sexless life because women want to be so shallow just because I'm not tall enough they can go die off. When the next war comes around I'll gladly do jail time then go fight in a war. Not sacrificing myself for ungrateful people.

Lewis

There are a few people I would die for, but that is without regard for their gender and age.

Rickard Fors

At this point in my life, I wouldn’t sacrifice my life for anyone.

Mori

No way Jose. Every man (and woman) for himself (and herself)

For children, I definitely would. For women, I probably would. However, if I know she's a man-hating feminist who's all about equality until it's inconvenient, then I would really struggle with the decision. I would probably still give up my seat, but I would shame her for her hypocrisy. At least that way, I get to die gloating.

Ken Schafer

Ashwin, you wondered how a current feminist would answer this question, so..... be careful what you wish for! LOL! I would definitely give up my spot for any child, even if it wasn't my own. I also would like to think that I'd give up my spot for a man, but I might have a problem being a mother abandoning a child in an emergency. My rationalization: if I was injured or old, I might put an older child or female friend/relative in charge of the kids and let someone else take my spot. Especially if my husband was still alive and uninjured, because he could take care of them if I was gone. If no children were involved, I think I would be fine giving up my spot for another adult, regardless of gender. I also read many of the comments and, as expected, a lot of the those comments included arguments for why women as a group didn't deserve to benefit from a man's sacrifice. Those comments made me think of another question. Why did so many commenters assume that women are cowards and would not be willing to sacrifice themselves for others, and therefore required a man to sacrifice himself for her? Extrapolating my own motherly instincts, mothers in general would be willing to sacrifice their spot on the boat for their children, with some of them being ok with sacrificing themselves for any child in an emergency. So moms might not ask you for your spot. Regarding the comments directed at single and/or childless women, these women have fierce love for their nieces and nephews, sisters and brothers, mothers and fathers, and other friends/family of both genders. I'm not so sure that any gender entitlement they might have would come into play if they were making a snap decision to save the life of someone standing next to them. (I don't think men would be considering this either. I think most humans in an emergency just help other humans without thinking about it.) So I can see how a single woman might not ask you to sacrifice yourself for her, especially if she herself is giving up her spot for someone else. Another group that might not ask for your sacrifice is old women. In some cultures, sacrifice is just as much about age as gender. If the shit ever hit the fan, the elderly (both men and women) sometimes sacrifice themselves so the young and healthy could continue on. In fact, even in non-dire circumstances, if an old person was sick and thought they were a burden on their family or community they might just take a long walk in the woods one day and never come back. I can envision an old lady saying 'just go on without me' and giving her spot to a man. Maybe these thoughts are just examples of my feminist blind spot? I know women tend to be more NIMBY than men, so perhaps I'm giving too much credit. But I suspect the men left on the deck of a sinking ship, watching others move to the front of the line for lifeboats, might be surprised to find some women standing behind them. And yet, I stand by the comment about the zombie apocalypse I made on Alexander's previous patreon video. Just because I need my man to demonstrate that he could lead me in a crisis doesn't mean that I expect him to die for me in said crisis.

Jennifer Coopman

I think the main consideration here is where you personally believe your " burden of responsibility" ends. Do you personally feel responsible for the safety of these strangers? Everyone will be different, depending on their experience, upbringing etc. For example, personally, without question, I would sacrifice my life for my daughter because she is my responsibility. And after much thought, I would probably sacrifice my life for my girlfriend IF it was my idea to be on that sinking boat. I indirectly put her in harm's way, so it's my responsibility to get her out of harm's way. However, I am not responsible for guaranteeing the safety of anyone else, including random women and children.

Communicate With Confidence

The main two reasons that come to mind is that our communities have been, as you spoke about, atomized. Especially in the United States, there is no longer a common race, religion or creed, and so there is very little connection between any two random people. The second reason is that I think many men feel resentful - and justifiably so - because of our societal leadership depriving us of our natural roles and castigating us for our natural characteristics and strengths, and so are less inclined to give.

Would he interesting if there are any stats about this question, in the past, to see the trending. But I'm pretty much sure more men would have sacrificed in the past than now. Obviously, the question begs why the trend shift? And, we pretty much know why, although it would be a surprise for many women out there who still live in their own bubble.

I think that there is no right answer to this question. But we can think of it as a thought experiment where more light is thrown on relevant issues that would play a role in our choices in this thought experiment. On the point of gender roles, in the Titanic era, feminism bore no semblance to it's current self and on an average, the default behaviour would have been for the men to sacrifice themselves for the women and children or basicaly start boarding the lifeboats only after all the women and children had a spot on the lifeboats. But today, where feminism pushes for equal rights, that would also come with the expectations of equal responsibility so what I would expect is for the children to board first and then it should be equal or the man voluntarily stepping up. But how would a modern day feminist woman respond to such a question, especially when it's phrased as "Would you Sacrifice a Spot on a Lifeboat to Save Another"? On the notion of social contract, I think that AG hits the nail on the head in that it would depend on the man's experience with women in society. If men feel that women have been playing their role, then they would be more obligated to play theirs, especially because they feel compensated. This made it's appearance in AG's previous video about a polygamous future where, if women pushed for polyamory to get with only the high value guys and leave behind the lower value guys then there would be even more misogyny and resentment as men would feel uncompensated. I think this is naturally because the lower value guys would outnumber the higher value guys. Coming to what I would do in this situation: I would not sacrifice myself for someone I did not know be it woman, child, man, beast, alien etc. My personal assessment and judgement of the person would heavily influence my choice. But I can think of cases where I would indeed take the L on life. So, maybe I'm not all that bad XD. Maybe you should keep these thought experiments coming AG!

Ashwin Srinivas