What are the ethics of killing a baby? It’s a question that has not plagued mankind. It’s pretty much agreed upon that you don’t kill babies.
But what if you had a time machine and could set it to Austria in June of 1889? When Adolf Hitler — future architect of the Holocaust — was a wee babe. Would you kill a baby then? (Not a random baby in Vienna. Specifically Hitler.)
The New York Times posed the question to its readers:
We asked @nytmag readers: If you could go back and kill Hitler as a baby, would you do it? (What's your response?) pic.twitter.com/daatm12NZC
— NYT Magazine (@NYTmag) October 23, 2015
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A fair question. Ish.
The New York Times is asking people if they would kill people
— Richard Lawson (@rilaws) October 23, 2015
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Almost immediately, Twitter exploded in the way that makes it my favorite media site.
@NYTmag how do we know you haven't killed before
— Mark Berman (@markberman) October 23, 2015
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baby hitler had a uniquely terrible set of anti-semetic genes that could cause a world war, good call on the murder @NYTmag
— zom-bee movie (@togebii) October 23, 2015
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Some people had fun with the phrasing.
honestly I don’t think I could do much damage as a baby https://t.co/z10hNPYLEw
— Ashley Feinberg (@ashleyfeinberg) October 23, 2015
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.@libbycwatson Man, @NYTmag sure has gotten dark: https://t.co/TW4b1VrnGu
— Er-ick! Wuestewald (@eric_wuest) October 23, 2015
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That links to this great photoshopped image.
halfway through "netflix and kill baby hitler" and he gives you this look pic.twitter.com/BpDRxSLKnH
— Sean McElwee (@SeanMcElwee) October 23, 2015
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depends on if the baby has a shitty little moustache or not imho
— Jamison Horrormann (@jhermann) October 23, 2015
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to wit: pic.twitter.com/Ps8IoIAeQn
— Jamison Horrormann (@jhermann) October 23, 2015
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There were some NYT-style jokes.
For Baby Hitler, An Uncertain Fate https://t.co/aqRC5mx0NU
— Adam Serwer (@AdamSerwer) October 23, 2015
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The logistics troubled others.
What if Hitlers Dad got a hold of the time machine and stopped you from killing him? Did you think about THAT?
— Myles Brown (@mdotbrown) October 23, 2015
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smash baby hitler with a rock & say "u dont understand i'm from the future he's going to kill alot of ppl", u still going to jail
— Desus Nice (@desusnice) October 23, 2015
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We got some current election jokes.
Ben Carson: If the government allowed time traveling Jews to carry weapons, maybe the holocaust wouldn't have happened
— Noah Hurowitz (@NoahHurowitz) October 23, 2015
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And genius plots.
I'd go back, get Baby Hitler, bring him to the present, and become a billionaire charging people to shoot him with paintballs.
— Barry Petchesky (@barryap1) October 23, 2015
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And of course, the meta.
[figures out time travel]
[goes back 30 min, writes perfect baby Hitler tweet]
[thinks of better one, goes back again, begins endless cycl
— Mark Berman (@markberman) October 23, 2015
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All in all, it was a great day on Twitter dot com.