Would you negotiate with terrorists?

[abaris]

If you were kidnapped by terrorists, what would you want others to do for you?

I would want them to do everything they could to get me out.

Look, this is just mirror jerking. Everyone riding the high horse and saying they would see it through, wether they're on the receiving end or their loved ones, aren't honest with themselves. Or maybe they are. Maybe there are callous people not doing their utmost to get their loved ones free. Maybe there are John Waynes in the making taking their captivity with a manly smile and joke when someone's coming to cut their heads off. I wouldn't know. But I know myself, and both prospects aren't what I would do.

[The Valkyrie]

Yes I would.

and then I'd liquidise all my assets to have the pricks tracked down and removed from the planet.

[account_inactive]

Sorry. I'm trying to relate it to the thread, but I didn't add in enough detail. Replace the kidnapped person in the OP with yourself, but otherwise exactly as robvalue stated. Would you want people to negotiate for you in that situation or not?

I would most likely want my family to pay and try to negotiate my release, but I would also be looking for revenge after. If that means tracking down and killing everything that means something to them then so be it.

[Edwardo Piet]

I would but it would be like negotiating with terrorists.

[Godscreated]

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Then how are you any different from them, first you give them incentive to go and do the same thing to someone else then you would take matters into your own hands and treat them as you were treated. There are reasons for the rule of law. I will admit when I read the scenario my first thought was to take them out but, with some thought I realized that's not the right choice in this situation. The situation as presented leaves one with no control and at a great disadvantage.

GC

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Bolded mine.  Are you serious?  You're equating grief-stricken loved ones paying a ransom in an attempt to save a life with the kidnappers?

I did not come close to saying that and you know it, if you don't you either didn't read the post or you are fairly illiterate. Let me explain this to you slooooowly so you can grasp what was said. I. stated. that. to. take. the. law. into. one's. own. hand. to. have. revenge. would. bring. one. down. to. the. level. of. the. kidnappers. because. one. would. become. a. criminal. too.
Was that slow enough for you to understand.

GC

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Read my post to "abaris." I didn't say it would be an easy thing to do, it would be heart wrenching. Where is the logic in paying when the result will be that the kidnappers are not going to leave witnesses behind, they've already threatened to kill them if they don't get the money so we would have to assume they would have no problem with killing them if it means they can't be identified. Self preservation is just as important to them as it is to you wanting to save a loved one. The money becomes useless if they can't spend it.

GC

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My question to you is, based on what you literally just said, you think those paying a ransom aren't any different from the kidnappers?  You really believe that?  This isn't a question about how hard the decision would be, this is a question about how you view the people involved.

I answered this in the slow motion statement above.

GC

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Then how are you any different from them, first you give them incentive to go and do the same thing to someone else then you would take matters into your own hands and treat them as you were treated. There are reasons for the rule of law. I will admit when I read the scenario my first thought was to take them out but, with some thought I realized that's not the right choice in this situation. The situation as presented leaves one with no control and at a great disadvantage.

GC

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Because I'm not going after them fucking unprovoked.

Of course I'm going to pay to save one of my loved ones--but they better fucking hope I don't find out who they are because if they do, I'm going to destroy everything they hold dear.  What makes me different is that I'm not going after them for money.  I'm going after them because they did something to me--so they deserve whatever they fucking get.  I'm a vengeful motherfucker.  Deal with it.

If the rule of law means no more to you than it does to the kidnappers then how are you different from them in the terms of law, it doesn't. I'm not the one who will have to deal with it, it's the young child you have left behind while you sit in prison. The child will have to deal with it's peers say your parent is a jailbird. Now what did you really accomplish with your revenge. I'm just looking at this from a stand point of the law when it comes to revenge and the consequences that come with breaking the law to the degree of vengeance.
The chances of you getting a child back is small and to pay is rewarding criminal behavior, so the most likely thing to happen, you lose the child and reward the criminal. Don't think that's true, Obama paid Iran extortion money and Iran turned around within days and took more captives, how do you think that made the families of the new captives feel about Obama? His actions caused more misery because more have been taken than the number released.

GC

[Seraphina]

I most certainly would do anything I could to get my loved one back alive, including negotiating with terrorists. An in-law disappeared without a trace last August in his country. Sadly, he might be deceased but it's possible a malicious organization has him. I'm certain that family members would pay for him to return alive, if that were a feasible option.

[Godscreated]

Let me preface this by that stating that I am NOT the government. 

Right or wrong, I would probably negotiate/pay if one my children's lives was at stake. Ideals, odds, statistics: All pretty much meaningless shit when faced with the prospect of one of my sons languishing in a hole, suffering ghastly torment/torture.

Would that make me a bad person? Perhaps.

Would I care? No, not at the time.

I understand this completely, I'm sure I would consider paying because the life of a child is worth more than all the money in the world, except to the kidnappers they put a price on that life and in doing so shows they care little for life. If people in the past had never paid any kidnapper, that is no kidnapper has ever received a penny, do you think people today would believe they could get any money for such a crime?
I'm not trying to tell anyone what they should do, that's a decision that they would have to make. I'm trying to show how we as the human race could act to prevent such horrible crimes. If we do not reward criminals they will stop this kind of behavior. I have no statistics on this, however it seems this kind of crime is down because the criminals have found a less risky way to earn money from kidnapping, selling the child into the sex slave trade. They sale to like criminals so they know they have little to worry about because their fellow criminal want tell on them that wouldn't be mutually beneficial to either party. This is why the sex slave trade thrives, dealing with there own kind keeps them out of the eyes of the law. A child disappears, they see runaways every day and so many they can't begin to investigate all those cases.

GC

[Seraphina]

I'm sorry, GC, but it appears you have little to no experience with crazies who want to chase you and/ or your family down and kill you for no good reason and who will play with innocent people like they are toys. (You live in the US, yes? ) Unless you have seen your hypothetical situations in real life, your opinions are only words.

[Godscreated]

I'm sorry, GC, but it appears you have little to no experience with crazies who want to chase you and/ or your family down and kill you for no good reason and who will play with innocent people like they are toys. (You live in the US, yes? ) Unless you have seen your hypothetical situations in real life, your opinions are only words.

Not when they make sense. Yes I live in the US. So what, kidnapping and families are the same here and so are the feelings an attitudes toward this type of crime. I am not trying to instruct people, I was making valid points from real stats what little I gave. If you reward criminals you do not discourage them from doing the same to others, it becomes a vicious cycle as in the Middle East. Paying these criminals have made them bolder and the bolder they get the less they care about human life.

GC

[energizer bunny]

I'm still undecided about this. I do have an interesting twist on the question, though.

If you were kidnapped by terrorists, what would you want others to do for you?

Kill me fast before the terrorist torture me to death.