Eva Iofe Week 7 - The Trolley Problem (& Why People Still Like Tragedies).

 Different people have different preferences in terms of the media they consume. Many people use mediums like art or books as escapism, usually because they are unhappy with their lives. Other people may consume content like novels or listen to a musical for personal enjoyment or out of boredom. One thing that is usually the case for people who consume a variety of media is that they come across many different genres; one such genre is tragedy. Or, if someone doesn't like tragic tales as a focus, they will still encounter them as a backdrop or plot device in most narratives.

A tragedy is defined as "a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character." Media encompassing tragedies have been around since Ancient Greece's infamous plays, continuing to exist even with horrible things happening throughout history. Why?

One explanation is that people get a certain type of abreactive reaction to seeing bad things happen to characters doomed by the narrative; already knowing that they will go through horrible events and likely die can prepare a reader for the character's fate, and they could leave the negative emotions associated with the tragedy within the confines of the story.

Another explanation for the preservation of tragedies to this day is a more optimistic one; though still getting the catharsis from watching someone struggle in a fictional setting, the continuous grappling with fate a character undergoes throughout their story could inspire others (in real life) to continue, if only for their life to come to a better end then the character they read or watched a play about. Tragedies could also be viewed as a cautionary tale, allowing people in real life hindsight to similar problems they may encounter in their lifetime.

Now, for The Trolley Problem. Though it is a philosophical question, it is also inherently tragic. Someone standing near a lever has the impossible choice of saving the majority (five people) whilst sacrificing just one person, or saving one person and having five others run over by a train. The Trolley Problem has developed different situations over time, such as "What if the person tied down alone was the President of your country and the five on the other track were just regular people?" or, "What if the five people tied down were all convicted of murder and the one person on the other track was an upstanding citizen?" Either way, people would still die, regardless of what was done. That is the main message of all tragedies; someone will get hurt, regardless of choice. The people on the train tracks were doomed from the start, and the bystander has to make a hard choice and live with it.

What would you do if you were the bystander (the one pulling the lever) in The Trolley Problem?