Saving Humanity at the Expense of the Innocent

In the film 28 Days Later, there is a viral outbreak called “Rage” that spreads throughout England. It quickly infects any humans who are bitten and turns them into flesh eating zombies. The main character, Jim, ends up surviving the mass chaos of the initial outbreak because he was in a coma in the hospital. After a short period of time Jim meets up with other survivors. Two of these survivors are a woman named Selena and a girl named Hannah. Jim becomes somewhat of a leader to these two characters and he does his best to protect them. They hear on the radio that the military has set up a “safe haven” nearby, so the three characters travel to this place together. There the military has a barricaded fortress, plenty of weapons and ammunition, and enough food for everyone. The only problem is that there are only men who live at this place. Not too long after the trio arrives, it is clear to Jim that the soldiers want to use the two girls to help repopulate society. The women do not consent to this but the military men go against their will and attempt to do so anyways. 

Utilitarianism is the belief that one should act in order to benefit the whole conscious of life. Under this point of view, the whole conscious of life would be considered all of mankind. In 28 Days Later, the characters do not truly know the extent of the viral outbreak. For all they know, this military fortress could very well be the last stand for humans. It would then be considered a moral obligation for these men at the base to preserve the human race and ensure a future for mankind. Clearly the only way to repopulate would be for Hannah and Selena to give birth to children. But what if the women do not comply to doing so? The act of sexually taking advantage of someone is clearly an unethical decision. A Utilitarian may overlook this immediate negative consequence of rape in order to achieve a more positive set of consequences in the future. These positive consequences would include the women giving birth to children, those children growing up and having families of their own, and so on until the world is once again back to normal. In the eyes of a Utilitarian, a price paid by the minority of mankind is greatly outweighed by the benefits that the majority of mankind would be receiving. 

Hannah (left) and Selena (right) are forced to dress up for the "repopulation attempt"

Kantian belief is quite different from that of Utilitarianism. Kant was a philosopher whose work “emphasizes acting with respect toward all autonomous beings.” (Salazar, 3) Respecting an individual includes the acknowledgement of that person’s intrinsic value. The Formula of Humanity proposed by Kant states “to act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of another, always at the same time as an end and never simply as a means.” (Kant, MM 429) To better explain this quote, an end is something that is valuable all by itself. A means is something that is only valuable because it assists in reaching that end. The safety and preservation of mankind is an end because that is one of the most valuable objectives that exists in the post-apocalyptic world of 28 Days Later. The means to accomplish this end, though, would be to rape an innocent girl and woman to begin repopulation. Using the means of rape in order to reach the end (preservation of mankind) is highly unethical according to Kantian belief. The Formula of Humanity would not allow the use of Selena and Hannah without their consent. If Jim held this point of view, he would clearly see that the two girls are being treated unfairly and would not deem it permissible for them to be raped. 

Selena (left) thanks Jim (right) for stopping the military men

In my opinion, the best viewpoint on this topic would be the Kantian one. This belief states that people should “do what is right because it is right.” (Salazar, 1392) I’m glad that Jim saved the day and stopped the men from committing such an atrocity, because the raping of innocent individuals is an example of something that is clearly immoral no matter what the situation is. There can be a number of alternatives to this disgusting proposal. One option could be for the group to venture out and attempt to find other survivors who they may be able to work with to rebuild society. Another option could be to not force Selena and Hannah to have sex with the men. They could instead be welcoming hosts and merely suggest the option of the women helping with the repopulation effort. If the women did agree it would be entirely on their own accord and only when they agreed to do so. If the women did not agree, the group could try to outlast the virus in hopes that the zombies would eventually die or that another group of survivors somewhere would end the “Rage”.

References

Salazar, Heather. "Kantian Business Ethics," in Business in Ethical Focus, ed. Fritz Allhoff and Anand J. Vaidya. Broadview Press, 2008

Salazar, Heather. "Self-Interest," The New Catholic Encyclopedia, Series on Ethics and Morality, ed. by Robert Fastiggi. Gale Cengage Learning, 2013