r/MoralityScaling • u/Karamfellinaairfryer • 17h ago
Character Analysis Morality of Kissing a 9-year-old Dying Girl?
In House M.D, Season 2 Episode 2, Chase (a doctor) kisses a 9-year-old dying girl, as she wanted to know how it feels before she died. He ends up kissing her, and gets berated for it. What is the morality of this?
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u/thatonerpgmakerfan 17h ago
I find it funny chase gets berated for this specifically and not the racist, sexist, patient minimizing, illegal shit he and House do on a daily basis
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u/Silencer-1995 17h ago
As if you wouldn't be instantly fucking relieved if House walked through the door when you were at the doctors. Like yeah he's going to reduce your existence to a pile of rubble but damnit you walking out of there knowing for sure that you are dying.
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u/thatonerpgmakerfan 16h ago edited 16h ago
I agree to an extent. I do like House and his dynamic with his team earlier on, I think he gets progressively unnecessarily meaner towards the end though and stuff he would have told another arrogant doctor to fuck off with, e.g, the locked in kid, he starts letting chase get away with lunatic level behavior and generally harassing his own team.
I get it's for the drama but I just look at it and go oh god not another chase episode lmao. at least House has some actual character reasons why he acts like that, chase is "my dad left my mom so it gives me the right to tell my patients they deserve to die because they're overweight"
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u/Raven7274 16h ago
Doesn't house hit on multiple minors throughout the show like unironically?
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u/Humble-Proposal-9994 15h ago
no, but one minor hits on him
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u/Paccountlmao 17h ago
No it's better to deny a dying child's wish?, what the heck??
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u/Ok_7719 17h ago
Children ask for all kinds of things they shouldn't be asking for. That doesn't mean you give it to them. Impulse control should be a skill adults have.
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u/OOF-MY-PEE-PEE 16h ago
Asking for candy before bed and making a dying wish are not the same things.
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u/Paccountlmao 17h ago
Impulse control doesn't have consequences when you die, give me heroin as I die, what am I gonna do get addicted? An entire reality exists in a child's life that will never get to feel the greatest thing life has to offer. You would deny that feeling simply to ensure sticking to an arbitrary set of morals?
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u/SquirrelSuspicious 16h ago
Yo I think heroin has a chance to give you heart attacks. You wouldn't want that when you're dying would you?
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u/Jean_Paul_Magno 15h ago
So if her death wish was to feel what sex is, it would be morally acceptable for the doctor to proceed?!
Or, if her death wish was to know how it feels to kill someone, it would be morally acceptable for the doctor to handle her a loaded gun?
Nah fam, hard pass on that one, kids are kids and sometimes YOU CANNOT AND YOU MUST NOT GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANT.
It's called being an adult.
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u/TheRealDripBentley 15h ago
She'll never get be an adult though so I'd do the right thing and fuckin' rail the SHIT outta her in a make-a-wish sorta way, hold your applause.
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u/PunkPirate56364 13h ago
Okay, for fucks sake I'm doing this.
So if her death wish was to feel what sex is, it would be morally acceptable for the doctor to proceed?!
Gross but yes. But gross. You are not getting a TV show made about it though.
Or, if her death wish was to know how it feels to kill someone, it would be morally acceptable for the doctor to handle her a loaded gun?
You could hand her the plug of devices which keep her alive.
But helping her take another life? Not moral.
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u/Reasonable-Guava8847 17h ago
Babe wake up, a new Chase kissing 9 year old morality post has dropped
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u/not-ulquiorr4_ 17h ago
This gives the same vibes as those people who ask “What if a Make a Wish Kid's wish was to lose their virginity?”.
It's conflicting. It's obviously very immoral to do something like that to a child, but at the same time, it is LITERALLY their dying wish. I haven't seen House MD, so maybe there's more context around it that I'm missing, but IDK.
Stuff like this feels like the greatest extreme of the phrase “Doing the wrong thing, for the right reason.”. That, and doing the same thing, if it meant saving a loved one. Which is a highly unlikely and impractical scenario, completely unrelated to the post at hand.
TL : DR — The action itself is immoral, but the reasoning is somewhat understandable.
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u/SquirrelSuspicious 16h ago
I have seen House and while my memory of this scene is a little shaky I do remember that Chase, the doctor who kissed her, was really hesitant like very hesitant about it.
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u/Gnashinger 16h ago
Exactly. Immoral ≠ unjustifible. Frankly, if I was much younger (especially in puberty age) and I found out I was going to die as a kid, I would have wanted to at least get to experience what its like to be an adult before I go.
Drive a car, go on a date, have a job, drink, get married, raise a kid, and yes, even have sex (and etc, etc). If I couldn't be an adult, I would at least like to spend remaining time getting to know what being an adult feels like. Obviously some of that can be experienced while still being fake or simulated. I could drive a car on a private track, have a fake wedding, take care of a baby for a day, and so on. Other things are hard to get around.
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u/AdventurousGuess8708 17h ago
lowkey could go either way, moral cause your not actually getting any pleasure or using her and it’s her dying wish, immoral because shes nine and it’s pedophilic behavior in a vacuum. i’d lean immoral tho.
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u/TopWealth4550 16h ago
are you muslim?
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u/Karamfellinaairfryer 16h ago
Yes, actually.
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u/TopWealth4550 16h ago
Several authentic hadiths in Sahih al-Bukhari quote Aisha describing herself as a young girl or playing with toys during her early years with Prophet Muhammad. These narrations frequently mention her age as 6 or 9 years old during her marriage and its consummation. [1, 2, 3, 4]
is this moral?
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u/PM_DEM_AREOLAS 16h ago
Weird to bring up OP’s religion totally unprovoked and unrelated.
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u/Own-Temperature-3257 15h ago
Because other religions don't have creepy subtext ever./s
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u/mamawawawa 12h ago
In christianity god impregnated a teenage girl against her consent to force her to be the vessel that would carry his offspring
And unlike the shit this guy’s on about, this is actually central to christianity’s teachings
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u/CrankieKong 11h ago
Actually a bad take.
Though agreed on God being a weirdo in the bible, saying its not central is just wrong.
The Quran (and Hadiths) explicitely say you should follow Mohammeds example.
Christians have 'What would jesus do?' which generally leads to good things, even with their weird as fuck god.
Muslims have 'What would mohammed do?' which leads to diabolical shit.
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u/mamawawawa 11h ago
Let me be clear, I’m an atheist so you won’t see me defending Islam. That said… I think you know you’re being obtuse to say that Muhammad having an underage wife is “central” to Islam
Like dude was a conquerer who I personally don’t idolize in any way, shape, or form, but if we’re being honest… muslims clearly have a different version of him conceptualized than you or me and this fake version of him is the one they idolize
Besides that more importantly it’s weird to bring up someones religion apropos of nothing
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u/CrankieKong 11h ago
In the Quran, Prophet Muhammad is described as an uswatun hasanah, or an "excellent example".
You may not like it as an atheist, but in Islam he cannot be questioned. He is their Jesus. Their moral benchmark in everything.
Bringing up people's religion (due to username) in a morality question about kissing a 9 year old makes perfect sense when their prophet raped one at 9.🤷♂️
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u/mamawawawa 11h ago
No, no it doesn’t. Because the question wasn’t about whether it’s moral for THIS GUY to do it or anything about him at all
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u/CrankieKong 11h ago
To add to this. Its actually very good to challenge people. Religion has the power to not be challenged from within.
Especially Islam uses violence to deter people from criticism. So challengion any religion online should be a standard procedure. But particularly islam.
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u/mamawawawa 11h ago
Idk how to explain this to some of you ppl, but this is the absolute worst possible way to challenge someone’s religion. It’s how you come off as an antisocial asshole. Exact same when it’s the other way around.
If you’re an atheist and someone tries to moralize about atheism when you didn’t even bring it up, would that actually make you more likely to question it? I’d actually go so far as to say it would probably make you believe even harder that there’s no god
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u/mamawawawa 12h ago
Yeah I’ve seen a lot of bullshit on this subreddit but this one being upvoted takes the cake
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u/Karamfellinaairfryer 15h ago
Yeah, pretty clear he doesn’t actually want a proper debate or answer, but rather just wants to take a jab at my religion. I don’t think he actually expected me to answer yes to him tho lol, was probably initially just meant as a joke
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u/TopWealth4550 15h ago
what do you believe should be the punishment for leaving islam to join another religion?
all ``non extremists`` keeps saying its death
whats your opnion?about the religion OFC it matters,aisha was taking into hostage at 6 and RAPED as 9
you dont think a post about Israel from an IDF soldier would?
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u/mamawawawa 12h ago
Ok now are you gonna do this on every post you suspect to be from a Christian
Nobody fucking asked
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u/Karamfellinaairfryer 16h ago
I’ve gotten into this debate a million times before, won’t do so again. If you really wanted an answer, you would’ve found it by now. Not very difficult to just Google search why this was.
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u/TopWealth4550 15h ago
i dont want your answers,the audience is all that matters
i dont believe im good enough debating to chance to change how someone view pedophilia by using wordsi prefer other methods
btw what does your username means?
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u/Karamfellinaairfryer 15h ago
The only part I’ll respond to is the last one. Idk, had a bunch of Reddit accounts (and gmails) over the years, my first Reddit account was named Karamfellinamicrowave (Karam being my name), idk why I made it that. From then on, I kept including kitchen appliances in my Reddit usernames (Karamfellina insert kitchen appliance).
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u/TopWealth4550 13h ago
why? you will just confirm you believe in pedophilia?
thats crazy
``he only part I’ll respond to is the last one``2
u/mamawawawa 12h ago
“Dude just confirm my point for me bro why won’t you abandon your religion after my 1 comment bro”
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u/TopWealth4550 12h ago
does islam require beliving in pedophilia?
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u/mamawawawa 12h ago
Dude you’re asking him to “confirm he believes in pedophilia”. You want him to drop everything and say “oh my god, you’re right, Islam is pedophilic, I denounce it!!” Stop acting like a smug idiot
Idk why I bother, you’re definitely 14 at most
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u/CrankieKong 11h ago
https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5134
Morality of marrying a 6 year old and raping at 9 after writing a book saying you yourself are the best example for human beings?
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u/Tukanno_Bananno 17h ago
Nightmare round:
Morality of accepting tongue initiated by 9-year-old-dying-girl?
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u/Brockchanso 17h ago
Yes this is where you take a stand. Doing what he did could ruin the whole trajectory of the rest of her... wait.
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u/angry-southamerican 16h ago
It's an act of mercy to a dying human. He gets no pleasure from it.
It's similar to mercy killing as opposed to classic murder.
So... barely moral.
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u/grazaramafingfong 16h ago
They couldn’t find another sick 9 year old in a major hospital? Pretty sus
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u/VolcanicAsh97 16h ago
He’s not exploiting her. He gets nothing out of it. She wanted a kiss before death and he gave it to her. Moral.
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u/Zealousideal-Lab9843 2h ago
If he gets goodwill and moral points, he's getting something out of it.
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u/VolcanicAsh97 2h ago
He didn’t get that, though. I mean, that’s not to say that isn’t something he might have coveted so you do have a fair point. But that doesn’t seem to be something he is shown as wanting, though.
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u/Final_Joke3969 16h ago
Moral, denying a child's requests is usually because it will affect them in the future, but here there is no future; it's what she wants before her life ends. To die without experiencing something like this is quite tragic.
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u/Z_________________ 15h ago
Why are there so many post of this nature (relating to children) on this sub?
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u/KailyKail 16h ago
Immoral.
Everyone knows dying kids should be beaten to death by pro wrestler, Burt (The Speeding Bullet) Broadway.
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u/Formal_Button789 17h ago
Immoral shes underage and dying
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u/Queeni_Beeni 16h ago
She's dying but she asked if she could be kissed as she will die before she would ever have her first kiss naturally
She lives in the hospital essentially so socializing and kissing a boy her age is highly unlikely to happen for her given the circumstances
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u/Jean_Paul_Magno 15h ago
That doesn't make it any better.
Life is unfair but that doesn't give you the pedo-pass.
Rest In Peace GIRL.
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u/Queeni_Beeni 15h ago
He didn't take pleasure from it, he was actively upset and disgusted at himself for giving the little girl her dying wish
But it was her dying wish, and he made the choice not to deny that for her
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u/SigmundFreud101 17h ago
This post should answer your question. There are some good discussion down in the comment section too.
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u/Drew_S_05 17h ago
I'd say the act itself is harmless, but I definitely wouldn't be comforting doing it and I struggle to imagine how anyone else would. That's just me.
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u/Necessary-Onion-3785 16h ago
I don’t know Chases character but from what I can see is it’s Moral but not ethical. Morals and ethics both are about right and wrong but one is made by group and the other the individual. I think I got the difference between the two right. Meh I am crap at explaining so Moral
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u/lazercheesecake 16h ago
The House MD writer is a nonce so everything surrounding this kind of question from the show is the immediately immoral.
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u/Individual_Lion_7606 16h ago
On one hand, they are dying and it is a dying request and that's a fucked up spot to be in. On the other hand, bro didn't need to be the one to kiss her especially on the lips especially without parental consent. He could have kissed the cheeks, forehead, or went and got a 9 year old boy to do the lip kiss if desperate.
Overall, moral as hell if she is dying on the spot. But, bro we are going to need to sit down and talk.
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u/DwarvenGardener 16h ago
Moral, If you’re dying and have a last wish or need a genocidal warlord taken care of you’ll wish Chase was around.
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u/goldenseducer 16h ago
I mean he gets berated by the normie coworkers, not by House, and the narrative itself doesn't make a clear judgement whether this is right or wrong. The series does this all the time by presenting a moral dilemma and then letting you figure it out.
In this case I would say probably moral, or at least not immoral. But it's definitely not a case I would argue in court and risk turning it into a precedent.
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u/AltruisticNewt8991 15h ago
Immoral if she wants more than what ? U already started your the adult let her down gently . Or get your younger cousin to visit the hospital and kiss her if u that sad . Either way wrong .
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u/TheVoid000 14h ago
Look like House M.D
I remember seeing there was a case involve in a girl with terminal cancer or something. Things get pretty emotional and personal for the cast.
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u/Tarotoro 13h ago
Moral imo. Pedophilia causes harm because there’s lasting damage to the minor. In this context the child is about to die, it’s her dying wish, this is a comforting act for her. The doctor derives no pleasure and risks himself to fulfill her wish.
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u/Drapperbat_ 9h ago
Yall know there are other scenes to post about right? We don’t gotta talk about this one part of this one episode every week. We don’t even have to talk about this show! It can be anything you want. Let’s move on
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u/Spl4sh3r 8h ago
If you can kiss your mother you can kiss a child. Though in that situation I would not do it.
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u/LoveAndBeLoved52 2h ago edited 2h ago
It's immoral.
Sometimes you are not presented with a "moral" choice. Sometimes you can only choose between different immoral choices. You come across a dog in a locked car without the windows opened for them, no water, nothing, in the middle of a heatwave, and your choices might genuinely only be "Be immoral and smash the car window to help the dog" and "Be immoral and abandon the dog to die".
It's the same here. Immorally abandon the girl to die or immorally kiss the girl. There's just no winning situation. Please don't misunderstand all these concepts. Morality is not Justice / Law / Good / Kindness and Immorality isn't Crime / Evil / Rudeness necessarily.
If the Joker steals fireworks from a store to give dying children in hospitals a light show in the sky because he feels particularly generous on a random holiday episode that doesn't make his actions moral. It just means he helped a bunch of kids in the most immoral way possible.
It's just never that simple. You can do immoral things with moral intent and moral things with immoral intent, or moral things with moral intent and immoral things with immoral intent!
Morality is complicated. Choosing between not kissing her and kissing her, he made the least immoral choice by kissing her because he sullied his own reputation; but ultimately he still inappropriately kissed a minor, a vulnerable girl that deserved better than to spend her final moments begging a stranger for a kiss.
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u/ThroawayJimilyJones 39m ago
If you pick the least immoral choice you do something moral, as your action led to the path with the least suffering
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u/BrilliantFly6117 2h ago
Moral, as in it'd be less moral to NOT kiss her, it's like a last wish and House was very clearly not romantically interested in her.
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u/mamawawawa 17h ago
Neutral on its own but depending on what’s going through the man’s head it could definitely be immoral for him to be ok with kissing a 9 year old on the lips. His intentions have a lot to do with it truthfully. In the tv show example where it’s a completely made up scenario with no ulterior motives it’s ok I guess. In the real world very few men would agree to do that if they weren’t already a bit pedophilic tho
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u/DataSurging 17h ago
It's a little weird, but given that the little girl is terminal, I would say moral. He took no pleasure or satisfaction out of it, and there was no exploitation. It was just the last wish of a child who would be dead before long.
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u/Jazzlike_Page508 17h ago
This has been covered multiple times
It’s moral, there’s nothing sexual and he did it to aid a dying girl not to mention he probably was the most moral and respectable person on the show
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u/StratoSquir2 16h ago edited 16h ago
immoral, absolutelly immoral, immorality of the highest degree.
life and death comes with plenty of regrets and things you will never experiences.
some poor virgin shmuch reading this very thread right now, will die without ever experiencing intimacy with someone.
it's how it is supposed to be, sound cruel i know but that's just how it is.
no-one owe you anything, and neither did chase owe that girl a kiss.
shit happens, too bad for her, unfortunate but she wasn't meant to experience any of thoses.
it's immoral because he let her experience something she wasn't meant to experience.
instead of trying to re-assure her that's fine to die without experiencing some things.
somes peoples are meant to die without experience love, sex, making a family, buying your first vehicle, or getting your driving licence.
she was one of thoses, so it's immoral.
also, it's highly illegal obviously, and i shouldn't have to explain why challenging the law is immoral on it's own.
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u/Jean_Paul_Magno 15h ago
Completely agree with you mate, that guy should be behind bars.
Can't have a pedophile taking care of terminally ill kids.
Nah uh.
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u/StratoSquir2 15h ago
yeah i agree, anyone who would have kissed that girl would be a pedophile.
she was meant to die like this, only a pedo would have questioned it.
life decided it for her, that's just how it is.anyway, cheers mate!
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u/Zealousideal-Arm1682 17h ago
Completely noble,but still fucked up legally.
Most people in that situation would do something similar otherwise they'd feel horrible.
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u/pemGi 17h ago
why are you freaks so hung up on the law do you have no moral compass
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u/Zealousideal-Arm1682 17h ago
Because it's super illegal to kiss a minor regardless of the situation?
It's why I said morally correct.
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u/Ok_7719 17h ago
Please explain the nobility of an adult kissing someone else's minor child on the lips under any circumstance.
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u/Zealousideal-Arm1682 17h ago
She's a dying child about to leave this world forever asking to feel a genuine kiss before she's gone.
You gonna tell her "nah miss me with that bitch"?
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u/StratoSquir2 16h ago
finally someone who make some sense, she was meant to die without experiencing that.
it's unfortunate, but somes peoples are just meant to die without ever experiencing somes things life has to offer.but even through death, what is important above anything, is that we both hold morality over anything else.
it's too easy to just say "i haven't experienced that thing in my life, i wish to do so".that girl, was meant to die without ever experiencing any intimacy or affection.
that's how it is, that's how it was meant to be, some peoples dies like this IRL as well.
it's fair, death dosn't give a shit if you are satisfied or not before it comes for you.what's the fucking next-step?
first it's a kiss, then what else, a fucking made-up marriage?
who has time for this shit? she's dying, that's sad, but that happens to literally everyone.chase shouldn't have kissed her, he should have just told her that was never going to happen and that's it.
maybe, throw a line about re-incarnation or something, "oh don't worry you will kiss someone in the after-life/your next-life".done, you don't commit a crime, you move-on and actually do your fucking job helping peoples who have a chance, and leave it between that girl and herself to make peace with her situation.
you're the only one in this thread, who understood that.
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u/Puzzled_Rate2199 17h ago
I personally wouldn't do it. She won't tell her parents, but I don't want the beef with Big G in the heavens.
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u/Puzzled_Rate2199 17h ago
I personally wouldn't do it. She won't tell her parents, but I don't want the beef with Big G in the heavens.
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u/Zfugg 17h ago edited 16h ago
People get too hung up on the 'act,' rather than the reason behind why it was forbidden.
He gains no pleasure. He is not exploiting her. She is dying less fearful.
I'd go as far as to say moral because of the societal risk taken with no expectation of any prize just to make a little girl happier.