People Can't Handle The New York Times' 'Could You Kill Baby Hitler' Question

The New York Times Magazine recently asked readers if they would kill baby Hitler, given the opportunity.

According to the Times' poll, a whopping 42 percent of people would slaughter little innocent baby Hitler. Another 28 percent weren't sure, while 30 percent have moral standards and would let baby Hitler live.

The magazine's bizarre and kind of creepy question sparked an even bizarre-r debate on Twitter concerning the ethics of killing evil babies and questions about what even defines evil-ness (and also, grammar):

First, the poll:

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

There's an obvious issue with the grammar: It should be 'Would you kill baby Hitler?':

There are 2 kinds of ppl: Those who are mad about the idea of Baby Hitler, and those who are mad about the use of "could" vs "would" — Ken Greller (@kengreller) October 23, 2015

That aside, people's reactions are mixed.

The problem with going back in time and killing baby Hitler is you're also killing the person who killed Hitler — Tom Gara (@tomgara) October 23, 2015

Some think it's history that shaped Hitler — meaning baby Hitler wasn't inherently evil….

What if Instead of killing Baby Hitler You rewrote the Treaty of Versailles Using the time machine you have Just a suggestion — Hayes Brown (@HayesBrown) October 23, 2015

While others think that, while baby Hitler was evil, you probably still shouldn't kill him.

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

Still others just took the situation and ran with it…

me killing baby Hitler in every timeline pic.twitter.com/EsJWIcH45w — Blood Moon (@goblinbully) October 23, 2015

Creating truly horrifying what-if scenarios.

The most disturbing Google Image search results for "Baby Hitler" are... pic.twitter.com/FBXbM5ZDWV — Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) October 23, 2015

We're not sure what we think about killing bb Hitler…

@desusnice what if killing baby hitler butterfly effected so that there was no obama? — Evan (@nerditry) October 23, 2015

But we sure as sh*t would kill the Internet, given the chance.

Thank you @nytimes for giving us the easiest last-minute Halloween costume ever. #BabyHitler — Anna Kendrick (@AnnaKendrick47) October 23, 2015

Citations: The New York Times Asked Readers If They Could Kill Baby Hitler And People Are Freaking The Fuck Out (BuzzFeed)