Everyone's grasping at these theoretical scenarios, but at least in yours... ventilators have battery packs. And most folks I've ever picked up that are on home vents have LOTS of batteries. And a whole lot of O2 bottles. And quite often, the local EMS or equivalent is well aware of them (since these guys aren't the most healthy to begin with). Worse case scenario, you bag the dude with a BVM until the power comes on. Hope your neighbors are there to swap with you when your hands finally cramp.

Hospitals have generators, and usually high priority on getting fixed. And again, lots of BVM's to hand-bag. Not like medicine comes screeching to a halt when the power goes off. Gets a bit hectic, but medicines still work, needles still work, IV bags still drip, etc.

All this hoopla about "immoral" and "illegal" are hogwash. One man's morals are not another's. I mean, just look at al-Queda for that. You think beheading people on TV is OK? I bet not, but apparently they do. Who are we to judge if cutting a power pole, with hypothetical and mythical consequences, is immoral? We're not the ones making the decision based on our values at that time.

Illegal? Probably. Screw it, I'll pay the fine. If I'm that SOL that I'm resorting to cutting a foot of power pole, then I've probably blown every other opportunity for help. (The OP scenario seems like he wasn't there yet). And besides, it's not like they can collect any more than I can physically provide. Like a $10 million fine is BS, cuz they'll never make their money back. I'd just end up on government support cuz they'd be docking my paycheck, and they'd end up paying themselves.

I'm all about responsibility for actions, but when push comes to shove, this place is called Equipped To Survive. Not Equipped To Obey The Law And Die Quietly. I'll do what I have to. I have to be alive to deal with the consequences...

I am not trying to speak for him. I just agree with his statement and am making it my own. I was only trying to give credit where credit was due. Sorry for any confusion.

I'm not jumping anyone for what they'd do in a similar situation whether their answer is to cut the lines or not. It's absolutely a personal decision.

Regarding the fluidity of morals: I only have my morals and they're not subject to circumstance. I can either choose to follow the moral guidelines I've chosen or break them. Right now, I can say without a doubt that putting an innocent at risk to save my own bacon is against my moral code. I could later chose to break my moral code in a different circumstance, and I might even try to convince myself that it is justified, but either way they're not fluid.

My worry in this situation is still that I may cause the death of another if I chose to cut the power to a community.

Respirators and a multitude of other lifesaving pieces of equipment may be run by batteries or even by hand, I'll trust others on that. I don't have any personal knowledge of the equipment.

However, there are still many ways to die during a power outage.

Traffic lights usually go out the second the power is cut, and I've seen horrible accidents at traffic lights that are dark due to power outages.

Last year in this area there were a few fatalities from people who improperly used generators when the power went out due to ice storms.

It could be said that it was the operator's fault for misusing the equipment, but there is always the chance that they could have corrected the issue given time.

I know what I use electricity for and that I could do without it, most likely, indefinitely. My main worry is that in this day and age I don't know other people are using it for and I'm not willing to assume that they all can survive without it in remote areas.

This is a good conversation, thanks to everyone for posting their thoughts.

Well I'll say this much, it's nice that other people's illegal and immoral decisions can be used to learn more about the folks who post here.

It's been fun.

Monday morning quarterbacking -- one of humanity's favorite pastimes, a mostly productive staple of this forum and countless conversations I've had over a lifetime. Studying others' survival situations is how we learn. Sharing conjecture makes for interesting conversation. One thread in ETS is hardly worth getting exercised about and rendering sweeping judgments on fellow ETS members.

And so I will try not to judge the judgmental and will blissfully go about the day after logging out.

As to the topic at hand -- It would have to be a pretty desperate situation before I'd destroy others' property, especially when doing so would clearly impact others on the scope that power outages do. That I know for sure. What that threshold of desperation would be I don't know and hopefully will never find out.

Thanks to this thread I'm pretty sure I'd be giving more thought to the ramifications beyond my own situation. And am even more likely to carry a locator device.

The cumulative effect of ETS threads these past few years is that I don't go anywhere -- especially not into the wilderness -- without being more prepared and mindful of the situation.

But I carry so much preparedness stuff now I need a bigger vehicle and stronger muscles.

I agree with Dagny here. People do depend upon electricity for life-saving medical equipment and who am I to try to save my life at the possible expense of another. Most power outages do have some warnings for people to prepare. Hopefully I'll never be in that sort of situation, as I think I'm far more prepared than most and always try to think before doing any new adventure and try to prepare for the possibilities that could happen.

I'm going off topic here for a second, but I smell some rightous indignation on this thread.

There are many threads on ETS about homeowner security, gun control, conceale weapons, etc. Mostly well rationed (a boon to this forum)

Amazingly enough, lots of people post that they'd be willing to confront/shoot/sic a dog on someone in their house. Apparently their moral/ethical/legal standards allow them to kill face to face.

But Heaven forbid you should accidently kill someone at a distance.

I can't see how someone can justify shooting someone in their home, but freak out that someone else would chop a power line and "possibly" endanger someone else.

Well I've certainly never posted anything regarding shooting or having a dog hold someone! BTW, a trained dog will hold and bark if a person stops. But if someone came into my house and tried to harm me I certainly would have the right to defend myself. Totally different in protecting yourself from someone trying to cause harm than intentionally putting someone in jeopardy. Power outages can be pretty darn tough on the elderly in the heat or the cold and potentially deadly if they depend on a medical device.

I don't know as I would condemn either side.

I figure a lot who are coming down on the side that says that cutting the poles is always wrong are downplaying the idea that most people who say they might do it have emphasized that it would have to honestly believe it to be a real life and death situation. Anything less than a firm, well-founded, belief your going to die makes the property damage nothing more than vandalism. I don't think anybody would argue in favor of that being okay.

IMHO society does not have the right to demand that you die to avoid property damage and the relatively slight risk someone might, conceivably, be injured.