you're assuming that's the only job you could get. If you value your own survival to the point where you're not willing to risk your life for someone else, you don't take that kind of job. The person you're describing values job security and prestige (and making a living and supporting their family and such) beyond merely their own self-survival. You can survive even with no job. You can move back in with your parents, live on food stamps, etc. The ridicule you get from being a coward may hurt your pride, but it won't kill you. This isn't 17th-Century France anymore, y'know. But I don't wanna do this petty debate too much longer, 'cause I gotta leave the office, and we're basically in agreement anyway.