At what point does money overpower your morals?
 

At lunch today, several of us enjoyed yet another hearty laugh over the fall of Eliot Spitzer. Eventually, though, the conversation turned to Kristen/Ashley and how she got involved.

I am beginning to subscribe to the idea that we are all willing to whore ourselves out, literally or metaphorically, at some point in our lives for something. We all, especially on the internet, love to take absolute positions about how we would "never" do something that is beyond our moral boundaries. For argument's sake, please assume that any negative repercussions are minimal at best.

So, I pose to you the following question: how much money would it take to buy you off? Could I buy your vote for a candidate for a dollar and a beer if you'd already decided not to vote this cycle? If I offered you $1,000,000 to sleep with your hot wife while you were broke in Vegas, would you take it? If I handed you a gun, $10,000 and proved to you that *that guy* was a child rapist, could you pull the trigger? What if I offered you $10,000,000, a house on the beach in Brazil and full security team if you just look over there while I steal from your employer? Could you sleep with someone you didn't find attractive or the opposite of your orientation (i.e. gay) for the right amount of money?

I'm not looking for dollar amounts or stories of how you were bought off (although I suppose it's fine if you consider it relevant). What I am looking for is how flexible you think your morals are.

For me, I know there is a point where I could chose to ignore my moral compass for a moment given the right circumstances and exclusive of a couple areas of my life. First, I wouldn't cheat on my wife. Second, I couldn't have anything to do with illegal/immoral situations regarding my present employer - these folks are family. Beyond that, though, I think just about everything else would be more of a negotiation for the right price.

Sorry money isn't worth piece of mind.

Remember...

You only have to sleep with yourself. Everyone else is just a bonus.

I always vote. If I didn't, I suppose I wouldn't care if you "bought my vote".
Absolutely not. In addition to being very faithful, I'm also a bit possessive.
I don't kill people. No exceptions.
My former employer? I would have done it for free. My current employer? No way.
Is he hot? No, but seriously, is he hot?

Admittedly, some of my morals could be compromised, but they'd already have to be relatively weak. The stronger ones, like not killing, won't be compromised.

Everything has a price.

I disagree that everything has a price. How much money could I pay you to rape and kill your own mother?

That being said, I'm mostly for sale.

I thought I had a price before but as Tully stated I have to sleep with myself.

Everytime that I have compromised my governing values I have had problems. I now know that my morals can be much more flexible than my governing values, but still cause me some discomfort.

To summarize, some things have a price, some things do not.

You have to do what now?! :expressionless:

It would have to be a lot of money. Just remember, Alex Rodriguez is paid $250m to swing a bat and catch a ball. Your initial proposal will have to be much higher for what you would be asking me to do.

well since I answered yes to all your questions.. I'm pretty flexible.. and you owe me..

alot of money and a beer.

Remind me to let you know when I have $1,000,000 ;)

I'm pretty flexible on most things. I wouldn't kill someone, and I couldn't hurt people I like, but there's a price for most things.

I'm pretty sure he told you to go fuck yourself. :)

Yes, we'll go to Fenway soon. Given the right cirumstances, I might even cheer for the Red Sox.

Cyn, I remembered your old thread when I was writing my OP and purposefully steered away from the "governing values" idea and instead focused on morals, which I see as the actual application of those values.

Kadath, for argument's sake, what if I offered you $1,000,000,000 for your horrible act? Would you have to think about it or is it still an automatic "no"? What I'm trying to discover here is not so much as to whether or not you would rape and kill your mother so much as you would have to pause to think about the number.

There was a show on nat geo the other day (can't remember what it was called) that was exploring the brain functions similar to these ideas. The scientists would give out scenario's and monitor the reactions in the brain. While most people would give a resounding no to the most evil of situations, there was always some hesitation. I think they were trying to pinpoint evil in the brain.

Morals are such a fickle thing. They are different for each person, and I think every thing has a price on it. After all, given enough money and time, a person can find similar people who share the same moral set.

Jazz, I think I'd pay good money to see you cheer for the Red Sox, especially if you were rooting against your beloved Cubbies :D

I would curb stomp a puppy for the right amount of money and if I knew I wouldn't get in trouble there are A LOT of other things I'd do too. I replaced that little "angel" on my shoulder with a devil that's only slightly less evil than me a long time ago :)

I'd like to think I'm not for sale, but I know better than to stand on such a high pedestal. Unexpected situations can occur which may have you doing things you'd never intended to do.

For lack of a more appropriate option, I vote "could make exceptions", but I don't think any of us really know until we get there.

When this comes up, I always think of Indecent Proposal. I'd never have taken the money. I'd never give up a relationship for money. That's just me.

But I have taken jobs I swore I'd never take. I've manipulated people at different points in my life in order to survive. Although those situations weren't cash payouts per se, they are definitely an alternate means of selling out.

So before anyone can say "never", I would urge them to think long and hard about things that could one day happen in your lives.

I was having some difficulty hearing that, Mr. Gandhi.

Could you speak up a little?

Short answer - yes.
Detailed answer - I would negotiate the price before agreeing to anything. Depending on how important that vote is for you, we could raise the amount quite significantly.

This would not only be bending my morals but my wife's as well. I cannot make that decision for the both of us. However, I don't think so.

You would have to offer me a lot more than 10 grand to kill a person. However, given the right price and the right reason, I believe I could do it. My only request would be to put a hood over his head. I'm squirmish, so the sight of a busted open head with brain matter out would haunt me for a while.

Probably, unless he could make me a better offer for pointing out the thief.

It would probably have to be many, many dollars, but sure.

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I think that everything has a price. If not anything, then most things. It's a matter of exploiting the situation. If somebody's in a bender and needs money to avoid some very unpleasant consequences, morals will be bent far easier and probably for less.

Me? I like money. I like the idea of a "quick buck". I also have a very useful ability to tell my conscious to shut the hell up when I need it to. It doesn't always work, but the dollar signs might help matters.

Can't. Starvin myself for somethin.

:lol: Aw, c'mon. I'll buy you a burger. ;)

That sums it right up for me. I have a very strong moral code, but I could bend on some small things depending on the situation.

On the other hand, the larger, stronger morals I uphold are non-negotiable.

Everyone and everything has a price. What that price is would be dictated by the circumstances.

Hey, if it means my own private island and sharks with friggin' laserbeams on their heads, you can have my soul mate, my vote, my sexuality, my business ethics, and my lack of homicidal experience.

The only situation where I can imagine being "paid off" is if someone else's life or quality of life was at stake. For example, if someone was going to pay me to keep my mouth shut, in order to keep a family member or friend safe from harm, then I would have to take the money. Or something like that.

I'm for sale. but realistically, we all are, thats why we work for a living.

Yes, depends on her reaction, no, yes, not attractive: yes, opposite orientation: yes, but more money.

I think to be honest about this you'd also have to have a reasonable expectation of not being "caught" by whomever would do the catching. In Kristen's case, she was willing to prostitute herself for thousands of dollars a night AND it being kept secret. Were she offered the choice to have sex for thousands of dollars AND have it become public knowledge, she would probably have refused.

With enough money AND reasonable assurances that I wouldn't be caught, etc., I could definitely be bought. :( I have a very flexible moral code, as well.

Well, yeah, that's the thing. But I think the OP is talking about doing things/favors for people that have nothing to do with productive labor or trading money for skills... but things that are somehow illegal or looked down upon, I guess. Something corrupt, I would assume?

An interesting flip-side to the question would be: Would you be willing to pay someone off in order to get what you wanted?... and again, not in the productive/labor exchange sense, but for something corrupt... For myself, I think the answer would again only be Yes if it would save someone's life or quality of life, that I cared about, especially in a developing country where corruption is a given thing. But I guess we're only talking about stuff in developed, Western countries, right?

The answer to this would be the same. Paying someone to do something that goes against your morals is still breaking your morals in an indirect way.

I disagree. I'd pay people to do all sorts of things which I wouldn't personally do for moral or ethical reasons. My answer is yes to both questions, but MORE yes to paying off others. :)

Correct. :thumbsup:

personally, i can imagine myself being a complete moneywhore, but i can't seem to figure out how to do it.

this because i guess i have a stubborn or arrogant streak (it's hard to tell these things apart---mostly the distinction is a trick of lighting) about things that are important to me. in my creative work, for example: if i think about it, i am capable of thinking myself quite open to selling out so long as selling out means i get to do exactly the work i am doing. you just get to pay me for it. this seems an obstacle to being a particularly good market-boy.

and it turns out that this understanding of sound stuff has bled into other things, like my academic work, which now looks more and more like the other stuff. the funny thing is--you know, har de har---that the whole time this transformation was happening, i thought i was becoming more like a regular joe. so now i am working in a kind of underground artist mode in the stuff i thought would be my day job as well.

i am perfectly willing to sell out.
i just have no idea how to do it.
this is not a moral stance or an aesthetic stance--i just don't know how to go about it.
i keep thinking i need to hire someone to help mean learn how to speak capitalist.
maybe there's cash repellent in the coffee i drink every morning.
i dont know.

Yeah, but what if you have two different morals colliding in the situation? E.g. someone is going to shoot your wife if you don't give them $100 (or some other valuable thing) on the spot... one moral of preserve-your-wife's-life is always going to take precedence of the moral of never-pay-someone-off. Not all morals are equal, if you ask me, which makes a blanket question like the one in the poll just a bit too simplistic.

But I guess that's not the gist of the OP... we're talking about giving/getting immoral things for money, not intervening with money to protect a loved one from harm, I suppose.

Again, I also think the whole situation changes when you're in a different country with a different code for getting things done. But I consider that to be a type of cultural relativity (not extreme relativity, but still a type).

Abaya, you're spot on with your interpretation - this isn't about being forced to do something. Holding a gun (or the metaphorical equivalent) to someone's head doesn't factor into the equation here.

As far as foreign countries go, while I didn't necessarily have that in mind when I wrote my post, I have paid bribes before (at some point, I'll have to journal about The Mongolian Insurance Scam that I foiled for some friends). That said, I don't necessarily see those as existing outside of the context of my OP. I think that we have the answers for the bribe-seekers, wherever they may be. Their code does not eliminate extorting money from folks.

Another question for the masses - could you be a highly paid prostitute (putting aside your actual desirability for the moment; I know I need that willing suspension of disbelief to ask myself) along the lines of Kristen and the rest of the women at VIP Emporers Club?

I think I could be bought to rough up the guy who was talkin' bad about my cubbies .. cheap .. heh

and hold up .. nobody said anything about sharks with frikkin laser beams!!

I want some of that action too

can I be bought .. yes .. depending on what is being sold and how much is being paid .. you bet

I'm a whore, just like everyone else .. more so than some it seems, but we're all whores in a fashion and to some degree

I'm just not a cheap whore

The key is morals.

There are things I don't want to, like have sex with another man, but those are not moral questions, those are 'ick' factor questions.

Really my only limit would be directly hurting someone.

You couldn't pay me enough to just kill a random innocent person. It wouldn't happen, but on the other hand I would have no compunction about flipping the switch on a convicted murderer. Its not the killing which is immoral but the target.

Likewise I would sleep with someones wife for enough money, (depends on the wife) as while its not a nice thing to do, its her moral question not mine. I would not seek such a thing though since I am a nice person and would normally let her find another sex toy.

What I would never do is rape someone, regardless of the money.

Cubs suck, drink the tears of 2005 and enjoy 100 solid years of failure :cry:

/is in trouble now :)

/adds Ustwo to the list and continues the search for laser beam wearing sharks

Honestly, I'd be a hitman for the highest bidder if the risk/reward ratio of (going to jail/getting killed) vs getting paid wasn't so out of whack. I'm not sure what reward would overwhelm the risk because noone has ever tried :thumbsup:

Could I buy your vote for a candidate for a dollar and a beer if you'd already decided not to vote this cycle? No

If I offered you $1,000,000 to sleep with your hot wife [or my boyfriend] while you were broke in Vegas, would you take it? It would be up to my boyfriend, but for $1,000,000, yes I would - although I wouldn't spend it on gambling

If I handed you a gun, $10,000 and proved to you that *that guy* was a child rapist, could you pull the trigger? No, I wouldn't kill anyone

What if I offered you $10,000,000, a house on the beach in Brazil and full security team if you just look over there while I steal from your employer? Yep

Could you sleep with someone you didn't find attractive or the opposite of your orientation (i.e. gay) for the right amount of money? I'm going to have to go with no...