I think a person's ability to rationalize is pretty amazing. Look at the concentration camp guards from Aushwitz. It's not like they were all psychotic freaks. They were able to go from monsters to family men because they actually developed almost multiple personalities to deal with it. It's called doubling I believe. If they can do that, then you can probably live with murder.

C'mon Batty, there are some people in this world that have morals and integrity. Money is the root of all evil. It is. Whether you understand it or not. I have NEVER done something for monetary gain that directly ended the life of another living thing, and I wouldn't kill a person for 50 trillion dollars, I wouldn't be able to live with myself. I'd die slow and miserably.

It boils down to: I'd rather be poor and happy than rich and miserable.

I honestly don't think I could. But there is not much else I can say as you're putting across quite a good argument.

I don't think I'd kill an innocent person for money. Not if they were wheeled into a room right this second and I was just given the chance 'yes or no' and there was no manipulation, no.

I doubt I could live with the knowledge that I had done it, if I had.

I've turned down money on the grounds of principles before, when the consequences would've been much less.

I'd do it for £250,000.

I know I would, I could buy a damn lot of bud with that. :laughing:


But seriously, all my problems are money related, I'd do anything for 50mil.

People like you are a detriment to society as a whole, scenario excluded.

You never answered me tho, can I choose how I kill him?

I think this matters. If you can give him an OD of morphine or something, I think that's a lot better for all involved than having to beat him to death with a meat tenderizer or something.

Yes.

Still don't think I would.

Buckaroo.

I could never kill anyone but if I did it would have to be my coworker Sandy otherwise I would get no enjoyment out of it.

:laughing:

The scenario is supposed to reflect my morals?

My morals tells me it's a SETUP!
they did all the prep work im just supposed to shoot him?
for 50 million dollars?

Sounds to me like they're just looking for a guy to take the fall. >_>

Plus both answers are sh*tty, you're either a killer or an opportunist

a Revenge setting would be more justifiable

Like let's say,

"A Co worker of yours ate your Burrito..

Would you kill him?"

See, i would answer that with a 'YES'
this setting i don't trust, it's just not plausible enough

No in general...but if it was someone like OJ, Osama, my ex-business partner who stabbed me in the back, and any banker responsible for the sub-prime mortgage loan crisis that ruined my life...then YES!

Actually a 'yes' answer makes you an opportunistic killer.
A 'no' answer makes you neither of those things.

As for the "doubling" that The Batlord brought up (which I don't believe is a widely accepted term among psychiatric professionals), this is totally different. The killing and torture that people do because their military higher-ups told them to is done regardless of the financial benefits they receive. Nobody working under the Nazi regime made 50 million for what they did. Most probably barely made a living wage.

And the military higher ups would just as soon kill them for not following orders also. I've never heard the term doubling, I just always thought it was called multiple personality disorder or schizophrenic.

In The Batlord's defense, a legit psychiatrist coined the term when he was analyzing the behavior of Nazi doctors. Dr. Robert Jay Lifton. Here's a page from one of his books. It's not about multiple personalities or schizophrenia. More like subtle brainwashing, which definitely does happen to perfectly sane people who commit atrocities for the sake of war or religion, etc.

Back on topic. I personally place this moral question in a file in my mind that I call "hypothetical decisions that I absolutely cannot make until I'm faced with them in reality" - it's a pretty large file.

my thoughts exactly but if we could create our own way of elimination besides shooting. I think my knowledge of watching CSI shows, Bones and Dexter will come in handy to cook up something special.

I would probably do it if faced with the possibility

You lot are other-thinking this. It's a hypothetical.
Consequences, morales and repercussions out of the equation, do you want £50 million?
£50 million sets you up for a playboy lifestyle for life, anything you could ever want, ever need.
Even with the les enfants terribles of consequences, morales and repercussions, I'd happily do 30 years in jail to come out to £50 million when I'd served my time, and for a hitman type job, nobodies going to serve any real time unless you live in a communist nation.

That's if you don't get caught. What's the point of having 50 mil when you might be in jail for the rest of your life.

I'm saying no. I'm just not capable of murder.

i meant that if you happen to choose "Yes" you are either a killer or an opportunist (which yes lead to what you said)

But a killer doesn't need a motivation to kill an opportunist needs a reason.

you're right btw, i just meant i phrased wrong what i said

Woah, when did the price become 50 million pounds? That's a lot more enticing than a mere 50 million dollars.

Depends on the context.
Money really has nothing to do with it.

No, in whatever circumstance.

I took the liberty of converting it, which on today's exchange rate would be £32,977,179.79, but yes that is a fee that could buy me to do literally anything.

I would kill a person easily, but I couldn't kill a cat tbh

I've never screwed someone else for monetary or other gain in my life (at least as far as I can remember), but I think that fifty million dollars and the possible life altering changes that it could bring you is too much for you to really contemplate and it might very well temporarily "short circuit" your moral compass and make it almost impossible to think clearly. I think that if anything would stop you it wouldn't be thinking about the consequences (since I don't think you would be capable of that kind of complicated thought process at that point), it would be actually being unable to physically make yourself bring the knife across the person's throat or pull the trigger. Even if you decided to do it. You could offer me as much money as you could think of, but there's probably no way in hell I could ever force my body to jump off a high cliff into the ocean. I've seen people do it on TV so I know it's possible to do it and not die, but my body would simply cease to respond to my commands when I got anywhere near the edge of the cliff.

Sure the specifics are different, but the concept is sound. If you can rationalize it, you can live with just about anything. It may eat away at you but still, you could probably do it. A concentration camp guard probably tells himself that this is necessary to preserve the racial purity of the German race and that however unpleasant the means may be they are necessary. I'm sure if they can do that then it would be simple for you to rationalize the murder after the fact. "My friends and family can have everything they could ever need now. And just think of all the homeless people I can feed with this money. The African villagers I can help. If I can save two people with it then does it matter that one man died for it?"

That's pretty much how I feel. Given how extreme an event this would be I think the only honest answer is "I don't know." Anything else is just a guess.

Depends on what for or whether he deserved it.

Nah, he'd get deadded.

But ur detrimental to our society Tom.

I would do this **** for an N64 with a rumble pack, ****.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lx...x0sdo1_500.gif

:p:

Awwww I love stitch. I want to hug you now haha.

I think there are two details about this "offer" that could be either clarified or added, and might change the minds of those who say "Hell yeah I'd do it!"

One: it should not be a man, but a person. So theoretically you could be asked to kill your wife, mother, kid, who knows? Man is too specific.

Two: You absolutely cannot know who it is or add any caveats, eg "If he was a bad man" or "if I didn't know him" --- that makes it too easy to make the decision.

Reminds me of this old "Twilight Zone" episode. Very similar (Tuna may have got the idea from it, maybe not)

A couple who are on hard times are visited by a mysterious stranger (people in the Twilight Zone are always being visited by mysterious strangers!) and given a box. There is nothing in the box but a button. They are told if they press the button, two things will happen: one, someone they do not know will die. Two, they'll be given fifty mill or whatever the figure was in the show --- it was a lot. Maybe a million (this was b/w TZ)

The man says he'll come back for the box in the morning. Whether they've pressed the button or not he'll take it away. The couple argue. The wife is all for pressing. What, she asks, if it was someone who's dying of cancer? The husband asks what if it's a newborn baby? Anyway they argue and in the end while he's at work she presses it.

He's angry when he comes home but there's nothing can be done. The next morning the guy arrives to take back the box. "I see you pressed it", he says knowingly, and gives them a fat wad of cash. The wife, still unable to believe this isn't some gimmick (which is what she thought it was, and didn't really believe anyone would die, and that's why she pressed the button) asks "And did someone die?" The man confirms they did, and that the couple did not know them.

As he's taking the box away, she asks what will he do with it now? He says it will be given to another client, with the same offer, the same conditions. His last words are chilling: "Don't worry", he says, "We will ensure the box is given to nobody you know!"

Anyone for changing their mind now? ;)

I vote no, by the way: murder is not justifiable no matter how much cash you throw at me.

Man, child, woman... same outcome.

The fact that this thread just keeps going and going and going is more telling than anybody's answers. Why is it so interesting? Who cares if the hit is a man, woman, or child? Why do people condone murder? Why do people not condone murder? Why do some people base their opinion of murder on personal financial gain or moral righteousness? Why does that Twilight Zone episode promote Hindu Karma and why does anybody relate to that concept?

Obviously there are too many unanswerable questions hidden in the original one, and also it is obvious that nobody's answer actually says anything other than what they like to believe about themselves. And individual beliefs about morality don't make any difference until they are acted on. Even then, those actions are all just tiny footnotes in the story of humanity. Let's let the timeless wisdom of Boy George end all of this nonsense:

I blew up Megaton on Fallout 3, I clearly don't care.

I was never able to do that, and I played through the game like 5 times. You're horrible and antisocial while I am a gilded pillar of society.