Poll: So a man walks into a bar...

[SEXTON HALE]

Definatly it would be like taking candy from a baby.

 

[Smeatza]

I'd probably wrestle with the answer for a while before taking him up on the offer.
$5 000 000 is a lot of money, you may have had to take one life to get it, but once you have the money you could save hundreds.

 

[MorganL4]

Umm No..... I have this thing called a conscience which would eat at me until I walked into a police station and surrendered my self, and then it would still eat at me in my prison cell.

 

[Gothproxy]

Nope. Not even if there was a chance of not being caught. Why not? Because Karma is a major beeaaahhhch.

Nuff said.

 

[M920CAIN]

I could if the man with the briefcase would be the one that I have to kill.

 

[Veldel]

Give me the money and your target is as good as dead.

Id kill for that money so I could never work again

 

[Zio_IV]

Yeah, I would.

I've stopped caring about my fellow man long ago. Everyone's life is different, and plays out in drastically different ways, but mine apparently decided to show me time and again just how painful and foolish it is to trust in others. If this hypothetical situation ever came up in reality, I would take it and complete the task and never lose a wink of sleep. My goal of furthering myself far outweighs any arbitrary moral conundrum.

 

[King of Asgaard]

Yes, in a heartbeat.
There's no chance of being caught, you don't know the target, all you have to do is dirty your hands a little.
It's essentially free, risk-proof money; who wouldn't want that?

 

[Danzavare]

And deal with all the people wanting their share of my 5mil? No thank you!

But seriously, my tastes aren't so expensive that I'd be tempted by his offer. I'd pass and watch my back as I leave the place. You just can't trust a guy trying to pay strangers to kill other strangers.

 

[Reincarnatedwolfgod]

no i have a Conscience
in your hypothetical situation could get away with but i would living in a prison of my own guilt
so it is not worth it

I've that episode of the Twilight Zone (the one with the button), so no.

i remember reading that button story in high school
i have Conscience and i also don't trust the guy now not to pull crap like that
still no

 

[JEBWrench]

So a man walks into a bar holding a briefcase and he sits down right next to you. You guys start talking and you find out the case contains five million US dollars. He tells you that it's all your's if you do him just one favour. He wants you to kill someone. You don't know the person, you don't know anything about them and there is no chance of getting caught. Would you go for it?

Well, there's no chance of getting caught? Done, without question.

Sorry to disappoint you all. Especially the people I don't know who may have someone willing to pay 5 million USD to kill him or her.

 

[Ironside]

If i get to choose who to kill and there's no fine print such as the next guy to accept the offer has to kill you then i would almost certainly accept the offer.

 

[Pandaman1911]

Oh hell yeah. No chance of getting caught, five mil in the bank? Never work another day in my life? This ************ is deeeeaaaad.

 

[Captain Anon]

So a man walks into a bar holding a briefcase and he sits down right next to you. You guys start talking and you find out the case contains five million US dollars. He tells you that it's all your's if you do him just one favour. He wants you to kill someone. You don't know the person, you don't know anything about them and there is no chance of getting caught. Would you go for it?

i don't know i like to know the facts to be honest before i kill someone even then i might not do because it's us dollars

 

[Nerexor]

Pshhh, US dollars? I only kill for the Canadian dollar!

Hypothetically? I would point the opposite direction and shout "Hey look! A distraction!" and then abscond with his funds.

 

[Robot Number V]

*snip*

Yeah, see, you're saying a lot of things, but you're not backing any of them with anything other then the word "statistically". Of course, I'm not trying to say that everything in your post was untrue, I agree with plenty of it. I obviously won't deny that people will kill under extreme circumstances, especially if their lives depend on it. But I have to question your statement that "Statistically, people will murder based on the prospect of social gain." (paraphrasing) If you can show me that statistic, then great. I'll shut up. But until then, my response to that is "Statistically, people only commit murder when they feel they have no other option available to them."

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

So a man walks into a bar holding a briefcase and he sits down right next to you. You guys start talking and you find out the case contains five million US dollars. He tells you that it's all your's if you do him just one favour. He wants you to kill someone. You don't know the person, you don't know anything about them and there is no chance of getting caught. Would you go for it?

Nope. It sounds like a set up. The guy wants me to take the fall.

Although, if he's got the briefcase now... that implies payment up front. I could agree, take the case, take out three million (and hide it), then go to the police and say that this guy offered me Two million to kill the person, and how. I get to be a hero for turning the guy in, and I have three million for my trouble.

 

[saoirse13]

Give me the name and address of the man. Thats all I need to know. Screw it, 5 million and no chance of getting caught. Why not. Plus i could live comfortbly for the rest of my life with the money, and lets face it, Nearly 7 billion people on earth, why not take one out for 5 million.

But thats from a hypoythetical situation, in reality I'd probably say no.

 

[Dahdutcher]

If there is no chance of getting caught, sure.

That kind of money could solve a lot of problems.

 

[Robot Number V]

*snip*

Yeah, see, you're saying a lot of things, but you're not backing any of them with anything other then the word "statistically". Of course, I'm not trying to say that everything in your post was untrue, I agree with plenty of it. I obviously won't deny that people will kill under extreme circumstances, especially if their lives depend on it. But I have to question your statement that "Statistically, people will murder based on the prospect of social gain." (paraphrasing) If you can show me that statistic, then great. I'll shut up. But until then, my response to that is "Statistically, people only commit murder when they feel they have no other option available to them."

In 2010 the US recorded 41.4% of the total robberies that year involved firearms.

http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2011/september/crime_091911/crime_091911

And in 1998 8.7% of the total murders in the US occurred during robberies.

http://www.allcountries.org/uscensus/333_murder_victims_circumstances_and_weapons_used.html

I'm sure with some proper searching you could find a whole catalogue of these records and make an accurate estimation of how many people are murdered each year during robberies, muggings etc etc.

But the point is that people murder over spare change and household possessions. When you start dealing with truly life altering amounts of money. Like say 5-mil, people who would otherwise not have committed even a petty crime, may actually kill.

Bear in mind, that in robberies the objective isn't to kill someone. It's too intimidate, making it easier to take their possessions. So there will be a lot of outstanding factors in the percentage of murders during robberies that you'd have to take into consideration.

But when you tell someone that they have to kill a person for a life changing amount of money. Depending on their socio-economic standing, you'd probably find a higher amount of people willing to do it. Especially if the risk factor is removed.

Sorry, but I don't think that statistic is really relevant. We're talking about two VERY different scenarios here: In one, the criminal (who is most likely in some kind of poverty) breaks into someone's home for anything they can find. They know this criminal act will not result in social mobility, they just want whatever they can get. Furthermore, as you stated, the goal of a robbery is not to kill the people in the house: If anything, a murder makes the robbery pretty counter-productive. Thus, it's safe to assume that at least a majority of these murders were accidental. And accidental murders are not relevant to this discussion.

In the topic's situation, the criminal (a member of the Escapist, and thus probably NOT in poverty, since they own a computer, have access to the internet, and enjoy playing videogames) is planning SPECIFICALLY to murder someone with the guarantee of massive wealth. The difference is that they almost definitely do not actually NEED the 5 million. And I don't think that healthy human beings kill each other without necessity. There's a big difference between killing someone who's about to kill you, and killing someone because you want to live in a mansion.