And every woman, of course. I’ve been thinking about this saying and the idea of corruption, how many would put personal gain over the common good and vice versa.
So, here’s the scenario. In a prior thread I asked what people would do if they came upon a man physically abusing a woman, some chose to intervene themselves but most agreed that a call to 911 (or 999 or 112 or whatever) was the best and most moral thing to do.
As you reach for your mobile phone the light from the display illuminates your face, capturing the notice of the aggressor. As you get ready for a fisticuffs or flee situation, you recognise him as an extremely famous, wealthy and influential individual. He tells you that he doesn’t want this altercation getting out and asks you to name your price.
He will wait until the cuts and bruises of the victim have healed and then arrange for you to receive your chosen amount anonymously. If his name is mentioned at any point after you receive the money his crack team of elite lawyers will sue your ass off for defamation. If you chose to go to the police after receiving the money it will be your word against his and he has the elite lawyers. There is no way to take the money then grass him up.
How much would earn your silence?
Personally, I’d hope that even if he offered to make me Scarlett Johansson’s untamed pet sex monkey I’d still do the right thing, although admittedly it’s easy to say that now. Even if no-one else would know, I’d still know…would be too great a secret for me to keep I think.
Even without the poll, I’d have to say no amount of money would work for me. I still feel ashamed when I think about some of the unheroic choices I made as a child, so there’s no way I could live with myself if I did the wrong thing now that I’m wiser and understand consequences better.
Nah, for something like that, I’m untouchable. It *might *be possible to buy me off for other (nonviolent) crimes, but physically abusing another person and trying to use wealth to get away with it? I couldn’t live with myself if I allowed that because of my own greed.
ETA: Oh, and he’s going to wait for the injuries to heal (which, depending on the extent, could be anywhere from a few days to a few weeks) and then I’m supposed to trust him to send me the money? Here’s a guy who’s willing to buy off a witness, and I’m going to trust him to send me the money after all the evidence of his crime is healed up? In the words of Al Borland, “I don’t think so, Tim.”
Should have specified in OP; Assume that you’ve taken a video recording or pictures of the event on your phone, to hold as collateral as a guarantee that the funds will be transferred. Once they are, he obviously wants the footage destroyed (traded for the cash). If you go to the police with it before the money is given to you, it’s akin to declining it.
I suck at lying and I’d feel like a worse person. I’m not going to say money isn’t tempting, but I know what guilt feels like.
Someone in this alley’s gonna bleed by the end of this, and it’ll probably be me. And then he’ll hit me with his elite lawyers. God my life is going to suck.
No, seriously, there’s nothing he could give me. The more money or power he has the more victims he has probably already had, and the more he’ll have the access to hurt. It just makes it that much moe important to take him down.
Although I’d like to state that my morals and belief in right and wrong would never allow me to even consider such a thing, I know that a huge chunk of money could really help me out right about now.
Besides, is he beating her to death, or was it a couple of slaps? I can’t vote. Too many intangibles and too hypothetical.
As per the topic which provided the baseline - that calling 911 was the best thing to do (and how much it would take you to not do that), let’s assume that he isn’t attempting murder but is clearly abusing her physically and you can tell something’s wrong - somewhere inbetween savage beating and a slap. The victim will live but as the OP will have cuts and bruises to show for the experience.
I would never feel good about myself again if I accepted hush money after witnessing a crime. Hand me $10M, and every time I walked in the door of my country manor or went for a drive in my high-end Mercedes, I would remember how I came into those things. It would not be a good life.
Witnessing a man physically abusing a woman would provoke enough moral outrage all by itself; to be offered hush money after that would only enrage me all the more, reinforcing the decision to call the cops and tell them everything.
Am I poor at the start of the scenario? If so, I may be of little value to employers, but being valued by a thug is worthless; I would rather be of great value to justice (and to a victim of injustice).
How much to go away so he can go back to beating this person? No amount of money.
How much to keep quiet, but the beating is now over with? Yeah, I have a price - enough to make a significant change (and have long-term repercussions) in my financial situation.
Maybe I’m a douche. I’d probably try to rationalize it by convincing myself I would just be redirecting money that would otherwise go to lawyers to achieve the same eventual result, but the cold naked truth is that ugly things happen sometimes, what’s done can’t be undone. I can’t stop a beating that already took place, and I honestly don’t believe that prosecution will prevent future wrongdoing by such an individual - he’ll get his slap on the wrist and go back to whatever it is he does. With the choice between accomplishing very little for the victim and very little for future victims, versus accomplishing significant gain for myself…yeah, I’m a douche.
Violent or heinous crimes against any innocent person; there isn’t an amount that could wash away the guilt of caving into greed, nor the fear of getting caught for then becoming complicit in the crime at hand.
For me, it would have to be some truly preposterously large amount of money, enough that I could do enough good with it to make up for doing bad thousands of times over. Sure, it would be hard to know that you’d let that crime continue happening. But wouldn’t it be even worse to know that you had the chance to do a really enormous amount of good and passed it up?
So if the offer got up into the hundreds of millions of dollars range, I think I would have to take it. Granted, at that point the amount of money is way too large to work for this specific hypothetical. But as far as the principle is concerned, there’s my answer. Then I’d put 97% of it, and my life’s effort, into some charity that was actively out there every day making life better for the disadvantaged, and still live comfortably on the rest.
As much as I hope I wouldn’t, in the face of money I’d probably rationalize it. I chose $1 million because the lower amounts aren’t “life-changing” enough for me to do bad. $10000 or $250000 might be nice, but I still have to work, I can’t change my lifestyle on that amount. I’d blow it off in a few months or years and feel worse afterwards. But with $1 million, I could pay off the house, invest enough to matter, and retire year early. Sorry lady, for $1 million you’re on your own
$6,000,000 would by my silence like it’s cool. (I picked 5 in the poll)
My telling won’t improve her life any and it won’t hurt his any. My keeping silent will set me up for the rest of my life and probably set up my kids as well it won’t make her’s any worse and it doesn’t make his any better. In general I will take myself, my family and my friends over random strangers any day of the week for pretty much anything by taking a large amount of money I would be doing the people I care about a world of good and at most only a little harm to some random person I’ll never see or think of again.
What if we took $20M and split it with her? Would that change anyone’s mind? nto only freeing our own lives from the fear of financial difficulty but also giving her the necessary independence to leave him for good?
Having had time to think about it, in the end I wouldn’t because it’s not just about her, it’s about the next victim, and the past one who wasn’t believed.
