So, would you press the button?

[newcriminal]

I haven't seen The Box, but have seen the commercials. Here is how I see it(I don't care if it's different from the movie). A man comes to your house and explains he will give you a million dollars if you press a button, but by doing so someone dies. I am adding, that the person who dies, you do not know. So, do you do it or not, and why?

[Gidney N Cloyd]

1. What I would DO, is call the f**king FBI on the guy.

[newcriminal]

2. I can't believe I'm admitting it, but

I would take the money. It would make a huge difference in my children's life, and God forgive me, I would press the button.

[redwitch]

24. How would you know it wasn't your child who would die?

I wouldn't press the button and I am in serious financial meltdown.

[newcriminal]

25. You do not know the person who dies personally.

It can't be a loved one or anyone that you know.

[redwitch]

29. oh.

I still wouldn't press the button. Because everybody is somebody's child.

[CreekDog]

51. which part makes it okay for you? the part about not knowing them or the money?

:shrug:

[pitohui]

31. redwitch this is addressed in the VERY WELL KNOWN TZ EPISODE this is based on

of course you know it isn't your child/granny etc. who would die

where is the drama in that?

what you don't know is...who will have the box after it passes from your hands...

[hippywife]

74. Sounds like you really mean this so...

welcome to my ignore list. Like I said, I don't even want to know anyone who would consider it for even a second, and I do mean it. Buh-bye. :hi:

[newcriminal]

78. You aren't the first and certainly won't be the last .

Enjoy your imaginary world if you think I'm the only one that would consider it honey. I'm just one of the more honest ones.

[rug]

83. What do you think of people who consider even for a second staying in Afghanistan?

Granted, it's reality, not a movie.

[NJmaverick]

14. +1

[latebloomer]

3. No, I would not

on general moral principle.

And if I did it for my children, I would spend the rest of my life worrying about my bad karma coming out to bite them.

[Ikonoklast]

4. Give me a hundred boxes, and I'd press the button every time.

People die all the time, whether I press the button or not.

Unless they get murdered by the box purveyor; then that is a different story. The answer would be 'no'.

[newcriminal]

17. Agreed people die all the time, but this person would die because you pressed the button.

[stray cat]

28. I assume each time someone is being murdered so its a modification of murder for hire

except you are the one getting paid without having to do the act yourself.

[rcrush]

5. I'd press it 3 or 4 times just to make sure it worked.

[alphafemale]

6. Let me guess....possible spoiler...but again this is just a guess

If you push the button you get the money but are told you are to be killed if the next person getting the box pushes the button...right?

No amount of money is worth a strangers life. Because you are a stranger to a helluva lot of people.

[Deja Q]

8. Tell that to the wealthy.

:)

[LibDemAlways]

36. SPOILER ALERT

You are very perceptive. In the Twilight Zone episode on which the movie is based (I haven't seen the film) the financially strapped young couple agonizes over the decision, but in the end they push the button. When the mysterious man shows up to collect the box, the woman who pressed the button and collected a million asks, "So, what will you do with the box now?" The man calmly tells her that he's going to refill it and then give it to someone she doesn't know. The chickens will definitely come home to roost.

[Deja Q]

7. Why not? Our schools are said to be the worst in the world...

Of course, being a slow learner, I'd be standing there poking the button a few billion times and wondering why nothing was happening...

[hippywife]

9. Fuck no.

And I don't want to even know anyone who would even consider such a thing for even a second, for whatever reason. There is none that would justify such a thing.

Damn, but people suck. :mad: :cry:

[Flying Dream Blues]

45. Me, too. nt

[enigmatic]

10. no n/t

[Kali]

11. "someone"? Just a random person or is there ANY "justification"?

such as a bad person (rapist, murderer, or republican)?

I don't think I could/would do it if it was just a random person. If there was a reasonable justification I might think about it. Also what are the risks/protections it might be me next?

I'm one of those assholes who wants to ask a bunch of questions and hedge my choices, sorry.

[newcriminal]

16. Again, I haven't seen the movie, so this is just my made up world.

Totally random it could be a very bad person or a sweet old lady or even a new born. The only thing you would know is that you don't know the person personally.

[Duer 157099]

12. I can imagine that this really happens in another dimension

Some bozos in an alternate universe are playing this game with Earthlings in this dimension as the targets.

And many here call that "God" lol.

Betcha it's true.

[quakerboy]

13. I know this is evil

But how many time can I push that button? I mean, On the one hand I can have enough money to buy all the politicians I need to clean this place up, and on the other, This earth ain't meant for so many people anyway. What better way to save whales than by reducing the number of people eating them? How better to save the black rhino than reducing the number of people and thus the amount of space we really need? Global warming? If we had few enough people to make due with energy from solar and hydro, and few enough people that we could each have one of the hybrid cars already in existance, that's huge carbon foot print reduction.

And economics? Lots of unemployed unvalued people? Not any more. Now every person left is needed and vital and important.

This is all firmly tongue in cheek, I do not believe I would press such a button. At the same time, things like this would go through my head. I tend to consider all the angles, even the unpalatable ones, before making important (or often even unimportant) decisions.

[Bucky]

15. Question: what happens if I push the button like nine or ten times real fast?

Follow up question: would these be Americans dying?

[Tuesday Afternoon]

18. no. I would not press the button. I would tell that guy to take his

old tomato and get the hell out of my house. buh-bye :hi:

[Orangepeel]

19. I'd think I was either on a "candid camera" show or being scammed

If I thought it was real, I'd certainly never push the button. Since I wouldn't think it was real, I wouldn't do it either.

[NV Whino]

20. Naw

A million dollars just doesn't go as far as it used to.

[newcriminal]

22. So let's say 5 million, what then?

[NV Whino]

23. Do I hear 100 million?

(Seriously. I would probably slam the door in his face.)

[stray cat]

27. Agreed - no is no.

[Ptah]

21. I like to think I would not press the button.

[newcriminal]

76. I think this is the most honest answer here.

[stray cat]

26. No - its the same as murdering someone yourself just w/o getting dirty

murder for hire for example....

[pitohui]

30. it's an old twilight zone episode

considering i thought it was pretty well known i'm surprised to read some of these answers, w. things like "oh how many times can i press that button?" etc.

all these issues are addressed in like 5 minutes or less of the episode/short story (it was a story as well as a teevee episode)

[redwitch]

32. It's one I do not recall.

Perhaps I never saw it but that seems unlikely. My brain is going. :-)

[DU GrovelBot]

33. ## PLEASE DONATE TO DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND! ##

This week is our fourth quarter 2009 fund drive. Democratic Underground is
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[demmiblue]

34. Grovelbot.... we all know that you pressed the button.

Talk about a preemptive strike! Does DU still get the money?

:rofl:

[pokerfan]

35. Hey baby, wanna kill all humans?

[rcrush]

39. Yes

Yes I do.

[gmoney]

37. it makes an exotic sports car drive into a marsh...

sends a pelican assassin to swoop down and confound the owner...

pure ee-vill

[hunter]

38. I think maybe I'd shoot him.

:shrug:

[kentauros]

40. I'd glue another box on top of it

so that no one could press the button. Then I'd encase that in concrete and throw it into the ocean depths. End of movie. End of "what if" :D

[AlienGirl]

43. Excellent idea! WishI'd thought of that on top of "get that M-F arrested like any other serial kille

I have this rule about killers. I get them arrested. I have fun doing it, too.

Tucker

[rcrush]

41. I keep pressing the button but nothing happens!

I think its broken.

[AlienGirl]

42. Of course not!!

It would be unethical.

I'd report the guy to the police, so he could be arrested as accessory to murder.

Tucker

[CreekDog]

44. then you are willing to murder which puts you in small and deviant company

congrats. :hi:

(yeah, what i said is harsh, but less so than what you said.)

[rug]

62. Your social skills put you in a smaller and more deviant company.

:hi:

[CreekDog]

63. *my* social skills

:rofl:

[rug]

64. Yes, "yours".

Smiley intentionally omitted.

[CreekDog]

65. I'm sure you would have included it

but for your social skills. :P

[rug]

66. I would if I was an idiot.

[CreekDog]

67. past tense?

:evilgrin:

[rug]

69. Here, you can use this.

http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/grammar/tenses.html

[CreekDog]

70. and by the way, what are you bringing to this discussion?

being that a moral question of right and wrong was posed, you have no input except to defend the OP's statement that she would murder for money?

[rug]

71. It's a post about a movie, not "a moral question of right and wrong".

Or deviants.

Did you miss the turn for R/T?

[CreekDog]

72. well the OP did ask whether or not we would push the button

and that is about right and wrong, or they wouldn't have made a movie about it!

and i dunno what r/t is.

[rug]

73. Here's another moral question from the Lounge: corn flakes or bread crumbs

[CreekDog]

75. okay, keep ducking the question

i'm not trying to get you to disagree with the OP.

but any sensible person would including the OP if she thought about it more fully.

:hi:

[PVnRT]

46. If it were Dick Cheney who was to die

I'd press the button before the guy got done talking.

[cbdo2007]

47. I haven't seen it either. But I'm guessing that if you push the button, you get your Million $$ and

then become next on the death list, so you aren't going to get to enjoy it for very long.

There are plenty of other reputable ways to make $1 Million so I'll keep trying those.

[motely36]

48. So the only reason you would not push it

is to avoid being next?

huh...

BTW, I would not push the button.

[cbdo2007]

86. I never said that was the ONLY reason I wouldn't push it. I don't really hold

$1 Million in that high regard so I wouldn't push the button anyways.

I was just stating that it isn't as cut and dry as: push button, someone dies, you get a million dollars. If something looks too good to be true, then it probably is, and that would be the ultimate return of karma if you did push the button. You killed someone, so the next time someone takes the $$$ you are the one who dies cause you're no better than they were.

[Bertha Venation]

49. Of course I fucking would not press the button.

I can't imagine any circumstances in which I would wilfully kill another human being.

[SanddancerUSA]

50. Can I Nominate Someone Instead?

A much better option.

Now let me see, who would it be?

There are some that i'd do for free.

[Gormy Cuss]

52. No.

Killing anyone without a good reason just isn't in my playbook -- and money isn't a good reason.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

54. ...

:thumbsup:

[Crabby Appleton]

53. A million take-home, or pre-tax?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

55. lol

[GreenPartyVoter]

56. God, no! Not even if it was guaranteed to only afflict RWers.

[KamaAina]

57. Kind of a randomized version of murder for hire.

:puke:

[hawkeye14]

58. This is an old Twilight Zone episode

I saw this thing on old twilight zone reruns years ago. i think pushing the button or not has a lot to do with age. When I was younger, I wouldn't have thought twice about pushing it. Now, I'm a little wiser (I hope).

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

59. It's from a famous short story called "Button, Button"

There was an adaptation for that lame Twilight Zone series in the eighties. Not the real Twilight Zone.

Frankly, it wasn't a very good short story and no basis for a feature length movie.

[BlueJazz]

60. No....Murder is Murder ...(you would be part of the crime) and most..

..people (including myself) wouldn't do it anyway.

[AsahinaKimi]

61. HE WOULD...

"Press the Button Frank!"

[Moondog]

68. ~

:thumbsup:

[qnr]

77. Too dangerous. I'm over 50 years old, and I still 'don't know' myself. n/t

[Capn Sunshine]

79. Be right back...........

oh, look, it's my twelve gauge pump shotgun! KABOOM
Anyone else want to bring that fucking box around?

[newcriminal]

80. So, let me get this right.

You would kill a guy that offered you a million dollars to kill someone, because it's wrong to kill someone. Do I have that right?

[petronius]

81. Don't be silly. You push the button, then you kill the guy real fast so

he can't pass on the box to someone else. :)

[Capn Sunshine]

82. You have effectively grasped the argument for capital punishment

so keep that fucking box away from me; I fear what I may become

[Rabrrrrrr]

84. Of course not - I'd be the guy with the box.

[DarkTirade]

85. Man, people are LAZY nowadays.

If you're gonna get rich and commit murder, you should at least go out and look for somebody who's rich and a horrible person. That way you KNOW you're not gonna kill some random innocent person. You'll get rich by actually taking out somebody bad. Do a little frikkin' work people.

[Midwestern Democrat]

87. Absolutely not - murder is murder. NT

[guitar man]

88. No

I've been poor for so long I've gotten used to it. I've had opportunities to make a fair amount of money and turned them down because I felt I would be screwing someone over or otherwise doing something unethical, if I wouldn't do those things for money I damn sure wouldn't kill somebody for it. After all, it's only money. Filthy, stinking money....