Ethics & The Black Market

Are my ethics for sale? Yup. I'll come right out and say that I'm sure there's a price. Though I'm not exactly sure where it is. My price would have to depend on my situation. For example, right now, I'm getting pretty dang sick of Raman noodles. I don't have a lot of dough to spare, so Raman it is! But aside from that, I'm not hurtin' financially too badly. So right now my ethics are pretty expensive. But if for some reason I found myself in a cardboard box on the corner of some street in New York City, then the price of my ethics would drop considerably.

Even in the cardboard box scenario, I would like to PRETEND that they'd still be reasonably expensive. However, if I had a family to support, and I was desperate for money or other support for them, then my ethics would become quite reasonably priced.

If I'm single, then my integrity means a lot to me. But if I were to have a family in need of support, I'll sacrifice my integrity quite early in the game.

As for which ethics I would compromise.... that's actually a lot harder to answer than whether or not I would compromise any. I think that pretty much any of them would equally dent my sense of integrity and self-respect.

The price would, however, depend on the extent of the ethics violation. For example, am I lying to just some random dude that asks me about "Big Joe", or am I lying to the Judge about "Big Joe"? Am I walking into an unlocked house to steal the $10 that someone knows their friend keeps under their pillow, or robbing a convenience store at gunpoint for a lot more money....and some skittles? The seriousness of the ethics-violation would determine the price.

But that's how selling my ethics would go. Anyone care to make any bids?