Logical paradox. :D
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Logical paradox. :D
Wait... Which?
I found "The Good Bribe," an ethics one...
Fire away. You can post the other one later. (:
Okay!
"50. The Good Bribe
"The Prime Minister liked to think of himself as a 'pretty straight kind of guy.' He genuinely despised corruption and sleaze in government and wanted to run a cleaner, more honest administration.
"Something had happened, however, that presented him with a real dilemma. At a Downing Street reception, a businessman known for his lack of scruples, but who did not have a criminal or civil conviction ogainsthim, took the PM aside. Whispering conspiratorially into his ear, he said, 'Many people don't like me and don't respect the way I run my affairs. I don't give a damn about that. What does annoy me is that my reputation means I'll never be honoured by my country.
"'Well,' he continued, 'I'm sure you and I can do something about that. I'm prepared to give 10 million pounds to help provide clean water for hundreds of thousands of people in Africa, if you can garuntee that I'll be knighted in the New Year's honors list. If not, then I'll just spend it all on myself.'
"He slapped the PM on the back, said, 'Think it over,' and slipped back into the crowd. The Prime Minister knew that this was a kind of bribe. But could it really be wrong to sell one of his country's highest honours when the reward would be so obviously for the good?"
It's a bribe.
But is it worse than a politician awarding an honour to a person simply because they are a popular personallity and the said politician wishes to have his photo taken giving them an award?
It's a bribe because it is a conditional offer. If the money was offered without conditions attached then it would be an altruistic act. But it isn't, so it's a bribe and as in my example, it devalues the honour that is to be awarded and does poor service to the worthy recipients of the past and future. It is, in this respect, the very definition of corruption as it corrupts not only those directly involved in the incident but also the very foundation of the award itself. There is no ethical dillema. No matter how seductive a temptation may be or the percieved good that the bribe may be put to, it is still a bribe.
Yes, but... In this way, you'd be keeping your hands clean, sure, but you're also knowingly refusing to give possibly life-saving aid to so many people. Does this mean you simply don't have the moral courage to sacrifice this one act of "corruption" for the sake of good?Quote:
Originally Posted by Rodri
You're also going on the assumption that the businessman would follow through on his given word. He's been described as lacking scruples, so it's not out of the realm of possibility. So, it's actually not only a bribe, but a potential really bad blight on the whole idea of 'honor'.
It opens Pandora's box. If this scrupulous politician can be talked into taking this bribe for a favour then what is to stop him from taking another bribe and another and another?
Meanwhile the population and the media see this buisnessman with the bad reputation recieving an honour and they become a little bit more disillusioned about their government and the system in general, especially if the media does it's job and investigates the reasons why this award was given.
If Mr. Prime Minister is so concerned about wells in Africa, then perhaps he should find a way to make it happen without the tainted money. $10 million is not much money to a national government.
I have to say, take most things in this book at face value, just for the sake of the argument. So: If the businessman says he'll donate a bunch of money, he will.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fallbreeze
Well first of all, if you do it then make sure the guy gives the money BEFORE you knight him.
Also, after you knight him you could: de-knight him (if that's possible), bring charges against him for trying to bribe you...
I think that helping thousands of starving people is worth the downside of helping a single scumbag.