A few months ago we ran a question of the week which asked you what you would sell your soul to the devil for. You may remember it, we got some cracking responses, not to mention that it caused a little bit of a stir with a particular commenter. Fun and games.
The thing about selling your soul to the devil is that the devil isn’t real, and the chances of you selling your soul to him are therefore somewhat reduced. There’s magic involved, and it’s all rather silly – as it was intended to be. But there are worse things out there than devils, bigger temptations than a faustian pact. There’s real temptation, and real reward. We all have our price, much as we would like to believe otherwise, don’t we?
What would you ask in return for becoming the posterchild for homeopathy? What price would you demand to be the face of psychic mediumship? If someone offered you £10billion to front an anti-vaccination campaign, even if you were allowed to use that money to fund vaccination drives, would you take it? Could you turn it down?
In short, what’s your price? And what would you do for it?
#1 by Alex Pryce on September 8, 2009 - 16:44
We all do have a price, it would be foolish to assume otherwise. But what that price is would depend on what I had to do, also, its very difficult to decide on a price hyperthetically. I might say I wouldn’t accept less than a billion to support X. But if someone presented me with £5000 instead, I could still be tempted to take it. Its a difficult question to answer, and I suspect many will take the position of “no price can buy my morals/ ethics”. I think personal circumstances would also have a lot to do with it. Right now a couple of grand would really solve ALOT of serious problems.
#2 by Yorkshireskeptic on September 8, 2009 - 18:13
I probably have a price, personal circumstances would definitely come into it! (Pay off my student debt and i’ll believe the sky is purple if it will please you
)
I probably would steer clear of offers from alternative medicine and such because what they promote can kill or seriously injure people…
..but something silly like UFO’s or fairies i’d grudgingly shill for, with a fair amount of the shill-money going to skeptical organisations to counteract the woo!
#3 by Stu on September 9, 2009 - 13:33
I don’t know how wealthy she is already but Clarissa Dickson Wright (of two fat ladies fame) apparently turned down an offer of approx £10,000,000 to promote a major supermarket chain. This is a fine example of someone sticking to their guns.
I myself would accept a few bob if the payer was harmless enough but with the definate exception of anything religious which is, of course very dangerous!
#4 by Michael on September 10, 2009 - 18:25
Stuff all that. I have the moral fortitude of a slug. I would sell my arse on Lime Street if I could get spending money. If someone offered me my own personal jet fighter to say homeopathy worked- I’d go for it. I would then attack homeopaths with my truckload of sidewinder missiles. Koool! “they didn’t see that coming” Mind you if someone gave me a biro…? Sorry folks seems like I’d whore myself for a Mars bar.
#5 by Colonel Molerat on September 10, 2009 - 19:29
Oooh, this is a hard one!!!!
I really don’t know what my price would be. It’s not so much the misleading of others I have a problem with, but instead the dent that would be left in my pride…
It is also VERY difficult to think about large sums of money when the concept of ‘a large sum of money’ is so very alien to both me and my bank account.
I’m losing my job because I refuse to change my hair colour, so I can safely say it would have to be more than that.
For now, this is my price: safely extricate me from society, send me to a small island with good weather, good friends and the essentials of life (by which I do, of course, mean food, booze, entertainment and an internet connection).
That way, I will be far removed from the consequences of my sale, I will not have to face the damage to my reputation, and I’ll finally be able to achieve my dream of being left to my own devices in the physical world.
#6 by Danny on September 11, 2009 - 17:26
A bag of wotsits, A can of tab tlear and a mars Bar! throw in a weeks supply of the daily mail and i’ll go on a date with Ted Haggard!!!
nah, it would take at least a million pound for me to sell my soul, but that amount might be lowered if my student loan doesn’t go through soon!
#7 by Colonel Molerat on September 13, 2009 - 22:02
Actually, I may sell my soul to the forces of homeopathy in exchange for the mythical book of arcane knowledge that allows it to actually work.
Since homeopaths maintain their claims of efficacy in the face of a mountain of contradictory evidence, I can only assume that they know something we don’t, and they’re just too mean to let us into it.
Yes, in exchange for a book of hocus-pocus that tells me how to live forever using only a small vial of water, I would lend my support to homeopaths.
Provided the bar measurements at the members-only club weren’t homeopathic, too.