I just watched this nasty clip where this guy is stopped in the street and asked to drink an unknown liquid for $200; the guy isn’t sure at first so the reward is upped to $500, then he drinks it. The liquid is a special compound that makes you vomit that is normally taken by the spoonful, he drinks about 300ml or just over half a pint. Of course he eventually vomits all over the place and is very upset, demanding his $500 that he was promised for drinking the liquid and vomiting on the sidewalk. Now the guy is offered $1000 to lick it up again… What would you do? Would you drink the liquid in the first place? I don’t think I would ever drink something if I don’t know what it is. Does it depend how desperate you are for money? Have you ever done anything mad for money, or a dare? Of course, now that I’ve told you what happens, you have absolutely no reason to see the clip whatsoever. It’s nasty and disgusting, not for the weak of stomach and it’s here: http://www.big-boys.com/articles/ipecac.html :yarr:
I would never drink anything unidentified, unless someone's life depended on it However, if the contents were guaranteed to fit their original description, then...hmmm... ... if I needed a 1000 dollars badly enough, all right, I'd give someone the weird-arse thrill of watching me throw up
I've seen people scull a scooner of cream, alcohol, raw egg, soy sauce and wasabi for the mere reward of 2 beers... There are simply no words to describe how desparate a uni student can be to get there hands on alcohol. Personally, I'd take the loser way out and run away...
Ipecacuana?!? This is just plain nasty! I wouldn't have drunk unknown fluids if offered them but if I was eventually told it is ipecacuana I'd splash it all over them...
I hope I wouldn't, because I wouldn't want to be the kind of person that disgraces herself in front of a camera for money. Edit: They told him beforehand what the stuff did? And he still did it? That alone turns my stomach. I mean, one month as a waitress, or selling my CD collection, and I'd have about 500 $ too... Like... Drinking Ipecac - 500 $ Shoving Icecream around eight hours a day for a month - 500 $ Keeping your dignity - absolutely priceless....
I don't think I'd ever drink an unknown liquid for money; you could be putting your life in danger, or being set up for a rape. However, I fully understand people doing stupid things for money. I don't know how many of you have ever been poor - really poor. I haven't been poverty-stricken, but I have often been completely without money, sometimes without food, and once without shoes. When you are really poor you have often been stripped of your dignity anyway. I'd give away my dignity to feed my hypothetical children if I had to. So, I wouldn't drink an unknown liquid (I have a responsibility to my hypothetical children not to die), but I won't judge people who do stupid things for money.
I was somehow assuming the man wasn't starving, as it seldomly gets that far in most Western countries. I might be wrong and he might have been in dire need of money. In case of someone really poor -in trouble to pay for food, an entire winter without proper heating, like that- the shame should be on the side of the film team only, which, after my personal opinion, should be charged anyway. But that put aside, talking of this special case only: if in need of 500 $, and having to feed a child, there would be a lot of other options I'd be more likely to try -and did try- than to humiliate myself in front of a camera. Now, we usually don't come into the situation that we can't afford food, more in the situation where you feel somewhat worried because buying it can't wait a few more days, where the kid has to wear the slightly too small sandals for another two weeks before you can buy second hand shoes that fit, and where you yourself keep wearing yours despite the whole in the sole of the right one that lets the water in. That's, for a young family, moderate I'd say, and probably just fine if you compare it with families in other countries. But the issue in most of the cases where a film team approaches random people and lets them do stupid things in front of a camera (with or without reward, thinking of the many people humiliating themselves in talk shows or big brother shows) is, I think, not poverty, but the strange fact that people keep doing anything they're being told as long as someone films them while doing it.
I don't think I'd drink any unknown substance, but if I knew it wasn't deadly and would just make me sick I'd do it. I've been sick in public loads before (not all through alcohol neither!) and the amount of happiness I could buy for 500.00 would easily out weigh the unpleasantness of being sick. As for the Public Humilination I think it really comes from how you approach it. If you're being stupid and/ or think 'Hey look how cool I am! I'm like the guy from Jackass!' then you'll make a fool of yourself. But I think if you know you are just doing something horrible for x amount of money then its fine. You might as well say that people who do horrible jobs-like clean sewers humiliate themselves because they do 'bad' things for money. Admittly, they don't do it for others amusement but still, I don't see the problem with giving people a cheap trill if they want it.
That's where I see the difference though... Doing a job for x payment that others would maybe not want to do, because it is a job that has to be done, or doing it a) to give others a cheap thrill and b) doing ot in front of a camera. I do think it makes a difference if you puke "just" in public or if the clip made of it circles the internet for the next two years or so.
