In accordance with their ban on “murderabilia”, eBay has removed an auction of the van used by Dr. Kevorkian to perform assisted suicides. The top bid at the time was $3,400. I am surprised that an auction site dedicated to repugnant goods and services has not arisen for situations such as this. I will spare you a list of things I suspect would likely be on sale there, but it would be hosted in Latvia and anything would go. Pareto improving, no?
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Tuesday ~ April 27th, 2010 at 2:36 pm
Sister Y
The fact that it’s Kevorkian’s van, and not a van used in a murder or something, makes this interesting. It’s separate from the question of desert (i.e., people don’t “deserve” to benefit from hurting others without their consent, Son of Sam laws, etc.). It’s as if some goods are “contaminated” and are kept from the market only because of irrational taboo.
Tuesday ~ April 27th, 2010 at 5:53 pm
Adam Ozimek
It is strange. I suppose it comes from the belief that assisted suicide, while not strictly murder, is a crime very similar to murder. I imagine public opinion on Kevorkian put’s him somewhere near the popularity of a murderers… I don’t recall much about the details of how he worked -and the devil can be in the details- but in principal I find that conflation unfortunate.
Wednesday ~ April 28th, 2010 at 9:46 am
Sister Y
Now that I think about it, the prohibition can’t be all about notions of desert even if applies just to genuine “murderabilia” – because items aren’t necessarily sold by the perpetrator of a crime. Victims of crime, or families of victims, or uninvolved collectors, would be just as likely to have possession of this kind of “repugnant good.” No incentive problem there, as long as it’s not the wrongdoer benefiting. So yeah – totally surprising there’s no MansonBay. And screw Latvia, why not operate it out of Delaware?