Teasdale: Your Excellency, I thought you left.
Chico: Oh no. I no leave.
Teasdale: But I saw you with my own eyes.
Chico: Well, who ya gonna believe me or your own eyes?
From the movie Duck Soup, 1933
We are in an era of distrust for institutions and each other. Some blame Trump. Some blame social media. Some blame the end of community newspapers. Some blame the end of the "fairness doctrine." Some blame the errors of the foreign policy establishment that got us into war in Iraq. Some blame the CDC's conflicting advisories. Republicans point to the Bork Supreme Court confirmation hearings as the time trust broke down. Democrats point to Newt Gingrich and Donald Trump.
There is lots of blame to go around.
Guest Post author Rick Millward is a musician. He was part of the Nashville songwriter community, where he produced two EMMY nominated soundtracks. Now in Southern Oregon, Millward is part of the music scene centered around winery tasting rooms. (He has a Mothers' Day gig at Paschal Winery in Talent, Oregon.) His new record, Loveland, is available on Spotify and other streaming platforms.
Guest Post by Rick Millward
Power of the LieOn the first day of my first job, pumping gas at 16, I was taken by a con man for $50. It’s a long story, best saved for another time, but the reason I mention it is that one of the remarkable things about the incident is that he really worked hard to “con”-vince me to hand over the cash. His long, rambling, overly embellished story was plausible, but now, looking back it’s clear that it was nothing but lies upon lies upon lies. To this day I have to admire the ease with with which he spoke, so assuredly that it mesmerized a naive teen. I’m fortunate because I learned a valuable lesson that has served me well ever since. Some call it a “BS Meter”, everyone should have one, and mine was activated and calibrated at an impressionable age.
Truth and reality are inseparable. Recent history has repeatedly brought this home. Sometimes it seems like every single aspect of our lives is subject to question. For instance, the reality of climate change and its impact on civilization is still debated, as one catastrophe after another demonstrates the truth of the science: that it’s our own actions causing it. Yet, there are those who for their own personal, albeit short term, gain dispute the facts and even go so far as to denigrate science itself to raise doubts, slowing mankind’s response and exacerbating the problem. The same for COVID, and many other issues facing our society.Some of the January 6th defendants are adopting the strategy of asserting they were conned into their actions by Trump. One claims that he “had poor male role models” and that the former president became a surrogate that he wanted to please. Now, after the fact, they are casting themselves as victims of a fraud. This level of gullibility is hard to believe, and I doubt it will work, but there is the possibility and that’s intriguing. If it does work as a defense then Trump is acknowledged as a liar in a court; it would set a precedent. Perhaps this lie, the “Big LIe”, will be the one that brings the consequences that all those others failed to do. It’s been debunked in dozens of courts prior, so there is some hope this one will discredit it also. Even so, it shouldn’t excuse anyone for their behavior.The con man’s most valuable tool is the willingness of his victim to believe his lies. They attempt to distort reality in the minds of those who for any number of reasons have a wish to believe something that those with clearer vision see is not just implausible, but impossible. This is the reality of the Republican Party and it’s directly connected to the tragic and horrific carnage in Ukraine. The Russian people have been duped into a “Big LIe” as well, and it should serve as an object lesson for Americans.It’s pathetic when a man stoops to fleece a child, but it’s something I eventually came to thank him for. He taught me to see the other con men among us, something veiled from too many of our fellow citizens.
13 comments:
The first "con" I fell for, I was not a child and should have not believed the tale of "missing movement" by a military enlistee and needing money for a bus to get back to base. Since then, I've heard the exact same story about a half-dozen times, and I just let it go on, as it's such a well-crafted piece of work, obviously passes along from man to man, generation to generation. It's such a feeling of comfort, having the knowledge one is being conned unsuccessfully. Hate to say it, but many years later, I got conned again, by a different story. Won't happen twice...but still, it's embarrassing. (I am 72.)
We want to believe the con! There is a feeling in the moment that comes from 'falling for it." A feeling that what we just did fit well with something internal to ourselves. Some feeling inside us of love, greed, compassion, patriotism or faith to name just a few. A significant emotional event must occur after the con to make us realize we've been had. I recently watched the tv series on Netflix "Inventing Anna" about a woman conning high New York society. The drama drives home how hard it is to shake the fact that you've been conned.
“You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.” Early recollections place the saying in an 1858 speech Lincoln delivered in Clinton, Illinois. True today as it was then.
Did anyone else purchase emeralds while on vacation in Thailand? That's the con I fell for and it's a long story I will save for another day. I think it could be helpful for our entire society to share with one another the ways we've been conned--showing each other our vulnerability instead of our clenched fists. Thanks, Rick, for starting it off.
My wife and I were in a Hong Kong jewelry store. My wife liked a pearl necklace. It was lovely. She tried it on. It was $2,000 U.S. We went back and forth and decided not to buy it. On the way out there sales people suggested a final offer, a tremendous bargain: $1,800, an incredible bargain, a loss leader for them, so we oiled tell others where we got the bargain. My wife tried it on again. We decided we really did not want it. We started to leave again and at the door they suggested $800 was their final offer. At that point we looked at each other. We had no business being there We had no idea what we were buying. We started to leave. $200, they suggested. Beautiful. Leaving the place they said, $100.
We nearly paid $2,000 We had no idea what we were buying or not buying. Whatever that necklace was, it wasn't rare and genuine pearls.
Peter Sage
I was successfully conned by a phishing email message last year. I am normally alert to such things, but this one just happened to fit into something I was already doing, to the point where it looked legitimate. So I provided some personal information that might have enabled the scammers to get access to bank accounts, credit cards, etc.
Fortunately, I realized my mistake a couple of minutes later and spent the rest of the day canceling credit cards, installing a password manager (1Password), and protecting everything important with very long passwords composed of random characters.
It actually worked out well. I am now much better protected I was before I screwed up, and I didn’t lose any money. Just some time and embarrassment.
We nearly paid $2,000 We had no idea what we were buying or not buying. Whatever that necklace was, it wasn't rare and genuine pearls.
It was beautiful, though. It might have been worth $25 or $50 or even $100 just for that.
If you don't see the con then you are the mark.
And, in the world of social media, if the service is free then you are the product.
Gold-diggers are everywhere. Their con game is legal.
Bernie Madoff deserves to be mentioned. Also, there are thousands of cults in the U.S. There are many vulnerable and susceptible people in the world
I negotiated with a Tijuana street vendor for a$ 50.00 leather vest and got it for $4.00. THEN I MARRIED A GRINGA WHO HAD GROWN UP IN COLOMBIA. SHE CLAIMED SHE COULD HAVE GOTTEN TWO FOR THAT PRICE WITH TWO BOTTLES OF CARTA BLANCA THROWN
IN FOR FREE.
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