So true. You touch on a good point there, too. Personal stories. They used these to connect with the client. Sometimes they weren’t even true and they’d just make one up.
At my elementary school we played The Propaganda Game. To this day, I still occasionally think of that game when I see an ad using a blatant propaganda technique. I credit that game in part for my current skepticism, although I have had my share of gullible moments.
People are gullible because they are greedy, lazy and stupid. They want more, they don’t want to work that that hard and most don’t really know how to get what they want.
Think of it like this. Take the thing you want or like most or think is the most important thing in the world. Imagine you didn’t know how to get it. At what point would you become so frustrated or desperate that you would entertain any advice on how to get it?
The two best ways of avoiding a scam are
- Not to actually care about or want anything; and
- Realize that there is no such thing as a free lunch. If someone is giving you a deal that is too good to be true, it is either bullshit or there are strings attached.
See, Ms. Smith I can see where you’re coming from but I think you may be a bit pessimistic when it comes to the greedy and lazy part. Stupid? Yea I can see it.
See most of my clients weren’t lazy. They had jobs. They worked hard. As I said these were middle aged people who are just tired of working.
It’s hard to classify it as greed, too. Sure, they wanted compensation but what’s wrong with that? They were willing to put forth the funds to make it happen. Greed, to me, would be when a client called in and gave us the idea and expected us to do it all for free and pay them back if it works out.
Honestly, I think the major factor is just plain old stupidity, delusion, naivety, etc…but what gets me is just how unbelievably stupid one has to be to fall for it.
This is a really cool link. Thanks for sharing.
No, we are not.
No, we are not.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDRXn96HrtY
Neil Degrasse Tyson thinks it’s up for debate. He’s a pretty smart guy.
So, are we stupid or smart? Which is it? We are Devo!
“Everything that we are that is not the chimp is not as smart compared to the chimp as we tell ourselves it is.”
What does that mean? 
He gets excited for sure but I think he has a good point. He’s basically pointing out the inflated ego of the human species. He is saying the difference between the Hubble telescope and a chimp that can perform sign language may not be that wide of a gap in knowledge because we share 99% of the same DNA. Imagine, another species 1% smarter than us and how our achievements may pale in comparison.
Hi Scotty, Not being an American I’ve never come across this ‘industry’ you were in.
Can I clarify, so someone with an idea, would come to the business you worked for, and you would then offer, for a fee, to create a prototype of whatever the idea was? Is that the gist of it?
Exactly.
At the risk of getting further away from your original question,
I don’t see what’s necessarily wrong with that, and why some people are giving you a hard time about it.
From context I presume the fee charged was perhaps exorbitant? And would I be correct in thinking that you didn’t advise these ‘inventors’ as to the viability of their invention. Presumably after some time in the game you could take one look and say ‘That’s shit, it’ll never sell’ but still went ahead and tried to sign them up anyway?
I don’t see any of that as a scam myself. If at the base level of the arrangement they pay you money and then they get a prototype.
Am I missing something?
I’ve always understood one of the usual features of a scam to be that the victim thinks he is scamming the scammer. Certainly that’s the case with 419 scams and most of the online get rich quick stuff I come across. The victim knows it’s a scam on some level; he thinks he’s pulling one over the real scammer by letting him take all of the risk, and plans to take the money and run at an opportune moment.
What OP describes sounds like a sleazy and opportunistic business using high-pressure sales tactics, but not really a scam.
Frequently, but not necessarily. A scam will typically play on the victim’s greed, fear, pride, pity, embarassment, arrogance or ignorance. A lot of the online get rich quick and MLM sales stuff trys to convince people that only idiots work hard for someone else. But they have a quick solution that will make them millions!
Scotty Mo, I once heard a good definition of cynicism. “That is when someone says: Everybody cheats, so why shouldn’t I?”
Cynicism is a rationalization. A cover up, and excuse, to make the scammer feel less bad about himself. By shifting blame to the victim, ( he was asking for it, why are people so gullible) of by sharing blame (everybody does it). There are plenty of such excuses floating around as memes in our cultural database, perpetuated by an eternal need for them. They are ready to pluck out of the air and use to lessen and shift guilt.
A few choice ones are:
-“Am I my brothers keeper?”
-“Nice guys finish last”
-“There’s a sucker born every minute”
- “If I don’t do it, someone else will, so I might as well”
-"Why are people so gullible?
-“I need the money”
Now, all of the above may be true. Partly or entirely. Subjectively, even objectively. Long term or short term. I don’t presume to be an ethical judge here.
But I am a psychologist. And when I see you asking the question in the OP, I think, like a butterfly collector seeing a nice specimen: "Oh look! Man feels guilty about past act, man does typical blame shifting act…but doesn’t quite fall for it himself…let’s see if the guilt leads to more shifting behavior, or to a different course of action…
"Oh, yeah, the economy meme. That is another one. Fits the behavior of the species perfectly. I feel like I’m watching a nature show on the Discovery Channel here. "
“We live in a dog-eat-dog-world” Another classic. If he had a family, he would probably do the one about putting his family first.
Hmn.. So he felt guilty, but not enough to quit. Or stop the scamming. But he did feel enough guilt to stop scamming a victim a couple times…
Yep. ::waves butterfly net:: What we have here, is a beautiful specimen of Cynic. Most of them feel pangs of guilt. What makes them cynics is how they push those away. And this one is of a subspecies rather more likely to keep on scamming his fellow creatures in the future, judging by the combo of past behavior and still ongoing cynic rationalization.
Still, it is rare to find such behavior so beautifully and openly displayed. It’s truly like watching the Discovery Channel.
To be fair, he says he’s in nursing school now. So presumably his life will take a different course from now on. I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt.
I know that is a thing to say, but really, what other option is there when meeting strangers, IRL or on the Internet? What is the alternative? Random cyberstalking people to warn others to shun them? Far too much work, sorry.
But my business is understanding and predicting behavior. And judging from the OP, Scotty Mo still likes his worldview with a high ratio of victim blaming to taking responsibility. And that does not bode well for the future. The most he can hope for is to be put in an environment where doing the ethical thing is expected. If that is nursing school, good for him.
As it is for most of us. For those of us who are not heroes or psychopaths, the most any of us can hope for is that our circumstances don’t try us too hard.
And what I hate about vocal cynicism is that it changes everybodies circumstances for the worse in that way. Cynics make doing the ethical thing harder for everybody. No one likes to be made to feel like a schmuck for doing the right thing. That is the real harm cynics do.