Grifter - Sucker culture

[FemMecha]

The United States has a long history of the grifter that goes back to the 1800's with the snake oil salesman and the traveling faith healing evangelist. This dynamic has persisted, especially in the "Bible Belt' culture. What is this aspect of American culture where large swaths of the population enjoy getting grifted?

I don't enjoy getting grifted. I have experienced it a few times, and I feel angry and work to not repeat the mistake. Why is this so pervasive in a culture that also prides itself on having great "bullshit detectors"?

 

[The Cat]

The United States has a long history of the grifter that goes back to the 1800's with the snake oil salesman and the traveling faith healing evangelist. This dynamic has persisted, especially in the "Bible Belt' culture. Large swaths of people adore evangelical preachers who hoard money, say weird shit from the pulpit, and end up guilty of sex crimes. The style of presentation they offer is somehow seductive to a lot of Americans. What is this aspect of American culture where large swaths of the population enjoy getting grifted? It is the reason DT is admired and these evangelists have prepped the population for it.

I don't enjoy getting grifted. I have experienced it a few times, and I feel angry and work to not repeat the mistake. Why is this so pervasive in a culture that also prides itself on having great "bullshit detectors"?

It's the same across the "spiritual circuit." Televangelist, Multi Level Marketing, Psychics, magic for sale, healing services, Self Help/New Age gurus, swing a cat and you can find a con. it goes way back before the 1800's. It's the world's third oldest profession.

Show me a person with hopes, dreams and fears, and I'll show you a mark to the right buyer.

As to why its so pervasive in a culture that prides itself on bullshit detection... Everyone's in the market for something. Everyone loves something for nothing, even if it costs them everything. Because in America, you can have anything you want, just as long as you can pay for it. If you can't pay, or refuse to pay, you will remain needful for ever. Nobody wants to feel like needful things, even if, or perhaps especially if, that's all they are. Not that we live in a time and culture that would spend billions over decades to brainwash generations of consumer culture or anything. And finally, ime: "There were people who lied for gain, people who lied from pain, people who lied simply because the concept of telling the truth was utterly alien to them . . . and then there were people who lied because they were waiting for it to be time to tell the truth." People buy for the same reasons they lie. In the end, the buyer sells themselves, and the peddler just takes their money.

 

[The Cat]

There is after all a human born every minute.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Grifting works because almost everyone prefers a lie that makes them feel good to a truth that doesn't.

Fear and anxiety can also be much more powerful motivators for some people.

 

[The Cat]

One man's fear is another's good time. One man's truth can be madness to a multitude, or vice versa. As Calvin once observed: "There's treasure everywhere." And opportunities abound for those with the vision and will to seize them.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I just mean that if we're fearful (in particular fearful of not pleasing others), we might be hasty, and would fall for something we otherwise wouldn't.

That's how I feel for a scam. I suffered no lasting harm from it, but I'm incredibly embarrassed about it. Taking the time to do proper research would have avoided the problem entirely.

 

[The Cat]

Everyone falls for something sometimes. Otherwise you're just forced to remain paranoid, hyper vigilant, and mistrusting. And even then...the nature of the beast is to take the shape of what dreams might come...if only....

 

[Athenian200]

Well, I think a part of it is actually that the US is significantly more religious than most other Western cultures. The Bible contains examples of signs and miracles performed by Jesus along with various Old Testament prophets. If you claim to believe in Christianity, and Christianity makes a lot of non-verifiable claims that must be taken on faith, then wouldn't that logically make you more susceptible to believing in other non-verifiable claims that must be taken on faith? If you believe Jesus can turn water into wine, why wouldn't you believe that the magician down the street can turn lead into gold? It's just as believable, right?

I mean, look at Mormonism. There are people in this country that not only believe in the Bible, but believe that Joseph Smith read the Book of Mormon from some golden plates given to him by God, because fifteen witnesses claim they saw the golden plates before God took them back to heaven, so we conveniently can't see them. If people actually believe that, then it's probably not hard to get them to believe in other things, too.

Not saying that only religious people are prone to putting too much faith in authority figures, or are the only ones that can fall victim to deceptive marketing, but the point is that because they don't think critically about things related to the spiritual realm, they are used to turning off their "bullshit detector" in relation to that part of their lives, so it's easier for someone to convince them to do so for more supernatural claims beyond just what's written in the Bible. Mormonism is basically a walking, fairly recent case study in that.

 

[ceecee]

The United States has a long history of the grifter that goes back to the 1800's with the snake oil salesman and the traveling faith healing evangelist. This dynamic has persisted, especially in the "Bible Belt' culture. Large swaths of people adore evangelical preachers who hoard money, say weird shit from the pulpit, and end up guilty of sex crimes. The style of presentation they offer is somehow seductive to a lot of Americans. What is this aspect of American culture where large swaths of the population enjoy getting grifted? It is the reason DT is admired and these evangelists have prepped the population for it.

I don't enjoy getting grifted. I have experienced it a few times, and I feel angry and work to not repeat the mistake. Why is this so pervasive in a culture that also prides itself on having great "bullshit detectors"?

The amount of people that have an authority bias is incredible - it allow something of a shortcut for the brain so it doesn't have to make decisions (or bear responsibility for those decisions but that's another conversation) as most cognitive biases do. At least on the topic of "credible experts". Trump was apparently considered an "expert" on business or deal making or whatever the fuck he said. Time goes on and he's held up as a deity by right wing fashy conservatives - there are no experts/I do my own research/please give me the horse paste so my untreated hypertension and diabetes doesn't make Covid a death sentence because my pastor told me to do so - but Trump is 100% right 100% of the time, no question, no doing their own research, nothing. Religion has a huge role here - it places authority bias front and center - brainwashing to completely use "faith" as their rationale for anything and also removes all responsibility for their actions.

There will be other grifts and endless parades of grifters but there are many who are less emotionally and cognitively prepared to face them and protect themselves, than others. This is a grifter. She is telling the people most susceptible (religious, conservative) to believe her, the grifter, over established science and scientists/researchers. And her poison can be found for free online by anyone.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I like that we're talking about this kind of thing again. I've come to miss this. I like knowing that other people give a shit about the truth.

 

[The Cat]

What is truth?

 

[Athenian200]

What is truth?

Something people spend their entire lives pondering if they appreciate philosophy.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

What is love?

 

[The Cat]

What is love?

Oh, I don't know, what can I do?
What else can I say? It's up to you.

 

[The Cat]

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

This is the only correct answer.

 

[Tomb1]

30%+ short-term capital gains tax is a helluva grift....sometimes grifting the grifter cuts off the hand before it can get its pudgy fingers into the cookie jar

 

[ceecee]

30%+ short-term capital gains tax is a helluva grift....sometimes grifting the grifter cuts off the hand before it can get its pudgy fingers into the cookie jar

25% minimum tax rate on unrealized capital gains for taxpayers with more than $100 million in wealth.

Why do you think these ads are on Facebook? It's because the same people that think they have or will have a net worth of $100M yet live in a trailer without running water are most are the least likely to blame corporations and super wealthy vs poors and Democrats.

 

[Tomb1]

25% minimum tax rate on unrealized capital gains for taxpayers with more than $100 million in wealth.

Why do you think these ads are on Facebook? It's because the same people that think they have or will have a net worth of $100M yet live in a trailer without running water are most are the least likely to blame corporations and super wealthy vs poors and Democrats.

I don't necessarily have any opinion on it in the case of people who make 100 million or more. Anybody in business or politics whose well surpassed (like Trump) or on their way into the 100 million dollar club (like the Obamas) did some pretty shady things along the way.... that even if the calculation of an unrealized gain involves some speculation who cares. But ideally the taxes brought in from unrealized capital gains would be immediately transferred into the bank accounts of the poorest in the country and completely bypass the bureaucrats in Washington....d.c. bureaucrats like to play robin hood as an excuse to create bigger bureaucracies.

 

[KitchenFly]

Believe it and it's all real.