Gullibility and the Royal Scam

 

gullibility - n. - a tendency to be easily persuaded that something is real or true. 

Could it be that we are ensconced in the era of gullibility? 

My first real encounter with the theme of gullibility on a large scale in literature came in 1985 when I was teaching Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to my tenth-grade students at an all-girls Catholic school. Just in case you have either 1. never heard of the tome or 2. read it so long ago that you remember nothing about it, it is a seething satire of humanity in 1885 (exactly one hundred years before my experience with it). Twain (a.k.a. Sam Clemens) depicts his own society as hopelessly, haplessly gullible so that they believe just about every nonsensical deed done and reported, even the most ridiculously farfetched. Sound familiar? Well, as I have probably mentioned before, human nature doesn't change, just technology. 

And despite a preponderance of said technology (A.I.), we have no more common sense than we ever had, falling for every royal scam out there, even political ones, not that that is surprising since politicians have been pulling the wool over both bespectacled and 20/20 eyes since the beginning of organized time. Mendacity is just the rule of thumb in that club. In some states, people have come down to voting for the most gifted of all con artists so that they can con their colleagues into whatever it is they want more effectively and efficiently and most likely unlawfully. (Huh? Is this really the right way to rationalize, my fellow Americans?)

As I continue to sell, sell, sell on Facebook, I am coming across more and more scammers, who, frankly, aren't terribly bright themselves. In case you want to sell anything on FB Marketplace, beware of the potential buyers who act like they are interested and turn around and ask for your phone number. Since Messenger is the rule of form, any other variation of communication is unnecessary. I'm guessing that once the charlatans obtain the numbers from the gullible, they sell them. (Never give out your phone number to anyone you don't know personally because your phone number can open many doors to your identity that you would rather leave shut and bolted.) The other day, a more sophisticated crook tried to hoodwink my daughter via Venmo. He nearly convinced her that his "business" account would credit her account $250, $200 of which she would need to send back since the item for sale was priced at $50. As you have probably already guessed, the deal wound up being bogus. He tried to scam her into believing that his account had been depleted of the amount, which she then owed him when in fact her account had never been credited. Seller, beware! These grifters are pretty convincing. But they can fool some of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time. Be the latter, not the former.

The moral of the story is, of course, try not to be gullible. What is perhaps easier than honing common sense is not to trust anyone. Pretend that everyone, even the leading Republican presidential candidate, is not worthy of your certitude. If you were to do this, you'd feel a lot safer, more confident, and our democracy would be a lot better off :). 

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