(October 7, 2021 at 1:45 pm)Angrboda Wrote: As with Nudgers point, a confidence man succeeds by manipulating your confidence. That's why people fall for cons -- they become confident that going along with what is asked will ultimately be beneficial for them. If I believed a Nigerian prince would send me a million dollars, I'd happily part with a few hundred quid to make that happen. The fraudulent part is that the encouraged confidence is false or misleading. If I know I'm going to get 10 tanks of gas, that's not a con. If I believe I'm going to get less than $10 worth back, that's still not a con if I get less than $10 of worth back because I had no reason to expect different. The con is in misleading people, not in the balance of benefit. If someone wants to throw their money away knowing that they are throwing their money away, they aren't being conned.
I don't know where to put state lotteries on this scale.
Yeah, sure I don't disagree with that. What I'm asking is more along the lines of false advertising where a product claims to do something when in reality it is likely to do nothing at all. People buy the product expecting results but likely knowing that the claims are overblown. I think we kind of excuse false advertising because of its mass acceptance and exposure. Cold medicine is one example that I can think of. Studies have shown that some of them are almost totally ineffective. And I'm always amazed when I buy toothpaste. There's an entire isle dedicated to it with dozens of types and flavors and what they supposedly will do. Personally, I buy a very cheap brand that costs $1. I like the flavor and it cleans my teeth.
Why is it so?
~Julius Sumner Miller
~Julius Sumner Miller
