"Scamdemic" by Zman the philosopher blog

[EndtheMadnessNow]

A feature of this age that has slowly evolved to be the centerpiece of our society is the fact that nothing is on the level. The central issue with the last election, for example, is the degree of shenanigans. Few people care about the platforms or people, outside of a few absurd examples. What matters to everyone are the many questions about the integrity of the process. Ours is an age where nothing is on the level and everyone is assumed to be up to something underhanded.

America is a marketplace society and the marketplace has always been the natural hunting ground for people who like to take advantage of their fellow man. This was something the ancient Persians observed about the Athenians. The agora, as far as the Persians could tell, was where Greeks tried to take advantage of their fellow Greeks through deception. Greek democracy was the marketplace applied to the arena of politics, which meant politics was based on deception.

The thing is, America has always been a marketplace society, but everyone assumed that we enjoyed a minimum amount of corruption. Businesses would cheat, but the marketplace would eventually expose them and they would suffer. It has always been assumed that the power of the marketplace, the invisible hand, eventually rewards the good and punishes the bad. The same has been assumed about politics. The best rise to the top while the fakers are eventually exposed.

Present day people would probably be embarrassed to hear themselves thirty years ago talking about politics or the economy. Regardless of your road to wherever you are now, the old you was a naïve and silly version of the present you, because present you is wise to the shenanigans. Ours is a world where no one is an idealist who trusts the system or imagines a better world. Everyone is a cynic now. The reason is the world is now run by hustlers always looking for a sucker.

Take pets as an example. Put the phrase “pet scam” into a search engine and you will find pages of various hustles in the pet business. This page offers a searchable database of pet scams. There is a whole industry around robbing people who simply want to bring a little joy into their home. Think about the sort of person who comes up with a way to rob people looking for a puppy for their kid. More important, think about the society that tolerates this.

Of course, puppy scams are just a version of the much larger scams that dominate the modern American economy. The news brings word that another cryptocurrency exchange is collapsing. Like all the others, this one was not a genuine business, but an elaborate way to rob investors. No one thinks much about these things because they have become so common. Finance is just a lightly regulated casino where insiders find new ways to take advantage of the marks.

It is tempting say that the stock market has always been a casino, but keep in mind that everyone’s retirement and lifestyle now depends on equities. The con men and hustlers who define the global economy are now relied upon to keep the system running so you can live a decent life. We have literally based the welfare of our societies on the good decisions of people who are incapable of telling the truth. The heart of our system is an economy based on deception.

There was a time when the government made some effort to tamp down the shenanigans, but that no longer happens. Everyone now accepts that their mobile device will be hit with scam phone calls and scam texts every day. The carriers should be able to block this stuff, but they have no reason to. It is not as if the government that supposedly regulates them is going to hassle them for it. The government is too busy producing disinformation to go after scammers.

That is the thing about this age that is different from the past. Scammers have always been with us, but these days we just accept it. Within living memory, we expected the government to make their best efforts to go after fraudsters. We used to have higher expectations of our politicians than we now have for our doctor. Like everything else, the people providing the most intimate services are assumed to be part of some hustle to separate us from our hard earned money.

The question that naturally arises is can a society exist where no one trusts anything or anyone in the society? Can you have a purely transactional society where everyone is trying to get over on everyone else? Right now, things are relatively calm, but that is mostly because most people have not embraced the new normal. There are still plenty of trusting souls to keep the old hardware of society running, despite the proliferation of people looking for ways to rob these people.

Western societies have always been moral societies. Your status is determined by your perceived morality. It is why we have always assumed that rich people must be smart and contribute something valuable to society. The proof of this is that they have been rewarded with wealth and power. What happens when the number of trusting souls declines below some level where trust and honesty are seen as vices? Can we have a society where deception is the coin of the realm?

In his book, The Jewish Century, Yuri Slezkine divided the world into two types of people, Mercurians and Apollonians. The former provides services to lubricate commerce, finance and politics. The latter are tied to their native lands, producing the goods required of society. America in the 20th century, according to Slezkine, was transformed by the Mercurians to reflect their interests. America had become a middleman society.

If the sum of your intercourse with other people is bounded by the momentary transaction, there is no profit in consideration. Why would parties to the transaction care about the interests of the other parties, when they will no longer have a reason to interact with them once the transaction is completed? Altruism and empathy quickly become liabilities to be exploited by the clever. All the rewards point toward profiting in the moment and moving on to the next deal.

What we are experiencing is the inversion of individualism. In a moral society, judging the individual on their actions results in a competition among members to uphold the shared morality of society. In a middleman society, where no one cares to judge anyone, the result is a Hobbesian competition of all against all. Ripping off moms with fraudulent puppy ads on Facebook comes with no reputational penalty. Worst case, you pay a fine and start the scam all over again.

Ten thousand years of evolution are not overcome in a few generations, so this current crisis is most likely the conflict between the system and our nature. The reason half of our young people have mental health problems is that they have been born into unnatural societies. This is not normal. Women are taking antidepressants because they did not evolve to live in a no-trust society. Male suicide rates are at record highs for the same reason. Our society is hostile to our existence.

Scamdemic

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

It goes so much deeper than we want to admit. We know exactly what we are dealing with. We keep feeding the beast and the beast keeps corralling and culling the herd. As long as we think that we are on the long list we accept the fattening, hoping we will not be the one on the menu for the next feast. I am big on personal responsibility. "The devil made me do it." Is not an excuse that carries a lot of weight for me. No one wants to be "forced" to make a choice. But if you make one, the choice is yours.

Dr. Campbell got his wings clipped, so he is super careful not to ruffle anyone's feathers, or step on anyone's toes. While I admire these men for speaking up, I also know that little will come of it, because the herd is too content, and to damn afraid. But who did not know that exactly what happened was happening?

We knew. We went along, and we kept waiting for someone to rescue us. I have to honest. I fought back, but I live in Florida so I had legal support and my co-workers supported me. I would like to think that I would have held out to the death, but I will never know, and I thank God for that.

I will not take the COVID vaccine, for all the reasons that have come to light, and because I have never felt the benefits outweighed the risks.



This one also has some good information.