Self-Mentoring I ... or my rather simple tool against grifting
Alright, let’s start this series and we’re going in with quite a steep one:
If someone sells you an easy solution to a complex issue, they either don’t know what they’re talking about or they’re trying to screw you over.
You see this all around yourself: “Do these X simple steps to change your life forever!” or “You can be happier with this one easy trick!” All these adverts, carpet-bombing your brain. We often scoff them away, thinking “What a load of horseshit!” and move on with our lives. But even then there’s that little worm in your head saying “What if? What if they’re right and it’s really this easy?” Well, my dear reader, let’s find out whether it really is that easy.
Let’s start with the simpler scenario in the beginning, the various ads and stuff that promises to change your life for the better by doing simple things. These usually focus on these small corners in your day-to-day life which may not be necessarily bad but we like to make stuff better when we can. The drive to “perfection” is the motivator here. It doesn’t matter that you may be living the best moments of your life, there’s always something that’s not “perfect”. So you tell yourself, “Ok, let’s try this.” And who knows, it may actually be something that makes your life a little better. So you think, “Well, that was pretty good.” But then you stumble upon something else. And since you already had a positive experience, you start incorporating this little thing.
And here’s the hook and the catch. Suddenly you’re in this endless stream of “simple tricks” that started to pile up. There might be moments where these are coutntering each other so you don’t know what to do anymore. You’re confused, scattered, maybe even afraid that you made a horrible mistake. And what’s the biggest danger when you’re like this? You’re open for manipulation. You can be easily swooped by a predatory thought and take a step on a road towards some really messy ideas.
Now, that we ended on this note, we can easily bounce to the next scenario which does mostly deal in fear. This is very much not a new thing but lately a very visible and prominent threat. So many people in public positions, shouting things like “We will make your life better by doing this simple thing!!” or things like “We’ll raise your pensions/wages by X amount!!”. I’m tempted to go into the stuff like freedom from this and that rule but that’s for a separate chapter.
And you might think, “Wow, is it really this simple?” No, my dear reader, it’s not. In fact, the only thing that’s simple in this scenario is the naivity of the grift and how easy it is to fall for it. Because these people are cleverly hiding a crucial fact; they never really give you a concrete plan how they want to achieve it. And if they tell you some “plan” they won’t give you details. Because then they’d have to, as they say, spill the beans that either they have no idea what to do or they’re actually this malicious and want to hook you into a scheme where the only people that gain something are they themselves after they harvest your resources.
Now out of these two, the former has a chance for “redemption” and turning their idea into an actual solution. For while you might find out that they’re incompetent, the great thing about competence is that it can be built. People can learn stuff no matter the age. And if said person is willing to accept accountability and learn from their errors, they can turn around and turn their “grift” into an actual goal that not only gives them what they want but also delivers on their promises. That’s a win-win in my book, in my opinion.
Now for the latter however, these people are dangerous for their cause is in fact malicious. These grifters are to be called out on their lies and expose their methods to everyone to prevent large scale damage. And NEVER allow these people to hold ANY position of power. Because if you do, they’ll hurt everyone and I mean everyone. Even themselves in the long long run but at that moment you’ll most likely be long gone.
With this case there’s another one loosely linked to the advertising one and that’s the successful public figures. Various people that have influence on others by showing off how great life they have. These people are prime targets to lookout for because all they do is leverage their position and give weight to their opinions through resources they have. Many of you will respond “Well, they clearly earned it!”. To which, my dear reader, I ask you: “With what? With the amount of money they have? With the people that they likely fucked over?” That’s the catch here. They won’t tell you how they did it. Of course they won’t because then you’d find out the ugly side they’re trying so much to keep quiet about. In the most benign case, which is still a little bit of a dick move but at least it’s not as harmful, they won’t tell you all the massive amounts of effort, resources and time that they had to put into getting into their position. Keep in mind that nothing is free. Just because it doesn’t cost money doesn’t mean there isn’t something else you need to pay with.
So, now that I have you primed, let’s change your life with a simple trick! :p Nah, no worries, I’m just teasing you. The “trick” is indeed quite simple on principle, because it’s based on something you’re already doing daily, thinking critically. The difficult part is applying it properly without slipping into the other extreme, paranoia. What you need to do is approach these “simple” solutions with a healthy skepticism. Putting yourself into the perspective can help too. For example, if it’s a “simple” solution to a societal problem, imagine yourself being in a position where you have the ability to change it and think through what you need to do. Then try the same for the thing that is being sold to you. If you end up with a massive list of steps, plans, dead ends, required resources etc. then the solution is in fact not so simple and the “seller” is either an idiot or downright evil. To sum it up, when you get all these vague promises, try to look through that veil and start making it concrete. You might find out that there’s nothing behind that veil.
R.R.A.