6 ms·
Yes, I grew up poor in a single parent household. Generic food brands at discount grocery stores, clothes from thrift stores, etc. I know what being poor is. >
by daenz 4y ago
Yes, I grew up poor in a single parent household. Generic food brands at discount grocery stores, clothes from thrift stores, etc. I know what being poor is.
>Do you really believe that it is a good thing that they are getting scammed out of what little they have?
Do you really believe that's what I said? I said I have no sympathy for people who choose to lose their money in irresponsible ways. I believe people have agency and they should be held accountable for their decisions. That's part of being an adult. The alternative to that is: daddy government tells everyone what they're allowed to do with their money, because nobody has any responsibility.
- sweezyjeezy 4y agoYou said they deserve it, most people think it's good when people get what they deserve. You see my confusion.
- Sparkle-san 4y agoIt doesn't need to be mutually exclusive. Did these people ultimately make the decision themselves? Yes. Do people know that those in poverty are prone to being nudged to make these sorts of "investments" because of the psychology behind scarcity? Also yes. I certainly have sympathy that they're preyed upon.
- daenz 4y agoDo casinos prey on the vulnerable? Does the state lottery? That's not where I draw the line for "preyed upon." When I think "preyed upon", I think of a con artist who is orchestrating bad situation to make it very difficult to escape from. That bar is much higher than what I see with crypto.
- piva00 4y agoPreyed upon can use a multitude of psychological biases as tools for the deception. Crypto does that, it masquerades as this new exciting thing that's making a lot of people a lot of money. As any gold rush would tell you, greed will push people to their psyche's limits, they will fall more easily for scams given that the return might be enormous, friends will betray friends to invite them over to their scam being run in the midst of this chaos of greed. It's a layered preying system it's taxi drivers suddenly making bank from crypto and telling other taxi drivers to join in (as I've seen happening in Brazil). It's a lucky hippie artist stumbling upon a pump-and-dump group when researching stuff for a residency, making bank and explaining to their family how they can also do it. The hippie then starting a community in some tropical paradise and funding it with the schemes they barely understand while helping his friends to join on the pump-and-dump. People are more willing to join if they can see someone they know recommending them some strategy to make money. A lot of people will think it's iffy and miss out, and feel pretty down when they see others that weren't so smart joining in the hype and making bank. So they might join as well. If you go to any poor country with internet access right now you'll hear about crypto. In ads, from taxi drivers, from tourism workers, etc., a lot of vulnerable people to be preyed upon and sustain the scam for a little bit longer. The scammers don't really need to run the scheme anymore, it's self-perpetuating, a meme. A stochastic system of preying upon financially illiterate, desperate and/or greedy people.
- Sparkle-san 4y agoCasinos absolutely do. There's a litany of stories about casinos enabling gambling addicts by offering them free rooms, drinks, food, flights, whatever it takes, to keep them coming back because they know these people have a psychological condition which they can profit off of. It's exploitation.
- yunohn 4y ago> I believe people have agency and they should be held accountable for their decisions. Sure, are you in favor of prosecuting the innumerable influencers who convinced them in the first place? Surely they had agency in deciding whether to illegally shill scams or not.