For the second time in as many weeks, I have been presented with the punishment for being carelessly smug about my ability to sort the truth from the tripe.
Although having nothing but sympathy for those caught by post and email scams, and nothing but contempt for those who target those who will fall for scams from innocence, ignorance, a good heart, or a need to be connected; I always wondered vaguely about how people still fell for them.
After all, there is endless publicity on TV and radio about them. And so many are so badly done. But they still work, and people still suffer. And the instant blame culture – most recently castergating Royal Mail – really doesn’t help.
But, at least I am aware, tuned in to their schemes, and incapable of being conned. Well, maybe.
Rule 1: never respond to official looking emails at 7.00am when you should be leaving for work, and when another 5 minutes thought would make it clear that it was a con. Thankfully, a 20 minute drive to work got the brain in gear, and the card details cancelled, with no harm done.
And a significant amount of embarrassment, silent and unshared, and a little less smugness. And relief that whoever was running the scam was not that quick off the mark.
And again today. What initially appeared as an exposé of Kardashian publicity seeking, now most probably a hoax, and, without fully concentrating, I fell for the con. Not funny, not clever, decidedly tasteless, and suckered again.
And it’s only a couple of comparatively small items in the scheme of things. But it does stir the occasional concern. I spend a significant amount of time pontificating confidently on any number of issues; big and small, deadly serious and of no great relevance.
How much of what I feel I know, understand, rely on, base my attitude to circumstance on; how much is real? How true? How valid?
The joy of the internet is that all is there, the problem is validating it. If I checked every view, opinion, suggestion, for their historical and factual accuracy, I wouldn’t have time to have an opinion.
So I trust. I trust the people I know, although more so those I agree with. I distrust those who I see as antagonistic to my beliefs. I check for evidence with those sources that, in the past, have appeared reliable. And I suppose that is how the world works.
But each time I slip, and accept a hoax, or a half truth, it removes another brick from the foundations of my confident opinions. And the further away the beliefs are from my daily life, the more shaky they become.
My security – the eyes of the truth teller. Liars look away. But then, there are no eyes on the internet.
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