It's always wild to me when people bring up the polycule. The people who defrauded you are criminals. Who cares who they slept with and how they decided that unless you're a bitter baby virgin who is jealous they got your money and they got sex and you're left with just your right hand and an empty bank account?
People making themselves wealthy off of crime is a problem for the whole public. It is grossly unfair to everyone, not just the people they directly defraud.
I'm always perplexed by people's motivations for advancing that argument. The notion that the criminality of your actions depends on whether or not you're already wealthy (other facts not being in dispute) seems like the essence of corruption.
People freed from the shackles of ethics taking as much as they can get? Who cares if they deserve it? /s Not a crime, only grifters griftin along, same old.
Sorry for the negativity, feeling bitter about it.
It's odd how the same people who are prone to excuse criminals on the basis of the criminal's poverty, so frequently accuse rich people of having obtained their wealth through illicit means.
again there's a vast gulf between one who steals money through dishonesty and one who steals with voilence. (granted if you have been screwed over you may disagree)
People who end up with billions and lose it are fools. If those same people made it out of nothing, that makes them thieves too.
"Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of G-d? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, THIEVES, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers—none of these will inherit the kingdom of G-d." (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)
It still amazes me how people have absolutely no problem stealing or screwing people. I mean, no guilt whatsoever. If you look at the history of how a lot of people have made their money many of them have accumulated their money by methods that I would consider theft (or screwing people) even if technically legal. The robber barons provide rich evidence of what I'm talking about. Even in current times you can find them, although no longer called such.
Hey nython, i just wanted to reply again and say that I got a chance to read the whole article just now. It has really helped me put my recent experiences into context. THANK YOU.
It's been one thing for me to be on the receiving end of bad behaviour and to form an opinion and suspicions about what happened.
But it's quite another to see it played out deliberately, in the large, using trust and friendship as a weapon to defeat a group of people who aren't even playing the same game.
The remarkable thing for me is that people really are capable of this kind of shitty behaviour; that it can be entirely intentional, and planned well ahead of time. And that it doesn't matter how rich some people are, they are happy to cheat and steal just to get a little bit more. It's disgusting.
Lack of opportunities for a nice lifestyle is not a justification for criminal behavior. They're on completely separate axes, and people would do well to disconnect the two. That is one of the big reasons that we're in this mess in the first place. I.e. people being unhappy with their share of the pie and using it as justification to steal/defraud, and finally to hurt when the first two don't fix their situation.
They're wealthy compared to the perpetrators of the crime. If the 'victims' understood the value of their money, then they would never give it to anyone over the phone even if threatened with jail.
If someone wants to take my money, they'd probably have to pry it out of my cold, dead hands.
You find it maximally disgusting that someone would acknowledge that there are a lot of people lying about being hurt, so they can steal money. Got it. I acknowledge that you feel this way.
People may say that’s the purpose but it’s pretty clearly revenge for a vast majority of the public (or why would anyone care about some girl defrauding old rich guys?)
I think it's a valuable distinction you're making, and I don't think it's merely a matter of semantics. Knowing the motivations of the criminals involved is useful in building workable defences - the fact that they don't care if they get the money or not is important information, and not immediately obvious. I for one have learned something from this thread, anyway.
If you remove the word "criminal", which doesn't apply, and replace it with "bad actor", I'm going to go with: "they are both bad actors". Squatting in a $125k house you promised to pay for but now refuse to pay for is still bad.
This is the same lazy argument that runs though any discussion of any abuse of any service anywhere. "Sure, I stole 10,000 credit card numbers --- but the credit card companies are evil organizations that prey on low-income people, and they're the ones that are going to end up paying!"
Anything and everything has a "dark side". That's why these, "Gasp! Oh my goodness, I can't believe there are such vile people in this world" comments piss me off. It's a clear sign of willful ignorance and naivety. The same goes with, "I can't believe people have offshore accounts. Those terrible rich people. Adam Neumann is so terrible for setting up in his contract to get a 1.7b bailout." Bitch, what would you do in their position? Don't lie. You'd probably ask why Adam didn't go for the even $2b. There isn't a single person in this HN thread who, if they made enough to get taxed 35%+ of their income, wouldn't tax shelter the shit out of their money. I already know they lie their ass off on their taxes. Why not take a dependent or two away from your taxes, just so you can pay a more moral share of the tax burden? Claiming moral righteousness due to inability is just shoving your head in the sand.
Thanks for the article by the way. Got to admit, those folks have a great heist story. "We stole $10m worth of deez nutz!"
Ever wonder if someone does a heist and the press shorts the value, do those guys want to correct them? "Excuse me, we stole $12.4m worth of nuts. We are professionals after all, thank you very much." Not going to lie, it would piss me off if I ever did an art heist and the news says, "$10 million dollar painting stolen..." Mofo, you forgot a zero! You're making me look bad!
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