On Mon, 29 Oct 2007, DDMasters wrote: > I just don't get it. I look in on vortex every now and then and have for > many years. I must say I have never seen such an uproar over anything since > the SMOT. Am I just shallow or does vortex need to be renamed to something > like ..Vortex Legal.. Might better explain the group.
As I see it, Vortex members are not the source of this problem. I notice one common psychological effect going on here. Politicians and scammers avoid answering direct questions. To avoid answering questions, a common scammers' tactic for is to burst out in "anger," then to accuse the questioner of various nasty behavior, ...and then of course don't answer their question. Since audiences tend to "assume good faith" on the part of everyone involved, con artists take advantage of this. If a hoaxer exhibits fake "anger," then the audience will assume that this anger is genuine, and they'll also assume that the anger is explainable. For example... if you ask a perfectly benign question, the scammer will explode in rage, and then the audience will accuse *you* of intentionally insulting the scammer. The audience will never remember your question, nor consider whether the question was a proper one, nor notice the lack of an answer. Probably many vortex-L users have seen this trick in action? I'm certainly "sensitized" to this sort of thing. I saw it employed constantly in Newsgroup flamewars. Because I've observed hoaxers in action, whenever I see Ron get angry over certain questions, and accuse the questioners of "making accusations" or "insinuations," all my confidence in his honesty disappears. My "con artist alert" bells ring. (I suspect that the same thing happens with many other people here?) And then I start carefully analyzing ALL of Ron's statements, looking for any weasel words or intentionally ambiguous language or distorted definitions, or any other symptoms that his public behavior is a facade which conceals dishonest intentions. Is he honest and up front, or is he a slippery character who is impossible to pin down? Does he exhibit the other main con-artist symptom: missing honesty? (In my experience, hoaxers don't tell outright lies. Instead, you'll find no "forthright honesty" in their behavior.) If I stop and think about why I do all of this, I see that it's because Ron APPEARS to be using a hoaxer's tactic: angry outbursts to deflect attention from inconvenient questions. It sets off all of my other "scam detector" habits. Of course Ron could genuinely have a short fuse, and be genuinely angered by people who doubt his expertise. Just look at which questions which make him angry. Ask yourself this: SHOULD they make a person angry? Would they make YOU angry, or is something funny going on? But honesty and hoaxers aside, I guess this is a lesson for anyone who ever gets into Ron's position: if you're talking to a sophisticated audience who has encountered con artists in the past, and you want to keep them on your side, then don't act like a scammer. Don't even APPEAR to be avoiding certain questions. And don't get angry! :) Or at least if you must get angry, *never* avoid answering the questions that triggered your anger. (((((((((((((((((( ( ( ( ( (O) ) ) ) ) ))))))))))))))))))) William J. Beaty SCIENCE HOBBYIST website billb at amasci com http://amasci.com EE/programmer/sci-exhibits amateur science, hobby projects, sci fair Seattle, WA 425-222-5066 unusual phenomena, tesla coils, weird sci
