http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/worklife/01/07/home.scams/index.html?iref=mpstoryview
Despite the publicity generated by work-at-home scammers, why do so many people still fall for the scams?
Some consumer watchdog groups say it's too simplistic to say that people are gullible. For example, many of the people who say they lost money in Madoff's alleged Ponzi scheme were celebrity actors, writers, wealthy people -- people with abundant smarts.
This quote is wrong. And bad. There should be a new, stronger word for this quote. Like badwrong, or badong. Yes, this quote is badong. From this moment, I will stand for the opposite of this quote: gnodab.
Enter the Fist!
And yes, that's a terribly inaccurate statement. Writers in particular want desperately for smarts they do not have.
"Bwong" has a nice ring to it.
Josh
Reader
1/8/09 9:24 a.m.
poopshovel wrote:
"Bwong" has a nice ring to it.
Like the sound Sonic made when he lost all his rings. It fits.
How about Frong? As in F-ing wrong. Or even better for our board - Brong as in Berkleying Wrong! Or, you could use Bwong as poop said, but have it mean berkleying wrong.
Yes. Celebrity actors are incredibly intellegent people. They are some of the smartest people to walk the Earth.
Helen Hunt - "It is our job, (as actors), to read what is in the news paper and then say it like it's our own opinion."
Matt Damon - "Matt Damon!"
-Team America, World Police
I think I'm most offended that they equated wealth with intelligence.
Margie
^^ Ain't THAT the truth. 
Some of the most ignorant people I have ever known are loaded. I can think of 3 good examples right off the bat.
But that's typical CNN, equating celebrity and money with intelligence. And they wonder why a huge percentage of the population (in cluding me) find them to be a less than objective source for news.
Actually, the most-Bwongest part of that quote is:
"Some consumer watchdog groups say it's too simplistic to say that people are gullible."
People are berkeleying idiots. P.T. Barnum knew it 100+ yrs ago. Madoff just capitalized on it... but was a berkeleying idiot himself... all that cash and he couldn't run and hide? Even "The Dawg" can be bought for Madoff money.
There's going to be a feature on CNN about this scam all these celebrities fell for. The ad for it says things like "How did this happen!?" "how did these people fall for this!?" as if they were all trained counter-scam specialists.
Nobody wants to admit they're stupid, but we all are. Celebrities, the wealthy and writers are about as sharp as sacks of wet mice in the bigger scheme of things. They know how to act, or make money, or write. That's about it.
We're just all ignorant about different things.
(and yes, I'm channeling the misanthropic side of Will Rogers)
There's a smaller scale local thing going on down here and there are constantly letters to the editor and news articles about the whole thing and whining about how the investors are not going to get their money back.
It comes down to this: in both cases the people who jumped on the gravy train with biscuit wheels did not stop to consider that 'if it sounds too good to be true it probably is'. That makes them gullible. But there's the other side of the coin: plain old greed, wanting something for nothing. I think that takes down more people than 'stupidity and gullibility' (IMHO those are the excuses made for greed) and makes those who got took about as bad as those who did the takin'.
Some day I hope to be one of those berkeleying idiots who has E36 M3 tons of money.
Some day I hope to be one of those berkeleying scammers who has E36 M3 tons of money.
poopshovel wrote:
Some day I hope to be one of those berkeleying idiots who has E36 M3 tons of money.
I'm a smart, broke motherberkeleyer. Being a rich idiot sounds like way more fun.
You have to realize many actors couldn't make a living doing anything else. Basically they get paid to pretend to do other things, not actually do them. 
With my smarts I should be loaded
Wally wrote:
With my smarts I should be loaded
You need to drink more then.....
I am an idiot too, Wally and I should both be rich!
Ian F
Reader
1/9/09 9:58 a.m.
bamalama wrote:
I'm a smart, broke motherberkeleyer. Being a rich idiot sounds like way more fun.
Having just finished "The Last Open Road" last night, I would have to agree...
Rich & Stupid > Poor & Smart
...granted, more often than not, I'm feeling Poor & Stupid...
Anymore, I can't listen to or watch commercial news anymore... whether the bias is liberal or conservative, it just makes every nerve in my journalism-trained-head burn... I'm not saying PBS/NPR doesn't have a bit of a liberal slant to it, but at least they make a better attempt to hide and keep the pointless, "not-news" stories to a minimum (which is why I got out of journalism...).
The practical applications of raw inteligence are far fewer that you might think.
I would venture to say that there's no such thing as "abundant smarts" 
Unless, of course, you are talking about this:
Snowdoggie wrote:
bamalama wrote:
poopshovel wrote:
Some day I hope to be one of those berkeleying idiots who has E36 M3 tons of money.
I'm a smart, broke motherberkeleyer. Being a rich idiot sounds like way more fun.
Not always.
If you're rich and/or stupid enough, crashing a $600K car is no big deal.
