• JusticeForPorygon@lemmy.world
      871·
      11 months ago

      I think about this sometimes I could go to school and build a career for myself, or I could make way twice the money in half the time doing shit like this.

      Sometimes I hate that I have a sense of guilt. Life would be so much easier if I were a psychopath

        • stoneparchment@possumpat.io
          12·
          11 months ago

          I don’t think that’s true? They have a dysfunctional guilt/shame system but they still have other feelings, right?

          • Baku@aussie.zoneEnglish
            2·
            11 months ago

            Interestingly, a quick google didn’t really answer this. It seems pretty split as to whether they can or can’t. I don’t think there’s really a definitive answer. My guess is that it probably depends where you fall (I imagine it’s a spectrum like most things), and some can, some cant

      • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
        101·
        11 months ago

        If it makes you feel any better, it’s probably hard to figure out when to get out. You’ll always feel like you can do just one more because the last one worked out so well, but each time you cash in, more people will see the truth and might want in on it until you find yourself in a situation where you can’t stop even if you wanted to because then the others who you are propping up will turn on you.

        • AbsoluteChicagoDog@lemm.ee
          9·
          11 months ago

          So what if they turn on you? Once you’re rich just admit it’s a scam and walk away. The believers will continue on.

          Jehovah’s Witnesses predicted the end of the world in 1914. When that didn’t happen they lost members but came back quickly enough. Then they predicted it for 1975. Same thing happened, and now they have more members than ever.

          • meyotch@slrpnk.net
            5·
            11 months ago

            There were likely some Mormons and definitely some fellow Freemasons in the angry mob that killed Joseph Smith. He was in way too deep to just walk away, even if his brand of narcissism would have allowed him to contemplate that.

          • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
            31·
            11 months ago

            As the other commenter mentioned, things could get violent. Being wrong about a prediction means that the leaders look as dumb as the followers, but saying outright that you scammed the followers means you deliberately made them look stupid.

            But even if they aren’t mysteriously angry about it, it’s still illegal. I wonder if the prosecutors going after Trump plan on going after him again from that angle once they prove his election steal claims were fraud because he used those claims to solicit donations.

              • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
                51·
                11 months ago

                It’s not the legal status (fraud is already illegal), it’s proving that it is indeed a scam rather than some dumb shit they actually believed, as well as knowing that it’s more likely to trigger a persecution complex and doubling down than improve the lives of the victims (because if it’s a plot to harm their religion, they don’t have to feel like idiots for giving the scammer money).

                It’s a different story if the religious scammer openly admits that it was always a scam and just doesn’t care what anyone thought of it. Easier to prove and the victims are already angry and feeling like idiots for falling for it.

    • surewhynotlem@lemmy.world
      275·
      11 months ago

      It is completely ethical to remove the funding power from those who would cause others to suffer.

      Just sayin, you have options.

    • Thrashy@lemmy.world
      4·
      11 months ago

      I long ago came to the conclusion that a slice of the American Dream is still out there to be had, as long as you don’t mind cutting it out of a bunch of suckers and rubes. Alas, my petty sense of morality is stopping me from joining the ranks of the wealthy elite, but at least I can sleep at night knowing my lifestyle isn’t directly financed by the misery of people I made a conscious choice to hurt.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
        4·
        11 months ago

        That’s almost universally true at the multimillionaire and above level unless you inherited it all. You don’t get that rich without stepping on everyone you can to get there.

        Elon Musk has ruined a ridiculous number of people on his way to the top and he continues to do it.

    • AbsoluteChicagoDog@lemm.ee
      2·
      11 months ago

      Could easily rationalize it. Suckers are going to find a religion to con then no matter what. You could provide a less harmful option.

      I’m not saying you should, but you could find a way to justify it. It’s pretty easy money.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
        8·
        11 months ago

        I don’t think a ‘less harmful’ con makes the con any more ethical. And I don’t want to take poor people’s money. A lot of people giving to televangelists are people living on social security and the like.

  • Mario_Dies.wav@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    95·
    11 months ago

    I knew a kid who’d go door to door in neighborhoods requesting donations for the poor.

    In his mind he was being honest because he was “the poor”

  • Hackerman_uwu@lemmy.world
    711·
    11 months ago

    So you accidentally learned the greatest lesson the church has to offer. Salvation for a profit.

  • ThatFembyWho@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    52·
    11 months ago

    Honestly. I think that’s what many of the nutjob protestors and “commentators” do. Why work a real job when you can be paid by suckers to jetset around the country/world spouting controversial views.

  • thefluffiest@feddit.nl
    39·
    11 months ago

    Since it’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter heaven, relieving said rich man of their excess wealth is actually a kindness. Therefore this is an ethical life pro tip.

  • JCreazy@midwest.socialEnglish
    35·
    11 months ago

    While everyone’s telling their stories. In middle school. My friend had a game shark book with game shark codes and he would write them all out and then sell them to kids that didn’t have a game shark.

    • Dozzi92@lemmy.world
      17·
      11 months ago

      Game shark, my god you brought me back. Shit, now you got me thinking about Game Genie too.

    • I Cast Fist@programming.dev
      2·
      11 months ago

      First gameshark I had for my PS1 was a little brick that went into the serial port. Fucker didn’t work and I couldn’t return it for a refund. Some time later, I got a gameshark as a CD and that one worked wonders. Too bad it would crash if I saved too many extra codes into the memory card.

  • ohlaph@lemmy.world
    32·
    11 months ago

    I did something similar when I was like 11. Went on a “canned food drive” around the neighborhood because it was summer and I was hungry.

    To be fair, my family was poor and used services that actual drives would benefit, so I just cut out the middle man.

  • Imgonnatrythis
    31·
    11 months ago

    Full circle since I Rember reading that blink got started telling schools they wanted to play concerts in gymnasiums to spread a positive Christian message.

  • iesou@lemm.ee
    13·
    11 months ago

    When I needed a job I went to church and asked them to pay that a job would come my way. Had 3 offers before I left

    • hemko@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      21·
      11 months ago

      Have you ever talked with fundamentalist? It’s not only plausible, but those adults have probably done the same thing while actually being serious about the preaching part in the concert

    • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
      10·
      11 months ago

      Yes.

      Religious fanatics are that gullible, they do after all believe in really shittily written fairytales as if they’re real.

    • QTpi
      9·
      11 months ago

      Yes! I went to an evangelical church run private school. They had the brilliant idea to send good “strong Christian” students to raves and parties to narc on their classmates that attended said raves and parties. I wish I was making that up.

      • Got_Bent@lemmy.world
        2·
        11 months ago

        Damn. I went to Jesus school from first grade all the way through high school. Doing something like that would have been a real quick way to get your ass kicked into a Jesus loving grease spot.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
      6·
      11 months ago

      Depends on the town. Some of the ones in the Bible Belt? Absolutely possible. In others it’s completely possible they knew the kids were lying and decided it was fun to play along and get them to a concert.

  • Emerald@lemmy.world
    4·
    11 months ago

    Image Transcription: Twitter Post

    M. Lockwood Porter, @mlockwoodporter

    My best friend and I wanted to go to a Blink 182 concert in high school but couldn’t afford tickets, so we told everyone in our extremely Baptist Oklahoma town that God called us to spread the gospel at an evil secular concert but we needed donations to get in. We turned a profit

  • balderdash@lemmy.zip
    118·
    11 months ago

    So much circle-jerking in this comments. This person is literally stealing but its fine if its from the “bad guys”.

        • Syrc@lemmy.world
          1·
          11 months ago

          They wanted those kids to go at a concert and “spread the gospel” to people who paid to be there. Not sure about you, but I know I wouldn’t take that well.

            • Syrc@lemmy.world
              1·
              11 months ago

              Whoops, you’re right, my bad. I’m not a native speaker and mixed “grifter” with “griefer”.

              • abbotsbury@lemmy.world
                1·
                11 months ago

                Okay sure, but by taking their money, that’s just doing the same thing the church is criticized for, taking money under false pretenses.

                Grifting the grifters would be defrauding the church, not the congregation.