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Ask HN: Since when is everything a scam?

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Re: Ask HN: Since when is everything a scam?

#81

Post by jemmyw »

BulgarianIdiot wrote: post #18

Society is visibly decomposing before our eyes. You can tell because trust no longer exists. And those who trust, get burned, because they're taken advantage of. The issue is without trust, society does not exist. What's coming is frankly scary to me.

I don't see it. There have always been scams. It seems to me it's a lot better now than 100ish years ago when every other product was some shit someone made up. At least now there are agencies looking after food and drug safety and heaps of information allowing self research.

Trust has always been an issue too. I don't think you could ever blindly trust everyone. I generally trust a random person I meet will be telling truths as they understand the world, but I wouldn't rely on them. However, crime is historically low, the chance of being assaulted, mugged etc is lower than it has been, so it seems you can trust your fellow person more now.

There are community and social issues. But I know my neighbours pretty well, if they needed help I'd be there, they would be there for us and have been.

edit: I don't live in the US but I have done in the past and I generally found Americans as or more helpful and friendly neighbours, friends and colleagues.

Re: Ask HN: Since when is everything a scam?

#82

Post by gambiting »

user-extended wrote: post #79
gambiting wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>LMAO, this is not normal anywhere else in Europe. Also, I bet she either has a lot of money saved up somewhere else, had her mortgage cosigned by someone else with a lot of income, etc. this is not normal at all. In UK 5% mortgages are readily available to first time buyers. It's a completely normal thing here in UK. And I can assure you she doesn't have a lot of money and the mortgage wasn't cosigned by anyone els…

From this map, no: https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/dk-graph...

I'm confused - it clearly shows the prices have actually gone down in the North East, but still says 4.8% increase? How?

Re: Ask HN: Since when is everything a scam?

#84

Post by Eddy_Viscosity2 »

mdp2021 wrote: post #7

In some areas a "community" culture¹ of "you shall behave - you will behave" has declined into a sort of anarchy of "everything passes"; once you were corrected, and now you are no more; once people would stand and say "wrong behaviour" directly, today such framework is greatly weakened, which causes all kind of deviations. Such weakening encourages abuse and exploitation. ¹Note that said community culture was not re…

This neglects that many scams were perpetuated on these tight communities because it was easy to exploit that existing trust system. This is especially true when the scam was being done by the leadership because then the community had to follow based on authority. See every cult that ever existed.

In fact I think that these communities are in fact the REASON more scams seem to exist today because with the internet all types of communities are possible because you can connect with like-minded people from all over to form one, rather than having to rely on those in your specific geographic area. These communities form trust relationships which are then exploited by scammers (either internally or externally). Crypto bros are a great example.

Re: Ask HN: Since when is everything a scam?

#86

Post by annyeonghada »

John23832 wrote: post #66
gfxgirl wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your painting the right as "no taxes" I think they'd paint as "quit wasting money". As an example, SF has the highest tax revenue per capita in the USA https://www.usnews.com/news/cities/slideshows/us-cities-with... So why is it so dysfunctional? My guess is the right would say because so much is wasted on the wrong things. Note: I'm not saying the right is correct. I'm only suggesting a different interpretation of t…

Everyone thinks that something they don't want to pay for is a "waste of money". When that something that you want to quit spending money on can be characterized as "other people who I don't identify with", you get the right. SF is a mess because of liberal mismanagement (I say that as someone who identifies as left). Spending money at massive scale without asking the people you're spending money on to fix something…

>When that something that you want to quit spending money on can be characterized as "other people who I don't identify with"

Everyone wants to spend money on something or someone they identify with. It's not like the left has showed any leniency against those it deems unworthy.

Re: Ask HN: Since when is everything a scam?

#87

Post by cyberge99 »

annyeonghada wrote: post #86
John23832 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone thinks that something they don't want to pay for is a "waste of money". When that something that you want to quit spending money on can be characterized as "other people who I don't identify with", you get the right. SF is a mess because of liberal mismanagement (I say that as someone who identifies as left). Spending money at massive scale without asking the people you're spending money on to fix something…

>When that something that you want to quit spending money on can be characterized as "other people who I don't identify with" Everyone wants to spend money on something or someone they identify with. It's not like the left has showed any leniency against those it deems unworthy.

Sure they have. They believe in social safety nets for all (livable wages to reduce crime, for example). They also tend to be more socially inclusive (I rarely see a racist gay person for example).

Re: Ask HN: Since when is everything a scam?

#88

Post by cyberge99 »

rowtheway wrote: post #76
freedom2099 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don’t see the issue with “often religious” then nothing I say can change your mind! Religion as a moral compass is horrible! Religious communities are often the most toxic ones!

I am an atheist ex-Catholic. The big atheist-leftist crowd in my college town are intensely more violent, toxic, and racist than local Catholics or Lutherans. Lack of religious belief is no guarantee of kindness or rationality, nor is the presence of faith a strong signal of evil.

Behavior is a strong signal and I see more Christian harlots and swindlers than people practicing Christ’s philosophy. The left at least don’t pretend to be wholesome and righteous.

Re: Ask HN: Since when is everything a scam?

#89

Post by danaris »

John23832 wrote: post #65
hiddencost wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meh. That's a straw man based on ignorance. The left puts effort into responsibility and care for community. Why do you think the right advocates for dismantling social services and the left champions them?

I'm not ignorant at all. I live in NYC (the largest "community" in the country) which has the largest, most systematically effective social services system in the country. It's one thing I appreciate most about the city, other than the subway. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing (or good things used to advance perverse incentives). Too Much of a Good Thing: Methadone and "clean needle" clinics on 125th…

The goal should be to reduce harm. The idea that drug use is axiomatically bad is an invention of the War On Drugs.

Criminalizing drug addiction increases harm. Treating it as a disease provably reduces harm. And, in fact, reduces drug use.

Methadone and clean needle clinics are pointed in the right direction, but they're not enough. They just happen to be all the people who got them put in place could manage.

Re: Ask HN: Since when is everything a scam?

#90

Post by kthejoker2 »

There have always been scammers and charlatans, they just have global reach now, plus there is a disconnect between the creator and the ad system now.

Your average YouTube creator doesn't want scam ads. If the FTC forced YouTube to say "this ad is endorsed by us and we'll pay any legal damages if this is found to be a scam in court", those ads would disappear.

The bigger issue is why this is just a thread on Hacker News and not a major talking point for politicians looking to dunk on Big Tech.

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