It seems the same scams are still scamming people. Unfortunately ,older adults are a primary target. The grandchild in trouble scam is alive and well.

I am with you cynic. America is about as dumb-ed down as low as it can go... or so it seems.

Moni

I don't think it's any dumber....just more opportunities for scamming.

Actually, I don't think it's stupidity that drives people to respond to scams. It's pure greed. Everyone wants something for nothing.

Anyone who thinks giving out their personal information is going to benefit them has another thing coming......and deserves it.

I'm sorry people get ripped off but they should have known. Shame on them.

The problem with the scammers is you can contact 100,000 people but if you get anyone to bite, you have pay off. Sad but true.

I'm with Dees....greed.
There will always be people who want/demand something for nothing, and yes - they are terminally stupid.

Please, Lets not throw everyone in the same boat.

Many, many older people have slowed senses.

I see my MIL that has obvious signs of dementia. She was a classic 50's housewife. Never worked outside the home, raised 6 kids, cooked dinner and kept a neat home. Her husband paid the bills and made major decisions for the family. I am not being mean, but she is just not wise to the world. However, she is a dear sweet soul that deserves my respect.
As she ages she depends on many different people: care centers, visiting nurses, office of the aging, her children...etc. I can see her getting confused easily and trusting the wrong person. She is not greedy, She NEEDS all the financial help she can get. She does not have a computer to research on her own, so she depends on the integrity of others.
All of us are at least a little computer savvy, get tons of information from here and and other sources. Her news source only comes from the television and what people tell her.
Have we told her these stories? YES, YES, YES! But I still worry that some day she'll take a phone call from someone trying to "help".

what salgal said.

My friend's husband had dementia.
& he was retired, while she still worked.
& he had credit cards.

He bought:
2 pints of a "miracle cleaner" for $40 per pint
3-year warranties on 1 year old appliances, $1700.
anything anybody peddled door to door.

He wasn't greedy, but maybe he was "terminally stupid";
shame on those predators who fleeced him.

I saw an article about that in the Des Moines paper this morning. I am 70 and, therefore, considered elderly or a senior but I never give out personal information to someone over the phone or when they show up at my door.

The favorite go to saying at my home is Darwin's Survival of the fittest. Yes we have to stop saving people...our gene pool is weakening from all the saving we do. That said this scam would be very easy to believe given our governments penchant for "helping". When they got to the part where they needed a credit card number, well that is just not logical!!

Ditto Salgal.

When my stepmother was in her 80's she was a sitting duck for appeals for charitable donations. And she thought all those computer-generated letters urging to buy magazine subscriptions, etc., were written to her personally from the heads of the companies.

"Look," she would say, "the president of Reader's Digest remembers everything I ever bought."

I did my best to monitor the situation from 1,500 miles away, and fortunately she was never approached by a scammer. But it was sad.

Cynic, if you keep posting about "stupid" people, some of us are going to start thinking you have a rather inflated opinion of your own intelligence.

Another scam here within the last month. A woman ran a Craigs List ad for a house to rent. My caregiver's son and his girlfriend and another couple elected to rent it and put down a deposit. She wanted $500 but lowered it to $300 for them because they needed to wait a week to move in. When the day came she told them that the previous tenant hadn't moved out yet so she wasn't able to have new carpet put in. Three more days pass and she wasn't answering her phone. This went on for a few more days so they called the police only to find that she had rented the same house to 22 other people and got $500 down payment from each of them !

Another week passes and I see on television that they found the woman they dealt and another one plus the other woman's 17 yr old son and, in the process of booking them, the 2nd woman walked out of the police station and left her 3 yr. old son behind! They looked for her from Friday until yesterday where she was involved in a car accident on I75 headed toward Kentucky, where she was killed. She was 35 yrs. old.

They are facing 15 counts of felonies. And it's unlikely that any of them will get their money back.

Stupid was a word that was never allowed in my household...either as a growing child or as a matured adult on my own. Intellectually challenged, perhaps but never stupid. It is a cruel, disgusting six letter word and IMO should have been removed from the language years ago.

I agree with Susan and Salgal. There are often terribly sad reasons why people fall prey to scams...not the least of which, currently, is the painful economic climate we're all trying to survive.

If you're unable or unwilling to contribute anything to prevent these acts taking place or to assist those who have become victims, that's your personal decision. But certainly, don't add to the lesser appealing side of our society by calling them stupid. Remember, what comes out of your mouth...whether virtual or in real life...is a reflection of you as a person. Elitism is really not a very complimentary classification.

Anne

Making an exception for the elderly who lived in a different time and the ones having dementia, I DO agree the country is rapidly losing it's brain power and becoming terminally stupid.

Anne ct, you said exactly what I was thinking. Plus a lot of us that grew up in the 50's and 60's actually were taught that a person's word meant something and so there was lots more trust.... that and the fact that these are pro's out there that know exactly how to ply their trade in a way that actually makes them believable... I know.. I kept one young man on the phone for over an hour before finally telling him that I knew what he was up to and that I felt that I at least many have kept his line of BS from doing damage to perhaps a couple of other people..

That plus the fact that some folks simply don't have the intellectual superiority that others have... imho..

Cynic was referring to stupid people in the world and yes there are far to many.

Cynic never said anything about people with with dementia,mental illness or other special needs. Cynic was referring to to the greed and stupidity of people today.

So unless one thinks the word stupid is descriptive of people with those special circumstances (and what does that really say about one?) then I don't see the outrage at the word stupid being used. Stupid is as stupid does. It's a descriptive word that applies to much of of we see today.

BRAVO, Sunshine!

I wonder how many Wallstreeters and intellectually elite who fell for Bernie Madoff's pyramid scheme would have considered themselves as "terminally stupid". And, yet, that was probably one of the biggest scams to come down the pike of this advancing 21st century. Interesting where the line of supposed intelligence is drawn these days. ;-)

Anne

Good point, Anne.

I wonder if the chronically poor fall into the class of 'stupid'. So many people intellectually challenged, not necessarily because of mental illness, but because they have been challenged by the effort to survive from one day to the next...and so they "hear" what they want to hear from these scamers who so charmingly entice them (supposedly) out of their survival mode into a promised place of no fears and an easier life. My sister was one of 'those'. Disabled, defeated, existing....watching the beautiful people on the "soaps" and sort of wishing and believing her day would come. I could imagine her falling for a "scam". The Pinocchio syndrome, maybe.

I don't see the word "greed" mentioned anywhere in this accepted/acknowledged definition of the word "stupid", Wildchild. But I do see reference to mental capability. Perhaps a quick perusal of Webster's is needed.

The modern English word "stupid" has a broad range of application, from being slow of mind (indicating a lack of intelligence, care or reason), dullness of feeling or sensation (torpidity, senseless, insensitivity), or lacking interest or point (vexing, exasperating). It can either imply a congenital lack of capacity for reasoning, or a temporary state of daze or slow-mindedness.

Anne

I think that every occupant of this earth makes an unwise decision from time-to-time for their own reasons...needs...or purposes. Or just because! What I strongly object to is categorically labelling any person because of this action. When we all become fault free and can walk on water, then, perhaps, name calling might be acceptable. But, I strongly doubt it. In the mean time, I think a good helping of humanitarianism might be more useful. And...if you can't participate in that...then employ a little of the patience or respect that you want when menadering through life these days. It [life] ain't easy...no matter who you are or what you have!

Anne

Sorry Wildchild, but I went back read OP very carefully.
Cynic was painting with a very wide brush...pretty much said greed is why people fall for scams.

Kind of like
"all" politicians are rotten
"everybody" on welfare is lazy
"all" kids are disrespectful

I will die trying to see the good where it exists.

Some of the smartest people I've known have been scammed. I've even been scammed myself out of hundreds of dollars by someone who I thought was a good friend but turned out to be a crook.

I don't think people who get scammed are stupid, but I do think many people lose their critical thinking skills, either by age (young or old) or illness or or greed or desperation or gullibility or lack of education or whatever the reason, many of those being factors beyond an individual's control. But there have been scams going on since the beginning of time - you just hear about it a lot more now, especially with the internet now and how people can hide behind their computers and insult everyone else.

There are also a LOT more scammers out there. I get bank emails all the time with account alerts and it looks exactly like my bank but it's not. But I can easily see how an intelligent, rational person can be suckered into thinking it's legitimate. Scammers are getting better and better.

Cynic posted a "something for nothing" scam. She wasn't posting about hacking accounts or phishing.

"Something for nothing preys" on the the greed and stupidity of people. So tossing in disabled people, internet security and the like is apples and oranges. There are differences.

Putting mentally ill and disabled people in the same category as stupid is disingenuous.

Stupid people who do stupid acts exist. Just go out to any public place and observe.

You can't legislate stupidity. You can't protect everyone from themselves. We have a president who based his entire campaign on the greed of people. Promise them anything you know they want and they will b vote for you. People don't want to hear "you will have to work hard", they want to hear "you will get, you will be given, you will be provided".

I have a friend who is very charismatic. He's also a jerk at times. He gets people to do almost anything he wants. We were talking about this once. He said that everyone wants "something". Once you know what that "something" is you can own them. Greed and stupidity.

OH...OH....Who says our Presidents' campaign was based on the greed of the people???????????
that "People don't want to hear "you will have to work hard", they want to hear "you will get, you will be given, you will be provided".

Move it over to Hot topics and PLEASE SHOW ME WHERE THAT QUOTE COMES FROM.

You've never heard of using quotation marks to isolate words or phrases for emphasis and/or irony?

They are used beyond "Look look!" said Jane. "See Spot run,"said Dick.

So now stupid is on the list of politically incorrect words? That's a stretch. Reading dire portents into everyday language must be tiring. (that's probably an insult to tires everywhere).

Perhaps the Webster definition of stupid for kids might be easier to understand:

One entry found for stupid.

Main Entry: stupid
Function: adjective
1 a : dull of mind : DENSE b : given to unwise decisions or actions : UNTHINKING
2 : dulled in feeling or sensation
3 : showing or resulting from foolish thinking or acting : SENSELESS [a stupid mistake]
4 : not interesting or worthwhile : BORING [a stupid movie]

And for the record: To movies everywhere - I've never thought of you as being mentally challenged.

I think it's time to have a "Like" button so I could "Like" Wildchild's last reply. :)

Thank you, Nanny! It really bugs me when people post their opinions as supposed fact.

Chi83 got it right:

"There are also a LOT more scammers out there. I get bank emails all the time with account alerts and it looks exactly like my bank but it's not. But I can easily see how an intelligent, rational person can be suckered into thinking it's legitimate. Scammers are getting better and better."

Not everyone has been blessed with a good education and the media has learned well how to manipulate those who are more trusting. It makes me sick when rotten people/corporations (ha!) prey on the less advantaged. Try attending an inner-city school and tell me that it's on par with an economically advantaged school.

I've read articles on/interviews with "professional con men", and some of their favorite "hits" were on doctors & lawyers. They apparently got a thrill out of outfoxing them even if money wasn't involved. So education is not always involved & IQs tend to be very high there.

I LIKE the word stupid. I know exactly what people mean when they use it. I use it as well. Sometimes I even say to myself, "Well, that was stupid!"

I very much DISLIKE words being politically incorrect.

Redcurls....you are spot on!!!
My sentiments exactly.

June

It is concerning when people are naiive enough to fall for scams, or don' lock their doors, or become victims of crimes they could have easily avoided with some moxy.

That said, now on to the related topic.... I grew up in a home where "idiot" and "stupid" was used to describe other humans on a regular basis. I will say that the attitude that this language symbolizes in the context it was used has impacted my attitude of people - and I just started noticing it in the past few months. So this post caught my eye.

I've lately started developing a more loving and compassionate side. I will probably have a skeptical side for the remainder of my years, but I have decided that friendships are more important to me than being "right" and "cleaver" in my snarkiness. Sometimes it's fun to be snarky. Most of the time, the impact that it has on my relationships is negative, long term.

Again, I've only started really noticing this in the last few months. My best friend died in April, and she was the most loving, genuine, and approachable person I have ever known. Her funeral was interesting - nothing said about her many incredible accomplishments or experiences (she once met and shook the hand of Sadaam Hussein before he became known, and knew immediately he was evil) - rather, her funeral talked about how everyone who knew her felt loved for exactly who they were. I hope to be more like that.

That's a lot and I'm sorry to detract - now back to the topic at hand. All the idiots in the world......Thank goodness I'm not one.

This thread has certainly showed those who have the inflated opinions of themselves, elitist and the like. Don't hurt yourselves when you fall from your high horses.

Not unlike grouchy when she put words and allegations into my mouth over her favorite (or was it her family's?) store and making claims about working conditions (that of course was never said, implied or alluded to), here too shows the number who live each day to find a problem with one word. A few letters of the alphabet. The root cause of political correctness, perhaps? Not unlike the hullabaloo trying to ban Huckleberry Finn. Bookburners of the world are uniting on that one it seems. It's silliness. And yes, stupid.

When will people learn that some letters put together are not (or at least should not be) offensive to reasonably rational people. The "n" word is offensive if a non-black says it but it's not when a black says it. So guess words and letters aren't the cause of it are they? I could go on, but it'll only give the elitists more fodder to find a word or a few letters they don't like and get their feathers ruffled. And that might be stupid, wouldn't it? Like the song says, it's only words.

Many of these comments were about as ridiculous as the hoopla over the word "garbage" not long ago. Obviously certain people get hysterical over certain words. There are certain words and phrases that I don't like but I usually try to not become a nutcase over it when someone says it!

I'm not surprised that the "feelgooders" took offense to a simple comment. To them, we should only feel sorry for people who repeatedly bypass red flags. We have to feel sorry for the people who move road blockades and drive into flooded roads. We have to feel sorry for people who won't learn when they get scammed over and over again. Now you will see this twisted again into comments about the demented, the elderly and otherwise.

cynic, dont look now, but I think your kettle is turning black...your last post is the most elitist one on this thread.
We should bow to your wisdom.

I am probably about as "middle of the road" as it gets. I have met some truly stupid people and have done some really stupid things. Live and learn.
I simply dont like sweeping generalities.

Well, Cynic...if having enough respect for ones fellow man not to use "sweeping generalities" [Thank you, Salgal.] and derogatory terms when referring to them...then I must have been doing something terribly wrong to have reached my mid seventies not defined as an elitist but as a respected member of my community. Apparently I've been doing something right all these years if those around me have no objection to the kindness of verbal forethought when I express my opinions. Or, perhaps I'm just terminally stupid to be making such assumptions.

Anne

There is nothing wrong with the word stupid or idiot. But when someone who has a reputation of being condescending uses the word to describe a group of people, it comes off with an air of superiority that doesnt attract some people. Doesn't matter really, as it is clear that cynic is not here to make friends, rather simply to spout condesceding opinions without the consequence of real life reactions. It's safe to be condescending online. See? I just did it myself.

"....the demented, the elderly and otherwise. " But Cynic, that's the whole point. People who do and fall for stupid things on a regular basis DO have something wrong with them. My, you are a Darwinian, aren't you? I would wager that you had a good upbringing, you lucky dog, you. Many, many others weren't/aren't so lucky.

I guess the elderly fall into the terminally stupid category....for some people. I hate PC but there is such a thing as social awareness, and this forum is full of senior citizens.