The tenuous nature of reality
One day recently someone in the Calhoun Times office received an email announcing that a distant relative in Spain had kicked the proverbial bucket and left a generous sum of money to this lucky soul on the other side of the ocean, despite having never met his or her Northwest Georgia heir.
Of course, because we know better nowadays, those of us in the office just laughed and insisted our fortunate and newly wealthy co-worker should buy us lunch. Or at least a couple of sports cars.
Just a few days later I received a text message from an unknown number announcing I had won $70000,00 ... which either means my mysterious benefactor misplaced a comma and I am set to receive $700,000 or this would-be scammer lives somewhere where commas are used in place of decimals and I stand to get a more modest $70,000.
The amount is irrelevant since I have no interest in playing along with the digital con game.
However, these scammy messages got me thinking, because they only reason these faraway criminals would keeping throwing out the lines is because the fish are still biting.
For me, and I’d imagine for the majority of adult people, an unsolicited message announcing I am entitled to a vast amount of money with only the tiniest of strings attached is a clear red flag that someone wants to scam me. But if there are fish that are still biting for these would-be thieves, that must mean there are people who get those messages and think their prayers have been answered.
Those people must live in a different reality than we do, because despite an abundance of warning signs people still fall for these tricks and gimmicks.
After all, our own personal realities are comprised of our experiences and beliefs, the data given to our brains by our senses and the way our emotions allow our brain to interpret that data.
But some people are capable of ignoring the red flags and warning signs and trusting in someone they’ve never met because, for whatever of a multitude of reasons, they experience a reality where the thing they hope for might just come true, even if others around them can see the danger that lies ahead.
Years ago there was someone in my wider social circle who had began “dating” someone online that she had met in a fan community group, not an actual dating site.
For months, everything seemed, at least on the surface, legit. For the ease of storytelling, I’ll call my friend “Karen” and the online boyfriend “Max;” I’m also going to change a few other details to avoid outing Karen.
So Karen and Max chatted and texted for about six weeks before making plans to meet in person. They never video chatted, but that wasn’t particularly unusual at the time because Apple hadn’t created FaceTime yet and not everyone had a webcam. But he would mention plans he had and then share photos proving he had followed through with such plans.
But then things started getting ... cat-fishy.
Just before he was set to fly to Georgia from Nevada someone broke into his home, stealing much of his stuff and getting his banking info before draining his account.
Well, despite being advised against it, Karen sent Max several thousand dollars to buy a plane ticket and hold him over until the bank could refund his money.
Oh, but of course Max went dark right after the transfer was complete, only to resurface about two weeks later claiming to have been in a car crash on the way to the airport. Oh, how unfortunate!
And now, of course, he only needed a couple more thousand so he could have surgery.
And, despite again being warned against the idea, Karen sent more money, just convinced in her own reality that Max was a real person who had been the victim of a terrible series of circumstances beyond his control.
Now, I never learned the exact details of how it was discovered, but Karen did eventually figure out that Max was actually an overseas con artist. She was devastated, less mad about the money than heartbroken over a relationship that was never real to begin with.
Well, but it was real for her though, wasn’t it?
And that’s the tenuous nature of reality. We can, under the right circumstances, convince ourselves of just about anything and therefore craft our own reality in the way we see fit.
The problems arise when the truth forces its way to the front and slaps your senses straight. One can only hope that scam victims, and potential victims, wake up before their bank account pays a literal price.