Why are Mormons so gullible?

[YOhio]

Originally Posted by UtahDan

I would say that it is because that we are conditioned to take things on faith. Some people mistakenly or inadvently convert this into a faith in individuals. I don't personally understand this because I am incredibly suspicious of anyone who seemly is exploiting my fellowship with him in the church for financial gain. I am probably unreasonably hypersensative to this. I walk miles around ever offering my services to anyone.

I also recall growing up that a relative involved my parents in a particular type of investment which made them a fair amount of money and which they offered to many of their church friends who also made money from it for a time. Ultimately, however, to everyone's surpise, the relative was defrauding everyone and when it fell apart everyone lost their money. I know to this day that my parents feel as though they caused many of their closest friends to get screwed. So my view on this is colored by that experience.

When I do business with members it is because I have sought out their services or they have sought out mine. I insist on paying and recieving fair value.

I've seen incidents' similar to the one you described in several different wards. One member has an idea or network marketing ploy and then a few members of the ward buy in. When the pyramid crumbles, relationships are damaged and there are bad feelings in the ward. I 100% agree with your stance regarding working with members. There are members who won't think twice about asking an accountant to do their taxes for them (for free), a lawyer to draw up a will (for free), or a doctor to do a check-up (for free).

I don't think that faith is the reason Mormon's buy into these schemes. I think it's greed. After reading SU's post, I realized that gullible is not the word I should have used. I should have used greed. Gullible is Charlie Brown when Lucy promises to hold the football. Greed is the trait that compels someone to invest in a shady scheme with the hopes of getting rich.

[Detroitdad]

Originally Posted by YOhio

I've seen incidents' similar to the one you described in several different wards. One member has an idea or network marketing ploy and then a few members of the ward buy in. When the pyramid crumbles, relationships are damaged and there are bad feelings in the ward. I 100% agree with your stance regarding working with members. There are members who won't think twice about asking an accountant to do their taxes for them (for free), a lawyer to draw up a will (for free), or a doctor to do a check-up (for free).

I don't think that faith is the reason Mormon's buy into these schemes. I think it's greed. After reading SU's post, I realized that gullible is not the word I should have used. I should have used greed. Gullible is Charlie Brown when Lucy promises to hold the football. Greed is the trait that compels someone to invest in a shady scheme with the hopes of getting rich.

There is definitely a mixture of greed and gullibility necessary for most of the most egregious scams. It seems to me that greed is what drives the size of the investment. But lets not forget the importance of ignorance in this cocktail. Con men usually prey on the weak.

Of course, it is disingenuous to always blame the victim. Many times dishonest people give off every outward sign of legitimacy and even the most diligent investor can get duped.

[danimal]

My grampa got ripped off by some scheme by a counselor in the bishopric who took his money and ran. I think he lost at least $ 100k. I think he was looking for something for nothing. I think the promises of blessings leads us to think we deserve great output for little input, and these schemes take advantage of that.

[SteelBlue]

Perhaps a little off topic here, but I read an interesting article in Money magazine last year that kind of blew the lid off the stereotype of scam victims being either elderly or idiots. I found a link to the article here:

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/money...2428/index.htm


A brief summary in one quote: "And according to an eye-opening new study by the National Association of Securities Dealers, people with financial education and higher incomes are actually more likely than others to fall for investment scams."

Perhaps Mormons aren't any more gullible than any other large group of people.

[tooblue]

Originally Posted by YOhio

I've seen incidents' similar to the one you described in several different wards. One member has an idea or network marketing ploy and then a few members of the ward buy in. When the pyramid crumbles, relationships are damaged and there are bad feelings in the ward. I 100% agree with your stance regarding working with members. There are members who won't think twice about asking an accountant to do their taxes for them (for free), a lawyer to draw up a will (for free), or a doctor to do a check-up (for free).

I don't think that faith is the reason Mormon's buy into these schemes. I think it's greed. After reading SU's post, I realized that gullible is not the word I should have used. I should have used greed. Gullible is Charlie Brown when Lucy promises to hold the football. Greed is the trait that compels someone to invest in a shady scheme with the hopes of getting rich.

I think greed is a much more accurate word. And SU is the perfect example of inbred gullibility