I have a bridge to sell you, would you be willing to buy it?

This week I have been thinking a lot about gullibility, specifically, do the gullible deserve to be swindled? With each deception, swindler, and scam I learn about I, unfortunately, am quick to roll my eyes or feel for an instant a sense of superiority for surely not I would fall for such a thing. From 10,000 feet I see so many "red flags" and I think to myself How could anyone possibly believe that? 

Taking time to reflect, I think that I somehow believe my intelligence or my heightened sense of caution either makes me better than those who fall for deception or makes me immune to deception all together. So, with my logic, does a having a moment of ignorance make someone unintelligent? Are all those deemed unintelligent deserving of deception? Does that ignorance equal guilt? Do they deserve it?

To be deceived you first have to put your trust in someone or something, because deception is a manipulation of some form of trust. So how can someone deserve something if deception is not a fair exchange. Those who are out to deceive others are in the business of exploiting the emotions. They are not out to prey on stupidity but to mimic credibility, and even the most well educated can fall for an expertly crafted lie.  

When I think about it, those that are the most susceptible to deception just might be the best of us; the most open-minded and open-hearted. So how can I put the blame on a person like that. Society often glorifies the smooth-talkers and the hustlers (and sometimes I do too), but if I believe that deception is bad, than the blame needs to fall on the deceiver each and every time. 

All in all, I think I have started to see that no one deserves to be tricked, swindled, or deceived. Being gullible is a part of being human and instead of my mind jumping to feeling superior, it should start by feeling empathy and then maybe a little anger on behalf of my fellow humans who still hold fast to their open-hearted nature.