Grifts are not long cons either. Cons exploit timeless human fallibility (see for example Erving Goffman classic “on cooling the mark out”). Grifts otoh exploit potentially solvable problems. http://infofranpro.wikidot.com/19520101-on-cooling …
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Grifts are not frauds either. Occassionaly they may rely on misinformation, bad science or philosophy but rarely on intentionally falsified information or scholarship. Frauds involve deliberate lying that could be exposed. Grifts are built on shaky but not false ground.
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Grifts feed the urge to “do something” to stop feeling helpless in the face of hard problems. If it looks like a theater about a hard problem, and fits the “-washing” suffix, it’s a grift. Greenwashing Covidwashing Wokewashing Magawashing Security theater All grifts.
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Grifts feed what was called the politicians syllogism is Yes, Prime Minister: We must do something This is something We must do this Usually the utter mismatch between problem and supposed solution is obvious to experienced people. It is obvious how it will fail on day 1.
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But it is really hard to explain because the weakness is at the level of systems impedance mismatch. You can’t prove it can’t work. And sometimes a grift is timed right so it is active when broader forces actually cause movement on the problem, and the grifters can claim credit.
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Grifts often rely on narrative vacuums. When the real story is too complicated or boring or requires numbers and graphs to understand, people reach for the simpler story. Grifters supply it. Plastic straw ban bullshit narrative? Pure 100% sustainability grifter theater.
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You don’t even have to be a sustainability expert. Five minutes googling reveals that plastic straws are not a real problem, that the whole campaign was based on some kid’s estimate, that fishing nets are the actually biggest source of plastic waste etc etc.
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Anybody who knowingly pushed and hyped that thing literally does not care about the environment, climate action or sustainability. They merely want to profit from the existence of climate action as a hard problem,em people are motivated to do something about. Grifters.
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The world is currently overflowing with hard problems, so it is overflowing with grift as well. To be continued. Gotta shower, eat, and do a meeting.
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I'd have to look into it to evaluate
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