Mystery Writers Forum
General Discussion and News => Chat => Topic started by: Dolly on February 23, 2008, 03:49:22 PM
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This is so good. An ebay scammer really thinks she can get away with sending buyers a picture of a cell phone instead of an actual cell phone that the bulk of the ad seems to offer. Judge Judy begs to differ :) :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJDK6ctRjqw
Okay, the girl is so dumb and pathetic I find myself feeling sorry for her, like I would for any dumb animal that got into a trap. If you tried to write about a fictional crook who was so dumb, would anyone believe it? She thinks she's some criminal master mind who's found an ingenious loop hole.
I find so much of this astounding. From the comments it appears a lot of people think she was legally off the hook because she buried a two word description of what she intended to sell, Photo Only, in the ad, or that her only slip up was to misstate the weight, and otherwise she'd have gotten away with it. Many seem to think you can write a misleading, deceptive ad, where you obviously don't expect people to know what you intend to send them, and get away with it. What a poor view people have of the legal system! I'm also surprised to see how many think the Judge Judy show is a real court room.
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Dolly,
Re your comment below:
I'm also surprised to see how many think the Judge Judy show is a real court room.
You mean it's not?
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I'm also surprised to see how many think the Judge Judy show is a real court room.
I can't speak to whether the physical room is a "real court room" however, I would suggest you read the article on Judge Judy in Wikipedia. According to them the cases are real, and her findings are binding.
Elena
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Her first mistake was using her real name and address. Her second mistake was walking into a literal show trial.
The woman obviously read about similar scams and thought it would be easy. I hope she learned that crime (just like everything else) only pays if you're smart.
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This scammer/woman clearly thought what she'd done wasn't illegal, and that she's cleverly skirted the law. Not only did she give her real name, she went on national TV and admitted what she was doing!
I hate to write anyone off, but this woman seems beyond redemption. Not only did she not realize it was illegal, she doesn't think she did anything wrong, and that it was the victims fault for not reading the ad word for word. Even after being well disabused of the idea that it wasn't illegal, she'll no doubt continue to think she didn't do anything wrong.
I was trying to think of a believable fictional character who turned themselves around from completely immoral thinking, and can't come up with any. Does anyone know of one? It would be an interesting read to see how the turn around came about. I can't even think of a real person who redeemed themselves, and that's depressing. Can anyone cheer me up with some examples? :)
Take Care, Dolly
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Dolly,
Re your question below:
I can't even think of a real person who redeemed themselves, and that's depressing. Can anyone cheer me up with some examples?
It was nearly two thousand years ago, but how about St. Augustine?
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I can't even think of a real person who redeemed themselves, and that's depressing. Can anyone cheer me up with some examples?
I call them the "silent heros", and without giving names, I have been blessed with being involved with people who redeemed themselves:
- when I taught in a high school where my home room had 53 boys, 49 of whom had police records,
- two of my students when I taught in a college,
- a few of my clients when I was a probation officer,
- people I've met who were helped/supported by AA or NA participation.
- and a few who just popped up in my life.
In all cases it was clear to me that the idea of needing a village to raise a child is considerably broader. Everyone I can think of, besides being ready to change, needed at least one person (usually more) to not only believe in them, but to reach out a hand.
Elena
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Related news: "Smiling Bob" Verdict: Guilty (http://www.wdtn.com/global/story.asp?s=7913949)
The eBay photo scam is qualitatively no different from "snake oil" scams, envelope stuffing schemes, psychic hotlines, or (in my opinion) Sea Monkeys (http://www.bubblegun.com/culturepop/seamonkey.html).
When done correctly, the seller should deliver exactly what the ad promises, and it should be plausible that a) the buyer knew what he was buying and/or b) the seller honestly represented what he was selling. On eBay, collectible boxes work well.
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ahhhhhhhhhh If you can't trust Smiling Bob, who can you trust? Now I have to put all my trust in Sylvia Browne (the psychic). :P
I can't say that Jim coming up with one person in 2000 years who found redemption cheered me up much :). Elena's list gave me more reason for optimism.
Take Care, Dolly
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I remember my high school history teacher describing an ad that appeared at the back of magazines back in the 1930s. "Guaranteed to kill roaches when used as directed." What you got for your money plus shipping was two small blocks of wood and the directions "Place roach between pieces of wood. Press hard." It was accurate, as it really did kill roaches when used as directed, but misleading, so it does fall under the category of false advertising, just as the photo of the cell phone would.
Judy Nichols
www.judy5cents.com (http://www.judy5cents.com)
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Dolly,
Re your comment below:
I can't say that Jim coming up with one person in 2000 years who found redemption cheered me up much :). Elena's list gave me more reason for optimism.
Well, Augustine was the first actual well-known name that occurred to me. It doesn't mean he's the only one.
I know of a lot of convicts who get religion in the Joint. For a lot of them, probably most of them, it's just another form of scamming, getting the suits who run the place to believe they've reformed so they can get paroles or early releases.
For a significant percentage, though, the conversion is sincere and genuine, and a lot of those guys make a point of going back to their old neighborhoods and trying to steer young people off the road they took.
I personally met an old Alcatraz resident (and the worst of the worst went to Alcatraz; it was the SuperMax of its day), I can't recall his name just now, a convicted ransom kidnapper who turned his life around after his release, got a straight profession, and was even able to gain a presidential pardon on the basis of how much he'd reformed (he was already out and free by this time; the pardon just restored some of the citizenship rights he'd lost as a convicted felon).
When I met him, he was working for the National Park Service, doing lectures and presentations during tours of Alcatraz, recomending the straight and narrow.
I also recall at least one Old West outlaw (again, I can't recall the name, but I can find out) who not only turned his life around, but became a traveling clergymen.
Stories of redemption are a lot more common than you think (and as a cop, I'm disposed to be pretty cynical). I shouldn't have given the impression that St. Augustine was the only one in the last two millenia.
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Dolly,
I see that Jim and I are coming from differing definitions of "redeemed" - Jim is reading a religious redemption, while I'm read societal redemption. None of the people I thought of became more or less involved with religion than previously, as far as I know. What I saw was that they all turned away from a path of criminal activity and/or self-destruction. So, between Jim and me, you have a much wider group of people to consider.
Always fascinating how what we write is interpreted by the reader.
I really learned about that having to make up test questions for my students. I'm imaginative, but their collective imagination far exceeded mine :D
Elena
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It's interesting to see how inmates find their paths to redemption when most prison systems are geared toward warehousing criminals and not toward rehabilitation. Prisoners often turn to religion because it's the only sanctioned program available, other than very meager scholastic programs, where they can seek to turn away from criminal lifestyles. Many prison religious programs are led by self-taught "pastors."
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Elena,
Re your comment below:
I see that Jim and I are coming from differing definitions of "redeemed" - Jim is reading a religious redemption, while I'm read societal redemption. None of the people I thought of became more or less involved with religion than previously, as far as I know. What I saw was that they all turned away from a path of criminal activity and/or self-destruction. So, between Jim and me, you have a much wider group of people to consider.
Not necessarily. For one thing, I don't know that the old Alcatraz resident I met had ever had a religious conversion (though, in the context of that paragraph, it might not have been clear that his was not necessarily a religious transformation). In any case, he redeemed himself societally by becoming a useful, honest member of society.
Still, I'm kinda religious myself, and as a Christian, "redemption" does has specific meaning to me, so I probably did tend to key on people who found God before changing their lives.
Nevertheless, when I spoke of prison conversions, I meant it a prelude to societal redemption. Those guys whose conversions were sincere, and who then went out and tried to make up for what they'd done by being useful to the communities they'd once victimized, were who I meant to emphasize. Whether or not they were motivated by a religious experience, their subsequent actions, the only thing by which we can really judge a person, were what redeemed them in the eyes of society.