Liar Liar

Met an old fren of more than 10 years, he's happily married and expecting a child. Both husband and wife are tertiary educated, so I believe they have achieve certain level of intellectual advantage. Until they brought to my attention the existance of IPC marketing, or something that sounds like it.

Having shown me some newspaper cutting including officiation by some minister and 'Superbrand' award, this is actually a scheme to make quick money without much of hard work. I think Einstein will agree that this is even more powerful than 'compound interest' and ranked as the 9th wonder of the worlds (reminds me of Heroes).

Histories and mechanism of this scheme aside, I deduced that this is an grotesque manifestation of capitalism. Or is it Idealism? No work, high pay... Idiotism sounds more logical. Using China and its abundant opportunities as bait, they'll lure unexpected or should I say, dense victims into joining member and pay a fee of RM 1k plus. Relatively small amount for an investment, nothing much to loose, it seems.

This kind of schemes aside, almost evry other day there's news bout SMS prize scam, telephone prize scams, internet scams (no longer a new thing), even telephone court case scams... People are so predictable, and conmen are always thinking of new ways to manipulate the human weakness. I really don't sympathize them, neither condoning act of the likes. But as long as there are numskulled, conmen can always thrive.

Another interesting internet phenomenon is project '2nd Life'. 1 of the ways for loosers to escape reality and hoping to make virtual money... Yes, some people actually made some $$ (Linden Lab especially), but the whole thing gives me a scam feeling... Bubble building up waiting to burst, and then we'll see many people, mostly not so dense but more of a risk taker, see their own end.

Old school thoughts aside, I came to realise this whole reality is actually about trust and lies. Each day we were facing, decisions made based on how much you believe in something, or how you decipher lies. Under this context, self confidence is instrumental in ones ultimate success. You did it when most people believe in you, including your doubtful self!

So, are there no such thing as magic?