Catch My Grift

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Are we all casually floating adrift down the river of grift? I might even be bold enough to say that an unaware person’s life is built on a grift… So, what is it?

Grifting: a method of obtaining profit (money, power, property, etc.) falsely through swindling and dishonesty.

How do we fall for a grift? Well, like any 30 something year old woman with a history of playing mash and making fortune tellers in my teen years, I came up with a “red flags of dating” list… but for grifting.

THE RED FLAGS OF DAT...I MEAN GRIFTING:

1|> Identifies a problem you didn’t know you had.

-In the not-so-subtle art of grifting… the grifter first identifies a problem you didn’t even know you had. This is a basic “sales” tactic: present a problem that needs to be solved, like… yesterday. It’ll basically be the first thing out of a grifter’s mouth. There’s no, “hey, tell me about yourself.” Nope, they already have identified exactly who they think you are and exactly what problem you absolutely need to solve. There is a CRISIS, and it needs to be addressed. Funny thing about a true crisis… someone doesn’t have to tell you that there is one. In catching a grift, the first words matter.

2|> Magically having the exact solution to your “problem.”

-So you’re emotionally hyped up on some inflammatory language and behold… a savior! Thank the high heavens that this problem (you didn’t even know you had) can be solved! Oh, and guess who the savior is… yeah, I don’t have to tell you… So shocking! Honestly, sometimes there really are problems you didn’t know you had, but don’t worry… we’ll get to that.

TWO CLOSING TACTICS OF A GRIFTER

3|> The pressure cooker.

-Well, this one most people can smell from a mile away… sometimes. It really depends on how much they’re tapping into your emotions, desires, or weaknesses. A grifter will make it seem like TIME IS RUNNING OUT! This is an urgent matter and if you’re not going to take action… welp, good luck buddy. This is a one-time-only chance and if you don’t take it… sorry, you’re screwed. Nice knowin’ ya!

Oh, the audacity! How exclusive! How remarkable that you are privy to this knowledge, or opportunity, or information. YIKES! If you feel enticed by this method, it’s best to take a step back and step out of the hypnosis your human nature’s survival responses sedated you with.

4|>The slow cooker.

-Well, gee whiz… surprisingly the pressure cooker method A. doesn’t work in certain circumstances or B.doesn’t work on everyone, so let’s go ahead and boil this frog, shall we? The slow cooker is a long game tactic. It’s usually used in social engineering (the use of centralized planning in an attempt to manage social change and regulate the future development and behavior of a society) or when a gentleman is trying to woo a woman - oop, did I say that? Just kidding, kinda. But, let’s look at this seriously. This is a method that has an end goal in mind… but the end goal isn’t what’s presented at the start. Instead, there are incremental stages. It’s like the classic metaphor of boiling a frog. If you stick a frog in boiling water, he’ll jump out… if you stick a frog in room temperature water and turn it up one degree at a time… welp. Yeah, that’s the slow cooker method of a grift.

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Okay, okay, okay… so sometimes some of these methods are actually just a part of normal, productive persuasion. Humans are always manipulating with communication, and manipulation isn’t always a dirty word… Sometimes we are merely trying to find common ground, common goals, and mutually beneficial solutions. So how do you catch the grift?

To catch a grift, you must weigh the end results against the present persuasion. Look at where the profit (power) goes. Does the end result create mutual benefit, empowerment, or dependency? Effective arguments, when there’s a grift, depend heavily, not on logic or reason, but on emotion. You can’t uncover the actual intentions of a communication, but you can learn to detach and weigh out the actual exchange you’re about to agree to… Catch my grift?

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