From a great old song lyric: “The self-deception that believes the lie.” We buy the lie and then it owns us. We cannot bear to admit our stupidity.

Recall, from J.A.C. Brown’s seminal book Techniques of Persuasion, two truths we ignore at our peril:

“The will to believe is more powerful than any mere experience.” We can be shown the truth with reason and logic, but we cling to the lie. Black is white, wrong is right, up is down, day is night.

“Emotion is stronger than reason in the vast majority of people.” Speaks for itself, doesn’t it? We are owned, possessed and devoured by our emotions.

Last point. Successful con artists are excellent at their grifts. They have mastered the arts of sincerity, eye contact, conviction. Remember the old Hollywood adage: “Once you master the art of sincerity, you’ve got it made.” I speak from personal experience, having been conned expertly by a truly gifted grifter and, oh, how I wanted to believe him!

My Quora nemesis, ever alert, asked about how I was conned. Easily.

I’d had a radio series (600 episodes) on CBS radio: TECHNOLOGY UPDATE, from Silicon Valley, World Headquarters of the 21st Century. The con artist, named (real or not? dunno) Keith Wood contacted me and said he was a network scout and talent agent. Was I interested in a TV series on technology? Would I make a demo for him? Yes and yes (the demo cost me $5,000). He: “Great. I can get this to the Program Director of NBC in Los Angeles, an old friend. He’s looking for a technology series. But I need your support to put a complete package together, travel, etc. Please give me $5,000—the job will be worth ten times that, per month, and I’ll defer my commission until that $5,000 is repaid.” I borrowed and sent it.

After three weeks I called the NBC PD: “Keith Wood? Never heard of him.”

I never heard from him again. My wife employed a private investigator, who uncovered a long, dirty list of successful scams this person had perpetrated.