Loyalty is nice, but…
On April 30, Pastor Jim Staley plead guilty to multiple counts of felony wire fraud. The charges stem from Staley’s involvement in a complex scheme, which used phony life insurance policies, front companies, deceptive contracts and other dubious methods to defraud elderly investors out of millions of dollars. Many of those who were taken in by the scheme later said they believed that Staley was a ‘nice, religious man.’
The statements of Staley’s victims, the detailed federal indictment, even Staley’s acknowledgement of guilt in open court, seems to have had no impact on his religiously obsessed followers. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that:
“The courtroom overflowed with so many Staley supporters Thursday that some federal agents and court staff were relocated to open up more seats. After the hearing, Staley thanked members of the crowd for coming. They responded with applause.”
That’s from Addicting Info. Interesting, isn’t it – they “support” him despite knowing that he defrauded people of millions of dollars.
It’s almost as if people don’t always have good judgement.
It’s almost as if people don’t always have good judgement.
God put him there to teach them a lesson?
Why of course, Ophelia. They are Christians, after all. They are expected to forgive all sins and love the sinner. I’m sure they would have done the same even if Staley wasn’t a member of their particular church, heck, even if he was a Jew or a Muslim, right? Right?…hey, is this thing on?
No, people don’t really often show good judgment. Toss in a load of religion and a deep need to praise repentance and redemption and a lot of people’s compass gets spun.
But even in something blindingly simple, like ‘buy low and sell high’ evades them if emotions get involved. Fact is most people trading stocks lose money because, in starkly simple terms, they buy high and sell low. Mostly because they fall in love with their stock picks, fail to contemplate that the basic apply to them, and are vulnerable to herd behavior.
Economic forecasts often fail because they assume humans are brutally rational actors when the evidence shows that we aren’t.