Editor’s Opinion ❘ By BOBBY HALTON
Every now and then, we meet someone or we see a presentation from someone and think, “Wow, this is different” or “Could this be true?” We are always trying to learn—most of us have a relentless thirst for knowledge. Most firefighters are lifetime students: We read constantly. We listen to podcasts, classes, and lectures. We drill at the physical skills. We are forever looking at new tools, tactics, and methods. We are also trusting, which is a good thing—up to a point.
What captures our attention is worth examining. The power of persuasion is sometimes the driving force behind the message. Sometimes, it is the topic itself in which you may not be deeply educated in all the aspects, so the new insights seem impressive. Then, we have the too-good-to-be-true category and the incomprehensible category. As time goes on eventually, we find out the truth of the matter. Sometimes it makes us mad when we discover the message was wrong or fantasy or deception. We often feel ashamed we were taken or fooled. Then, sometimes, it makes us feel more assured that although we fell for something, we have learned something useful. To quote Roger Daltrey of The Who, “We won’t get fooled again.”
One of the ways we can know if something is true or not is if the person who is sharing the idea can make it understandable. Einstein famously once said, “If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, you don’t know what you are talking about.” That’s a keeper. “But what about the dynamically complex business of firefighting?” you say. Well, with all due respect, old Albert was just a nuclear physicist. And, often, we feel embarrassed asking questions we think will make us look stupid. Bamboozlers love this, as they get us to nod in agreement with their baloney.
Often, the folks who are modern-day “snake oil salesmen” will try to bamboozle us with complicated theories and very intricate algorithms. The postmodernists, a group of philosophers who have an incredible understanding of the power of language, which they used to disguise not only their message but their intentions, remain today the gold standard for bamboozlement through language. They are the world’s biggest pushers of nonsense; they are the self-identified “elites”—a collection of overcredentialed idiots with very impressive vocabularies, big social media profiles, and no useful skills.
Carl Sagan said, “One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.” No one is immune from being taken, bamboozled, or fooled. I have been; you have been; and, if we are lucky enough to live long enough, we probably will be again.
The world of technology has been and is famous for its charlatans and posers and to the point of we’re all susceptible to being taken. The recent worldwide story of “Theranos” and its founder Elizabeth Holmes is a case in point. Now, Elizabeth Holmes was no ordinary bamboozler; she was a brilliant bamboozler. The daughter of a former Enron executive, she studied and spoke Mandarin and dropped out of Stanford at age 19 to pursue computer-related businesses she had started. Theranos was her capstone; the company’s purpose was to provide blood testing with proprietary technology that could diagnose a wide variety of illnesses and problems instantly and easily.
Elizabeth Holmes was able to create partnerships and get funding with massive companies such as Safeway and Walgreens. She enlisted support and financial backing from people as erudite as Jim Mattis, as famous as Bill Clinton, and as influential as Joe Biden. She was, by all accounts, the most impressive entrepreneur of her time. The problem was, it was all a fraud; she fooled everyone—for a while. Today she is facing life in prison for fraud and embezzlement. So even the well-educated, the sophisticated, and the political big shots bought into her hook, line, and sinker. So, are we any less susceptible? Nope, well, not me, anyway.
A few years ago, I met a guy through my California technology friends who, much like Elizabeth Holmes, was said to have the world by the tail. He was building cities and transportation systems of the future and sounded like the next Tesla (the man, not the car). Like Holmes, he was charming and charismatic. He was so highly spoken of that I never once suspected he was a bamboozler. I was so taken that I had him speak, and the crowd loved him. The problem was, he was making stuff up.
Now, to be fair, the folks who wrote “The Jetsons” made stuff up, and some has come true (like “TV phones”), but most of it, not so much. And, as firefighters, we make stuff up all the time, but we don’t sell it. We don’t take folks’ money and ruin people’s futures on lies and fantasy.
So, how do we protect ourselves from being taken? Well, it is tough. I would not suggest trusting the government; the government is probably one of the worst at detecting fraud and the best and promoting it. Depending on how it helps the narrative for their party, these charlatans can go anywhere. No, I think the test is always common sense and polite but respectful confrontation. Thomas Jefferson wrote to his nephew, “Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.”
The old adage, “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me,” is one to hold dear. The goal for firefighters is to stay curious; be inquisitive; and, when it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
