Sunday, May 9, 2010

Con means Confidence

It's kind of amusing how the OLCC is still covering it's ass over John Doe/Jason Evers.

Of course we did a background check! they say; even though it's clear that many of the jobs and institutions he had listed as background never existed.

But it's been nagging me ever since that first article in the Bulletin about what a "nice" guy Jason Evers is or was.

A con man is someone who is adept at gaining your confidence, folks. A sociopath is someone who can be highly intelligent and manipulative; and without a conscience.

Being nice and playing the bureaucratic game well doesn't make you -- honest, or competent, or reliable.

Frankly, he comes across more as a suck-up and brownnoser. A talented liar.

It should give everyone the willies that he had a woman convinced enough of his charm that she was willing her house to him! How long had they known each other before she told him she was childless -- before he zeroed in on her vulnerabilities?

I had a competitor once who was a very nice guy -- on the surface. But underneath he was manipulative and dishonest. It completely amazed me that people could literally catch him doing very unethical things and they would forgive him -- because they liked him.

If someone comes across as super super nice -- it should actually be a warning. Trying too hard? Being too accommodating? Saying the right thing all the time?

Not saying is might not be true, just to be careful. Because the nicest most accommodating and flattering people in the world are "confidence" men.

4 comments:

Duncan McGeary said...

In fact, I'd be willing to bet that the unexplained money -- the "inheritance" and the false identity are connected, and that he has pulled off a con before. We don't really even know he real age, do we?

Duncan McGeary said...

And the fact that he's still not willing to give his identity would seem a warning that whatever he's hiding is pretty serious.

Duncan McGeary said...

It would be fun to speculate -- well, fun may not be the right word -- interesting to speculate.

It seems less and less likely that it's something relatively innocent. "Oh, I had a rough childhood and I just wanted a fresh start." Or..."I had a bunch of traffic tickets and bad credit and skipped out on my rent."

I'd think he'd fess up to those...

Maybe he isn't an American citizen? Maybe he absconded with someone's money? Drug money?

Maybe if he gave his true name, it would come up in connection to a serious crime that he would've been a suspect if he hadn't disappeared?

Like I said, if we don't really know his age, he could be five to ten years older.

What's sad is that it's obvious from his intelligence and the hard work he put into conning people, that he could have succeeded on the up and up.

But his troubles at the OLCC point to a very flawed person -- who would eventually have revealed his true self.

Duncan McGeary said...

I mean, here's a guy who you'd think do everything he could to keep on the down low and he unnecessarily calls attention to himself.

Which means to me, that he just couldn't help himself. And he probably couldn't help himself in his previous life, either, whatever it was...