Summary

The article discusses the phenomenon of "true believers," individuals who hold onto beliefs without evidence or despite contradictory evidence, as seen in cases like the Tinder Swindler, fake psychic Morris Lamar Keene, and the OneCoin scandal, emphasizing the role of confirmation bias in sustaining such beliefs.

Abstract

The concept of a "true believer" is explored in the context of individuals who maintain their convictions in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. The article cites several examples, including the Tinder Swindler, Simon Leviev, who deceived women with a false identity, and Morris Lamar Keene, a self-confessed fake psychic who continued to be revered by his followers even after revealing his fraud. It also touches on the OneCoin scandal, where people continued to invest in a cryptocurrency that was exposed as a scam. The article suggests that confirmation bias may contribute to this unwavering faith in falsehoods, as people tend to notice and remember information that confirms their preconceptions while ignoring evidence that contradicts them.

Opinions

The author implies that true believers are susceptible to deception due to their unwillingness to consider evidence that challenges their beliefs.
The article questions why individuals, such as the victims of the Tinder Swindler, failed to verify the authenticity of Simon Leviev's identity despite the availability of contradictory evidence online.
It is suggested that the allure of a romantic narrative or material luxuries can blind individuals to the truth, as seen in the Tinder Swindler case.
The author expresses astonishment at the followers of Morris Lamar Keene who continued to believe in his psychic abilities even after his confession of fraud.
The persistence of the OneCoin operation, despite clear evidence of its fraudulent nature, is presented as an example of how true believers can be swayed by the promise of financial gain and remain in denial of a scam.
The article posits that confirmation bias is a key factor in the true believer syndrome, leading individuals to selectively accept information that aligns with their beliefs while dismissing contradictory evidence.
The author concludes with a rhetorical question, pondering whether the inability to admit being deceived contributes to the tenacious hold on false beliefs among true believers.

Are You a True Believer or a Believer in What Isn’t True?

You Have Faith Despite the Evidence

What is a true believer? The dictionary tells us that a true believer is someone who professes absolute belief in something.

What makes someone a true believer? I’m not talking about religion, although I guess that’s the epitome of a true believer but, rather, someone who believes that something is true despite evidence pointing to the contrary.

A true believer isn’t interested in any evidence that might contradict their belief.

I’m seeing more and more cases of the true believer syndrome lately. Or am I just noticing what’s always been there?

The Tinder Swindler

If you haven’t watched the series on Netflix, you might still be aware of Simon Leviev, the 31 year old Israeli who pretended to be part of the diamond dynasty, the son of Lev Leviev.

Now, there are many photos of Lev Leviev and his family online and, clearly, Simon isn’t in the photos. Simon conned women by photoshopping himself in to a photo with his ‘mum and dad’ but wouldn’t anyone who was considering dating, and especially being in a serious relationship, with such a high profiling tinder client google this guy?

Clearly not. Maybe they were dewy eyed romantics or maybe they fell for the private jets, 5 star hotels and extravagant gifts and who wouldn’t? No judgement here.

But I can’t understand why the warning bells didn’t just tinkle in their ears but bells the size of Big Ben weren’t clanging in their head when he started asking for money because, as part of the diamond trading family, he was in danger.

Really?

I know that it’s easy for me to sit here and scoff but I can’t believe that there wasn’t a time when his victims started to smell a rat.

So what kept them in the con? Because they were true believers. They wanted to believe in the story of their romance and they couldn’t believe that it was fake.

The Fake Psychic

Morris Lamar Keene was a big name in Tampa, Florida in the 1960’s and 70’s. If you wanted to speak to the dead, Keene was your man.

Keene was a fake psychic who convinced his clients that he could communicate with the dead. He and his friend set up a spiritualist church and, even though he was more con man than psychic, became rich and famous.

But despite the money, glamour and adulation, Keene confessed that he was a fraud but was astounded when, even though he told his congregation that it was all lies and tricks, they continued to want to believe in his psychic abilities.

Keene said, in his own words, ‘I was crushed. I knew how easy it was to make people believe a lie, but I didn’t expect that the same people, confronted with the lie, would choose it over the truth.’

Keene found that you can tell someone to their face that you’re conning them and they’d still rather believe the lie than the truth.

The Cryptoqueen

The same true believer blind faith is demonstrated by the people in the OneCoin ‘family’.

in 2014, Dr Ruja Ignatova launched OneCoin to the world. A crypto currency to rival Bitcoin and eventually take over as the leading coin.

People from around the world poured billions in to this coin even though it didn’t exist and never had a blockchain. By 2016 the cracks were showing and OneCoin was denounced as a ponzi scheme.

And then, in 2017, Dr Ignatova was due to attend an event in Lisbon but boarded a plane to Athens instead and has never been seen again. Her brother Konstantin was later arrested by the FBI.

And yet OneCoin is still in existence. Knowing that this is a pyramid scam and that the currency is worthless, it still continues.

Maybe it is too difficult for people that invested thousands, and more, to believe that they’ve been scammed. They’d rather keep faith with the lie.

Why?

Could It Be Anything to Do With Confirmation Bias

Maybe confirmation bias plays a part to keep the true believers faith alive? You know, like the people who believe that they see the number 11.11 when they look at a digital clock and believe that 1111 has some kind of mystical properties. And, if they happen to glance at the clock and see 11.12, the don’t register the information.

Confirmation bias ensures that they only see 11.11 because that’s what they’re looking for and this bias can lead people to accept dubious information as true and to reject reliable information as false. It can also lead people to form inaccurate beliefs and make poor decisions.

Like true believers, if you fall foul of confirmation bias you will only pay attention to information that confirms your belief and ignore or discounti information that contradicts that belief.

Are you a true believer?

Being called a true believer could either be an insult or a compliment depending on your point of view. If you have faith in God and can’t be swayed, you could be called a true believer.

But for someone who doesn’t believe in a higher entity, this belief could be seen as blind faith and as foolish as believing in a non existent crypto currency, a fake psychic or a Tinder swindler.

I’m sure that Simon Leviev’s victims must have had friends or family that tried to point out that their boyfriend’s behaviour smelt fishier than a harbour when the boats dock and yet the women that fell for Leviev’s con would have seen this truth as false as they clung on to what they believed.

The late Lamar Keene said in his book, Psychic Mafia, ‘ The true-believer syndrome merits study by science. What is it that compels a person, past all reason, to believe the unbelievable? How can an otherwise sane individual become so enamored [sic] of a fantasy, an imposture, that even after it’s exposed in the bright light of day he still clings to it– indeed, clings to it all the harder?

The true-believer syndrome is the greatest thing phony mediums have going for them. No amount of logic can shatter a faith consciously based on a lie.’ ``Could it be that the conned can’t admit to themselves that they’ve been conned and so cling ever more tenaciously to the lie?

Are you a true believer?