Some time ago, I stumbled upon a scam-baiting site; a place where people work together to get their own back on Internet scammers of this type. At first I was pleased that some effort was being made to stamp out this menace, but the more I read, the more I felt that something wasn't quite right. I first became worried, then horrified at what was going on. It certainly changed my perspective on the matter.
Before I write further on this, let me digress with a little imaginary scenario.
Imagine a place where there are two rival groups, let us for sake of neutrality call them the Silvers and the Golds. These groups are frequently in conflict and fatalities often result on both sides. The Silvers are distinguished by their use of blunt weapons; clubs, baseball bats, tyre irons and so on. By contrast the Golds always use edged weapons; cut-throat razors, knives, etc.
So far so bad: It isn't obvious whether being clubbed or being stabbed is worse. Both can hurt or kill you. They are by no means identical in their effects and it might be that under certain specific conditions one method of attack might be considered significantly worse, or more immoral, than the other. Nevertheless a sensible person would say that there's essentially nothing in it; being stabbed and clubbed are both are really bad things.
Now let us say that we are constantly regaled by sensational stories of people (invariably Silvers) being shivved and bleeding to death. Every time someone (invariably a Gold) sticks someone, it is reported in gory detail. Much is made of the pitiful suffering of the victim.
Societies band together for the banning of knives and the compulsory use of safety razors. Vigilante groups form to lynch anyone caught with a blade.
Meanwhile, clubbings go unreported and are ignored. Silvers take pride strolling around with clubs stuck in their belts, those who wield the biggest clubs are honored. Skill in the art of clubbing (but only for legitimate defensive purposes, of course) is considered to be the foremost determinant of a person's worth.
Now if you to complain to an anti-knife society about this situation, they would quite reasonably reply that it isn't their job to fix all of society's ills. After all, a cat shelter could not be considered hypocritical for ignoring abandoned dogs.
They would go on to say, also quite reasonably, about how knifings and slashings are a very terrible thing. They would truthfully say that it's not a good thing to have knife merchants skulking around looking for someone to stab. They would ask (probably sarcastically) whether you were wanting anti-knife societies to disband and thus allow stabbings to continue unchecked.
They would most vigorously claim not to be biased against Golds. They would never mention the word Gold when talking about stabbings (and would strongly censure one of their own for doing so) and they would certainly never claim that a Silver caught stabbing someone would be any less liable for retribution than a Gold. And this would not simply be window-dressing to obscure their real motivations, but would be something they genuinely believe.
"Yes, we agree it's also a terrible thing when someone who doesn't deserve it gets clubbed, and we also agree that clubbing can be every bit as bad as stabbing, but," they would conclude, "it's a free country; you can go form your own anti-clubbing society if it's a concern to you."
They would be saying nothing that's false or even unreasonable. Yet, when the clubbings outnumber the stabbings a hundred to one, and are punished by a limp slap on the wrist (if at all) - and when it's considered taboo and border-line subversive to mention this fact - the presence of a well-resourced anti-knife society exacting unusually harsh justice against knifers can't really be something to feel happy about.
Now let us return to the real world.
Consider the history of Africa: Slavery, massacres, the Belgian Congo, Apartheid, and God knows what else, going back centuries. Much of the wealth in Europe was plundered from its African colonies. Much of the wealth of America was derived from slaves kidnapped from this continent.
This sort of stuff hasn't just stopped. There are still massacres and genocides. Slavery still occurs; both literally (in terms of illegal human trafficking) and in terms of widespread exploitation of people; which is slavery in all but name. Who is it who sews your clothes or puts together your iPhone or digs your diamonds out of the earth for a pittance? Are they really any better off than slave labourers on a 19th century cotton farm?
Rich multinational companies have more power than poor African countries. By threats and bribery, a multinational can steal billions from an African country with impunity.
In my imaginary tale above, we can quite legitimately make the following substitutions:
"Gold" = Poor Black
"Silver = Rich White
"knifings" = Taking money by 419 scams
"clubbings" = Taking money by other dishonest means
But in actual fact, the real situation is even more unfair. Those billionaires exploiting third-world countries are amongst the richest in the world (apparently, the richest 84 people in the world have as much wealth as the poorest 3.5 billion). They are not in any sense of the word in need, yet they destroy the lives of tens or hundreds of millions of people simply to increase their wealth still further.
Now imagine, if you can, living in Nigeria. Although not the poorest country in the world, it is hardly a wealthy place and nearly all of this wealth is held by a small elite. For the majority, there are few opportunities. Even if you're smart and work hard you'll have a miserable life. You are surrounded by corruption, and the examples given by your government and by the rich white corporations who control your resources, is that it's quite normal to grab whatever you can by whatever means are available.
Would you consider it legitimate to use your skills to lift a bit of money off (comparatively) rich whites - and especially whites hoping to obtain unearned wealth by dishonest means - or would you take the more "moral" course of working around the clock sewing brand-name running shoes, in an unsafe factory for starvation wages?
I know what I'd do in those circumstances.
Now let use look at an exchange from the 419eater scam-baiter forum, a place which deserves to be named and shamed:
"I'm going to throw this out here, but, and no offence to the great baiters who have done this, Abeche is so... last year. I hear the new Abeche this season is Liberia. Liberia, where our lad has a pretty good chance of being executed by a 9 yo child soldier, is a great travel destination... though things have calmed down recently. "
...
[That was in the context of a romance scammer who was being tricked into following his supposed victim around the continent.]
"Yeah, Abeche has been done. It's greatest selling point was how far from anything it is. However, the thought of our lad being shot by a child soldier is delightful to me. Liberia is more accessible than Goma, Congo at the moment."
Read it again and consider it for a moment. Here are a bunch of well-off whites quite openly trying to get a black man killed, and they are gloating over the prospect. [And in passing, I note that that they don't consider the existence of 9-year-old child soldiers to be an abomination, but merely a useful tool in their sadistic games.]
By comparison, consider this; sometimes salesmen knowingly try to trick people into buying stuff they can't afford just in order to get a commission. Bankers can knowingly give people loans that they can't repay. People lose all of their money and get hopelessly into debt as a result. Both in terms of the morality of the perpetrator and the effect on the victim, this is in many ways worse than a 419 scam.
Should we therefore form societies to arrange for the murder of used car salesmen, bankers and so forth? It would only be fair.
So, as usual, I've laboured my point excessively, so let me just conclude by saying:
Scam-baiters are cowardly lynch-mobs of well-off people who are unconsciously motivated by racism. By comparison, 419 scammers are simply doing what they can to survive and (in comparison) deserve your sympathy.
