Fools

Using the word "fool" might seem indelicate or crass in the context of ethics. However, in the real-time world of business the word is very much on the minds of some business people. A fool has at least two contexts.

1. Here a fool is mesmerized by some unreasonable belief. Professional people invariably meet such people who will not listen to reason or the advice of a professional. For instance, a client might want his stock broker to buy a certain stock because his neighbor said it was a good buy. The stockbroker recognizes the stock as a bad buy and tries to convince his client not to buy. But the fool will not listen to the details of reason and shuts out anything contrary to what he wants. The problem here is that this sort of behavior is an insult to an honest and profession person at some point. Some business people are tempted to exploit the client at this point because they have become personally involved.

2. A fool can also be a person who his terribly naive an trusting. First time home buyers are known to fall for houses in disrepair because they trust their realtors advice and are so naive they would never know the difference.

3. A social game player who really is not that bright trying to play with the big boys. The extends to many forms of gambling in which highly intelligent players systematically fleece a fool. Here, playing on fool's emotions renders them distracted and vulnerable.

Sometimes the client is a willing fool. What they want is a good story they can boast about to their friends. Here a trades person builds themselves up as the best for miles around. They are the best mechanic in the city, the best dentist around, the best architect and so forth and so on. An antiques dealer might cite how educated they are, how worldly they are, and how many years they have been in the business. Some clients gravitate to the best story tellers as they go through life in a bubble, living out a romantic dream of the world in which they surround themselves with the finest people around. This is problematic to good business people who, in order to compete, are forced to play the story telling game. Obsessively ethical people simply will not get involved in story telling which places them at a competitive disadvantage. In darwinian ethics such people are considered fools and legitimate prey. Fools: people who harbor delusions about they way the world is.