Journeyman Philosopher

Have you ever been in the situation in which someone said something to you like ‘Yeah, I swear I’ve done that’. And as soon as you acknowledge whatever it is that they say they retort ‘Ah ha, you’re so gullible!’. I have had this experience before and as have many of my acquaintances.

This is a strange sort of joke/statement isn’t it! Is it the case that the individual is actually fairly considered gullible?

I believe not. In this situation the individual that believes the deceiver does so usually because they deem them not trivial enough to lie in such a manner.
An adequate response would be ‘No, you misunderstand. I’m not gullible, I just didn’t realize you were idiotic enough to lie in such a manner! Thank you for correcting me.’

I think fundamentally people make this “joke/statement” as they don’t realize how much of our societies are based on trust, the majority of information we’re fed we don’t have enough time to double check for truth value. These individuals, perhaps jokingly, don’t acknowledge this.

For example, when is the last time you double checked the ingredients in the food you ate, or checked the percentage of polyester and wool in your clothing? Most of us respond to these examples by saying never, and our lives are littered with many more of them.

What we trust in in general is that people won’t make a jackass of themselves, and that this holds them inline. Unfortunately, however, we are often proven wrong by those we absentmindedly trust.