Mediums, Large and Small

Technorati tags: Malaysia, Gullibility, Mediums, Scams

This article in The Star last Friday caught Walski's attention, and is the inspiration for this post.

Can a 20-point handbook eradicte gullibility?

It's not Walski's intention to belittle the effort by the MCA and Federation of Taoist Associations of Malaysia - but can a simple guide book undo generations of gullibility? If only all culturally-compounded problems really had elegant, neatly bound, 20-point solutions - this would be a totally different world.

Walski reckons that this 20-point guide would probably be targetted at the Chinese demographic. But in fact, the Malays have their bomohs, and Walski's sure the Indians have their own equivalent, not to mention the "dan lain-lain". Added to that, Malaysians are gullible about a lot of other things as well, not only when it comes to spiritual matters.

So, in the benevolent spirit (pun intended) of muhibbah, Walski has put together a short quiz, to determine if you are one of those that would require such a handbook. These are non-ethnic specific, so it would be useful for anyone, to see if they are one of the many, the mainstream, the gullible.

Small, Large or Mediums: Walski's 8-point Gullibility Diagnostic Quiz
(in the full post)

So, are you gullible? Here are a few things to ask yourself, and find out if you are gullible. Answer each of the 8 questions with the given choices: A, B, or C.

1. Hello mister, you may just have won... - You're filling up your vehicle at the petrol station, and someone walks up to you, talks excitedly about this great scratch and win game, and how you could win a new car, new stereo system, new home appliances, and the like. But to play the game, you need to buy the first scratch 'n win card. Do you:
A - Respectfully tell the person to f*uck off.
B - Listen to what the person has to say, then respecfully tell the person to f*ck off.
C - Think, "WOW - new car!" and scratch the card to see what you've won

2. Problems at Work - The company you work for has this one supervisor that's giving you hell. You can't seem to do anything right. You're afraid that because of this b*stard, you're future in the company will be pretty dim. The big boss seems to believe whatever this supervisor has to say, and has reprimanded you, unjustly, based solely on the supervisor's bad-mouthing. Colleagues tell you that the they've heard about this particular medium that's been able to help a friend of a friend of a friend, facing similar circumstances. Do you:
A - Respectfully tell your colleague to f*uck off.
B - Get into introspective mode, assess yourself honestly to see if you have the need for some people skills training, or worst case, update your resume and look for a better job. Oh, and tell your colleague to f*ck off.
C - Think, "Yes, I'll get the medium to put a powerful hex on the supervisor." You also become determined to see this through no matter what it costs, and whether or not you are even the slightest bit at fault sometimes.

3. Affairs of the Heart (the non-medical kind) - You are not the best groomed of persons - worse, most people think you're sloppy, uncouth, and in general a jerk. However, you have great aspirations on winning the heart of someone you think is the most attractive person you've ever seen. You've met this person once, at a function sometime back, and you were immediately swept off your feet. You are also not a very confident person, especially when it comes to dealing with the opposite sex. Do you:
A - Find a friend who knows this person, and find out his/her likes and dislikes, in order to get to know the person better. Worst case, you think, at least you would gain a new friend if the love thing doesn't work out. At the same time, you do someting about your personal appearance and grooming
B - Daydream about what a wonderful life you would have if you could win the heart of this person.
C - Daydream about what a wonderful life you would have if you could win the heart of this person, then find a good bomoh and to work out a powerful spell on the person of your wet dreams. And at the same time, you don't bother to do a damn thing about your personal self.

4. Undoing your jaded past - This one applies primarily to females (although not exclusively). You have a promiscuous past, but it's now time to settle down with the man (or woman) of your family's chosing. But becase your family, and the family of your prospective spouse is very traditional, you're worried that because you are no longer a virgin, this might run into problems very early in your marriage, even as early as your wedding night. But you've heard of this traditional cure offered by a medium in that can re-virginize you. Do you:
A - Think to yourself: Everyone has a past. If the prospective spouse person really loves me, and is really sincere about have a good rest-of-our-lives, this small matter will not be major obstacle.
B - Think to yourself: What the hell am I doing getting into an arranged marriage??!? At which point you wake up, and say, "Phew... what an awful dream."
C - Go to the medium immediately to commence the treatment, and be determined to go through with it, regardless of how humiliating or embarassing the treatment may turn out. Although you know biologically the hymen cannot be restored, this is a medium, and mediums can do wonders that science cannot. Mediums can even restore male virginity, you think to yourself.

5. Medical ailments - you have recently been experiencing odd symptoms, like dizziness, nausea, joint aches and runny nose, despite the fact you live a healthy lifestyle. You are successful in your work, gaining praise from colleagues and management, with a good prospect for promotion soon. Some work days, however, get extremely stressful. These symptoms you're experiencing are worrying you. Do you:
A - Go see a physician, and arrange to get a full medical check-up, before you decide what to do next.
B - Take a couple of days off from work, get a bit more rest, then if symptoms persist, be prepared to go see a physician, and possibly a full medical.
C - Immediately jump to the conclusion that one of your colleagues must be jealous of your success, and immediately go see a medium. The fact that you've not been eating well, and that work has been stressful, does not cross your mind at all. This must be jealousy, you think, and therefore I need spiritual intervention.

6. You've gotten conned before, and you don't want a repeat - You're reading the newspapers, and come acros the following ad in the classifieds.

Redeem Your Self-Dignity! Tired of getting ripped off? Had enough of falling victim to get-rich-quick scams? Are you sick of feeling stupid after the fact? If you answered yes to any one of these questions, you may be in need of our latest guide book, "Don't Kena Con". For a copy, send RM 12 and a self-addressed stamped A4-size envelop to Kena-Lagi Enterprise, P.O. Box 696969, 54321 Kuala Lumpur.

You've gotten scammed by a few dubious schemes in the past, and although each time the money you lost was not significant, you're sick and tired of it. And then you happen to see the ad. Do you:
A - Laugh
B - Laugh, and take action by reporting the ad to the authorities
C - Immediately grab your wallet, find an appropriately sized envelope and stamp value, and place RM 24 in cash, with a note saying, "Kindly send 2 copies" - apart from yourself, you also have a friend that could use a similar guide.

7. Rumors about personalities and celebrities - You are one of those people that constantly receive SMS's about celebrity and personality gossip, sometime 4 or 5 in a single day. You usually ignore them, but one day you receive an SMS with a story that Mawi is actually an alien, planted in Malaysia by the Zionists, for the purpose of conquering the gullible Malay mind. Do you:
A - Immediately hit the Erase key
B - Laugh your head off, thinking to yourself, "Gee, how can some people be so gullible", then hit the Erase key
C - Forward the SMS to as many friends you know, since you are worried that this Mawi menace, if left unchecked will destroy the youth of our nation.

8. Promises, Broken Promises, and Election-time Promises - You live in an ruling party-controlled area, and the public facilities of your area are constantly in a state of disrepair. Everytime election comes along, the ruling-party candidate remind the people in your area that voting for the opposition will mean disaster and cites cases of opposition areas in even worse condition than yours. In the past couple of elections, you remember that once in office, your MP doesn't follow through with most of the promises made. Do you:
A - Decide enough is enough, and vow to not vote ever again
B - Decide enough is enough, make an effort to find out what the other candidates have to offer, then vote responsibly, picking the best candidate, regardless of which party he or she may belong to.
C - Decide that maybe this time around the candidate will follow through with all the promises. Besides, he seems to be so, so sincere this time around, more so than last time.

*** So How Did You Score? ***

For every question you answered C, score 3. Assign a score of 1 for either A or B (frankly, it doesn't matter). If you scored:
7 or less - You've missed at least one question. Go back and complete the quiz. You're probably no gullible, just a moron.
8 - CONGRATULATIONS!! You are definitely not gullible. You could be other things, but let's leave that for other quizzes.
10 - 16 - YOU ARE GULLIBLE, you could very well do with the 20-point guide
18 - 24 - YOU ARE EXTREMELY GULLIBLE, and the 20-point guide will do you no good; a brain transplant would probably be what you need to lead a normal, gullibility-free life.