Being cheated

Today I almost ran over a few pedestrians as I laughed and listened to Mohammad Al Wakeel as he read the morning papers. It seems that some candidates for parliament in Irbid have filed police reports on some charlatans who convinced them that they can use magic to force people to vote for them. After they took JD 50 per vote, the candidates somehow figured out that they have been cheated.

Now, it has been said that a sucker is born every minute, so it is not really surprising that such a fraud can take place. The fact that the marks want to represent people in the parliament is not surprising either. I mean, there is no evidence that high caliber people are being recruited to run for parliament in the first place. In fact, the caliber that we are seeing is mostly quite substandard.

What made me laugh the most is how these candidates have the face to show up at the police station and complain. Here is an imaginary scenario of what happened:

Candidate: Officer, I am here to lodge a complaint.

Officer: OK. What is it?

Candidate: I think that I have been defrauded.

Officer: What do you mean “you think”? Were you defrauded or not?

Candidate: I can’t tell for sure until the elections.

Officer: Why not.

Candidate: Well, these guys showed up at my headquarters and told me that if I give them money, they can cast a spell on people to get them to vote for me.

Officer: I see.

Candidate: After they took the money and walked out the door, they started laughing hysterically.

Officer: So let’s see if I understand. You wanted to use magic to deprive people of their free will to choose who they want.

Candidate: Well, yes, I suppose.

Officer: Because you didn’t think that they would vote for you if they used their own mind.

Candidate: Yes.

Officer: OK. Did you check their credentials?

Candidate: No. They did have long beards and they recited the Qur’an.

Officer: Were they other candidates?

Candidate: No.

Officer: Did they show you their ID’s? Any proof that they are licensed to cast spells on people?

Candidate: No.

Officer: Did they have any academic training in these matters?

Candidate: I don’t know.

Officer: OK. To recap; these guys showed up, promised to perform miracles, had no credentials and you trusted them. Don’t you think that this is odd?

Candidate: Well, this is what I have been asking people to do for me for the last month.

Officer: OK. We will prosecute the frauds after the elections.