It's okay to be fooled a first time. Maybe even a second time. We're only human. But to allow yourself to be fooled over and over and over again because you're too stubborn and prideful to admit, even to yourself, that you were fooled the first time is a whole new level of stupidity.

@reb_bamf A proviso, maybe counterpoint?...

At certain point,given abundant iteration of aligning/going along something, the consideration of whether they were truly unwitting victims must enter the field of possibilities.

Some individuals like to cloak their shittiness in the guise of dullness.