TheStarsAreRight:Grifters
Grifters
I indicated to my companions that I considered the grifter to be one of the most evil of all criminals. Due to their banality, they laughed at me and indicated that murderers and rapists were much worse.
A murderer destroys everything a person is and everything they will ever be. On the other hand, the murderer often acts out of desperation or for a great prize. Thus, while evil, the motivation is often, at least, comprehensible.
A rapist is certainly an evil individual. The act consists of making the victim feel small and worthless so that the perpetrator can feel strong. Contemptible.
The grifter, however, is in some ways the most vile of them all.
I speak not of the pool hustler or dealer of three-card monty who preys on the greed of his victim.
Nor do I speak of the card sharp, who is but a petty thief.
By grifter, I mean the type of person who makes her living preying upon her victims' finer feelings. She takes advantage of their hope, sympathy, faith, kindness, and above all trust. She takes this trust and abuses it, leaving her hapless victims humiliated, disappointed, and angry. She crushes the good parts of people for money. This is her living. She does this deliberately, again and again. Every successful con makes the world and darker and crueler place.
The grifter takes a person's good will and grinds it into dust.
