I think you might be wrong about how fraud is legally defined. If the head of Pets.com says “You should invest in Pets.com, it’s going to make millions, everyone wants to order pet food online”, and then you invest in them, and then they go bankrupt, that person was probably biased and irresponsible, but nobody has committed fraud.
If Raleigh had simply said “Sponsor my expedition to El Dorado, which I believe has lots of gold”, that doesn’t sound like fraud either. But in fact he said:
For the rest, which myself have seen, I will promise these things that follow, which I know to be true. Those that are desirous to discover and to see many nations may be satisfied within this river, which bringeth forth so many arms and branches leading to several countries and provinces, above 2,000 miles east and west and 800 miles south and north, and of these the most either rich in gold or in other merchandises. The common soldier shall here fight for gold, and pay himself, instead of pence, with plates of half-a-foot broad, whereas he breaketh his bones in other wars for provant and penury. Those commanders and chieftains that shoot at honour and abundance shall find there more rich and beautiful cities, more temples adorned with golden images, more sepulchres filled with treasure, than either Cortes found in Mexico or Pizarro in Peru. And the shining glory of this conquest will eclipse all those so far-extended beams of the Spanish nation.
There were no Indian cities, and essentially no gold, anywhere in Guyana.
I agree with you that lots of people are biased! I agree this can affect their judgment in a way somewhere between conflict theory and mistake theory! I agree you can end up believing the wrong stories, or focusing on the wrong details, because of your bias! I’m just not sure that’s how fraud works, legally, and I’m not sure it’s an accurate description of what Sir Walter Raleigh did.
Oh, sorry, I wasn’t trying to offer a legal opinion; I was just trying to convey worldview-material while riffing off your characterization of “defrauding everyone about the El Dorado thing.”
I think you might be wrong about how fraud is legally defined. If the head of Pets.com says “You should invest in Pets.com, it’s going to make millions, everyone wants to order pet food online”, and then you invest in them, and then they go bankrupt, that person was probably biased and irresponsible, but nobody has committed fraud.
If Raleigh had simply said “Sponsor my expedition to El Dorado, which I believe has lots of gold”, that doesn’t sound like fraud either. But in fact he said:
There were no Indian cities, and essentially no gold, anywhere in Guyana.
I agree with you that lots of people are biased! I agree this can affect their judgment in a way somewhere between conflict theory and mistake theory! I agree you can end up believing the wrong stories, or focusing on the wrong details, because of your bias! I’m just not sure that’s how fraud works, legally, and I’m not sure it’s an accurate description of what Sir Walter Raleigh did.
Oh, sorry, I wasn’t trying to offer a legal opinion; I was just trying to convey worldview-material while riffing off your characterization of “defrauding everyone about the El Dorado thing.”