> Are people just that easily overcome by confident voices?

Back in high school, my AP calculus class did some experiments with our teacher's blessing. We'd send a kid out to walk around during class and see how long it took for them to get sent back. Anyway, it ends up that walking around purposely with a piece of paper or envelope, like you're on a mission to deliver it, was a very successful tactic.

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operatingthetan 3 hours ago | parent [-]

I've seen internet comments similar: "put on a yellow vest and carry a clipboard and you can enter any building, anywhere." Confidence is scary, and often misleading.

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jubilanti 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

This is a dumb meme that has been in so many movies and reposted so many times since I first saw it on 1980s BBSes that it has become true in the imaginations of people who love reading The Anarchist Cookbook and fantasize about this kind of thing, but would never actually do it.

Confidence is a spectrum and security is situational. In some places, a yellow vest adds to the con. In others, everyone has to be signed in. In others, the wrong kind of yellow vest makes you stick out like a sore thumb. The right kind of yellow vest can also make you stick out: "Oh shit the inspector is here, somebody get the boss!"

	▲	operatingthetan 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Yesterday there were people poking around my neighbors yard for a few hours with yellow vests on. The neighbor was nowhere to be seen and I didn’t call the cops. It was probably above board but the phenomena being discussed is obviously real. Projecting authority often grants it.

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JoeAltmaier 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Or an inspector's hard hat in a construction zone. Nobody wants to confront the inspector.