Several days ago, during the ongoing anti-Israel, anti-Jew, pro-Palestinian, pro-Hamas rallies across the country, I happened across an anti-Israel Tweet on Twitter.
There is only one way to not be fooled. Presume everything that you are told is a lie, until you can substantiate it as truth.
Corollary 1: Liars don't have facts on their side, so their make up for it with smiles and assurances. Liars are the most 'believable' people, because they need not equivocate or qualify their statement. If they assure you that they are absolutely correct, there's a good likelihood that they're lying.
Corollary 2: Lies are generally easy enough to disprove. So the liar will precondition you to reject what 'those people' say, because 'those people' are racists, homophobes, xenophobes and deniers.
There is only one way to not be fooled. Presume everything that you are told is a lie, until you can substantiate it as truth.
Corollary 1: Liars don't have facts on their side, so their make up for it with smiles and assurances. Liars are the most 'believable' people, because they need not equivocate or qualify their statement. If they assure you that they are absolutely correct, there's a good likelihood that they're lying.
Corollary 2: Lies are generally easy enough to disprove. So the liar will precondition you to reject what 'those people' say, because 'those people' are racists, homophobes, xenophobes and deniers.
As to 2, it's consistent with my experience that an unlikable con man is always a very unsuccessful con man.