Like an old fool

There was a letter recently in the Sunday Times from an 80 year old woman complaining that the 5 year guaranteed equity bond she purchased at the height of the stock market had only paid out what she put in.
Her letter appealed, pleading age and gender, for her to be given the inflated profits she had been promised by the original salesman and to receive interest income for the few days her matured capital would take to clear the banking system.
The fact that there are stupid people out there, old women amongst them, is nothing remarkable. What is remarkable is the newspaper’s decision to print the letter without adding that she should be rejoicing at her good fortune and explaining that cleared funds are not the same thing as interest earning funds.
But no, by publishing her letter they present her case as if it was justified. Is this because the editors are fools or because they have a deceitful agenda?
If it is the latter it is also the former too, of course. The consequences of endorsing this old fool’s entitlement psychology is the eventual removal of freedom of choice from all.