[WS:] What makes this case interesting is that it is a clear-cut demonstration of what I believe is one of the most fundamental principles of human behavior - construction and maintenance of one's own dignity i.e. a desirable image of the self projected to others. Not to maximize profits or pursue his material interests - as variations of the rat-choice paradigm want us to believe - but to construct, maintain, and defend if necessary a dignified image of the self, even at the expense of one's material interests and personal freedom.
Everyone does that, but the middle class folks learned how to camouflage that under the guise of rationality, political ideology, charity, patriotism, or faith. The street folks, by contrast, are very explicit about it, and they have neither desire nor social skills to camouflage it.
This is why middle class folks - judges, journalists, intellectuals - find it very upsetting, and try to redefine it as "cowardice," "stupidity," "false consciousness" etc.
It follows that liberal/leftist exhortations about "false consciousness" and people being duped to make choices that undermine their own material interests stem from misunderstanding of this simple and fundamental principle of human behavior - a dignified image of the self projected to others is the ultimate end, everything else is the means to that end. What specifically constitutes a "dignified image" varies among social groups, but they are merely allovariants of the same principle, which remains constant.
To use an example, the natives in Joseph Conrad's story "The Heart of Darkness" serving the Europeans in exchange for pieces of copper wire are not ignoramuses who do not understand the concept of value. They understand it it perfectly - to them, the possession of shiny metal, such as copper wire, is a manifestation of one's social status, and thus dignity, which is of ultimate value. They act quite rationally when they go to great lengths to obtain objects manifesting that value. It is the Europeans who are are ignoramuses, as they fail to grasp this simple principle of human social behavior, and confused the principle with its manifestation.
Wojtek