Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Last of the March Reprises

I'm clumping the few remaining writings of interest (Ed: to me, that's who) from last March.

People Of The Lie/ The Great Divorce
Criminals protesting their innocense will also attempt to seize on a single point, holding it aloft as a lone card they believe should trump all others. “They never interviewed my wife, like they’re supposed to.” Never mind that the police have the robbery on film, or found the drugs in your sock drawer, or the victim’s blood on your shoes. “They never interviewed my wife.” Anyone who deals often with criminals knows dozens of these excuses: “It wasn’t a valid search warrant because…” “They didn’t ask if I’m diabetic…” “I can prove I sold that gun to my brother…”
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Manipulation
Many of us have deep suspicions of religious or cultural groups which play to our emotions. If I detect that a speaker is trying to "work the crowd" according to an insincere formula, I automatically draw back, not only from the speaker, but the crowd as well. Don't these people get it? The swelling music, the slides in the background with the pictures of babies and puppies? Are they that stupid?
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An Opposite Is Often True
Sad women brought to the hospital for suicidality will tell us "my children are everything to me." Well, yeah, except that you spend the rent money on drugs, won't leave the boyfriend who beats them, and overdosed where they would be the most likely ones to find you. Other than that, I see that your children are very important to you.
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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

My personal favorite, being an orthopaedist, is "I have a high pain tolerance." What it should mean is "Pain. Hah! Just give me a bullet to bite on, I'll look away, and you take the damn leg off!" But the person who uses it really means "I feel constant excruciating pain despite the elephant-sedating levels of Oxycontin my other doctor was prescribing, so you better give me something stronger."