Share the room and like it

Written by

Ophelia Benson

in

But sir…

“You are a man.” “Disagree.”

You can’t “disagree.” It’s not an opinion or a guess, it’s a fact. It’s a very very basic fact that everyone knows pretty much from birth. You can’t just wave it away with “I disagree” because it’s not subject to “agreement.”

The client is a torturer. A psychological torturer as opposed to one burning flesh, but a torturer all the same.

Comments

4 responses to “Share the room and like it”

  1. Enzyme Avatar
    Enzyme

    The “Are you comparing [this thing] to [bad thing]” trope is annoying; likewise, the “You can’t compare [this thing] to [bad thing]” one. It’s moral browbeating.

    Is Upton being compared to Orwell’s O’Brien? Bite the bullet! Yes, he is. It’s in the nature of a comparison that you’re saying that A is like B in this or that respect; that’s wholly compatible with saying that A is unlike B in other respects. Comparison does not imply identity. It does not imply that everything that one says about A maps on precisely to what one might say about B. What it does mean is that there’re elements of B that might productively cast light on how we should think about A.

    I accept that in a courtroom context, there’s not always a place for this kind of nuance to be made easily; but still: it’s there to be had.

  2. KBPlayer Avatar
    KBPlayer

    @Enzyme

    Yes – it’s exasperating.

    “My love is like a red, red rose.”

    “You mean she has the lifespan of about a week?”

  3. iknklast Avatar
    iknklast

    And is covered with thorns?

  4. Your Name's not Bruce? Avatar
    Your Name’s not Bruce?

    “My love is like a red, red rose.”

    “You mean she has the lifespan of about a week?”

    “Your Majesty is like stream of bat’s piss.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxXW6tfl2Y0

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