[Dragaera] Unstoppable Force vs Immovable Object

[Davdi Silverrock]

On 11/14/06, Scott Crain wrote:
>
>
> Davdi Silverrock wrote:- On 11/8/06, Scott Schultz wrote:

> > As far as that goes, the Orb is an astounding device but it's still
> > essentially a machine. Witness Vlad's ability to dance around the actual
> > truth by focusing on the literal truth as he saw it.

>> - I still insist that this was because the interrogators were either
>> - utterly incompetent, utterly uninterested in the truth, or bribed to
>> - go easy.  Or all of the above.

> I don't think so.  It's called 'fugue' -- and with it, you can say almost
> anything and mean almost anything.

Fugue, shmugue.

>  Steve Perry's books are rife with it,

If you had an example of something from real life, rather than
fiction, I might be willing to give this more credence.

>  It is, basically, any time where you're saying one thing and
> implying something else -- or you're splitting hairs.

Would an interrogator with half a brain who cared about the answers
just let that go by?

That's why I said "utterly incompetent, utterly uninterested in the
truth, [and/]or bribed".

>

>If the Inquisitors didn't have the Orb, they'd be a lot, lot more specific
>with Vlad, and not let him get away with these sleek evasions

No.  If the ones asking the questions give half a damn about the
answers, they look at the question, and at the evasive answer, and
start requiring specific yes-or-no answers.

> -- but the -Orb- says 'he's telling the truth', so they accept the words
> as being a 'no' instead of what they -are-.

The Orb says 'he's telling the truth', so they say 'Whatever'.

Because they're utterly incompetent, utterly uninterested in the
truth, and/or bribed.