There are two ways to respond to a serious charge of wrongdoing:
1. Refute the charges. This is how it's handled in a courtroom by a defense attorney.
2. Claim that the charges are so ridiculous, they aren't worth responding to. This seems to be how such things are handled everywhere else--at least by those who can actually afford the first option.
The US Government chose the second option when confronted with the charges in my most recent post.
You can also turn it around and blame the victim.
ReplyDeleteGrace and peace.
Defense attorneys are usually good at that, too.
ReplyDeleteI just reviewed this post, and I think I'd be a lot gentler with the USG now. It IS a very ridiculous charge that a plane's autopilot would take over and fly it to a restricted air base. First of all, the only way an autopilot would do that was if the pilot programmed it to--so it's still the sign of a malicious pilot. Secondly, an autopilot doesn't randomly "take over and fly" a plane somewhere. A pilot programs a route into it, turns it on, and then sits back and watches it do its job. Again, this only indicates that the pilot was bent on murder and either suborned the rest of the crew, killed them, or managed to lock them out of the cockpit.
ReplyDeleteBut the spokesman could have gently pointed this out.