On 8/28/07, John Lee johnleemk@gmail.com wrote:
...is there any assurance that how we deal with false whistle-blowers will not be the same way we deal with real ones?
We'd need some way to actually tell the difference. Obviously, different variations will arise, each with a proper metaphor, whether it be a referee, a freight train, a tea-kettle, the Keystone Cops, or the familiar "car window not all the way up" sound. Easy enough for the human ear to distinguish, but not so for the eye.
[WHISTLE BLOWING] CAPTAIN: What you say?
One can whistle the same note for several paragraphs and it may never become apparent whether the "human at the other end" is laughing, or crying, or cursing, or humming, or (coincidentally) whistling while writing the stuff. They could be horribly off-key too, but we wouldn't know.
—C.W.