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Date Posted: 21:18:47 11/24/02 Sun
Author: Philistine
Subject: Re: Doctors, Fighters, and Deference
In reply to: oboemaboe 's message, "Carotid sleeper hold" on 01:23:52 11/24/02 Sun

Due to an unfortunate VCR accident, I don't have the ep in front of me either anymore. And I'm neither a doctor nor a martial artist. But:

Where and how would Simon have learned to put a sleeper hold on someone? It would be one thing if we'd had some indication that he'd had some sort of self-defence training in the past, which would be a perfectly believable character development. But he didn't seem to know much of anything about fighting in "Jaynestown," and in "Shindig" we saw he even lacked purely academic knowledge of the subject. Medical training doesn't automatically convey the skills necessary to be a good fighter. The skills required for a torturer, yes; but that's a whole different kettle of fish. There's an old saying: "In theory, there's no difference between theory and practice; but in practice, there is." Knowing where pressure points and pain receptors are is well and good and can be a valuable addition to a fighter's repertoire, but doesn't replace knowing how to fight.

And yes, I'd say that leaning on a person's chest with your arms is a very different prospect from kneeling on his throat. In the former case, your legs and lower body are available to bear as much weight as need be, which would be most of it; in the latter, very nearly all of your weight is resting on your opponent's neck. How much do you think Simon weighs, and how much pressure does it take to crush a human trachea?

As for the deference of the staff at St Lucie's, that's easily enough explained: Simon took charge, barking out crisp, clear orders in an authoritative voice, when it looked like nobody else had any idea what to do. He gave the right orders and saved the guy's life, which is a point in favor of his being a medical genius, but has nothing to do with why the hospital staff followed his directions. It's basic human behavior: in an emergency, most people will follow anyone who's willing to lead, whether or not the "leader" has any idea where he's going. Plus, I strongly suspect that all but one of "all of these top doctors" were probably nurses and orderlies, the exception being the very young-looking guy Simon chewed out once the crisis had passed.

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