Warning: This post contains some salty language. Again, we don’t go out of our way to use salty language in this blog, but we’re quoting an oft-repeated phrase that is rather salty (as well as being fundamentally inaccurate.)
We used to think that F. Scott Fitzgerald’s observation that “There are no second acts in American lives” was the most untrue line that we’d ever heard. (We’re not sure of the context in which he made that remark, so it may make sense in a larger context. On the face of it, though, it seems pretty untrue.)
Another oft-repeated saying is “Everything happens for a reason.” Really? How can one know? Where is the empirical data? This one seems suspect too (though we’re charmed by its ‘glass half full’ optimism.)
In our humble opinion though, both of these have been eclipsed in flat out “untrueness” by the (rather ribald) saying “Get ’em by the balls and their hearts and minds will follow” (or any of the vulgar variations thereof.) Gripping someone forcibly by the scrotum would seem to guarantee that that individual’s heart and mind will never follow. Sure, one may have temporary compliance from the hapless victim, but that isn’t the same thing as having that person’s heart and mind. That takes much more time and can’t be done by force.
By the way, the origin of this adage is unknown. It’s often attributed to John Wayne, but it’s doubtful that Wayne was the originator.
No they wont.
de jungle 