A physical prop of prior testimony can coerce a hostile witness better than argument.

Evidence

Schlichtmann picked up Barbas’s deposition and flipped it open. “At your deposition, didn’t I ask you how frequently Mr. Meola poured waste liquid into the trench? And didn’t you answer, ‘At least once a week’?” … After a while, when Barbas balked, Schlichtmann would simply pick up the deposition and start toward the witness stand, and Barbas, seeing this, would turn docile and give the answer Schlichtmann sought. — , Harr Jonathan - A Civil Action, 1878

Categorization

• XREF: Pairs with the earlier material on documents as instruments of power — here the deposition transcript becomes a silent threat object. — connects to: Confrontation with contrary evidence can intensify rather than weaken firm belief. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 97; Disconfirming evidence can strengthen rather than weaken committed beliefs. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 97; Confrontation with disconfirming evidence can strengthen false beliefs — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1798 (+3 more)
• SEED: Essay angle: props and stagecraft in the courtroom — how litigators win by handling objects rather than making arguments.

Broader Connections

• Denying confrontation can itself be a deliberate strategic displacement of an argument’s horizon #responds-to (0.90) — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel, 80
• Confrontation with contrary evidence can intensify rather than weaken firm belief. #complicates (0.85) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 97
• Disconfirming evidence can strengthen rather than weaken committed beliefs. #complicates (0.85) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 97
• Confrontation with disconfirming evidence can strengthen false beliefs #complicates (0.85) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1798
• Sustained investigation can harden rather than erode an advocate’s belief in their case #complicates (0.85) — , Harr Jonathan - A Civil Action, 1446