Terminator Catch
Distracting games work too well
Geoffrey Hamilton
May 28, 2002
In the movie T2, with Linda Hamilton as Sara, Sara is intending to escape
from a mental hospital from a psycho ward
under prison conditions.
While trying to escape, Sara plans to throw a set of keys towards
a guard in order to distract him long enough to
assault him. If the guard is sure of her identity, he can
decide that she is a foe and reject the game of catch. If he remains unsure of Sara's status as friend or foe
long enough to see first that a game of catch
is happening it might distract him. The plan is based on the fact that Sara
knows that there is a compulsion
to play catch, because it is a universal childhood game. For her the compulsion to play that game is
obviously more powerful then any logical duty or serious intention the guard might have.
Everything happens in
a split second without the use of language either in their minds or on their lips.
Sara throws the keys and the
guard automatically
catches them which gives Sara the opening she needs to assault him.
She wins the fight of course, but this distraction tactic works and is used everyday in real life
in all kinds of situations from politics to business. The basic idea is to find a game your opponent wants to play
and give them no alternative but to play that game.
