#25: Framed: One of my biggest fears

SHOW NOTES:

Transcription to this episode

Hello everyone and welcome back to freetalk Podcast, the show where we have one objective: to take your English to the next level, the fun and simple way. Well, first of all, let’s talk about last episode, shall we? Last episode was a bit of a disappointment, one could say. I was still pretty sick, my voice was low and achy, and on top of that, after I finished recording the episode I went to bed and my brother-who is the one in charge of editing the podcast-woke me up and said, you didn’t plug the microphone, the entire episode was recordedthrough the computer’s built-in mic. And, that’s not good. I know. The sound quality was horrible, the volume was really low and all that. So, what I’m trying to say is, I’m sorry. We want to give you top-notch quality, top-notch means super high quality, but that was an honest human mistake. Now, secondly, we are also trying to improve the general quality of this show. I have a, maybe semi-professional microphone, but that’s a double-edge sword (that means, double-edged sword, that something could be at the same time good or bad, you see, it’s a sword {sword, like the weapon that He-Man used, like a big knife} but the sharp edge, what we use to cut (or to kill) in this case is in both sides, so, it will cut you, no matter which side you use.  Well, back to the story, having a good microphone is, in this case, not so good. Why? Because I have a good microphone, but I don’t have a studio, I don’t have soundproof walls, so the mic picks up a lot of sound, it’s very sensitive, and when we go into the edition, we need to cover up all that noise and, as a result, the volume goes down and it’s chaos. But, we are working to give you better sound quality, and, of course, better content. So anyway, let’s go now to today’s topic.

On the episode number 17: Misery is wasted on the miserable, I told you about one of the things that I enjoy the most about life, that is, being in love. It is not something that I consider a life goal. I mean, it’s not my objective to fall in love with anyone, I’m not a love addict, but when it does happen, I enjoy it a lot and it gets me in a much more positive vibe, I feel good being in love. Now, that’s on the bright side, right?, the positive good things. But today I will talk to you about the other end of the spectrum; the other side of the coin; one of the things that I fear the most. The things that scare the hell out of me. And as usual, there was something that introduced this idea into my head, or, better put, something that reactivated this old idea of mine. You see, a couple of weeks ago I started watching this series on Netflix, called Making a Murderer. It’s a documentary series that follows the story and subsequent trial of Steve Avery, a man from Manitowoc County in Wisconsin, convicted to life in prison for murder. The series consists of 10 episodes going from a previous sentence that Steve was serving for a crime he did not commit, to the latest investigation for a second crime he was accused of, in 2005. Now, as a show, Making a Murderer is a nail-biter. (nail-biter, means that causes you to bite your nails, that means, it’s so exciting or thrilling, it gets you nervous and anxious because there are so many shifts in the story and we don’t know how it’s going to end. Now, I will not tell you, of course, how this documentary finishes, I will not give you any spoilers, but I will really recommend you to watch the show if you are into that kind of stories. Instead, I will tell you the relation between this show and one of my biggest fears, and I will just come right out and say it. I’m absolutely afraid of ever going to prison. I don’t know much about prison, other than what I have seen in TV Shows, movies and all that. But from what I can see, it seems like a horrible picture to me. Not only are you getting deprived of your freedom, but you are forced to live in constant danger, in reduced spaces, with a diminished quality of life; it must be horrible.

Now, it may seem that going to prison is not really about luck or chance. All you have to do is stay clean, away from crime. Not killing, robbing, raping, assaulting… in conclusion, live your life within the boundaries of law. I, for one, can assure you, that I have no intentions whatsoever of committing any sort of crime. And not only because I have a, mmm, moral compass, that prevents me from doing so, or because I am such a stickler of the law, (stickler is when you insist a lot on something, or when you observe very carefully a rule), so, no, that’s not. The reason for my non-criminal tendency is exactly mi fear for prison. But even if I conduct myself in the right direction, distanced from crime, paying my taxes, respecting the law, that does not guarantee my liberty. No. And that’s really the scariest part. It’s completely out of your control. Just think about it for a second. Imagine that one day you go walking down the street and a car stops right next to you and the people inside pull you in. They take you somewhere, isolated from everybody, they beat you up, that is, they hit you, they threaten you, that is, they say that they will do horrible things to you or your family, they play with your mind and then they take a confession out of you, and all of a sudden, you are a confessed criminal.

Now, let’s suppose that they fail to get a confession. You resist, you know that you have the right to have a lawyer, you decide not to say a word, knowing that everything you say can and will be used against you. But still, they can plant evidence, take your DNA, place you in a crime scene or things like that. There’s a major problem with that, I mean, with being blamed by the same people who are supposed to protect us, only that in this case they are doing everything but protect you. And by saying this I do not mean that police are on the lookout for innocent people to send to jail, no. But there’s more than one instance where this could happen. They need a guilty person to calm down people, you know. Like there’s a serial killer loose on the streets; people are getting anxious, they demand a solution from the police. So, they find a normal guy with nothing to lose, they say, “here’s your killer, shut up! We’re doing our job” and that’s it. Problem solved. Of course, they don’t have anything against you, they don’t know you, they don’t hate you. You just happened to be in the wrong place, at the wrong time. You happened to have a face that resembles, that is similar to the criminal’s face, anything. And now you’re done. Imagine that. One day you are a free, good man. Next thing you know, you’re going to jail, and probably for the rest of your life. This is what’s called being framed. F-R-A-M-E-D. When someone sets you up. They arrange things so that people believe you did something that in reality you did not. They discharge the blame on you. You were framed and now you’re guilty. Game over.

Now, it’s not always so definitive, right? In order to prove your innocence you will have a trial, T-R-I-A-L, where you will make the case for your innocence. Your lawyer will produce the evidence that supports your case, the reasons why you are innocent: witnesses, exhibits, your alibi, and so on. But the other party, -usually The State - will try to prove otherwise. They will try to prove you’re guilty. And the person in charge of doing that is the Prosecutor. Now this is a battle, good vs evil, innocence vs guilt, you vs the adversity. The logical assumption should be, well, i’m innocent, so, because justice works, I should have no problem, right? I can’t go to prison If I didn’t do anything wrong, right? That’s what justice does, am I right? But there’s so much more to that. If during the trial, there’s a person who claims, who affirms, who swears, (because remember, during a trial, people have to raise their hand and swear they will say nothing but the truth) now this person swears that saw me at such place, at such time and this statement makes me guilty, but another person says that he or she saw me at a different place at the same time, and this proves that I am guilty, now what? Who’s to be believed? Who’s telling the truth? How do we know that? This is where things get absolutely creepy.

This is how a basic trial works, at least to my understanding (if you are a lawyer or you know more about this, please feel free to correct me, but, this is what I know.) Both the defense and the prosecution make their own cases, present evidence, expose their theories. And during all that time, apart from both parties and the judge, there’s a jury. And that’s a group of people whom, based on the evidence presented and the arguments made by the defense and the prosecution, will ultimately decide if you are innocent or not. Look at that! Some people will decide if you are innocent or not, if they send you to jail or if they set you free. It’s like in those movies where there’s, for example a dog, and two persons are fighting their right to keep the dog, and because it’s impossible to decide they say: Ok, both of you will stand in opposite sides and you will call the dog. Whoever the dog goes to, gets to keep the dog. Now, you wouldn’t call that justice, right? The dog is not really making a choice, he’s acting on impulse, and yet, to me, that’s how juries work. A bunch of people are summoned, that is, they are called to be part of the jury; they sit down and listen during the trial, while two persons are trying to convince them. When the trial is over, they get together and they deliberate. Then they present a verdict and, because it’s their opinion, you are now either free, or locked up in jail. And if you are innocent, but were convicted as guilty, there’s little room for what you can do. You can appeal, you can ask for a second trial, but it’s actually very unlikely; not probable. And to me that’s a horrible way of making justice, just horrible. It’s basically the same kind of justice that got a lot of so-called witches killed by fire in Salem. The same kind of justice that got a lot of people decapitated, burned or hung for so-called crimes that know we consider not at all crimes, like blaspheming or not making your majesty laugh. Of course, that’s perhaps a very radical comparison, in those cases there was absolutely no chances for a defendant to make its case, there was no option to prove your innocence, but still, in the end, a group of people who had been empowered, made a decision and someone’s life changed. And that’s crazy.

I really, really, don’t want to make a controversy out of this. I know it’s a sensible topic, maybe you think that the criminal system works fine. And although I don’t believe so, I don’t have any alternative, of course. I have no idea how we could make this more efficient, or more just. No. But that was not the point of this episode. The point of this episode was only to tell you why I’m so afraid of prison, how I am afraid of one day being framed, getting to jail, losing my freedom, and the worst of all, knowing that not only am I innocent, but that there’s nothing I can do to convince the rest of the world of that. Jesus.

Ok, let’s take a break to talk about something less troublesome than this, and let’s have, a quick word on pronunciation.

Ok, this word on pronunciation is going to be very short, and very direct. We’ll talk about Acronyms. Do you know what an acronym is? An acronym is an abbreviation used as a word and formed from the initial components in a phrase or a word, usually individual letters (as in USA) and sometimes syllables (as in GESTAPO: Geheime Staatspolizei ('secret state police’). Acronyms are, as we said, abbreviations, short versions of longer things. If we were to use United States of America five times in a statement, that would be very tiring, right. So we use acronyms. But sometimes we don’t know the meaning of an acronym, and when such is the case, we use the expression STAND FOR. For example, imagine this sentence. NABISCO is an acronym?! What does it STAND FOR? And that is, what’s the meaning. Oh, Nabisco stands for National Bicuit Company. Ohhhh.

Now, when we use acronyms, how do we pronounce them? Well, today we are going to talk about the pronunciation of those acronyms in which we say each word individually. They don’t have the sound of a word, right. Compare this 2. Nabisco is an acronym, but it’s possible to articulate it. I can say, NABISCO. Ok? But FBI? Can I say those 3 letters as a word? Try it! No! It would be FBI. So, in those cases we pronounce each letter individually and that’s F-B-I, aaaaand, the emphasis, the high intonation goes in the last letter of the acronym. Case in point, f-b-I, f-b-i. Ok? Great?
To finish this section, I will give you a list of examples, so you can listen how the intonation goes into the last letter.
IBM
MIT
Ph.D
MBA
LA
IQ
RSVP
TV
USA
ASAP
CIA
FBI
USMC
COD
SOS

Perfect. Now, just to finish this episode, I will give you a challenge: If you know what do these acronyms stand for, let me know in the comment section for this episode in our website www.freetalkingles.com/podcast.
I will give you one: FBI stands for Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Thank you very much for listening, guys. I would love to read your comments, opinions, suggestions, answers about the acronyms and everything you have to say. I will see you next Wednesday for a new episode of freetalk Podcast. Have an awesome weekend, and keep it simple.

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