Chapter 10: Word Play
Disclaimer: I don't own The Screwtape Letters or Reservoir Dogs.
Author's note: Sentences in italics signify somebody besides Stagrench talking. Due to the subject of this lesson, this chapter contains strong profanity so if that offends you, you might want to skip this part.
Good morning, class.
"In the Beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God and the Word was God." That's what it says in the Enemy's Book. He created words, He started everything with words. I wish I could tell you that words are just another of His failed mistakes, but I can't. Even now I'm using them to speak and teach you. It's infuriating. Words, language, it's one of His creations that we can never escape even in Hell. I suppose we could stay silent in protest, but that's merely a passive form of protest. We are not passive. We are aggressive. Though, sometimes we're passive aggressive.
Through words, we influence mankind. We can't escape words or deny the power they contain, but we can use them to bring humans to Our Father's House. You must remember to choose your words carefully when you're tempting them, because if a human believes you or not can all come down to one word. One misplaced adjective or noun and it could send the little pest running back into the Enemy's clutches.
You have all been studying the various dictionaries of the human languages, so you will know all the words, but you must be ready and know which words to use at what time. Usually, a tempter must give the humans words as justification for something, so be ready with a wide variety of synonyms and euphemisms.
This technique is also excellent for messing up your patient's sense of right and wrong. Don't have the worm think that something is good or bad. Make him think of things as "easy", "progressive", "old fashioned", "ignorant", "intolerant", "stupid", "healthy", "unhealthy", "shitty", "dishonest", "modern", or some other term that sounds morally relevant. Do not neglect the adjectives. Rather than having these terms be leading up to the ultimate destination of good or evil, let them be an end unto themselves. Many humans who don't believe in absolute right and wrong use these terms for things they see as bad, but since they don't want to apply a standard of absolute good or evil they just use jargon.
Humans are so adept to semantics and technicalities it's almost a language in itself, not so dissimilar to the language of Hell. They're soft creatures who can't handle reality, so they disguise it with euphemisms. Riots are now "civil disorders." Addiction to drugs or alcohol is now "substance abuse." Prostitutes are now "sex workers." Someone beating a spouse or child is now "a domestic disturbance." An abortion is now "a pregnancy termination." Poor people are now "the underprivileged." Bribes are "presents" or tips" or "favors." And, my personal favorite, lying is now "massaging the truth." They also call lying "disinformation", "bullshit", "fibbing", or "a little white lie." They actually have jargon for jargon! This addiction to euphemisms is so bad that I have a sneaking suspicion that when the end of the world happens, they're going to refer to it as "a terrestrial deconstructive procedure."
Their fear of death and old age promoted the creation of the term "senior citizen" because they'd rather be that than an old person. And how many terms are there for death? "Passing away." "Expiring." "Pushing up daisies." "Biting the dust." "Croaking." "Buying the farm." "Kicking the bucket." Pathetic, isn't it? They cannot take the prospect of their inevitable fate, so they hide behind official or unthreatening terms. With such a need to deny reality, no wonder they're so susceptible to our tricks and the lies they tell themselves. We have taught them the art of deception well; they lie to each other brilliantly, but their best work is when they lie to themselves. Such foolish creatures, living in their little fantasy world in denial of the truth; is it any wonder why we will be victorious over them and the Enemy in the end?
You can also separate humans from each other by using this euphemistic language. Don't let them think in terms of human beings. Let them think in terms of some vague label for them. The people, the public, the masses, the proletariat, the population or the nation, for example. This is how politicians view them. For businessmen, humans could be customers, suckers, pigeons, clientele, and population. If there is a fight going on, be it a sports rivalry or a war, let them think of the two sides as being "us" and "them." Dehumanize any words that refer to other humans until what your patient is talking about are hypothetical nonentities with no substance or reality. Let him view anyone who isn't right in front of his face as shadows or puppets or background characters with no name or soul.
Frankly, the English language (which is what I mostly dealt with during my last fifty years in the field) astounds me by the sheer number of alterations and inane meanings. They've taken several words and changed the meaning so that the word refers to another thing entirely. In the old days an ass was what they called a donkey, today it means the buttocks. Gay used to mean happy, now it means homosexual. Guts once meant the entrails, now it means courage. A chicken was once just a bird, now it means a coward. Urban used to just mean related to a city, now it is somehow associated with black people. Balls were once round toys that children played with, now it means testicals. And somehow, words referring to poultry, cats, shellfish and other animals now refer to human genitals. I have no idea how these changes happened, but I assume that it came about through the machinations of devils very far down in the Lowerarchy.
Now, I want to talk about the words regarding ownership, specifically how humans view the concept of ownership. Some of the hairless monkeys' favorite words are the possessive pronouns and adjectives. "My" and "mine" are two words that come naturally to all beings, even ones that don't have language. The concept of owning something or someone is the fondest desire of all conscious beings. It's one of the strongest foundations that Hell is built on.
It is always appropriate to encourage humans to view things as their own in a very specific sense. As you know, a being can call something "mine" in different ways. One way is the way a human would say "My foot." In this sense, the human means that this foot is part of his body and can't belong to anyone else, unless it gets chopped off somehow. The foot is not an object he owns, the foot is of his body. This is what is known as inalienable possession.
Another form is called inherent possession. This is somewhat similar to inalienable possession in that it is a possession that cannot be altered without extreme measures. This can be used to describe my example of "My foot", but refers more to things that are beyond the control of the person saying it. If a human born in France said, "this is my country", he would not be saying, "I own this country." He would be saying, "This is the country I reside in." This can refer to many things that are inherent possession to a human such as family, place of origin, blood type, skin color and such.
The type of "mine" you want your patient to use most of all is the "Mine of Total Ownership." This is the case in which a being claims a separate object or living thing as his property. Humans use this "mine" more than others, even when the other uses are more accurate. They wish to think that they can claim anything as their own even though no human can call anything theirs.
The claims are also dubious at best. They say "my money", but money is one of the most transient of all property. They spend all that time earning it and then they go out and spend it. Money changes hands almost as often as the air they breath. Just out of curiosity, I once had my assistant follow one dollar through various transactions to see how many "owners" it had in the course of a month. When he came back, he reported the dollar had passed through no less than two hundred people. Amazing how zealously the humans say "my money" when all they ever do with their money is give it to somebody else, isn't it? And then there's food. They consume plant and animal matter and once they've absorbed all the nutrients, they excrete the waste matter. At least when we consume their souls as food, they remain inside us forever nourishing us with their suffering. It's "their" food only until they've eaten it and their bodies destroy it. They really love calling houses or any other dwelling their own. They can really believe that they own the construct of planks of wood, concrete, nails and pipes because they inhabit it. However, is the house really "their house" if they are not in it?
Currently, only the Enemy can say "Mine" of anything, and does say "Mine" of everything. Hopefully, that will one day change, but for now we must focus on what to do in the current state of affairs. He is able to say "Mine" because He made it. Humans don't actually make anything the way the Enemy does. Human inventions and creations are made using the materials all ready present from the Enemy's Creation. They make things out of wood, stone, plastic, metal, and such; but they are only able to do that because the Enemy made all the raw materials. Therefore, they cannot say "mine" on the grounds of creator.
The Enemy also calls everything His because He can own them forever. Can a human do that? I think not. They exist in the mortal realm for a matter of decades and then they either enter the Enemy's Kingdom or they end up here. There's a human saying, "You can't take it with you." So, if they cannot take things they claim to own with them, in what capacity can they have a legitimate claim to ownership? It's especially funny when souls arrive here and realize they left all "their" things behind. With houses, most humans have landlords, so the home they call their own belongs to someone else and they only rent and can be ejected at any time. Similar to their stay on Earth, don't you think? Everything that they call their own in the mortal world will always either end up belonging to another human or just dissolve into the Earth.
The funniest claims to ownership are on things that they can't even touch, things that no one can call their own. An old standard is a human saying "My time." They all say that and almost always mean it in the "I own it" mine than the "this is the time I am in" mine. They put up this claim as if they can actually own the very seconds of time and keep them in jars on a shelf. Even in cases of material possessions, a human can have a certain level of control, but how does this so called "my time" work? Do they create their time? Did they earn their time? Can they control the flow of time? Can they go back or forward in "their" time or stop their time in a particular instant? Can they replay moments in their time as often as they want? I think not. Yet they call it "their" time, even though they have more control over a video tape or a DVD than the time they're so eager to call their own.
The fact is nobody can call time theirs, even we can't do that. The Enemy is the only one who can call time His own. He made time, He controls time, and He's the only one who knows every second of it. This is one of His greatest advantages in the war. Yes Scumbile?
Professor, can't we tell the future too? Don't we feed answers to human fortunetellers?
Oh for Beelzebub's sake, haven't you taken any classes on the occult?!
Um… no Professor.
Oh, kids today! The Enemy is torturing me with moron students! Well, Scumbile, the short answer is no we can't. But thanks to your staggering ignorance, I'm going to write up an entire lesson plan on the occult and give a test on it in the near future.
Anyway, back to the lesson. Humans can even take other humans to be property. This idea was established from the beginning with the enterprise of slavery, a concept that I am happy to report is still going on today. Though now it is mostly illegal, it still happens under the supervision of criminal cartels in the form of human trafficking. Every year, millions of humans are taken and sold into servitude by these organizations. They target runaways, the homeless, orphans, refugees, (people nobody will miss) and sell them for anything ranging from hard labor to forced prostitution. I'm sorry for the digression, but it's rather encouraging to hear that some of the age-old sins are still in action.
As I was saying, humans can end up convincing themselves they have some claim to ownership of another even without the whole slave package. Of course, no human can own another; they can beat them, force them to work, even kill them, but the only one who owns the hairless apes is the Enemy. But, humans often ignore this simply because the ever present "my" somehow magically makes it so.
A man can say "my wife" and not mean, "the woman who I have decided to share my life with". He may instead mean, "My trophy. My sexual satisfaction servant. My housekeeper and nanny of my children". This can help with tearing apart marriages. If their trophy is scuffed and tarnished, why not get a new one? After all, if the woman is his to keep and use, she is his to dispose of. Another is "my friend". Teach your human not to mean, "a close acquaintance" or "a person I trust" or "a person I care about and who cares about me". Instead have your patient think of a friend as "The person who will always do what I say. The person I can exploit if the need arises." Get your patient to view their friends as nothing but little minions to serve them. Someone to do them favors whenever they need it, and to whom they are not obligated to help in return.
My favorite of the "my" terms is "my children". There is nothing quite as wonderful as twisting "these young souls who I have been entrusted to raise and care for" into "young clones of me and extensions of myself". It is absolutely invigorating to see parents view their children as mere clones who exist to do nothing besides carry on their name and follow their footsteps.
This idea of thinking other humans as their own property is useful in diminishing the value of human life. When one of the little insects hears about a disaster that left many people dead, they say "Oh, how can I feel bad for those people? I didn't know them." It's a perfectly reasonable argument. However, that is just a lie they tell themselves. They say it, but that's not what they're thinking. They are really thinking "Oh, how can I feel bad for those people? They are not mine." So, keep your patient thinking always about what is theirs, until they die and then they become ours.
Now, we are able to use words to help us, but the Enemy does the same, and He's even more adept at this since the words are His creation. So, what we must also do is take away the power of some words. One phrase you should use is "It's just words." You understand? Just. Words. Downplay the importance of words, make them feel that words in the form of speech or in writing are impotent. It amazes me that they fall for this, because without words, nothing could ever be accomplished in the human world. Words make the world go round. They can be changed to their very souls with words. Words start revolutions, words make peace, words can heal or break hearts, words can create and destroy. Words are audible or visible thoughts, and thought is power. Therefore, words are power. So, keep the animals from seeing the power.
One especially easy way for a word to lose its power if the humans hear it enough. Example: a former patient of mine would always say, "I swear" about anything. "I swear I'm telling the truth. I swear it was just here. I swear to God the check is in the mail." He used this phrase so often that he almost never understood what he was saying. When a human swears about something, that human is promising on their honor that what they are saying is true. He said it so often, it was just a normal routine no different than saying hello or goodbye. Even better, since it lost all meaning to him, he would often swear to things he knew to be false. So, not only did the words have no meaning to him, it led him into dishonesty. A recent example: since the American humans went to war in Iraq, the words "weapons of mass destruction" have been repeated so often that they've lost all meaning to the public. Class, do you realize how great an achievement that is? Devices created to kill hundreds or thousands of humans in one shot are now almost outdated because of words.
An even better way to take away the power of the words is the normalcy of some words. There are many words that are commonplace. Good, evil, love, hate, freedom, honesty, father, mother, human, God, child, death, work, food, money, home, nature, and things like that. These are words that are of great importance, but they are common to most humans. Let them take these words, and thus the concepts, for granted. Never allow them to contemplate that a day might come when those words may be frowned upon or taken away. A mortal who has never worried about death may laugh at the word, but faced with a real encounter with it, they will balk at the mere mention of the word. Even better is how they take the word "soul" for granted. Most of them are very hazy as to what a soul even is! This is a perfect confusion of words for you to work with. People say offhandedly that they'd sell their souls for something and they have no concept of the ramifications of this statement.
Aside from manipulating the way humans think of words, you must also help them along the way to active misuse of words. You know the obvious choice would be lying, but there is a very effective vice that is not only deceptive, but can be unknowingly deceptive. This is known as a rumor. It starts out with a human finding out a story (it doesn't matter whether or not it is true), either by somebody admitting the secret or by overhearing somebody talk about it. It is usually a secret or a story about somebody else that is none of their business. Once the human hears the story he or she will want to tell another human all about it. Secrets are hard for humans to keep, they can build up inside them like steam in kettle until it comes shooting out. Once they tell someone the secret, the person who was told will tell someone else. That person will in turn tell somebody else, and on and on and on. Along the way, a human may misunderstand part of the story and relay the story with this misunderstanding as part of the story. Or a human may deliberately embellish on the tale to make it more interesting. These exchanges of misinformation can spread like a plague until everyone in the community has heard it. Curiously, they all usually take these rumors as fact. They don't question it or think about it, they just tell everyone they can find. In the end, feelings can be hurt, reputations can be tarnished, and friendships can be ruined.
A similar vice is gossip, which can sometimes include spreading rumors. Human vermin get together to talk, usually about people or things they don't like. They talk about how much they dislike the person and can say all sorts of hurtful things. "He's a jerk." "She's a slut." "He's a crybaby." "She's fat." "He's stupid." She's ugly." And so on. They can spend hours assassinating the person's character or physical appearance. They talk about who has had sex with whom, how mad they are they didn't get a job or a car or some other thing they wanted, how much money they make compared to others. The entire conversation is filled with insults, hatred, envy, pride, pettiness, lies, slander, prejudice, resentment, and assorted viciousness. This vice is especially prevalent among the young females. Rumors and gossip, which are collectively called "word of mouth", are great tools in fostering fear and hatred. Once enough humans have spread around misinformation, they assume that since everyone knows about it, it must be true. If enough people have heard enough times that Jim cheated on his girlfriend, Monica steals from her job, or the Widow Robertson killed her husband, they'll believe it without question. Then the subject of this libel will become a pariah in the community, and the gossipers will develop a sort of solidarity because they know the so-called truth. Even better is if the person in question is not well known and a little mysterious, then the rumors are usually not true from the beginning and are mostly hearsay and speculation. This will make them afraid and suspicious about the human in question. Once this happens, it is a cinch to whip up hysteria, paranoia, panic and mob mentality. We primarily used this strategy back in the days of the Spanish Inquisition, the Salem Witch Trials, McCarthyism. If someone was a little suspicious, we'd help whip up a rumor and soon the mortal would be arrested or killed. Today, we're trying to cultivate the same reaction in the aftermath of terrorism.
What you should be sure to do in these vices of mishandling words is guide your patients in the way the interpret words. Interpretation has been invaluable to both sides in the Great Conflict. Given the right direction, a human can interpret, or misinterpret any thought to mean anything. The Enemy tells them to live in the present, to be concerned today with what they do today, and they have interpreted "living in the present" means doing whatever they want without thinking of the consequences. Just like the euphemistic twaddle they use to water down their sins, they can grapple with any thought and twist it into a new thought. At times, a statement can be interpreted to mean what it literally says, and other times it can be interpreted to mean anything, including the opposite of what it says. Either way, the outcome will almost always be that the statement will mean whatever they want it to mean. This can develop into a streak of dishonesty and denial of what they know to be right or true.
When humans are emotionally involved, be it with family, lovers or just friends, words can take on many hidden meanings. One example is "I'm fine" or "nothing." Humans say this when they are angry. They become upset and when another human asks them what's wrong and they answer, "It's nothing." Or "I'm fine." They don't come out and say what is bothering them, they choose rather to keep it all inside and play the martyr. A related occurrence is when they say, "Do whatever you want." If a couple has made plans or one just assumes the other will do something with/for them, and then the person decides to do something else. A man comes home on a night when he and his wife were going to go out to dinner, and then he says that he's decided to go out with his friends. The wife would be angry, but she would just say, "Do whatever you want." There is so much double talk among humans that "love" each other, one wonders why the Enemy even wants them to experience this lunacy when it's so saturated with our language.
Now, many of you have probably noticed that I've gone through this lesson without mentioning profanity yet. This is because profanity is the easiest vice of words the humans can fall into. To most humans, swearing is habit. They get angry and they curse, it is not that difficult. They all know the words, they just need to be angry enough to use them. Just wait until they are aggravated enough then suggest they take the Enemy's Name in vain or spout out one of their words for defecating or sex. This kind of sin takes minimal prompting. Just let the element of Wrath do its job of blowing away their inhibitions then have them spout of a line of profanities. In the heat of Wrath, I've seen patients wish other humans to be sent down here, be killed, eat feces and have intercourse with animals or their parents. It's beautiful. Sometimes, they can be so enraged that they actually curse at inanimate objects. They say it like they actually expect Enemy to damn a slow running computer to Hell.
What is even more beneficial is for a human to use foul language when there is no reason to. In circumstances of extreme stress, a human may be expected to swear, but what you may want to do is just have them use profanity in any situation with no provocation whatsoever. This is similar to what we discussed in our lesson on love, where I said that some humans prefer to use other terms for sex. Humans can go around calling women "bitches", calling anything they don't like "shit", or in some cases they even call things they do like "shit", and just using the word "fuck" in any situation even if it doesn't involve sex. I will give you an example. I went by the Hall of Records and picked up this transcript of a conversation between several humans on the day of their deaths. I'll read aloud from a section of it. Forgive the impersonal identifications. The transcriber apparently didn't know any of the humans' names.
MAN WITH BIG CHIN: Let me tell you what "Like a Virgin" is about. It's all about a girl who digs a guy with a big dick. The entire song. It's a metaphor for big dicks.
SQUINTY-EYED MAN: No, no. It's about a girl who is very vulnerable. She's been fucked over a few times. Then she meets some guy who's really sensitive...
MAN WITH BIG CHIN: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa... Time out Greenbay. Tell that fucking bullshit to the tourists.
OLD BALD MAN: Toby... Who the fuck is Toby? Toby...
MAN WITH BIG CHIN: "Like a Virgin" is not about this nice girl who meets a nice fella. That's what "True Blue" is about, now, granted, no argument about that.
SKINNY MAN: Which one is "True Blue"?
YOUNG FAT MAN: "True Blue" was a big ass hit for Madonna. I don't even follow this Tops In Pops shit, and I've at least heard of "True Blue".
SKINY MAN: Look, asshole, I didn't say I ain't heard of it. All I asked was how does it go? Excuse me for not being the world's biggest Madonna fan. Personally, I can do without her.
BUG-EYED MAN: I like her early stuff. You know, "Lucky Star", "Borderline" - but once she got into her "Papa Don't Preach" phase, I don't know, I tuned out.
MAN WITH BIG CHIN: Hey, you guys are making me lose my... train of thought here. I was saying something, what was it?
OLD BALD MAN: Oh, Toby was this Chinese girl, what was her last name? (Old Bald Man takes out a small book)
MAN WITH TOOTHPICK: What's that?
OLD BALD MAN: I found this old address book in a jacket I ain't worn in a coon's age. What was that name?
MAN WITH BIG CHIN: What the fuck was I talking about?
BUG-EYED MAN: You said "True Blue" was about a nice girl, a sensitive girl who meets a nice guy, and that "Like a Virgin" was a metaphor for big dicks.
MAN WITH BIG CHIN: Lemme tell you what "Like a Virgin" is about. It's all about this cooze who's a regular fuck machine, I'm talking morning, day, night, afternoon, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick.
OLD MAN WITH MUSTACHE: How many dicks is that?
MAN WITH TOOTHPICK: A lot.
MAN WITH BIG CHIN: Then one day she meets this John Holmes motherfucker and it's like, whoa baby, I mean this cat is like Charles Bronson in The Great Escape, he's digging tunnels. Now, she's getting' the serious dick action and she's feeling something she ain't felt since forever. Pain. Pain.
OLD BALD MAN: Chew? Toby Chew?
MAN WITH BIG CHIN: It hurts her. It shouldn't hurt her, you know, her pussy should be Bubble Yum by now, but when this cat fucks her it hurts. It hurts just like it did the first time. You see the pain is reminding a fuck machine what it once was like to be a virgin. Hence, "Like a Virgin".
OLD BALD MAN: Wong?
MAN WITH TOOTHPICK: Give me this fucking thing. (MAN WITH TOOTHPICK takes book away from OLD BALD MAN)
OLD BALD MAN: What do you think you're doing? Give me back my book!
MAN WITH TOOTHPICK: I'm sick of fucking hearing it Joe, I'll give it back to you when we leave.
OLD BALD MAN: What do you mean, give it to me when we leave, give it back now.
MAN WITH TOOTHPICK: For the past fifteen minutes, you've been droning on about names. Toby. Toby? Toby? Toby Wong. Toby Wong? Toby Wong. Toby Chung? Fucking Charlie Chan. I got Madonna's big dick coming out of my left ear, and Toby the Jap... I-don't-know-what coming out of my right.
The transcript goes on and on like this for eleven pages. Quite eloquent bunch of gentlemen, aren't they? At this moment on Earth, there are millions of humans who talk like this. Even if the sin is not as delectable as a malicious lie, they are still making themselves into paragons of rudeness. Rudeness may not insure a soul's damnation, but it can be useful in choke out kindness and isolating your patient from other humans. If a human is rude, he or she will be prone offending other humans away with their gutter mouth. If your human is isolated it will be easier to attack, just like any straggler that is picked off when it's missing from the herd.
What this attitude of speech is really useful in propagating is irreverence. Nothing is sacred to humans today and we must maintain this. Let them just accept that since society holds nothing sacred, it is foolish for them to hold anything in any sort of respect or reverence. Appeal to their sense of humor and pride; let them see themselves as bold or honest in their vulgar speech. They can be taught to think that the more crude and uncouth their language is, the more "free" it is.
A human that makes a habit of speaking like this may eventually lose the sense of decorum or respect for others. All they will care about is how they express themselves. It's a common vice; humans are all for freedom of speech, but only for the type of speech that they like. If a human says certain words or ideas and another human doesn't like the words or ideas, they'll brand that person a Fascist who wants to oppress them; and at the other end of the spectrum, the group who is offended may launch attacks against offending words or ideas and have them banned, thus negating the whole idea of free speech. It's a beautiful little hypocrisy, isn't it?
There's one other way we can battle the power of words: stifling them. When oppressive regimes force human communication underfoot, fewer people learn the truth. In some cases we don't even need a word banned or outlawed, we just need public opinion to swing in opposition to it. What better way to rob words of their power and rob humans of power when they are afraid to speak? Having them afraid of being arrested or executed for sating or thinking something is all well and goof, but what is even better is when they simply keep silent because they don't want to be unpopular or are afraid they might lose the love of someone they care for. They see an injustice and they don't speak up. They have a difference of opinion and they don't defend their side. They believe something or live a certain way and are forced to keep silent to keep up pretenses. It's a wonderful torment to box them into a corner where they are unable to take advantage of freedom of speech because they have something to lose by using it. I love the no win situation. Feed that fear until it consumes them. Make them afraid to say anything that might turn people against them. Give them dozens of hypothetical situations in which they speak their mind and have their world torn apart.
I've seen it happen before in countless cases. I was once assigned to a man in Mississippi whose daughter hid her relationship with her boyfriend from him for three years because he was prejudice against black people. Needless to say, I knew all along and three years of her feelings of helplessness and misery were an added bonus to my work on her father. Unpopular opinion is a priceless asset to the cause, especially if the point the person disagrees on is of moral implication. Then, you not only make them feel helpless and alone, you make them feel guilty about their own opinions! The Enemy says "the Truth will set you free." So, make sure they are afraid to tell the truth. If on the other hand, you find yourself in the position I was in, being the tempter of the party who the secret is being kept from, work on their intolerance and stubbornness. Inflame their prejudices and try to instill the familiarity with reality as they are accustomed to it, so that if they ever find out the secret they will lash out. That way, you can ensure that the secret keeper is stuck in the no win scenario.
So, when you are assigned to your humans, don't forget to choose your words carefully. Remember to give them the proper context, and to say them at the right time. If Enemy words are used against yours, be ready to nullify their power in the vermin's mind. And keep your eyes set on the day when you finally capture them and they're somewhere where all the denials, interpretation, cursing or silence can't save them.
Now, next week, we're going to have a guest speaker. He's a very successful active tempter currently stationed in Los Angeles, California. His advice will be coming straight from the front lines, so pay attention. I want all of you to be on your worst behavior and be sure to show him due respect and fear. If you don't show him proper respect, it will reflect badly on the college; and if you cause the college humiliation, I promise you that the faculty will make sure you pay dearly. For starters, punishment will include mandatory detention for all of you until further notice, confiscation of your possessions, eviction from your dormitories, and the only available food will be that tasteless lawyer-loaf they feed the hellhounds. And then, I will turn all of you inside out over a very long period of time.
Class dismissed.