Protecting the truth with lies

[@M]

Have you ever wondered if someone that you interact with everyday is really in the witness protection program? Like the dude in accounting could have narced on his drug dealer buddies and is now living the dream, undercover, in your workplace, church, etc.? I was watching a crime drama on TV the other night, about said program, and it just occurred to me that we'd never really know unless the people who'd like to kill them finally found them and did so. It'd really be messed up if you married somebody in the program and their entire identity, as you know them, is a bullshit lie, wouldn't it?

 

[sylvie]

Not really because they're only 'lying' about their meaningless gov't ID information, not who they actually are. I'd have a ton of empathy for that person if I found that out and they'd probably be pretty shook up if their cover was blown for their own safety.

 

[SignOfGoob]

It may not work the way you think it does, not usually. They very rarely cover a guy for the rest of his days, it’s usually just until someone else goes to jail. Cops, the FBI, etc…they aren’t usually correctly portrayed on TV. They don’t wear Armani, they aren’t good looking, they don’t have Aaron Sorkin style rapid fire arguments all day like disgruntled spouses. Your new ID will last forever but they aren’t going to guard your house Bodyguard from Beijing style for the rest of your life.

Also, I’ve never had a job where I thought anyone next to me was “living the dream”, undercover or not. It’s still work.

 

[StevenK]

It may not work the way you think it does, not usually. They very rarely cover a guy for the rest of his days, it’s usually just until someone else goes to jail. Cops, the FBI, etc…they aren’t usually correctly portrayed on TV. They don’t wear Armani, they aren’t good looking, they don’t have Aaron Sorkin style rapid fire arguments all day like disgruntled spouses. Your new ID will last forever but they aren’t going to guard your house Bodyguard from Beijing style for the rest of your life.

Also, I’ve never had a job where I thought anyone next to me was “living the dream”, undercover or not. It’s still work.

I do worry about the calibre of people you spend your day to day life with when it seems to come so naturally to you to explain to a bunch of 40 year old men topics such as 'TV is sometimes different to reality' and 'hydrogen balloons use the lighter than air gas hydrogen to float'

 

[SignOfGoob]

I do worry about the calibre of people you spend your day to day life with when it seems to come so naturally to you to explain to a bunch of 40 year old men topics such as 'TV is sometimes different to reality' and 'hydrogen balloons use the lighter than air gas hydrogen to float'

Can you link me to the hydrogen thing? I must have forgotten that.

 

[Moob Butter]

I'd have a ton of empathy for that person if I found that out and they'd probably be pretty shook up if their cover was blown for their own safety.

Bullshit lie. What about Dr Docking?

 

[@M]

It may not work the way you think it does, not usually. They very rarely cover a guy for the rest of his days, it’s usually just until someone else goes to jail. Cops, the FBI, etc…they aren’t usually correctly portrayed on TV. They don’t wear Armani, they aren’t good looking, they don’t have Aaron Sorkin style rapid fire arguments all day like disgruntled spouses. Your new ID will last forever but they aren’t going to guard your house Bodyguard from Beijing style for the rest of your life.

Also, I’ve never had a job where I thought anyone next to me was “living the dream”, undercover or not. It’s still work.

In a witness protection program scenario, my thought process was that they're much happier not being incarcerated or dead. So, based on those alternatives, I would say, yes, they are living the dream. It's all perspective, of course.