PDLP Chapter 5 Judgment and the Judgmented
Chapter 5 Judgment and the Judgmented
Titus knew this was not a simple survey.
Besides the Hannibal Lecter incident, another person has been tormenting Jack Crawford recently: Buffalo Bill, a serial killer.
Crawford hopes to get help from Hannibal, a psychiatrist and master criminal, to find clues about Buffalo Bill, but asking directly will likely result in a rejection.
Secondly, if this matter were to be revealed by someone with ulterior motives—such as Dr. Lecter or a caregiver—the FBI would face unimaginable public pressure.
What do people think when the FBI bows down to a murderer to ask for his advice?
But Crawford's real brilliance lay in the fact that he didn't tell Titus and Starling his true intentions; he simply had them conduct an assessment of Hannibal.
This way, Hannibal would be more willing to accept their arrival and less likely to feel resentful;
Furthermore, Crawford believed that Hannibal would guess his true purpose and reveal it, thereby humiliating and manipulating the FBI.
This is not difficult. Crawford is already infamous because of Hannibal's affair, and Buffalo Bill has made a mess of the FBI.
In that time, would he have the leisure to spare some energy and manpower to build a damn psychological data analysis database?
Starling, an unsuspecting intern detective, is beautiful and has a degree in criminal psychology; no one is more suitable than her.
As for Titus, the FBI always operates in pairs, it's an old tradition, and he can protect Starling.
Therefore, Crawford's specific arrangements for this operation were as follows: Starling would conduct the questionnaire survey, while Titus would be in overall charge, compiling the questionnaires and submitting them.
In short, this was a psychological game that Crawford waged against Hannibal through Titus and Starling.
The two walked to the end of the corridor, and the game began.
This was the first meeting between Detective Titus Gallagher and Dr. Hannibal Lecter.
The first thing that catches the eye is a thick glass wall, behind which is a nylon net. Behind the net, the wall is covered with several paintings. Below the paintings stands a middle-aged white man, not very tall, but with exceptionally well-defined muscles, like a crouching wild beast. Mr. Beast is now wearing 'glasses' and is holding a Chicago-printed daily newspaper!
Titus couldn't understand why a serial killer would receive such preferential treatment.
Hannibal spoke first, his voice calm and elegant, as if this were not a prison cell but his home, and he were serving coffee to his guests.
Good morning!
Titus stood in the shadows against the wall, with no intention of joining the conversation.
Starling stepped forward and said:
Good morning, Dr. Lecter!
"I'm Clarice Starling. Can I talk to you?"
Hannibal replied:
"May I see your identification?"
Titus noticed that Hannibal did not answer the question, but instead chose to ask a question in return.
"I already showed it in...the office."
"Did you see Chilton's identification?" Hannibal changed the subject, reminding her in a senior's tone.
"no."
"You're probably a journalist. Chilton let you in to make money, so I think I'm qualified to see your credentials."
Bring the topic back to the present and give a reasonable explanation.
"Okay." Starling showed her ID card.
"Closer"
Starling, come closer.
"Closer"
Starling pressed her ID card almost against the glass wall.
Titus came up with the word "inquiry," which the philosopher Althusser proposed: to establish our relationship through my words.
The current situation is that Hannibal has given two orders, and Starling has followed them.
"An FBI intern?" Hannibal noticed her credentials.
"Yes, but we're not talking about the FBI; we're talking about psychology. I don't have the authority to decide what we talk about. Can you decide?"
Starling was clever; she remained humble and tried to steer the conversation back to 'psychology' in a way that wouldn't offend anyone, by taking out the psychological survey questionnaire.
"You're such a clever little devil!"
"Barney, where did your manners go? Bring me a chair!"
Barney, Hannibal's nurse, obediently moved a chair to Miss Starling.
Hannibal said:
"Please sit down."
"Thanks."
At this point, Hannibal regained control of the game, and Starling's attempt to change the subject failed.
Hannibal continued to ask:
"What did Migus just say to you?"
Undoubtedly, this was an extremely offensive and aggressive question, and the term "obedience test" came to mind for Titus.
Starling answered truthfully, "He said, 'I can smell your private parts.'"
She knew she couldn't compete with a seasoned psychology master.
Hannibal continued, "I see, I can't smell it. You use Eve's Cream and sometimes 'Love's Flying' perfume, but not today."
Hannibal's words implied "I see through you," a clear attempt to intimidate Hannibal.
Now that the pressure was enough and the initiative was firmly in hand, Hannibal naturally wouldn't relinquish his advantage, and he continued his relentless attack:
Do you hate him?
"I regret that he has lost his mind." A polite and restrained reply.
"I noticed a fragrance wafting from your bag when you took out your ID card just now. It's a very pretty bag."
"Thanks."
"Is this your most expensive bag?"
"Yes."
Hannibal's smile deepened. "Moisturizing cream," "flying together," "the most expensive bag," the cheap suit, the meticulously permed hair revealing his caution, the polite and restrained answers in the face of rudeness, and a slightly undeniable accent.
A fighter who uses extreme self-discipline to combat the pressures of his background, shame, and environment.
At this point, Dr. Lecter had completed a preliminary, ruthless psychological profile.
He had a thorough understanding of Starling's economic strength, social class, and general personality.
Miss Starling, however, continued answering questions.
Hannibal then took the initiative to steer the conversation back to the original purpose.
"I didn't expect Crawford to be in such a hurry? He's already started asking interns for help."
"He's busy, he's—"
"He's busy with Buffalo Bill's case," Hannibal interrupted again.
"I think so," Starling recalled the case analysis diagrams covering the walls of Crawford's office when she reported for duty, with chains of evidence connecting like a spider web to the root word "Buffalo Bill".
"'I think so'? Officer Starling, you know perfectly well it's all about Buffalo Bill's case."
"I think so. I haven't seen the specific documents regarding that case. My job is—"
Hannibal interrupted again:
"How many women did Buffalo Bill sleep with?"
Five.
"All skinned?"
"If you'd be willing to look at this questionnaire, I'll tell you."
At this point, Miss Starling is still kept in the dark by her boss. Hannibal is already planning to "help" her, but she is still persisting with the questionnaire.
Hannibal was getting a little angry:
"Send in the survey questionnaire."
Starling is pretentious.
A moment later, Hannibal threw the questionnaires back into the teleporter. The iron gate roared fiercely, scattering papers all over the floor.
"You think you can analyze me with such a tiny gadget?"
"No, I meant you could—"
Hannibal raised his hand to interrupt her.
Titus discovered that he would almost never allow Starling to finish speaking.
Her deliberate intimidation and interruptions, and every moment of her hesitation, became Hannibal's confirmation of the answer to his guess.
Doctors use open-ended questions to observe nonverbal information, assess cognitive and emotional states, form a preliminary judgment, and then use cyclical questioning to eliminate possibilities, confirm the hypothesis step by step, form a closed loop of thought, and finally integrate it into a psychological profile.
Finally, it's time to put the profiling results out for verification.
When Hannibal spoke again, his elegant and melodious voice was like a sharp scalpel:
"You want to use these numbers to study me? Quite ambitious, Miss Starling!"
"You know what I think of you? A country bumpkin! You're dressed up so well, your glasses look like cheap birthstones, the whole surface seems to glow when you catch something; you're trying so hard to get rid of your accent, a genuine West Virginia Asian accent (understand it as a country accent)! Isn't the Starling family there known for producing miners?"
"You try your best to avoid looking like your mother. Nutrition has made you a little taller, but your family hasn't even escaped the miners' lifestyle for more than a generation!"
"Officer Starling, choosing between college and joining the Women's League must have been a tough decision for you, wasn't it?"
"How did those country boys manage to hook up with you so quickly? By groping you in the back seat of a car?"
"You must really want to get out of here, right? To go to the ends of the earth, all the way to—the FBI!"
"What an admirable story of struggle, truly a source of pride and honor for the family! Officer Starling!"
Clarice Starling clenched her fists, her face flushed, trying to calm herself, but her body trembled uncontrollably.
At that moment, applause came from behind.
"Dr. Lecter, what a brilliant profile! Seeing is believing!"
"But do you dare listen to my profile of you?"
Titus stepped out of the shadows, thinking it was time for this farce to end.