Polemicist Christopher Hitchens defines it as: "when defendants are coerced or tortured into making a spectacle of their hysterical guilt or false confession." What phrase is it?
Etymology, Etymology, and more Etymology
as well as grammar, usage, euphemism, slang, jargon, semantics (meaning), linguistics, neologism, idiom, word origin, syntax, dialect, lexicon (vocabulary), diction, pidgin, synonym, antonym, homonym, cant, argot, lingo, and redundancy.
The critically-acclaimed board game MooT consists of tough questions about the nuances of the English language.
Answer: Show Trial
According to Hitchens: A show trial is when defendants are coerced or tortured into making a spectacle of their hysterical guilt or false confession. A sham trial is a farce, when either the guilty walk free or the innocent are condemned. We need, but do not have, a term for a proceeding where the chief defendant [Bill Clinton] persuades his proxies to sit there in his place, and where everybody comes out a media winner."
Source: A follow-up piece to a review Htichen's wrote about Sidney Blumenthal
tm)s book, The Clinton Wars.
For further Hitchens, go to the Christopher Hitchens Web ( http://users.rcn.com/peterk.enteract/ )
Synonym: kangaroo court
Copyright 1998-2006 Blair Arts Ltd. All rights reserved.