Re: The family in the cellar

In the Year of the Earth Rat, the Great and Powerful Keith F. Lynch 
declared:
> Sean O'Hara <seanohara@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>> 
>> If your daughter disappears and a bunch of children, who aren't
>> yours, start to turn up around the house, you have reason to snoop,
>> no matter how much you respect privacy.
> 
> Not if I trusted my spouse. 

Trust is not a synonym for stupid.

> How likely, a priori, was it that someone
> had been kept prisoner in a secret basement room for 24 years?  Is
> that really something you would have naturally suspected?

Of course not. But you can think something strange is afoot without 
specifically suspecting that your husband has built a torture 
dungeon in the basement where he's repeatedly raping your daughter.

The man was molesting their daughter for seven years while she lived 
openly with them -- but the wife saw nothing, heard nothing, knew 
nothing.

The man built a dungeon under the house -- but the wife saw nothing, 
heard nothing, knew nothing.

The man imprisoned the daughter and three children there for 
twenty-four years -- but the wife saw nothing, heard nothing, knew 
nothing.

The man disappeared into the basement for hours on end with no 
explanation -- but the wife saw nothing, heard nothing, knew 
nothing, and never had reason to visit the basement of her own house.

The man disposed of at least one dead baby -- but the wife saw 
nothing, heard nothing, knew nothing.

The man brought three more of the children upstairs to be raised by 
his wife -- she certainly must've seen something here, but 
apparently didn't find it the least bit suspicious that there were 
three kids in the house who resembled her husband but she didn't 
give birth to.

The man bought food to feed a family twice the size of the one 
living upstairs -- but the wife saw nothing, heard nothing, knew 
nothing.

The Schultzian level of ignorance on her part could only result from 
mental deficiency or willful blindness.

-- 
Sean O'Hara <http://diogenes-sinope.blogspot.com>
Enid: Look at me, I'm not even listening to a word you're saying.
   -Ghost World