Word: flattering
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...case of the health-care debate, the equivalence of dynamism with unregulated markets falls even flatter. It is not merely the old, poor, and vulnerable who lack access to quality insurance and care today. Those who suffer from the high costs and limited scope of the system are seemingly some of the most “vital” groups in the country: working-class families and young, self-employed entrepreneurs. Those who are un-wealthy are at high risk to be unhealthy, but those who merely work hard outside government and corporate safety nets also need a powerful dose...
...workplace, employers culled "negative" people, like those in the finance industry who had the temerity to suggest that their company's subprime exposure might be too high. No one dared be the bearer of bad news. The purpose of work, at least in white collar settings, was to flatter and reassure the boss, who had in turn probably read enough of the business self-help literature to believe that his job was to motivate others with his own relentless and radiant optimism. (Read "A Primer for Pessimists...
...down we don’t see any of the dark brown squirrels with flatter heads and extra fluffy tails, or the foot-long worms. The buzzing of cicadas, the whirring and warbles of birds fade, too. Only a single neon blue-tailed lizard darts across the path...
Some of the most interesting techniques are classified as "emotional approaches." Interrogators may flatter a detainee's ego by praising some particular skill. Alternatively, the interrogators may attack the detainee's ego by accusing him of incompetence, goading him to defend himself and possibly give up information in the process. If interrogators choose to go on the attack, however, they may not "cross the line into humiliating and degrading treatment of the detainee." (See pictures of the battle against the Taliban...
...have come to understand his liaison with this woman, if I have, not as a substitute for me. Those with any fame or notoriety or power attract people for good reasons and bad. Some want to contribute and some want to take something away for themselves. They flatter and entreat, and it is engaging, even addictive. They look at our lives, which from the outside in particular are pictures of joy and plenty, and they want it for themselves. (Read an interview with Elizabeth Edwards and Teresa Heinz Kerry...