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I'm the Canadian who was detained by ICE for two weeks

(www.theguardian.com)
1009 points n1b0m | 7 comments | 19 Mar 25 11:21 UTC | HN request time: 0.894s | source | bottom
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sebstefan ◴[19 Mar 25 12:49 UTC] No.43411166[source]▶
>I was taken to the nurse’s office for a medical check. She asked what had happened to me. She had never seen a Canadian there before. When I told her my story, she grabbed my hand and said: “Do you believe in God?”

>“I believe God brought you here for a reason,” she said. “I know it feels like your life is in a million pieces, but you will be OK. Through this, I think you are going to find a way to help others.”

You've got to be fucked in the head to think this is an appropriate thing to do as an agent that's part of a federal process. Keep your god out of work!

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otikik ◴[19 Mar 25 13:25 UTC] No.43411648[source]▶
> Keep your god out of work!

That is very easy to type from the comfort of your home on your mobile phone.

After several days of deprivations and hardships, including sleeping in a fully-lighted cold cell without even a blanket, you will get any help and support that you can get.

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awnird ◴[19 Mar 25 13:46 UTC] No.43411925[source]▶
Proselytizing isn't help. A mentally ill woman shrieking about a wizard who lives in the sky isn't support.
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1. otikik ◴[19 Mar 25 14:25 UTC] No.43412439[source]▶
Perhaps, but you would not have said that to her if you were there.
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2. skyyler ◴[19 Mar 25 14:37 UTC] No.43412595[source]▶
I absolutely would have. I don't need the support of an imaginary friend when facing oppressive customs laws.
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3. hobs ◴[19 Mar 25 14:46 UTC] No.43412707[source]▶
Only because that person is an implicit threat, not because they are helping. My first thought would be akin to "oh fuck, the lizard people are here now."
4. otikik ◴[19 Mar 25 15:24 UTC] No.43413252[source]▶
The thing is, I know that you are not that kind of übermen. Because übermen don't waste their valuable time on Hacker News :).
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5. neither_color ◴[19 Mar 25 15:41 UTC] No.43413491[source]▶
Telling someone in a seemingly hopeless situation that there is a high probability that things will get better because their imaginary friend is more powerful than the machinations of a despotic state is actually preferable to telling them that there's no imaginary friend and nobody is coming to save them. It's a common enough theme in prison camp survival autobiographies.

The so-called "logical" thing to tell them in this hypothetical scenario is not the optimal thing, so maybe it's not the most logical thing to say/do.

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6. skyyler ◴[19 Mar 25 16:22 UTC] No.43414078{3}[source]▶
I don't think it takes a special kind of person to not be comforted by the imaginary when facing an uncaring machine ready to devour them.
7. skyyler ◴[19 Mar 25 19:47 UTC] No.43416506{3}[source]▶
>their imaginary friend is more powerful than the machinations of a despotic state

This is the sort of thing that makes a lot of sense if you have an imaginary friend but sounds a little deranged if you don't.