this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2025
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The answer is that most people have never been in a police interrogation and they think they can talk their way out of it if they just explain themselves enough.
It's panic thinking. And once you pop you don't stop.
If you're in a police interrogation room you have to assume and internally accept that you're getting charged with something, and not try to talk your way out of it.
There's also the supreme court ruling a bit ago that weakened the right. Changed it from something you can simply do to something you need to invoke.
Simply remaining silent does not invoke your right to remain silent, you must state that you wish to not speak. This applies before you're read your rights and arrested. So without ever being told your rights or that you can leave at any time, silently refusing to answer questions can be used as evidence against you. Look nervous when the police ask if shell casings found at a murder scene would match a gun you own? That can be used as evidence of guilt, along with your choice not to answer the question.
Coupled with police being able to lie to you more than a lot of people believe, it's possible to remain silent, say "I should probably have a lawyer for this" (note how that's not actually a request for legal counsel, just an observation), and for the police to imply that this has stopped the interrogation ("alright, I'll go do the paperwork. I'll send someone in to sit with you, can't leave people unsupervised").
A lot of people have difficulty not chatting with someone who's been presented to them as a neutral party, particularly if they think there's no harm to it.
People try and talk their way out of it and dig a deeper hole. For example, what I imagined happening with that Briton arrested for carrying a garden trowel:
My first thought would be to just act stupid in that specific situation and straight up lie out of my ass:
Of course, this also has a high likelihood of backfiring. So just stfu with cops.
I feel like my automatic response to that would be "that's a really weird question to ask"
This is why solicitors typically recommend you say "no comment"
I would start panicking as soon as they ask me to write down my name.
Everyone is the hero of their own story. This implies that every person thinks they're doing the right thing.
So if they've been accused of a crime, there must be some misunderstanding. If I explain what happened they'll let me out because I didn't do anything wrong.
It's not the only reason people talk, but it's a big one.
Remember, the line is: " you have the right to remain silent, anything you say, can and will be used against you".
i mean sometimes i know i'm a big dumb idiot, it's pretty obvious when we were at the parade and i sat on my chair and it exploded into fifteen pieces right in front of the police officer and he said "you can't park there, mate" as i was waddling to my feet, there were no heroes
Cops are like Batman. They lie about literally fucking everything. He even said so and they have too. "Literally" was literal. Guns aren't porn but if you told them they can be, they won't care because they already have way too much money.
Heath Ledger was the Hero. Money is the root of all evil. He burnt it and THAT is a crime? Cops are LITERALLY EVIL. Evil isn't even real.
So then, obviously, Cops aren't real. So making them vanish isn't murder. Ask Robert Heinlein for the how to.
Deep. Like a puddle.
I know. I keep falling into the abyss and wake up next to it like Mirdad. Or that Captain in Interstellar.
Well, technically speaking you can talk your way out of it, it's just that talking your way out of it means speaking one sentence and one sentence only "I'm exercising my right to a lawyer and to remain silent" over and over again
The full thought:
Depends, if you live in an authoritarian country (as in actual dictatorships, the USA doesn't count, not yet at least), you do not have the right to remain silent, so in that case, you kinda have to talk your way out of it or else you are automatically assumed guilty.