# Polycarp did you forget to take you pills? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 3, 2003, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polycarp-did-you-forget-to-take-you-pills/216640 "2003-12-03T03:54:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![cuauhtemoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecb155/32.png) [@cuauhtemoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuauhtemoc)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polycarp-did-you-forget-to-take-you-pills/216640/141 "2003-12-04T14:41:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cuauhtemoc \* > \*\*Or maybe his surname is so unusual that a quick Google search would narrow it down to one guy. Like Schærfenplïîckerblörfenstein or something. \*\* No, scratch that, he said it was a household word. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polycarp-did-you-forget-to-take-you-pills/216640/142 "2003-12-04T14:41:00Z")
Again, is this belief any more irrational than a belief that Jesus rose from the dead 2,000 years ago? Maybe I’m missing something, but I just don’t see a difference in degree here. I don’t consider Christians in general to be mad, any more than I consider Pagans or Hindus or Tibetan Buddhists or Satanists or Feng Shui practitioners to be mad. Someone who believes they’re looking at a devil hovering over my shoulder – that’s a little weird. But someone who believes they know who the messiah is, is no crazier than someone who believes they know who the messiah was, in my book. **Poly** is by all indications a great person; I’m far more impressed with him as a person than I am with **badchad** , who comes across as the product of an unholy union between a pit bull and a lamprey. So what if **badchad** be more devoted to reason than **Poly**? Better to be a good person with peculiar beliefs than a jerk with no peculiar beliefs, I say. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polycarp-did-you-forget-to-take-you-pills/216640/143 "2003-12-04T14:45:38Z")
Well, throw me in the preceding camp. He’s a stand-up guy. And if there is a Messiah who returns, it might as well be as a hot gay twink. ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polycarp-did-you-forget-to-take-you-pills/216640/144 "2003-12-04T14:46:07Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose \* > \*\* “What Truth Seeker said”, I guess. It’s a starting point. > Poly, the Bible is quite clear–the Second Coming will be obvious, dramatic, non-hidden._\* The Jews waiting for the Messiah 2000 years ago thought it would be a dramatic event also. If you believe they were wrong then, what’s to stop you from being wrong now? > [@](#): > > \*\* > It sounds like you’re saying that Jesus was just a man, just another desert “messiah”, just another cult leader, and we can ignore his prophecies concerning his return because…he was just another cult leader, and cult leaders always give their followers dramatic prophecies concerning their return. So you’re saying that you don’t believe Jesus was the divinely incarnated Son of God? He was just an itinerant rabbi?\*\* **Polycarp** may not, but I will, assuming he was a real person of course. > [@](#): > > **Or are you saying that the writer of Matthew, whoever he was, just put that in there about the lightning and stuff, for–what, for shits and giggles? Because all that apocalyptic stuff was a part of the culture? And so we can ignore it?** Another “yes” to that. > [@](#): > > \*\*There is also verse 36:Not even Jesus Himself knows the hour of His return. \*\* Perhaps he has learned of **The Plan** in the nearly 2000 years since that was written. > [@](#): > > \*\*So, here you are, thinking you’ve spotted Jesus, living on Earth again. And you say he’s a teenager? So isn’t that saying that you’re banking on His returning sometime within the next, say, 55 years or so? Isn’t that “picking a date”? You of course are aware of how many people during the last 2,000 years have picked dates for the Second Coming, yes? The Millerites, for example? Annnnnd…how many of them were right? > > So what makes **you** think you’re right? > > I hang out on several of what I call “tinfoil hat brigade” message boards, and they all have a resident population of people who are _equally_ certain that _they_ know EXACTLY when the world is going to end, whether it’s because of Planet X doing a flyby (last May was when this was supposed to happen), or aliens coming to destroy us, or the sun exploding, or the CIA spraying us with chemicals from jet exhausts until our DNA deteriorates and we all go crazy, or whatever. They ALL are positive that “this is it”, mankind is doomed, any time now– **and they alone know about it.** They alone have this secret inside information. > > Psychologists tell us that people like this, far from living in fear, actually feel quite empowered by being the Chosen Few and having this special inside information. You have no idea how depressing I’m finding it to discover that you, too, evidently regard yourself as one of the Chosen Few with secret inside information concerning the End Of The World.\*\* How is this any wackier than the typical Evangelical Christian belief that there is an End Times when God comes and destroys Evil? This rock is all there is, folks. Dust to dust and all that. The only End Times for humanity will be some event that, in the words of the esteemed Wildest Bill, “extincts” us. > [@](#): > > **So, let’s see your extraordinary evidence for your extraordinary claim, Poly. Here you are, on the SDMB, a website devoted to Fighting Ignorance. We have people wearing tinfoil hats, bursting with self-importance with their secret inside information, come into Great Debates more often than I like to think, and you know perfectly well what we tell them. We tell them, "Prove it. Let’s see whatchoo got."** His claims are no more extraordinary than yours that Jesus is coming in some dramatic event that all the world will see. To **badchad** : As I mentioned before, I think all this religious stuff is bunk. However once again, your only gripe against **Polycarp** is that he doesn’t believe what you think he should in order to be a “True Christian”. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polycarp-did-you-forget-to-take-you-pills/216640/145 "2003-12-04T14:49:25Z")
And **elf** , I think you’re dead wrong on **Poly’s** motives: he’s nowhere near begging for attention on this. I see no reason to ascribe motives to him beyond the ones he suggested himself: he’s sharing as much about his beliefs as he feels comfortable doing. This is a very common practice amongst religious people, and there’s no reason to disrespect it, whether it’s him not saying who he thinks Christ is, or another poster (whose name I forget) refusing to tell the circumstances surrounder her sister and her conversion to Christianity. **Poly** , I hope you don’t take my calling your beliefs peculiar as an insult; I certainly don’t mean it that way. I mean only that they’re peculiar to me, as doubtless my beliefs are peculiar to you. Though I may not viscerally understand how you can believe what you believe, such a visceral understanding is not necessary for me to respect you and, by extension, to respect what you believe. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polycarp-did-you-forget-to-take-you-pills/216640/146 "2003-12-04T15:00:40Z")
TruthSeeker said, “I have to say that this really puts a serious hole below the waterline of your take on Christianity. It really makes it hard to take your other assertions based on your religious scholarship at all seriously.” His brand of christianity has always been full of holes. He cherry picks all of it…why would you think he’d follow the letter of his “religion” on this point? It boggles the mind that he aligns himself with a church or christianity. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polycarp-did-you-forget-to-take-you-pills/216640/147 "2003-12-04T15:20:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Left Hand of Dorkness \* > \*\*Again, is this belief any more irrational than a belief that Jesus rose from the dead 2,000 years ago? Maybe I’m missing something, but I just don’t see a difference in degree here. > > I don’t consider Christians in general to be mad, any more than I consider Pagans or Hindus or Tibetan Buddhists or Satanists or Feng Shui practitioners to be mad. Someone who believes they’re looking at a devil hovering over my shoulder – that’s a little weird. But someone who believes they know who the messiah is, is no crazier than someone who believes they know who the messiah was, in my book. > > **Poly** is by all indications a great person; I’m far more impressed with him as a person than I am with **badchad** , who comes across as the product of an unholy union between a pit bull and a lamprey. So what if **badchad** be more devoted to reason than **Poly**? Better to be a good person with peculiar beliefs than a jerk with no peculiar beliefs, I say. > > Daniel \*\* Keep in mind, of course, that regardless of a poster’s personality (or likeability), his statements of religious beliefs deserve no less critical thought or intense scrutiny by other posters than any other religion or pseudo-science (referring to your examples in the quote above). Which isn’t to say, mind you, that _everyone’s_ contributions to this thread are borne out of intellectual detective work, but **Polycarp** did post his (possible) messiah thoughts in a thread (and that being a GD thread, even), which means it’s fair game. There aren’t many free passes on this board (and probably none intentional), especially when the subject touched upon is one that, for varying reasons, is dear to a lot of us. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Zahn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e0b2c6/32.png) [@John\_Zahn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Zahn)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polycarp-did-you-forget-to-take-you-pills/216640/148 "2003-12-04T15:21:42Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic_ > To be fair, DDG, Poly never asserted anything as fact. He merely said he had a “hunch” which is not a falasifiable statement. He didn’t say he “knew” anything. I dunno about that, Diogenes. Let’s look again. From Polycarp’s last post he only says this: **I did not claim that this person is the Second Coming – only that my hunch, my speculation was that he’d be the person to fill that role.** So it’s now downgraded to just a hunch and speculation in this post. But Poly’s earlier post wasn’t just a hunch, it was a **strong hunch** , so strong of a hunch that he says it is **fact** that he knows his identity. From earlier: **I have a very strong hunch that I do in fact know his identity – and his surname is already a household word.** You don’t’ see that as weaseling? You are far more kind and give way more lattitude that I ever could. I agree with **DDG** where he comments on this: > [@](#): > > Bah. This is useless weaseling. I expect better from you. Saying, “He’s going to fill the role of the Messiah” is the same thing as saying, “He’s going to be the Messiah”, unless you’re postulating the Second Coming as some kind of Broadway production, with Mr. FamousLastName in the role of “Jesus”. JZ ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polycarp-did-you-forget-to-take-you-pills/216640/149 "2003-12-04T15:32:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by John Zahn \* > \*\*So it’s now downgraded to just a hunch and speculation in this post. But Poly’s earlier post wasn’t just a hunch, it was a **strong hunch** , so strong of a hunch that he says it is **fact** that he knows his identity. From earlier: **I have a very strong hunch that I do in fact know his identity – and his surname is already a household word.** > \*\* Please tell me that I don’t need to parse this for you, that I don’t need to explain how dependent clauses and intensifiers work. He is clearly NOT saying it’s a fact, and anyone whose native language is English should instantaneously recognize this. You’re putting words into his keyboard. **Skipmagic** , I DO give religious beliefs a pass. I do not consider religious beliefs properly part of a rational discussion at all, just as I don’t consider logic-based debate properly part of a religious discussion. They’re two different fields, as far as I’m concerned, based on fundamentally different axia. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![elf6c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elf6c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elf6c)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polycarp-did-you-forget-to-take-you-pills/216640/150 "2003-12-04T15:41:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Left Hand of Dorkness \* > \*\*And **elf** , I think you’re dead wrong on **Poly’s** motives: he’s nowhere near begging for attention on this. I see no reason to ascribe motives to him beyond the ones he suggested himself: he’s sharing as much about his beliefs as he feels comfortable doing. This is a very common practice amongst religious people, and there’s no reason to disrespect it, whether it’s him not saying who he thinks Christ is, or another poster (whose name I forget) refusing to tell the circumstances surrounder her sister and her conversion to Christianity. > > [ > Daniel \*\* You very well could be right. However, all we have to base our theories on are his posts and specific language used in each of them. Based on that, I or **badchad** may be correct too. Also, a careful reading of **Duck Duck Goose** and **John Zahn** posts leave me pretty comfortable with my post. I could be wrong- but so could you. ---
**Author:** ![Pedro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/919ad9/32.png) [@Pedro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pedro)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polycarp-did-you-forget-to-take-you-pills/216640/151 "2003-12-04T15:43:37Z")
This thread is an interesting social experiment. What happens when a well respect member of a community and the SDMB banner for what a christian ought to be like turns out to be a loonie? Stay tuned for the upcoming episodes. Even more ridiculous than Polycarps beliefs is the way he chose to express them. IMHO. Methinks he’s been reading the bible too much (hehe couldn’t resist). In case I am allowed a question (which in all fairness I’m not) I would like to ask Polycarp what exactly convinced him? The animated GIFs? Some soul-inspiring background music? And really, saying the son of God should be allowed his annonimity is a riot. You got into the secret through a webpage apparently. Maybe you’ll win a medal when the show is ready to be unleashed upon us poor heathens. ---
**Author:** ![Beagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Beagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beagle)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polycarp-did-you-forget-to-take-you-pills/216640/152 "2003-12-04T15:48:27Z")
Great Debates: “…witnessing…” I’m always ready for some new religion from which I can cherry pick a pearl of wisdom. The UFO asteriod cult, I learned: Never let anyone talk you into castration, and try not to go out in matching running shoes. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polycarp-did-you-forget-to-take-you-pills/216640/153 "2003-12-04T15:53:08Z")
I think the difference between “hunch” and “strong hunch” is negilgible at best. Calling it “weaseling” is going a bit far. He never claimed to _know_ a damn thing. He just said he was speculating and even a “strong hunch” does not imply certainty or inside knowledge. I think people are trying to back **Poly** into a corner that doesn’t exist. How the hell is one supposed to prove that they have a strong hunch? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polycarp-did-you-forget-to-take-you-pills/216640/154 "2003-12-04T15:55:48Z")
Exactly, **DtC**. Is a strong woman a woman? A strong odor an odor? A strong hunch a hunch? Of course. Folks trying to discredit him are resorting to absurd semantic trickery, suggesting that he contradicts himself by putting the adjective “strong” in front of the word “hunch” one time and not the other, or suggesting he’s asserting something is fact by saying “I have a hunch that in fact…” If I judged his beliefs solely by his detractors, I’d be signing up as a Christian right now. Some of you folks are really grasping at straws. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polycarp-did-you-forget-to-take-you-pills/216640/155 "2003-12-04T15:57:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Pedro \* > \*\*This thread is an interesting social experiment. What happens when a well respect member of a community and the SDMB banner for what a christian ought to be like turns out to be a loonie? Stay tuned for the upcoming episodes. > > Even more ridiculous than Polycarps beliefs is the way he chose to express them. IMHO. Methinks he’s been reading the bible too much (hehe couldn’t resist). > > In case I am allowed a question (which in all fairness I’m not) I would like to ask Polycarp what exactly convinced him? The animated GIFs? Some soul-inspiring background music? > > And really, saying the son of God should be allowed his annonimity is a riot. You got into the secret through a webpage apparently. Maybe you’ll win a medal when the show is ready to be unleashed upon us poor heathens. \*\* Yes. _sane_ Christians know that Jesus will appear in the sky surrounded by singing angels and that people will start rising bodily up to Heaven. Only a loony would speculate something more naturalistic. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polycarp-did-you-forget-to-take-you-pills/216640/156 "2003-12-04T16:04:42Z")
I think Christians _should_ engage each other in a debate like this. I wouldn’t expect folks to give me a pass if I’m calling myself a Christian and I think Jesus is an immortal drifter who never ascended to heaven. I would expect _someone_ to say, “Hey, you know the Bible says Jesus left Earth 2000 years ago.” If **Polycarp** believes the Messiah is living among us right now, this contradicts the orthodoxy of Christianity. Doesn’t mean he’s wrong or crazy, but it doesn’t mean he should be left unchallenged by those who accept certain principals that have been gleamed from thousands of years of theological rumination. Does he believe that Jesus was not the one who described His return? If he does, then isn’t taking anything but a literal interpretation of His words pretty brazen? **DDG** challenged him very respectfully, without the harshness of others. I hope **Polycarp** responds to her points. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polycarp-did-you-forget-to-take-you-pills/216640/157 "2003-12-04T16:04:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Left Hand of Dorkness \* > **Skipmagic, I DO give religious beliefs a pass. I do not consider religious beliefs properly part of a rational discussion at all, just as I don’t consider logic-based debate properly part of a religious discussion. They’re two different fields, as far as I’m concerned, based on fundamentally different axia.** To some extent I agree with you: when it comes to logic and religion, there’s almost always a time (or place) where the twain ain’t gonna hang out much anymore. Usually around the time “faith” shows up in the mix. But for as many problems religion has caused for some of us; for as many times that religion has affected us through laws, customs and traditions (whether good or bad); for as many times during the day we’re faced with the repercussions of whatever the majority’s religion is in whichever country, I say that _no_ religion should ever be given a free pass from critical thinking. It’s your prerogative to believe otherwise, of course, but I don’t blame others in this thread for trying to discern the meaning of what **Polycarp** has written. That said, I don’t necessarily agree with the semantic, “Here, take this brush and paint yourself into a corner, please…” methods some are employing. I think we would be better off waiting for **Polycarp** to finish posting and then take a look at what he has to say in its entirety. ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polycarp-did-you-forget-to-take-you-pills/216640/158 "2003-12-04T16:06:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic \* > \*\*Yes. _sane_ Christians know that Jesus will appear in the sky surrounded by singing angels and that people will start rising bodily up to Heaven. Only a loony would speculate something more naturalistic. :rolleyes: \*\* I do believe this. And I am one of hundreds of thousands. We’re not **all** looney! ---
**Author:** ![John\_Zahn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e0b2c6/32.png) [@John\_Zahn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Zahn)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polycarp-did-you-forget-to-take-you-pills/216640/159 "2003-12-04T16:11:22Z")
> [@](#): > > He is clearly NOT saying it’s a fact, and anyone whose native language is English should instantaneously recognize this. You’re putting words into his keyboard. Not a fact to whom? Polycarp? And what fact? The person’s identity? Polycarp’s earlier post reads like this: **I have a very strong hunch that I do in fact know his identity – and his surname is already a household word.** He is clearly indicating that he has a strong enough hunch to him that he in fact knows his identity. So feel free to parse the English language anyway you see fit to show that Poly is indicating that this hunch is so strong that it is anything other than a fact to him on this person‘s identity. JZ ---
**Author:** ![xenophon41](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xenophon41/32/253_2.png) [@xenophon41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenophon41)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polycarp-did-you-forget-to-take-you-pills/216640/160 "2003-12-04T16:11:52Z")
Here’s the quote (with the original formatting) that some are characterizing as “weaselling”: > [@](#): > > _(from **Polycarp** , page 2 of this thread)_: > > _I did not claim that this person **is** the Second Coming_ – only that my hunch, my speculation was that he’d be the person to fill that role. I intentionally did not put a name to him, as I believe that he deserves to maintain his anonymity until he is ready to act, whenever that may be… Now, I note the underlined “claim” and the bolded “is” and parse it as a denial on **Poly** ’s part that he’s made any proclamation of Christ, which is consistent with what he’s repeated pretty explicitly. He says his _hunch_ is based on _speculation_. Now, here’s a guy (Poly) who believes there’s a strong possibility that a person _who has not yet revealed himself to the world_ is Christ returned. I think, rather than ask why **Poly** would choose to maintain the anonymity he has to believe this possible Saviour wishes (else he’d have revealed himself already), a better question would be why give hints at all? Why share even an inkling, much less a strong hunch, if you believe these things? I think I see how and why sharing the hunch would be proper, but it aint mine to defend, so I’ll just ask the question. However, I can’t personally see any weaselling in **Poly** ’s coyness, and certainly no backtracking in the repetition of his uncertainty. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polycarp-did-you-forget-to-take-you-pills/216640.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polycarp-did-you-forget-to-take-you-pills/216640.md?page=9)