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Armor-Piercing Question: Difference between revisions

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{{trope}}
[[File:Piercing_question_1206.jpg|link=Slightly Damned|rightframe| The injury is imaginary,<br />but the pain is very real.]]
 
 
{{quote|'''Detective Del Spooner:''' You are [[Just a Machine|a machine. An ''imitation'' of life]]. [[Creative Sterility|Can a robot write a symphony? Can a robot turn a canvas into a beautiful masterpiece?]]<br />
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[[Older Than Feudalism|Ever since]] [[Socrates]], the power of the question to [[Epiphanic Prison|provoke insight]] has been well acknowledged. This sometimes translates into people using a continued line of questioning to upset or enlighten other characters. Among the most powerful forms of this is finding a single question, formulating it so the answer forces your target to face something difficult to admit, and keep pounding it.
 
Whether it's [[The Obi -Wan]] trying to force his student [[The Only Way They Will Learn|through a vital lesson]], or a villain trying [[Break Them By Talking|to reduce a hero to a wreck]], or a hero trying to [[Kirk Summation|show a villain how wrong he's been all this time]], or somebody desperately trying to force [[Brilliant but Lazy|the kid on the sidelines]] to realize they are [[Dare to Be Badass|meant to do something....more]], the key is to find a question with an answer that cuts close to the bone and ''not let up''.
 
May involve but is not necessarily related to [[Armor -Piercing Slap]].
 
The [[Constantly Curious]] often comes up with an [[Armor -Piercing Question]] in [[Children Are Innocent|total innocence]], being, like many children, [[Too Dumb to Fool]].
 
This is, in fact, a real technique occasionally used in psychotherapy, education, religious groups, and even [[Flame War|debates]]; it's occasionally known as the "Socratic Method"
 
Compare [[Break Them By Talking]], [[Hannibal Lecture]], [[What Is Evil?]], [[The Only Way They Will Learn]], [[Figure It Out Yourself]], [[Koan]], [[Cryptic Conversation]]. [[Super Trope]] to [[And Then What?]]?
 
{{examples|Examples}}
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