“I'm just here to ask you a few questions sir.”

During a debate on a religion discussion board (which I was not even participating in!) A Creationist compared me to Lt Columbo...

“JimC loves playing the Columbo! It's all meant to distract, obfuscate, and keep discussions off-balance. He's the master of unintelligibility.”

This is of course a gross misrepresentation of Columbo - but being compared to the great man is a massive compliment - Columbo is one of my favourite fictional characters and always has been. I bought a box set of the Complete Columbo about 6 months ago and watching an episode during a lazy afternoon is a treat I never get tied of. 

Now, it's obvious A Creationist didn't mean it as a compliment but as I've mentioned before, religious apologists are often hoist by their own petard when they use analogies, and this is another example.

Columbo was a genius. His opponents were of course also extremely clever, but delusional, arrogant, living a lie, hiding the truth behind a facade of smugness, confidence, authority and respectability.

“There must be something wrong with me. I seem to bother people, make them nervous”

Especially people with something to hide.

Columbo had an instinct for quickly spotting a charlatan. But he wouldn't rely on his intuition: he'd work diligently and politely to establish the facts, gather the evidence. And he'd get the evidence simply by asking questions, so the liars would expose themselves, their ever more contrived answers and excuses causing their stories to unravel. He would give them the rope with which they would hang themselves.

“I'm just here to ask you a few questions sir.”

On a few occasions, when Columbo's opponents realised they had run out of answers to his questions, when his “just one more thing” was the last straw and they knew the game was up, they would attack him, even try to kill him. But he always anticipated this, and would be prepared and handle the situation calmly.

Columbo was always one step ahead of the frauds and liars he was exposing. And they couldn't see it until it was too late.

“Just one more thing...”

Peter Falk sums it up well in his autobiography...

"I was struck very early on by the dramatic possibilities of playing a man who housed within himself two opposite traits. On the one hand being a regular Joe, the guy next door, nothing special, and at the same time being the most brilliant detective on the globe. A guy with a mind like Einstein who sounded like the box boy at Food Giant".

"Another thing I realised about him – appearing intelligent made him uneasy – it put him at a disadvantage. He was much more comfortable looking a bit slow – it was relaxing for him to give the impression of mediocrity. He knew he had you where he wanted you."