Chapter 484 Depression Patient
Xiao Peng thought that Pascal asked him to "sleep" in order to rest in the hotel and avoid the limelight, but Pascal did not mean that. He wanted Xiao Peng to pretend to be sick.
What was he feigning? Depression! And then he sued both Hoffman Sr. and Hoffman Jr.!
In the West, if there is a little problem or a victim, people will definitely blame it on "depression".
There's actually a bit of dark humor in this: most people who claim to be "depressed" are actually liars. When would someone truly depressed pat their chest and declare, "Look, I have depression?" They only endure it secretly in the dead of night until they completely collapse. Even if they occasionally share their feelings, they do so anonymously, fearing that others will know they're depressed.
Even if someone has depression and needs to talk, they will only tell someone they know and trust, or a doctor, instead of being like those celebrities and internet celebrities who publicly talk about their "depression" to build their image.
Medically, it is also very difficult to diagnose depression, because there are several types of depression, and different depressions have different manifestations and causes. For example, "loss depression" is caused by long-term emotional loss, and the most obvious manifestation is "people-pleasing personality"; "denial depression" is caused by long-term self-denial and being denied, and living in the shadow of "other people's children" every day; and the most troublesome is "excessive depression", which is caused by emotional overload.
So, what constitutes "emotional overload"? Does bursting into tears after learning a friend has passed away count? Does jumping in shock at a dog being hit by a car count?
Theoretically, it all counts!
Therefore, it is really troublesome to identify depression from a medical perspective.
Furthermore, depression and depressed mood are two different things, and they can't be solved by simply talking to someone. The former is a disease that requires specialized psychiatrists and medication. And rich people have no shortage of doctors; they can easily find a doctor to prescribe some medicine and provide a diagnosis. So Xiao Peng is now suffering from "severe depression."
He suddenly understood why so many internet celebrities used "depression" as an excuse whenever they disagreed. Just the name sounded so elegant that Xiao Peng felt like he was sitting on the same level as Lin Daiyu. And by faking depression, one could quickly seize the moral high ground, even if others knew they were faking it.
Look at all those celebrities and internet celebrities. Whenever they encounter a bit of online bullying, they simply say they're battling depression, and public opinion quickly and inexplicably sways in their favor. Just like Qiao Biluo, the internet celebrity who used filters to scam people, who, after being criticized, simply said, "I've been suffering from depression for ten years," and then the incident was completely resolved...
And pretending to be depressed is so easy. You can play and behave as you normally would. When something happens, just say "depression attack" and it will be solved!
Look at this disease: it's easy to get, hard to diagnose, and difficult to treat. It's a perfect excuse for victims. Xiao Peng doesn't know about other things, but what about criminal cases in Western countries? Ninety-nine out of a hundred defendants will try to prove they have a mental illness; while ninety-nine out of a hundred victims will first try to prove they have "depression." The former seeks to avoid conviction, the latter to obtain more compensation.
Old Hoffman had been running Norderney for many years and was considered one of the island's most prominent families. He was certainly wealthy, otherwise he wouldn't have been so confident in his accusation against Xiao Peng: he was confident he could find the best lawyer on Norderney, and indeed in all of Lower Saxony. But he underestimated Xiao Peng's financial resources: Xiao Peng could afford to hire the best lawyer in Europe, and even the world!
In the West, lawsuits are actually a competition of who has stronger financial resources.
The legal systems of the East and the West are a little different. In the Eastern legal system, if you cannot prove your innocence, you are guilty, so there are strange judgments such as "If you didn't hit the person, why did you help him?"; in the West, as long as it cannot be proved that the suspect is really guilty, if there is any doubt about the evidence, he can be said to be innocent.
Just like the Thompson murder case, everyone knew he was the one who did it, but he was acquitted simply because a piece of evidence was questionable. (By the way, the head of his legal team at the time was the father of the Kardashian sisters, which is why the Kardashian family is so arrogant later.)
Because of this characteristic of Western countries, there are three types of people here who must be befriended and not offended. The first is lawyers who are responsible for litigation, the second is accountants who calculate taxes, and the third is doctors, who are life-saving.
After Xiao Peng had been lying comfortably in the hotel for a few days, his lawyer appeared in court with a diagnosis of "depression" issued by two authoritative psychiatric institutions in France and Germany. With this diagnosis, everyone knew: The Hoffman family was finished!
How could Xiao Peng suffer from depression? There are so many reasons:
Because of the unfair treatment he received on Norderney Island; because he almost lost his life due to the complicated rescue environment at sea; because of the threats from old Hoffman; because young Hoffman not only did not feel grateful for saving his life but instead sued him...any one of the reasons would be acceptable.
Things were much simpler in court afterwards, and Xiao Peng won both lawsuits.
When Hoffman Jr. sued him for injury, Xiao Peng's lawyer found more than 100 cases where underwater rescue failed and resulted in the death of the rescuer to prove how difficult Haiti rescue is. Moreover, the most likely cause of danger during ocean rescue is not the natural environment or damage to the ship, but the lack of cooperation of the people in distress themselves.
Xiao Peng's lawyer also produced evidence, including the unanimous support of European maritime rescue organizations for this statement.
Xiao Peng didn't really pay any money to ask these organizations for support: those marine rescue organizations paid attention to this case and took the initiative to offer support.
They were also clear-headed: if Xiao Peng lost the case, they wouldn't have to continue rescuing people in the future, and they would undoubtedly face endless lawsuits—every rescue operation at sea has its bumps and bruises. So, Hoffman Jr. lost the case.
And Xiao Peng will definitely win the lawsuit against them. Didn't you see that depression has appeared?
The judgments in the West for such matters are extremely harsh.
An elderly woman once insulted Madonna, the "Queen of Pop." Madonna got so angry she spat in her face. The woman then sued Madonna, claiming she became depressed because of the spat. The court ultimately ordered Madonna to pay $5 million in damages.
Xiao Peng's claim is even bigger. After all, he's a leader in the ocean exploration industry, a billionaire, a famous internet celebrity, an antique collector, a philanthropist, and a film and television investor—god knows how his lawyers managed to come up with so many titles for him. It feels like the world wouldn't turn without him!
Such an important person has been depressed by you, don’t say anything; just pay me!
The verdict came when the Hoffman family went bankrupt.
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