Some weeks I do transcription instead of attempting to write. (Transcription pays much better than attempting to write, I assure you.) This current job is a transcription of a meeting involving free trade agreements. I have some pretty strong opinions about free trade agreements, which are not the point.
What I find happens when I transcribe another person's words, verbatim, with stammers and mannerisms and all that, is that I am very sensitive to the channeling effect. I feel myself taking on their opinions -- only slightly, like they are inhabiting my fingers and eyes and ears just long enough to get their words on paper. But it is a real effect. So when I think about free trade agreements, and I do think about them frequently enough to matter, I feel like I for very brief moments can see all sides of the argument. It's kind of cool, but disturbing.
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