In the media, there is a well-known rule of three. When something happens once, it’s an incident. Twice, it’s a curiosity. Three times, it’s a trend, a spike on a graph, a change of mood or a shift in weather, a moment when meetings are called and think pieces assigned.
Take the example of the criminally indicted appearing before juries in their own defense. Legal practice, as well as generations of courtroom dramas, tells us that such a thing, being folly, rarely happens. Giving their own version in court opens defendants to cross-examination, self-contradiction, a bad first impression, intemperate outbursts, and an array of uncontrollable third-party scrutiny.
