Getting people to take responsibility is like a form of water torture

Back in the 1950s, American kids would regularly race to their TVs to watch the latest Flash Gordon episode. In his golden, ornate chamber, the evil Fu Manchu would strap down his latest victim to a splintered wooden plank.

Lying there prone and unable to move a finger, the buxomly blonde would shriek with fear as the delighted villain gamely stroked his wispy goatee and then with a flourish, unscrewed the opening of the water vessel hanging above her head. The water slowly formed into a tiny ball until gravity took its course, the droplets falling "plink, plink, plink " on her forehead.

The victims were said to go insane at the never-ending irritation. This was ominously known as The Chinese Water Torture.