anaesthetize

Even when the pundit has something of consequence to say, those six words anaesthetize the listener, encouraging them to miss the point.

Irritating English « Anglican Samizdat 2009

We have come many steps closer to what Elmer Diktonius put into words in one of his aphorisms: “If the purpose of art were to anaesthetize, to make us forget life, then a hammer-blow to the skull would be the simplest art, and the best” – though perhaps not quite in the way that Diktonius meant.

Archive 2009-10-01 David McDuff 2009

So let's lift a glass -- shot glass to really anaesthetize ourselves -- and salute our collective craziness: that in the face of high taxes, rising MTA fares, the impossible Byzantine task of getting our kid into school, we get to have the most fun living and raising our kids here; that by raising our kids here, their education is not only in school.

Donna Fish: It's June: Do You Know Where Your Kid Is? Going to School, I Mean? 2009

But from the tone of the discussion so far, the candidates must think that to perform major surgery on this moribund patient, first we have to anaesthetize the voters.

Tim Frasca: Surgery, Please - A Look At Edwards On Health Care 2008

We are treated to many great lies, such as “the market never lies,” or “insider trading is illegal,” meant to administer salve to the flock, or anaesthetize the unsuspecting.

Is Madoff Really A Wall Street Anomaly? 2008

He described the documentary as a "piece of Kremlin agitprop" designed to "anaesthetize the masses".

Russian television program on the fall of the Byzantine Empire 2008

DArby allowed himself a final nightcap, in celebration and also in order to anaesthetize himself.

The Edge of Madness Michael Dobbs 2008

But it would be wrong to blame everything on the scribes, those unreflective, unthinking mouthpieces of the status quo whose job it is to anaesthetize the public.

Archive 2007-10-01 2007

There are people in the world who haven ` t, who still need to anaesthetize themselves.

CNN Transcript May 7, 2007 2007

Nick had probably needed a woman in his bed that night to help anaesthetize him, to keep the pain of that anniversary at bay.

Pregnant by the Millionaire Mortimer, Carole 2006