the silence - Why don't the Doctor, Amy, Rory, or River kill the Silents on sight?

In the Series 6 episode "Day of the Moon", the Doctor turns the Silents' own ability against them by splicing the moon landing broadcast with a clip of a Silent saying "you should kill us all on sight." This implants all of the humans that are watching the broadcast with a post-hypnotic suggestion to try to kill any Silent they see. However, the Doctor, Rory, Amy, and River are all present when the Doctor does this, and are also surrounded by Silents. However, even though they see the clip, they are perfectly capable of running away from the Silents and show no compulsion to kill them. The Doctor in particular should have started killing the Silents even earlier, as Canton sent him the clip of the Silent, which the Doctor then watched for himself so that he could see what it was. This is essentially the same thing that the Doctor did to humanity (watched an out-of-context clip of a Silent suggesting that they all be killed on sight), so wasn't he affected?

Answer

The Doctor is at least mildly psychic, and the TARDIS far more so.

My guess is that Amy and Rory, being at least somewhat prepared for the video, were able to overcome it. The TARDIS, which is tied into their brains (and provides them the ability to speak & understand any language they've encountered) likely aided in this.

The Doctor, having complete foreknowledge of the plan, would have been resistant to the post-hypnotic suggestion in any case. Couple that with his experience, training, ability, and general dislike of ending lives, and it's easy to see how he would avoid the murderous impulses.

Comments

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