Watching the Body Language: "Gesturing Candidates" (AP)

[gottaB]

I love looking at the body language of the candidates. If you do too, check out this article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

The assessments seem pretty on target to me, but hey, they said Braun was a natural.

What do you all think? Anyway, something to look for in the next debate.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

1. sounds like Kerry's the most genuine

because parallel gestures would indicate the left and right sides of the brain are in agreement. IOW There is not an intellectual or emotional bias in his thoughts.

[DavidDvorkin]

2. It's pseudoscience

It's baseless.

[dsc]

3. You are too kind

we should call voodoo inspired horse crap voodoo inspired horse crap.

[DavidDvorkin]

4. Or you could say that

:)

[NewYorkerfromMass]

6. Sorry but body language is a real outward manifestation of intent

or do you want to pretend that the brain, mind, and body are completely independent?

[dsc]

8. To site one of their famous examples

They mention Bush and his manic gestures. Too bad they don't mention the fact he is left handed and had been told not to gesture with his left hand. Yep, the reason Bush 1 had such erratic gestures is that he had to think about them and repeatedly hesitated with his left. This is voodoo inspired claptrap and I would be saying so if they thought Dean was using the body language of Christ.

[gottaB]

10. Obviously it was condensed--it was a wire story

One could write a dissertation on Dean's body language e.g.--it wouldn't surprise me if several weren't in the works. There's obviously a lot more to it than the points that were made in the article. That doesn't mean that their points had zero validity, or that the study of gestures in communication and rhetoric is voodoo.

Do you think there's nothing to say about Dean's body language?

[dsc]

12. Yes I think there is nothing to say about any of the body language

I think calling someing voodoo inspired clap trap would make that clear.

[DrFunkenstein]

5. I Read This Last Night

I thought it was pretty interesting, especially because I mock all the candidates gestures. When Kerry points, he does so with his thumb.

[gottaB]

7. I've got to try that

I have most of their canned responses memorized, so it shouldn't be too distracting to add the gestures.

It would help if the tv people would focus on the candidates and quit fooling around. During the Woodruff fiasco every time Kerry found a camera to look into they switched cameras, I swear it seemed like they didn't want him addressing the tv audience directly. Clark too they caught at some funny angles. And poor Braun, not only the riser, but that setup in the second half was not meant for somebody wearing a skirt. How awkward.

So I hope they get some freedom of movement and decent camera next week.

On Kerry's thumb, is he also one who counts one with his thumb instead of his index finger? I have a vague impression of him doing that.

[DrFunkenstein]

9. I Count On My Thumb Too - Am I A Freak?

<>

[gottaB]

11. Not at all

I grew up counting the other way, but when I learned Chichewa and studied Swahili too I learned to count one on my thumb. Then I realized it was actually quite common.

The real freaky way to count is in Japanese, where zero is open and you count by curling your fingers starting with your thumb. I once worked for a Japanese woman and learned that way, but it was never natural to me.

I remember some links with pictures, I'm going to go google them--still looking--getting distracted by base twelve systems--wow