1/ In light of Monday's White House visit of King Abdullah and Queen Rania of Jordan, I've received multiple requests for a reposting of this previous analysis. It was originally published on 29 October 2017.
2/ In addition, US First Lady Melania Trump's visit last Thursday to a "Children's Shelter" in Texas is discussed and contrasted.
3/ In late October 2017, Queen Rania of Jordan visited refugee camps in Bangladesh. In the two months prior to her visit, Bangladesh had received over 500,000 Rohingya people escaping ...
4/ ...wide-scale human rights violations in neighboring Myanmar, including extrajudicial killings, gang rapes, arson, and infanticides. This is genocide.
5/ Too often political figures' appearances with children are simply photo-ops designed only to serve the leaders' other agenda. In contrast, Queen Rania's emotions and nonverbal displays in these images are quite sincere.
6/ Strong signals of sincerity and empathy are sent when a Queen is not afraid to touch children in a refugee camp.
7/ Note that in all three of these photos, Queen Rania is at or below the level of even very young children. It's rare that leaders exhibit this eye-level and eye contact behavior.
8/ Queen Rania is not simply bending over at her waist (such body language is too often performed by adults when visiting and/or speaking with children - and in so doing it sends distancing and patronizing emotional tones).
9/ When eye contact takes place at or close to the same physical level, it tends to have a much greater effect in building rapport and empathy.
10/ In assuming this beta posture, Queen Rania elevates all the children to a relative alpha status. It's as if to say, "Although I am a queen - today you are my equals - and even my superiors."
11/ In contrast, First Lady Melania Trump visited a "children's shelter" last week in McAllen, Texas.
12/ Some of the children housed in that facility were forcibly separated from their parents - while others there crossed the US-Mexico border seeking asylum and were unaccompanied by an adult.
13/ No photographs or video of any interaction the First Lady may have had with the children during her visit to McAllen are publicly available.
14/ However, on the way to and from Texas, Melania Trump infamously wore the message, "I really don't care. Do U?" printed on the back of her jacket.
15/ Stephanie Grisham, the First Lady's Press Secretary and Communications Director said, "It's a jacket. There was no hidden message. After today's important visit to Texas, I hope the media isn't going to choose to focus on her wardrobe."
16/ President Trump contradicted his wife's spokesperson later that same day, tweeting, " 'I REALLY DON’T CARE, DO U?' written on the back of Melania’s jacket, refers to the Fake News Media. Melania has learned how dishonest they are, and she truly no longer cares!"
17/ SUMMARY: You can take a thousand courses and read ten thousand books on the subject of "Leadership" - ...
18/ ... you can analyze the behavior of every single leader of every group of free people in human history - and you will never find an example where apathy is flaunted or espoused to be a desirable quality...
19/ Without ethics, what is feigned as leadership is, at best, mass-manipulation...
20/ It wasn't just a jacket. By wearing this message, the First Lady (and, of course, The President) - send a very clear and deliberate message of apathy - where instead, deep empathy and positive action are needed...
21/ “There are two ways to be fooled: one is to believe what isn't true, the other is to refuse to believe what is true.”
Søren Kierkegaard
END
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2/ Donald Trump delivered a campaign speech earlier today in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. He repeatedly made the expression show in this accompanying still image. Note his central forehead is contracted and elevated while simultaneously displaying a (feigned) mouth smile.
3/ We all make an expression similar to this one *once-in-a-while* when we're feeling:
• Smug Incredulity
• Arrogance
• Contempt
(although all of these thought-emotions have other facial expressions with which they're associated)
1/ Yesterday, after the closest Senate vote in 137 years, Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed as an Associate Justice on the United States Supreme Court. Ashley Kavanaugh's body language during her husband's swearing-in ceremony is worthy of scrutiny.
2/ Note in the above image, as retired Justice Anthony Kennedy administers the Judicial Oath to Brett Kavanaugh, Ashley Kavanaugh is standing with her left leg crossed in front of her right leg. This nonverbal display indicates a lowered confidence level & a beta emotional tone.
1/ There are many nonverbal signs indicating relative levels of confidence. During last week's hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford exhibited contrasting examples of one such signal.
2/ When a person raises their right hand to be sworn-in before testifying, if their fingers and/or thumb are spread apart - it signals low levels of confidence.
1/ The following is my second analysis of a portion of Brett Kavanaugh's testimony during his hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on 27 September 2018.
2/ JOHN KENNEDY (beginning at 3:45:39): "I’m — I’m sorry, judge, for what you and your family have been through. And I’m sorry - for what Dr. Ford and her family have been through. It could have been avoided [long pause] Do you believe in God?"
1/ In case you hadn't heard, on Wednesday 27 September 2018, both Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
2/ This hearing could supply a year's worth of nonverbal teaching examples and it would close to impossible to analyze the entire event in one session. Thus, what follows is the first of several analyses of this historic exchange.