debate: body language
Chris Matthews is all over the body language issue tonight (quite overwhelming to me, as well) in which O looked directly at M all night, but M never looked at O (no matter how much Lehrer tried to encourage it early on). Presumably anyone here has lived long enough to understand that human interactions in confrontations are often not so very different from that between canines. If dog A wants to rile dog B (and dog A knows that dog B is a bit unstable and quite at risk of choking himself on his own chain), dog A looks dog B in the eye and growls. Dog A did this tonight, but dog B refused to take the bait, as he turns out to be an ever so slightly sophisticated dog who knows himself well enough to know that he'll wrench his neck with the chain if he looks dog A in the eye. Where I come from, this means dog B is a pussy cat, and should crawl back in his doghouse.
In the meantime, the doghouse is burning down. Dog help us all.
In the meantime, the doghouse is burning down. Dog help us all.
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Agree with your conclusion.
My explanation of the canine psychology would differ just a bit: the 'alpha' (Dog A) is challenging Dog B with that direct eye contact, and the calmer and more casual the eye contact, the stronger the 'alpha' dog is, the more certain its power. Dog B fails to return the look either to show clear subservience or to keep itself from responding to that challenge and getting badly beat up! And yes, Dog B should slink back into the doghouse. (The rapid blinking and occasional grimaces are also typical in this scenario.)
September 27, 2008 2:42 AM | Reply | Permalink