Posted on 02/08/2016 10:57:30 AM PST by TigerClaws
It’s hard to look at Ted Cruz’s face. He’s a brilliant orator with a sharp legal mind. But his expression unsettles me. I know my reaction is visceral and automatic, but as a neurologist it is my business to notice things out of the ordinary and probe them. The Senator’s atypical expressions leave me uneasy.
Before I say why, note how many colleagues and former associates "loathe" him. A Bush alumnus told The New York Times' Frank Bruni, “Why do people take such an instant dislike to Ted Cruz? It just saves time.†Former Senate Majority leader Bob Dole says, "Nobody likes him," while Rep. Peter King sees "malice." According to The Washington Post, screenwriter Craig Mazin, Cruz's former Princeton roommate, has called him a "huge asshole," and "creepy." He's Tweeted, "Getting emails blaming me for not smothering Ted Cruz in his sleep in 1988." The distaste for Cruz even extends beyond the U.S.: Germans say Backpfeifengesicht, meaning a face in need of a good punch.
Humans learn to read faces from the day they are born. Infants readily respond to smiles. They imitate others’ facial expressions and gestures. During the first months of life, brain activity readings trace the development of their body maps. These brain maps allow an infant to recognized similarities between self and other—the foundation on which all social cognition rests, especially trust.
Our stone–age ancestors learned to read faces and rapidly tell friend from foe. While we live in a far different environment, we still possess the same stone–age brain as our distant relatives. Like them, we judge instantly. Automatically and more quickly than conscious reflection could manage, we weigh whether we like a new face or dislike the person behind it. Our social circuits, which are largely emotional, tell us whether to trust a person or not. Given a million years of practice, our brains are good at this.
Senator Cruz’s countenance doesn’t shift the way I expect typical faces to move. Human faces can’t help but broadcast what we feel, what we may be thinking, and even what we may intend. Many animals likewise broadcast what’s happening in their heads, as Charles Darwin illustrated at length in The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals.
Skill in reading faces is so fundamental to our species that 54 facial muscles orchestrate its endless nuances, which others read like a book just as we read them. Only some of these many facial muscles are under voluntary control, which is one reason it is so hard to maintain a poker face or counterfeit a smile.
I have rarely, if ever, seen a conventional smile from Senator Cruz. In a natural smile the corners of the mouth go up; these muscles we can control voluntarily as well. But muscles circling the eyes are involuntary only; they make the eyes narrow, forming crow’s feet at the outside corners. Even the Mona Lisa’s smile shows this. The eyes give away one’s game and let us tell forged from genuine smiles. Grandma may have told you to put on a happy face, but you can’t if it isn’t heartfelt.
No matter the emotional coloring of Senator Cruz’s outward rhetoric, his mouth typically tightens into the same straight line. If it deviates from this, the corners of his mouth bend down, not upwards. The outside of his eyebrows bend down, too, when he emotes, something so atypical that it disturbs me. Typically a person’s eyebrows arch up, as does the corrugator muscle that furrow the forehead. What is such a downturned face signaling?
Downturned expressions usually signal disagreeableness or disgust. But I honestly don’t know because such an expression is rare in the context of public presentations that are meant to win people over. He may well be unaware that the message of his body language is incongruent with his words.
And then there is that open “O†of the Senator’s mouth that photos capture over and over. I don’t know what to make of it. But he makes it when he overtly emotes—shows us as well as tells us that he is determined, irritated, or above it all—whereas speakers who are angry, indignant, or rhetorically displeased push their mouth forward in a pout. He doesn’t. Google “Ted Cruz smiling,†and judge for yourself. For the record I am not a Democrat. I’m at a loss to verbalize what unsettles me so when I watch the freshman senator. But it leaves me cold.
Cruz’s voice, his inflections, his motions.....it’s like watching a movie....the same movie....over and over and over.
Bill Clinton is not an especially "skillful" liar, etc. The reason he has got away with hundreds of lies is that he's pro-abortion. Therefore, his political base, also pro-abortion, are all totally wicked, dishonest moral lepers, just like Clinton. They "believe" his lies because they want to.
You do not dare post the
photo
of the author of this article!!! LOL!!
But he is an educated author or whatever.
Why is Trump considering a Canadian for VP?
I just don't think he does that well on TV.
You are right. It is similar to Nixon and Kennedy in 1960.
What is little known about the 1960 debates is that there were 4 debates in total.
In the first debate, Kennedy rehearsed camera angles, makeup and lighting with the CBS people in the afternoon. Nixon was out campaigning in the afternoon. Nixon was tired and his appearance and demeanor made him look bad. Thus Kennedy won the first TV debate among TV watchers. Nixon won among those who listened on the radio.
But what is not said was that Nixon won the other three debates on both TV and the radio.
The problem for both Cruz and this guy is that the nose is long and the tip creates a shadow over the upper lip, which is something that plastic surgeons try to correct. Thin lips are often perceived as less friendly. In this model world where Facebook photos create reality, not having a soft, round, open face and great smile is a liability. Most of these super smiles are a result of readily available and affordable orthodonture. Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln would never have had such a luxury.
Yeah.
Did not think someone would post that.
Oh well.
Not sure.
Send him a Tweet and ask
@realDonaldTrump
Voodoo psychology promulgated by attacks of TRUMPER TANTRUMS?
LOL
Thanks for the Info. Never heard it before. I thought there was only one Debate all these years.
Funny thing, Nixon actually won the Election but Kennedy’s Daddy made sure the numbers didn’t reflect it.
Nixon could have disputed the results, but chose not to for the sake of the Country.
[ He should also point out the facility some people, e.g., Bill Clinton, have, in being able to lie to people because of their mastery of communication including body language. ]
I would rather take someone who sucks at body communication that someone who constantly uses it to manipulate like BJ Clintoon.
Voter fraud in Texas and Illinois gave Kennedy the election.
The voter fraud in Illinois was proven. Several Chicago Democrat politicians were convicted of fraud. However, they were all pardoned.
LBJ and the Democrat machine in Texas won that state through massive voter fraud.
Nixon also won New Jersey and Missouri but they were awarded to Kennedy because of voter fraud.
It is amazing today that Nixon accepted the fraudulent results. Part of it was patriotism. The process would have taken years to litigate. Part of it was Robert Kennedy was named attorney General. All complaints and investigations would have to go through him.
I will take creepy if it believes in the Constitution and the Rule of law,also creepy who will nominate Constitutional conservatives to the Supreme court,not left wing loons
Me too... It’s a gut reaction. I don’t want to watch and/or listen to him.
That’s a legal deadpan expression all right.
A good lawyer can take a kick in the shorts from a judge and say,
“Thank you, your honor. May I have another?”
Unfortunately the hired-gun poker face doesn’t do much for his Vlad Tepes appearance.
A `Professor Higgins’ Cruz aide should be coaching `Eliza Doolittle’ on how to give us a real smile. Once you learn how to fake sincerity, and something else.
I always think of Obama with his nose in the air like he’s above common human beings. Wasn’t it Stalin that did that too?
OMG
And Hillary has to practice in front of a mirror everyday to look likeable.
Come to think of it, Trump scowls an awful lot.
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