City Council may restrict "facial gestures" (my title since there isn't one...)

san fran chronicle ^ | april 7 03 | AP wires

[KneelBeforeZod]

PALO ALTO, Calif. (AP) -- The city council is wrestling with a code of conduct that urges elected officials to control facial gestures. Experts say the council's plan to discourage nonverbal forms of disagreement or disgust is odd, unenforceable and almost an infringement on free speech.

[steve-b]

I think this would be more apropos:

[freeeee]

"Winston turned round abruptly. He had set his features into the expression of quiet optimism which it was advisable to wear when facing the telescreen...A sudden hot sweat had broken out all over Winston's body. His face remained completely inscrutable. Never show dismay! Never show resentment! A single flicker of the eyes could give you away."
- "1984"

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Are you sure it wasn't this one?:

[Digger]

..............Liberalism is a mental disorder..............














liberalism is a mental disorder.

[Bob J]

The liberal jihad to be mad at everything continues.

[aculeus]

.

Are you talkin' to me?

[dansangel]

It's time to move to PALO ALTO

Bite your tongue!! LOL!!

and set up a mask store. I'll make a killing..

Hmmmm....that might not be such a bad idea after all.

:-)

[Jay D. Dyson]

With apologies to Californians, only the left coast could come up with something as ridiculous as trying to regulate facial expression.

Worse still, it's not even original.

The idea was first discussed in George Orwell's "1984". It was called "facecrime."

That the idea comes from the Leftists is pretty damned telling...

-Jay

[Paleo Conservative]

The city council is wrestling with a code of conduct that urges elected officials to control facial gestures

What about hand gestures?

[amused]

Sounds like re-Nedification to me. Smile hooks and lobotomies anyone?

[amused]

What about hand gestures?

Only happy ones. For instance, my extended middle finger is signaling that I think the Palo Alto City Council is #1!

[Redcloak]

This guy would not be welcome at their meetings...

[rangersdaughter]

I need to check my calendar...I could have sworn this was 2003, but I'm thinking now maybe we're in 1984. Thought Police, indeed.

[rangersdaughter]

That's what I get for not reading all the responses to the OP. You beat me to the "1984" reference. Sadly, Orwell was closer to the truth than we ever thought he could be in America.

(Cue music..."Oceania tis for thee.")

[k2blader]

Impossible to keep a straight face reading this.

[KneelBeforeZod]

do you suppose her children are "Stepford" kids?

[boris]

"You'd be thinking all the time, 'What expression do I have on my face?',"

Well, if you're Ann Lewis (Bwaney Fwank's sister) you have a permanent look of smug self-righteous satisfaction which simply begs for a knuckle sandwich.

--Boris

[old3030]

Remember how the dims whined about GWB's famous smirk?

These are the same people who scream "First Amendment" when the law goes after some sleazy porn peddlar. Yet they come after us for a "hate face".

[boris]

Patients with generalized tetanus present with trismus (ie, lockjaw) in 75% of cases.

Other presenting complaints include stiffness, neck rigidity, dysphagia, restlessness, and reflex spasms.

Subsequently, muscle rigidity becomes the major manifestation.

Muscle rigidity spreads from the jaw and facial muscles over the next 24-48 hours to the extensor muscles of the limbs.

Dysphagia occurs in moderately severe tetanus, due to pharyngeal muscle spasms, and usually onset is insidious over several days.

Reflex spasms develop in most patients and can be triggered by minimal external stimuli such as noise, light, or touch. The spasms last seconds to minutes, become more intense, increase in frequency with disease progression, and can cause apnea, fractures, dislocations, and rhabdomyolysis.

Laryngeal spasms can occur at any time and can result in asphyxia. Sustained contraction of facial musculature produces a sneering grin expression known as risus sardonicus.

[CounterCounterCulture]

Your thread has way more responses than mine. No fair! Mine had funnier captions. :-)

RULES OF EXPRESSION (P.A. Council proposal would make frowning off-limits)
(San Jose Mercury News) (7 April 2003)