Palin’s Gestures
Some readers ask why I keep writing about Palin. Why do I write about anything? Either I think a topic is important or I’m interested in it. While breaking down every aspect of Palin’s personality and body language may not tell us a lot about this country (actually, I suspect it might), it is fun for me. Anyone who finds this hobby annoying can skip this post.
Watching Sarah Palin on the Tonight Show last night, I learned more about why I find her annoying. Her victimization routine makes Cornel West sound like Ayn Rand. And then there are two annoying gestures that I’ve discovered. I will do an analysis of both issues.
Watch Palin on Leno part one, part two.
She’s so insecure that every question Leno asks gets turned into “Woe is me, why are they out to get me? It doesn’t bother me though!”
The first question Leno asks her is whether she minds being controversial.
Palin (none of these quotations are exact, but paraphrases): Well, it’s just because I have such strong views about where the country should go. I’m not one to sit down and shut up!
Nobody asked her to sit down and shut up. Although this paranoia is partly justified, in her head it’s amplified to a ridiculous degree. Even on as laid back an environment as the Tonight Show she couldn’t help turning every answer into an explanation of what a victim she is and/or how she’s attacked for being strong.
The rest of the first eleven exchanges of the interview went like this. I broke Leno’s speaking pieces into questions, although sometimes he just makes statements for Palin to respond to.
Question 2, Leno: Have you always been independent?
Palin: From my time as an athlete to a governor, I’ve never been one to not express myself.
Q3: Do you get this from your parents?
Palin: My family is busy and diverse. We debate.
Q4: Do they still give you advice?
Palin: My dad teaches me about guns! <applause>
Q5: The media is critical of you. But you’ve joined Fox.
Palin: I studied journalism. The mainstream media is quite broken. That’s why I joined Fox! Americans deserve actual fairness.
Q6: I watch all sides. MSNBC is liberal, Fox is conservative.
Palin: That’s healthy. As long as the opinion isn’t under the guise of hard news.
Q7: Was it unfair that the media went after your family?
Palin: Yes, my kids are nice and well adjusted. Please don’t go after them. Common courtesy is all I’m asking for. <martyr nice lady look, applause>
Q8: But they occasionally try to poke you and get a rise out of you. Have you learned not to comment?
Palin: I would like more chances to follow up on what they say.
Q9: Can you give an example?
Palin: Like Family Guy. I mean, that show is lame anyway. A special needs family asked what I thought about the episode. I commented.
Notice how she doesn’t take responsibility for the fight that she picked. A “special needs family” solicited her opinion. I’m sure she gets asked all kinds of things in her Facebook comments. Anything she decides to talk about can be blamed on her fans.
Palin: It got out there in blogs and I couldn’t get what I meant out there. Jay, you understand this. It’s like that old saying “A lie can travel half way around the world before truth can even gets its pants on in the morning.”
Q10: What about writing on your hand?
Palin: The poor man’s version of the teleprompter. Look at the three things I wrote. Energy and security. That’s how we’re going to be independent. Tax cuts, that’s how small businesses are going to be able to create jobs. And lift American spirits. Our country needs those three things. Nobody could argue the substance, only the format
Q11: Did you do this as a kid?
Palin: Yeah, my dad taught me that. He loves you by the way. <wink> My dad used to write on his hand. I’m going to keep doing it because it makes the left angry!
Out of her first eleven answers, three mention how tough and strong she and her family are and arguably eight take direct or indirect shots at the media.
Now you may say that Leno kept asking her about the media and was drawing out these responses. I would reply that Leno was taking the conversation in the direction of the topic his guest was most interested in. He’s learned to do this automatically from decades as a talk show host. If Palin had any other interests she could’ve steered the conversation towards something else. “Jay, forget about all that and what people say about me. I’m focusing on the future of the country. My organization Sarah PAC is doing blah blah blah.”
As for substance, in the entire interview she mentions the three things she wrote on her hand, endorses “common sense solutions” and praises the Tea Party as independent.
Palin does this thing where she clenches her fists with the thumbs pointing towards the ceiling and shakes them. She does it at the following points.
- Part one, 4:45 (the timer on the videos count down rather than up) with one fist when she says “strong convictions.”
- Part one, 1:45, once against to emphasize the word “strong,” this time talking about her “strong, independent” children.
- Part one, 0:12 when talking about truth putting its pants on.
- Part two, 4:22 when she said “I stood by [McCain’s] side.”
- Part two, 2:21. She does a short variation of the gesture while she’s coming out on stage.
- Part two, 2:15 while she’s saying how happy she is to be on the Tonight Show.
- Part two, 1:45 in trying to describe athlete Shaun White’s movements.
- Part two, 1:42, talking about the White House flip-flopping on health care.
- Part two, 1:11, mentioning “fighting on the ice.”
It appears that Palin does her fist shake
- When she’s trying to emphasize movement or conflict.
- When she’s trying to emphasize the word “strong” or a related concept.
- To emphasize loyalty.
- To show she’s excited about something.
Reason four is interesting as the fist shake seems something that you would do to get a kindergarten class excited about gathering around the story rug. A political figure making that gesture all the time is unsettling.
Annoying gesture two is what I’ve discovered is called a Shaka sign.
- Part two, 1:48 while talking about how cool Shaun White is.
- In this video at 2:07, giving a shout out to those of us who use the internet.
Palin does this when she mentions something 0r someone she thinks is “cool” or “with it.”
Why does Palin make these gestures? I suspect that they may be common amongst average and lower IQ women. Maybe high IQ people don’t need to use as many gestures as they have more verbal tools to make their points. Palin’s Shaka sign and fist shake could subconsciously signal to elites that she’s not of them and to the proles that they can trust her.
Has there ever been research done to see if there is a negative correlation between IQ and what percentage of one’s communication is nonverbal? Going anecdotally, Jerry Springer guests tend to swing their arms and point at each other a lot and politicians on Meet the Press tend to just sit there with their hands folded. It may be that Springer guests just happen to be more extroverted members of the underclass.
Back to Palin. Elizabeth Wright points out that she’s not really politically incorrect at all. I agree with that but think the author is being to hard on her when she faults the former governor for not having a consistent conservative ideology. Wright is asking too much from someone with an average IQ. Palin and her supporters’ resentment are based on feelings of inferiority more than down home anti-PC sentiments.
