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Tricheco's avatar

Years ago, a friend told me to watch political speeches on television with the sound turned all the way down. I gave it a go and, sure enough, the body and facial language are giveaways. They're always dissembling and most of the time they do that, they're aware that they're doing it. It's a performance, by second-rate actors. I had little knowledge of Sacks back then, but I'll bet my friend had read some of his work.

Unfortunately, most people don't have any solid self-defence against even mediocre manipulative strategies. They've been crippled. No basic street smarts.

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Margaret Anna Alice's avatar

As I'm sure you know, I adore Oliver Sacks, and I remember that passage well and have often thought about it in the context of political speeches. Thank you for this sobering retrospective of presidential incompetency, dementia, and deception.

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