Biden Lacked a "Duchenne Smile" - So Lost? Hardly!

Paul “Eddie Munster” Ryan – after Joe Biden took him to the woodshed.

Some of the rubbish that keeps getting spouted by the media PR meisters and hacks is almost enough to leave a thinking person with a major migraine. You wonder: Where do they dig up this crap? . One of the latest spins is compliments of Kathleen Parker who in her recent column 'Sometimes a Smile Can Say So Much More Than Mere Words' , does an analysis of "smiles" and concludes that Joe Biden's on last Thursday night was not the healthy "Duchenne smile" but some kind of perverse substitute which we must not trust (or at least she hopes her followers won't).

Parker babbles:

"Research on smiles is extensive and fascinating. Sincere smiles, which have a name - the Duchenne smile - are related to health and longevity, among other things....A sincere smile conveys confidence, humor and contagious well being. An insincere smile is hostile....and creepy."

All of which might be fine and dandy except for the fact no hard evidence substantiates this claim. Still, it might at least provide some rudimentary insight if it weren't for one salient fact: Sociopaths are perfectly capable of emulating and flashing the Duchenne smile to a tee. (See: 'The Sociopath Next Door', 2005, by Martha Stoute, Ph.D.)  The fact is sociopaths  number nearly 1 in 25 people in the U.S. (Stoute, p. 9)  So, if there are 310 million people, at least 12.4 million are sociopaths, including amongst infants. (The theory of sociopathy still divides between nature and nurture but many accept that it's partly settled on behalf of nature, and evolution itself may well have spiced the species with these creepazoids)

Sadly, too many in the general population still don't understand the difference between sociopaths and psychopaths. As Stoute puts it (ibid.):

"Surprisingly, many people know nothing about this disorder, or if they do, they think only in terms of violent psychopathy: murderers, serial killers, mass murderers- people who have conspicuously broken the law many times and who, if caught, would be imprisoned and put to death by our legal system.

We are not commonly aware of the large number of sociopaths among us, people who often are not blatant lawbreakers, and against whom our formal legal system provides little defense."

Why is this? It's because most sociopaths are psychological manipulators. One of the tried and true ways they do this is by use of a technique called "mirroring" by which they can gain the confidence of a stranger by the simple expedient of mirroring their body language, facial displays, verbal cadence....and yes, even smiles. The goal of the sociopath is often to use the smile, in particular the "Duchenne" smile which is so trusted, to manipulate others into his confidence. Once that's done, he can sell them a phony stock or CD that will cost them their retirement (as Bernie Madoff did to his victims) or lure them into some dangerous scheme in which they are burdened with severe costs.

The 'Duchenne smile' of which Parker makes so much to-do about, is in fact to the sociopath a sign of appeasement, weakness and submission, i.e. that his or her psychological manipulations have worked. It is also no surprise that in our society the Duchenne smile widely displayed is most often interpreted by the power monger sociopaths (e.g. CEOs of large vulture capitalist outfits) as a signal that person is weak and easily manipulable or exploitable. It's also no surprise that people who display these smiles the most are also among the most bullied, at school or work.

Women and girls, in fact, often place themselves at greater risk to would-be predators (who are sociopaths) by smiling excessively. (Btw, this is also a terrible drawback when a woman goes to her boss to ask for a raise!) To the predator sociopath this is a sign of a submissive willingness to cooperate with what the sociopath demands. It is almost a truism to say, and someone has to, that if females smiled a lot LESS than they do- they'd not only garner more respect (especially from males, i.e. co-workers etc.) but would be less easily exploited by male sociopaths. Let's note again, that the essential property of the sociopath is any lack of conscience. Let's also be clear his first mandate is to exploit weakness wherever he finds it. While Kathleen Parker may find Duchenne smiles "charming" and "healthy"  they are like red meat to a lion for a sociopath!

Now, let's get back to Parker:

"Biden's smile though it may be the most remembered part of the debate"....

Actually not! It was the barrage of facts with which he withered Eddie Munster, errrrrr.... excuse me, Paul Ryan

"probably didn't work as intended"

It did for us!

"Democrats may have overlooked the inauthenticity of the smile, not to mention Biden's repeated aggression, because he was projecting the aggression they were feeling."

BINGO!

"As their agent, he was compensating for the president's perceived weakness."

Again, correct, but Kathleen misses the point entirely. Biden's smile was never intended to be one of sincere geniality or bonhomie,  but sincere AGGRESSION. In this he manifestly succeeded, as he had to, against a confirmed sociopath. Ryan is a sociopath - like his double 'Eddie Munster' - because he lies without a grain of conscience. The scale and magnitude of the lies he told Martha Radditz with a perfectly straight -eyed countenance and demeanor could only issue from a rank sociopath. This is a guy, believe me, who has not one scintilla of conscience.

Biden's immediate job then, was not merely satisfying the base - as so many pundits on the right have proclaimed- but calling this sociopath out using a medium of body language OUTRAGE! To smile Duchenne-like in the face of feeling justifiable outrage at the lies of a sociopath would have been the true insincerity! This is a point WaPo columnist Dana Milbank also made in Sunday's Denver Post, while advising Obama he needs to do the same.

I personally am relieved Joe Biden showed no phony baloney "Duchenne" smile which would have telegraphed to me that he was as submissive to the sociopath Ryan as Obama was to the corporate egomaniac Romney!