John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN CBC NEWS
“Malcolm Gladwell on why it's so tricky detecting liars based on behaviour
“Our inability to accurately read whether others are lying is at the root of many problems”
At the start of this piece, I thought, "Well, maybe he does have something to say."
And, it is an important and interesting topic.
But it seemed by the end that Gladwell has in fact written a book largely missing his subject.
For example, it is well known that psychopaths and narcissists, that next degree down on the scale of bent human minds, are perfectly able to convincingly lie. It's just part of the equipment that such high predators use on victims.
They are known equally for their ability to exude great personal charm, personal magnetism, again part of the equipment nature has endowed them with as predators luring victims.
The trouble is that politics, at least at its higher levels, not so much at its workaday levels, is indescribably attractive to such people.
They are literally drawn by the possibility obtaining power over others, using the gift of superficial charm and convincing lying to do so, and then being able to hurt them in various secret ways that are delightful and amusing to them in private.
The average member of the public simply has no grasp that such realities exist.
It is just part of the human condition that a certain small percentage of the population is born this way, and there is nothing anyone can do about it.
I think it is possible to learn the warning signs, but it takes effort and skill. It can’t be reduced to a few lines everyone could be taught.
