What if politicians had to use sign language?
I recently met up with a old friend from school who is deaf. After we gave each other the usual hug and kiss he looked at me and signed "Wow, you look half dead, but you are not as fat as you used to be." As sign language is a very physical language, the statement was even more dramatic with the word 'dead' reenacted as a noose around his neck and 'fat' with him puffing out his cheeks and engorging his belly. Now, if this had been said aloud I probably would have put him in shin splints, but upon reflection there really is no way to mince words in sign language. Unable to really say "Well, honey you look a bit overextended" , or "My you certainly have outgrown that baby fat", he instead gave me an engorged belly and a noose.
During our visit, our conversation turned from how I look so much better than I did at 15 to why relationships with people who are deaf are so much easier. Thinking about this and my limited experience with deaf men, I realised, yes, you actually have to look at them when you fight, you can't exactly yell at them from the shield of another room and within the communication itself you can't throw in passive aggressive comments like, "Well I see that you've certainly enjoyed your sugar in the morning tea lately."
Instead, you will receive the "You're fat" sign.
While direct communication is not always the most successful in relationships it certainly lets you know where you stand. With the mud-slinging in the poliical arena, which often resembles a turmultuous relationship, the directness of sign language is exactly why we need deaf politicians. Sign language will certainly not create honest politicians, though perhaps they will be more direct in their corruption.
Plus its quite hard to misquote.
October 4, 2008
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1 comments:
I suspect that one particular gesture would be ubiquitous and unambiguous. On the plus side, hiring all those tv technicians to blur the screen could stimulate the economy :)
I remember hearing about a group of aphasiacs (people who can't process words) watching the Reagan-Mondale debates, together with other people in the hospital. Everyone else was earnestly listening to what Reagan was saying, but the aphasiacs were cracking up whenever they saw him. Later, the psychologist working with the group asked them about it, and they said that Reagan was posing worse than a mime.
The story is in Oliver Sack's "The man who mistook his wife for a hat", which is a fantastic book on various cases of human consciousness.
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