Daily Times

“When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorises it and a moral code that glorifies it” – Frédéric Bastiat.

Imagine that this remarkable utterance dates back to somewhere before the middle of the 19th century. Bastiat was a political economist and a member of the French Assembly. Apparently, even back then, plunder was a way of life for the powerful elite where morality and the legislature were probably overhauled repeatedly to justify pillage, and herein lay the genesis of the pearl of wisdom above. Admittedly, the majority in developing nations like Pakistan continue to be denied access to necessary mental accoutrements critical for unveiling the facade of a beneficent and virtuous leader, a vicious circle in which education is strictly reserved as the dominion of the privileged scions of the ruling elite or an ineffective and largely immaterial minority, with the latter tolerated by the former only to be able to brag about freedom of speech. However, the propensity of literate voters in the developed world to repeatedly vote into power those abetting and sheltering plundering oligarchs and profiteering corporations raises doubts that democracy is a system that authorises plunder and simultaneously provides the moral grounds for glorifying the group of men benefitting therefrom.

Confounding all analysts and celebrity anchors, Mr Trump is still leading the Republican polls. Charisma or, more precisely, a charismatic leader befools the masses, again and again. According to Wikipedia, charisma is either compelling attractiveness or charm that can inspire devotion in others, or a divinely conferred power or talent. As far as divinely conferred power goes either they have it or they do not. On the other hand, in the case of the former definition, it transpires that compelling attractiveness or charm can be acquired. For instance, most leaders are careful to develop a clothing style with which the populace can relate to; styling extends to hats, hair, cigars, pipes and all other accessories. Over time, personal mental images of charismatic leaders get based upon their respective branding styles and those are the ones also at the top of a Google image search.

Charisma is not only about clothing; it even extends to oratory. Remember the movie, The Kings Speech? Even a king needs a speech therapist. Deep voices are a gift but to an extent can be an acquired talent. For instance, one of the top tips to deepen your voice is repetition of the words ting tong ping pong bing bong slowly and clearly stretching the ‘ng’ sound as long as one’s breath holds out; try it!

Clothing and oratory styles are processed by the conscious mind through seeing and hearing but this is not where it all ends; some gimmicks work at the level of the unconscious mind, the so-called subliminal messages that are perhaps more hypnotic. Arguably, the palm is perhaps the most powerful facilitator of such imposture.

Throughout history the open palm has been a sign of honesty, faithfulness and deference. Even today the open, straight palm is practised in various cultures for oath taking when assuming public office or when giving evidence in court. Star Trek fans should recall the famous greeting of Mr Spock, “Live long and prosper”. The palm is also used to demonstrate openness and honesty, usually with both palms open and held out. Can the open palm be used to deceive people and convince them that the perpetrator is as honest as they come? Sure, all else being constant, palms are intentionally and frequently used to assert on the unconscious minds of the masses that they, the politicians, are honest and sincere, and can be trusted to honour their outrageous campaign promises. Alternatively, walking around with palms in pockets, concealing them is a no-no for politicians, a sure sign of not wanting to talk about something or lying.

Contrary to the open palm, a sign of honesty, or a variation palm up, a sign of submissiveness, the concealed palm or palm down is the sign of concealment and authority. In history the best example of palm down, thereby demonstrating authority, is perhaps the Nazi salute, which in fact was borrowed from the Romans. Except that the palm down does invoke antagonistic feelings and today is not perhaps the right tool in a politician’s arsenal. In modern times, politicians need to be both open, appear to be in control and hence the palms open and hands stretched up in the air is the recommended style for modern leaders. Rest assured that like speech therapists and fashion consultants there are professionals who advise on body language, all the way down to identifying the best side from which to move into a handshake and the palm position while shaking hands.

And the worst palm gesture, after the closed fist, which is a sign of pure aggression, is the closed fist with the pointed index finger. In this position, the finger is like a club beating the audience into submission. The pointed finger with vigorous shaking of the hand invokes a negative feeling in the crowd and will result in adverse image profiling. The pointed finger has the propensity to stick to the conscious mind as well. It is, therefore, quite surprising to see politicians waving the pointed finger repeatedly. Most likely their body language consultants are doing a poor job.

With the above three positions of the palm in mind, visualise the present and past leaders and rulers of Pakistan, and consider whether their popularity had anything to do with the open palm style. By now all of the above might have started making sense. Why some leaders end up being popular in the crowd and why some, in spite of all efforts to deliver, cannot generate a mass following. The palm is indeed powerful.

Logically, if compelling attractiveness or charm is an acquired trait, then the related charisma or the absence thereof is also not immortal. On the other hand, while the palm is a powerful tool, stand alone it may end up being misconstrued. For instance, an open palm accompanied with a scorn will most surely generate undesirable results. In summary, a major qualification of a politician is acting skills and was perhaps the reason behind the success of Ronald Regan. He was a great actor and his flashing smile was a major reason for his successful acting career in cinema and thereafter.

Unfortunately, dear readers, even with this knowledge, the palm is powerful enough to imprint an image on the unconscious mind, which is at the same time imposing enough to misdirect gullible voters. All this begs the question: why do all politicians not focus on their palm gestures specifically and positive body language in general? Perhaps all that will now change. Let us wait and see.

The writer is a chartered accountant based in Islamabad. He can be reached at syed.bakhtiyarkazmi@gmail.com and on twitter @leaccountant