There is nothing more that irks me than when I see my fellow journalists getting on the bandwagon and make things up just for the sensationalism and to get a headline that attracts eyeballs. As I have said countless times, I am NOT a political person. I ONLY report things as I see them from a body language and communication standpoint, not a political standpoint. That is why when I read the headline “Hillary Puts on A Southern Accent” I had to speak up.
As a person who is well versed in accent and dialects having taught a large number of A list Hollywood actors how to gain various accents for specific movie roles as well as how to lose accents, I can assure you Hillary DID NOT put on a Southern accent during her recent interview in the South.
What she did do, is something,I suggested she do in my last blog about her, when she did her first campaign speech. That was to use more vocal inflection and get rid of that stiff staccato tone and flow out her tones. She incorporated what I suggested this new etah interview.
What not knowledgeable journalists in the area of voice, speech, accents, and communication skills like Shoshanna Weissmann reported as Hillary having an accent,was simply Hillary using great communication skills for the very first time.
She was warm, flowing in her tones , smiled genuine smiles and was not as stiff as she usually is when speaking. Her gestures
Her gestures were much better but she still used the off- putting finger point which is very alienating to those listening to her. She needs to put a top to using that gesture and only use it whenever she is angry. Finger pointing with the index finger extended towards someone is a universal signal that is used around the world to express Anger.
As you can see Hillary is smiling. She is not angry. She is talking about things that are not anger proucting so she needs to stop this gesture.
Then she used another gesture which she also needs to lose. It is the hand balled into a fit with the thumb extended that all Presidents and Presidential hopefuls used to get their points across.
It is a stupid gesture who’s origins date back to the Kennedy era whereby some ignorant speech coach told JFK to use it and unfortunately it has stuck. It is a gesture that makes no sense in my view because it shows incongruency. For instance a fist shows anger. A thumb up shows things are good. So what this stupid gesture says in reality is ” I am angry things are good.” It makes no sense and Hillary needs to lose it asap.
The next inappropriate gesture she needs to lose is the karate chop gesture when she speaks. It doesn’t work and makes no sense in terms of what she was discussing- running for her first term and not her husband’s third term. It is an angry gesture that is alienating and reflects that she is angry that people may assume she is continuing her husband’s and Obamas’s terms as she mentioned.
So my fellow journalists, my message to you is STOP SPINNING IT! Report what you see and hear that is accurate. Do not report what you don’t see and hear in hopes of getting a nationally read story. When you do this, like was done here, you lose your credibility. That is why the public so often doesn’t believe what they read from journalists. The public is not dumb. They know that there is spin like the spin that was demonstrated here. No Southerner or Northerner, Easterner or Westerner would ever agree there was a Southern accent put on by Hillary. It is false reporting and makes you, fellow journalist, look bad.
And for Hillary, my advice to you is to stop making wrong gestures- misleading gestures. Instead stay real and genuine like you did during this speech when you spoke. Show that vocal warmth with lots of inflection in your tones to express what you want to say. Smile like you have done as it is very inviting and makes people want to hear what you have to say.
Phoniness will not work in this election. People want real gestures that match what is said. They don’t want choreographed or contrived speeches and rhetoric and gestures. Being honest, sincere and genuine is universal language of today.
Dr. Lillian Glass Body Language Blog 