The REAL Most Dangerous Game... (Players Gonna Play)

I found this article on facebook about Julian Blanc who was denied a visa on the grounds of sexism.  Appparent he teaches courses for men on how to get women in bed, and charges a lot of money for it.  He also started this hastag #chockinggirlsaroundtheworld on Twitter.  This guy calls himself a pick up artist and teaches other men how to be the same way... how to play "The Game" and get laid.  Blanc shares similar attributes to con-artists we've read but he's targeting primarily women.  

Here's a link to the article I read:

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-most-hated-man-in-the-world-2014-11

This article also lead me to think about "The Game," which is a REAL thing in our society.  I know many of my male friends openly admit to reading articles / websites / books promoting this type of behavior toward women.  Everyone of them has excused this behavior by saying this is part of the hook-up culture, esp. in college, and they're not doing it maliciously.  They say things like "it's not bad to be well informed" etc.  I used to think that "playing the Game" is a form of lying and dishonesty, but after thinking about it I also realized that this behavior comes naturally to some people.  Would it be bad to capitalize on these talents?  Motivational speakers do something similar and charge good money for it.  Besides, it's like T-Swift says "love is a game/ wanna play?" (reference Blank Space from her latest album 1989) Love and dating is already a GAME that we play with one another.  Is it so bad that he's teaching men how to play things to their favor?  Could dating itself be a lying-game since we tend to hide our true selves from our partners during those few first impressions? 

Also I love this skit on dating by Louis C.K  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msvU3Srx2J8

Namaste!  Hope everyone enjoys their break!!

Annie's Post: Catch Liars by Redirecting Their Misdirection

Catch Liars by Redirecting Their Misdirection

Lies often come in the form of misdirection, or more specifically a long-worded answer to a yes or no question that's meant to direct you away from the truth. Here's how it works and how to beat it.

Dr. John R. Schafer, over at Psychology Today, is back with another tip for detecting and countering liars. (Last week he shared what Well... tends to reveal.) This time around, we're off to the Land of Is:

If You Begin a Sentence with Well, There's a Good Chance You're Lying

If you think someone's lying, you can't really subject them to a polygraph test. But, it…

Read more

Yes or No questions deserve "Yes" or "No" answers. When people choose not to answer "Yes" or "No," they go to the Land of Is. The Land of Is occupies the space between truth and deception. This murky area contains a labyrinth of half-truths, excuses, and suppositions.

The way one enters that "murky area" is by answering a "yes" or "no" question with a roundabout answer that's meant to misdirect. Here's an example:

You: Adam, does this hard drive full of circus clown pornography belong to you?

Me: Why would I save all that circus clown pornography on a hard drive when I can just get it online?

The idea of the misdirection is to create doubt in the person asking the question. The idea is to get the asker to assume they were silly for asking in the first place, because obviously it was a poor assumption to make. In these situations, however, the doubt the asker should have is whether or not the responder is being truthful. Schafer suggests redirecting the misdirection to get things back on track. In our example, you might say something like this:

You: I don't know why you would or would not save all those unsettling photos and videos of circus clowns in unusually compromising yet strangely erotic positions. That's not what I asked. I asked if the hard drive containing the pornography belongs to you.

Me: Yes it does.

You: Can I, uh...borrow it?

Me: Sure.

In the end, it works out for everyone. But seriously, there are two big takeaways here. First, if you want to detect a liar you should ask them a yes or no question. Second, if the person answering the question doesn't respond with a yes or no answer and instead tries to misdirect, remind them of what you asked. Whether they choose to lie or not, you'll probably know either way.

Poor Man's Polygraph: Part 2 [Psychology Today]

Lying and Children's Literature

http://www.the-looking-glass.net/index.php/tlg/article/view/189/188

Hi all. I teach a DeCal on children's literature, and in the class we often examine the moral purposes of various children's books. Lying is an example of one moral issue that fosters debate and controversy as to how to how to present it to children in the most effective way. What particularly interests me is the modes by which children learn to lie, or whether it could possibly be an inherent quality. This interesting articles discusses examples of lying in popular children's literature, and what it teaches children about lying, which is not always simply "do not lie." The article also discusses how, and why, children begin lying. Hope you all enjoy!

MADHOUSE - Anthrax (1986)

I find this song (more specifically the excerpt below) as particularly relevant to our discussion on Wednesday regarding the Minuet-turned-Madhouse. I'm having a hard time articulating it, but the very deliberate movement of the song is almost representative of the minuet, while the words express the insanity of the situation, in a sort of odd fusion of both in one instance (sort of how incongruent the music felt during the first part of the film in relation to the narrative track).

Enjoy (bang your head)!

My fears behind me, what can I do
My dreams haunt my sleep at night
Oh no, won't learn their lesson, white fills my eyes
And only then they see the light

Trapped in this nightmare, I wish I'd wake
And my whole life begins to shake
Four walls surround me, an empty gaze
I can't find my way out of this maze

And I don't care, fall in, fall out
Gone without a doubt, help me
I can't take the blame
I don't feel the shame

'Cause it's a madhouse
Or so they claim
It's a madhouse
I am insane?

This American Life: Secret Identity

The title itself is enough to relate to our class, but in this podcast, NPR's hosts speak with several  people living secret identities – from the young girl who is the mascot of her high school to the voice behind the Paul Bunyan statue at Trees of Mystery and the character Frank of a new movie who hides behind a facial mask even as he climbs the ranks of becoming a musician.

Listen here

The Artist & Her Alter-Ego

Lynn Hershman-Leeson is a contemporary artist who created an alter ego persona, Roberta Breitmore, in order to explore themes of "gender, identity politics, and selfhood." 

"From 1974 until 1978, the artist conceived of, constructed and ‘developed’ a fictional persona and alter ego: that of Roberta Breitmore. The creation of Roberta Breitmore consisted not only of a physical self-transformation through make-up, clothing, and wigs which enabled the occasional role-playing, but a fully-fledged, ‘complete’ personality who existed over an extended period of time and whose existence could be proven in the world through physical evidence: from a driver’s license and credit card to letters from her psychiatrist."


The artist didn't just imagine an alter-ego, but actualized this person through small details such as dental records, credit cards, an apartment, and a drivers license. She wrote an ad seeking a roommate, and all of the people who responded became a part of the actualizing of this figure. In that way, she reminds us that we become who we are only because of and through others. 

She also created a diagram of body language to assist herself, and document her artistry, which reminds me of how Tom Ripley used body language as his method of identity enactment. 

The entire project is described here: http://www.lynnhershman.com/files/lynnhershman-robertabreitmore.pdf

Fruit Chan's Dumplings

I don't know how many of you are interested in Hong Kong films, but...

I recently came across Dumplings, a horror film by Hong Kong director Fruit Chan. It's pretty morbid and touches upon a sensitive subject (literally, eating fetuses, though the clip doesn't blatantly show it), so watch the trailer at your own discretion! The protagonist of the movie is a former actress named Mrs. Li who eats special dumplings in order to regain her youth. I thought the desire for beauty and youth was interesting, something we haven't really discussed in class.

Anyway, the film raised interesting points about how capitalism is embodied. Dumplings weaves in the issues of deception and identity while bringing to light other topics like gender and globalization.