180 I Can Read You Like a Book
in adult life. Most adults are more subtle and polished, but every
adult culture still has some second-grade rules floating around.
In a more formal act of humiliation, Saudis cut off the right hand of
convicted thieves, not to stop them from stealing again, but to humiliate
them. Their dining practice is to eat from a common plate, and only to
take food with the right hand because Arabs use the left hand (often
without benefit of toilet paper) to take care of business in the
bathroom. Cutting off the right hand of a man cripples him socially.
What happens to the repeat offender, you might ask? Starva-
tion? No, his fellow citizens will simply remove his left foot. With
his left hand he can operate a crutch, but not attend too many social
engagements. This may sound brutal, but Saudi Arabia has a much
lower rate of theft than the United States.
One side effect of the interrogation process is the softening of
a male prisoner’s resistance before an interrogation as a result of
the strip search. Even without an audience, the experience is agi-
tating for most men regardless of nationality. Enduring this kind of
display usually causes profound agitation. Contrast the reaction of
an American Special Operations officer to stripping during interro-
gation exercises. As an American Army guy, I can tell you that
having my clothes ripped off wouldn’t make me give up any
secrets. Culturally, it just isn’t that big a deal and my movements
during an exercise like that probably do not leak the slightest bit of
stress. The U.S. military uses the locker-room mentality as the
basis for hardening troops against the physical and emotional
violations of their space and values.