R Review From Scalp to Soles 75
When someone is unsure of where he stands, whether he is
believed, or how an action is accepted, you will commonly see the
eyebrows raise and pause—even if momentarily. The amount of
time is an eternity in terms of facial expression. You see it on a
regular basis and even do it yourself when you desperately want
approval, but until you can identify it as a discrete gesture, you can
only do it and respond instinctively, not cognitively. It is the brow
version of raising the shoulders into a shrugging motion as a sign of
helplessness.
Watch politicians face reporters about touchy issues, or stars
field questions about a recent movie. You will see request-for-
approval. Kids do it when they attempt something and aren’t sure if
they got it right, such as tossing a baseball or tying their shoes. Your
wife may do it when she comes out of the bedroom with a new
dress on. Your husband will do it when he presents you with a box
of chocolates for Valentine’s Day—a day late. Your new employee
will do it when he hands you his first sales report.
When we taped Torture: The Guantanamo Guidebook for
Channel 4 in the UK, one of the participants was a young Pakistani
Brit.Guidebookdramatized the types of interrogation procedures
that the producers speculated could be going on in U.S. detention
centers. The producers had created a scenario in which the Pakistani
Brit was a member of a home-grown British terror cell. When I
questioned him about why he was in the area he said, “I was just
working, not doing anything wrong.” Aside from the obvious (who
said anything about wrongdoing?), the best indicator was a raising
of the brows to exaggerated levels as he spoke. It was a request