SUBTEXTspeech would be deadly. I'd send out a subtext of coldness and
withdrawal.THE TWO-AND-A-HALF-BILLION-
DOLLAR VERDICT
Of all the elements we use to communicate with other people,
eye contact is the most important—and the most human. Animals
are disturbed by eye contact. To them, it carries a subtext of
threat. Humans are pleased with it. To them the subtexts are
attention and interest.
The importance of the subtext sent by eye contact was evident
in a lawsuit that took place between two oil companies a while
back. Pennzoil sued Texaco, claiming that Texaco had improperly
interfered with a deal it had with Getty Oil. Pennzoil won a damage
award of over two and a half billion dollars plus interest, the
largest in the history of the United States.
During the trial, the Texaco lawyers thought Pennzoil's counsel
were playing up to the jury by instructing their witnesses always
to make eye contact with the jurors and to joke with them.
In an attempt to paint a contrast, Texaco counsel instructed
their witnesses to be serious and absolutely avoid looking at the
jurors. The case went against Texaco, and in conversations after
the verdict, the jurors said, "Those Texaco witnesses never looked
at us once. They were arrogant and indifferent. How could we
believe them?"
Conventional legal wisdom says Texaco counsel were right in
"not putting on a show for the jury." But their witnesses were so
concerned with avoiding eye contact that they sent out a subtext
of insincerity, the very thing the lawyers were trying to avoid!