Jack Warner, the former vice president of FIFA, who along with other FIFA officials were arrested last week on money laundering, racketeering, bribery and wire fraud - yesterday defended himself against allegations of corruption (alleged by both United States and Swiss authorities) by citing an article from The Onion. Incredibly, Warner was unaware that it was satire.
The above video was uploaded to the internet yesterday and then taken down shortly. A copy of it subsequently went viral. What follows is a specific and very telling body language display.
On two occasions (here, during 3:37- 3:39 and the image immediately below, captured during 3:42 - 3:43) Jack Warner gestures towards his chest (more specifically this is but one body language example of a MAP aka Manipulator, Adaptor, Pacifier).
Some important details can be seen here. Note that Warner is using his left hand - yet he is right-handed. Warner is also gesturing towards the RIGHT side of his chest. His heart, of course, while partially posterior to the sternum is significantly biased toward the left side. In addition, during both of these moments the former FIFA official is touching only with his finger TIPS - not the palm of his hand (and with the second example, his fingertips do not even quite touch).
Any of these three nonverbal signals - 1) Use of non-dominant hand gestures during moments of expected conviction, 2) Touching the right side of the chest during "heartfelt" moments and 3) Finger-tip touching rather than full palmar contact - taken on their own would all be strong red flags for insincerity. All three together in a cluster - and then repeated - absolutely scream strong insincerity.
Later in his monolog, Warner cites and holds up (5:04 - 5:40 and 6:59 - 7:01) a print-out of "The Onion" article - which is, of course, completely satirical - and uses it in his defense.
See also:
Nonverbal Communication No. 3201: Nazi War Criminal Oskar Gröning - Dissecting Body Language in Court
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3197: FIFA, Sepp Blatter and the Pseudo-Prayer
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2776: James Franco's Mea Culpa
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2863: Gary Oldman's Apology on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" - Sincere or Insincere? - Body Language Tells
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