YOU’LL “PROTECT ME?”

At least Trump wasn’t talking about abortion when he said he would protect women “whether they like it or not” during a rally in Wisconsin He was talking about protecting women from the “dangerous” immigrants Harris let in from insane asylums, etc. Just the phrase, no matter what he was referring to, suggests that he sees women as being inferior to men…needing protection. Many of us believe women do need protection: from him.

Later, on CBS News, he reflected that his advisers deemed the line about protecting women “inappropriate.” Duh. Being Trump, he was unwilling to listen to them.

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LIE DETECTORS

The November 2024 issue of The Smithsonian has an article by Susan Saulny titled “The Truth of the Matter,” with a quote from an early San Francisco Examiner about the invention of the lie detector: “All liars, regardless of cleverness, are doomed.”

Hopefully that message from the past, promises a bright future for us. Humanity has struggled with lying individuals for ages. Saulny reports that in order to catch liars, the ancient Chinese would sometimes give the accused a mouthful of uncooked rice during interrogation–and then ask the person to open wide. Dry rice would indicate a dry mouth, considered evidence of nervous guilt–and sometimes grounds for execution. [This method has recently been deemed somewhat valid, since as was assumed then – and is currently supported by more recent evidence – that the nervous tension created by lying slows or blocks the flow of saliva.]

In India, around 900 BC, one method used to detect poisoners was observations of shaking. In ancient Greece a rapid pulse rate was taken to indicate deceit. The Middle Ages saw barbaric forms of lie detection used in Europe, such as the red-hot iron method which involved suspected criminals placing their tongue, often multiple times, on a red-hot iron. There, a burnt tongue indicated guilt.

The polygraph (aka “lie detector”) was pioneered by William Marston, a lawyer and psychologist who would later earn fame as the creator pf Wonder Woman. with her famous Lasso of Truth. CLARIFICATION: William Marston pioneered the device, John A. Larson added developments, but according to an entry in Google, the person currently known as the father of the polygraph is Leonarde Keeler, who patented the prototype of the modern polygraph in 1939,

Science tells us that an infallible lie detection method has yet to be found. In fact, it has been pointed out that most lie detection methods don’t detect lies at all – instead, they register the physiological or behavior signs of stress or fear.

And today, if the person lying doesn’t experience stress or fear, there’s Fact Check…

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MY MUSE IS A WOMAN
She’s both stressed and depressed,
Mourning clothes yet unpressed.
Of Creativity bereft,
Recovery now unguessed.

MY MUSE’S MUSE
My muse’s muse is transgender
Both sexes present for to render
Loving, healing, warmth so tender
To regain her former splendor.

Nan 10/13/2020