Signs of a Champion

The 2006 FIFA World Cup is dominating the hearts and minds of most western Europeans at the moment. One of these is Rob Oudkerk who wrote a column about the gestures Marco van Basten was making at Netherlands vs Serbia-Montenegro. The man with a plan? Oudkerk appears to be a gesture conaisseur. He can tell Marco van Basten is a visionary leader with a mission, as he shows the signs of a champion. He can also see the opposite from Balkenendes cheers (a political adversary). And he doesn't stop there. The entire inner life of San Marco, his emotions, thoughts, and feelings became clear as Oudkerk watched a video summary of the coach during the match. The confident, alert body language of a prime minister to be? Nothing escaped his keen eye for politics, or did it? As an experienced Dutch politician Oudkerk always enjoyed the gestural displays in parliamentary debates. They say so much more than words. Some of his own famous last words as a ambitious centre-left politician were a nasty comment about immigrants. It was accidently recorded. I guess sometimes words do say more than gestures.

Tags: gesture, body language, ToM, folk psychology, politics, sports, mysticism