My senior dad, in watching the VP debate, thought JD Vance was a “hipster” because of his neatly trimmed beard.
And despite beards being the de factor hipster fashion for many moons, Politico’s body language expert described Vance’s beard as potentially negative, “conveying aggression and opposition to feminist ideals.”
HUH? Who made that up? A lot of women like beards. And who says beards are aggressive? Is the fully bearded man delivering supplies to Hurricane Helene victims with pack mules being “aggressive”?
Beards are also required in many religions, like Sikhism. Bizarre and culturally tone deaf, if you ask me.
Politico’s body language article wasn’t all bad or biased against Vance. For example, the writer also said Walz pointing at the camera Uncle Sam style could potentially seen as hostile: “Our brains immediately perceive a point as “calling us out” — in other words, as threatening.”
However, the expert interpreted Walz’s “sanpaku” eyes as just showing his emotion:
“Eye-popping can sometimes be a sign of surprise, but for Walz, it simply revealed his emotional intensity — like this moment during an exchange about abortion.”
Really? Walz’s eyes give me the heebie jeebies here.
Now, I didn’t notice Walz’s “sanpaku” eyes until the Vance beard criticism hit social media. Only then did I bother to look more closely. I’ve now stared at Walz’s screenshot more than I care to have, trying to exactly pinpoint the negative energy that is screaming from his facial expression.
It’s the eyes.
It’s not super obvious, but yes, the whites above Walz’s eyes are showing, which is called sanpaku eyes. Some believe sanpaku is a sign of malevolence or underlying psychological issues like psychosis. This is called yang sanpaku. Whites below the eyes indicate poor health or energetic weakness, called yin sanpaku.
Shelley Duvall had classic below-the-iris sanpaku eyes, indicating her energetic weakness and propensity towards poor mental health:
Now, I don’t see a Sauron-level of malevolence in the above debate screenshot of Walz; more, he looks like someone who has been traumatized. Unfortunately, Walz looks like someone who has been traumatized who may be ready to lash out on a dime.
This does explain, at least partially, why I have little warning bells going off with Walz’s energy, and why he feels “off” to me.
Charles Manson’s eyes are often cited as a classic example of yang sanpaku eyes, the type where the whites are visible above the iris.
Manson’s notorious criminal activities and his intense, unsettling gaze have fueled speculation surrounding sanpaku eyes and the idea that any visible sclera above the iris might indicate a disturbed mental state or a propensity for violence.
However, not all psychotic killers have sanpaku eyes. Ted Bundy’s eyes are clearly “off” here - intense and weird - but no whites are showing above or below:
Sanpaku eyes also aren’t constant, necessarily. In Tim Walz’s case, they showed up when he was getting emotional during his debate presentations.
Manson, by the way, was a hippie cult leader who led the murder of actress Sharon Tate, now over 50 years ago. He is known for carving a swastika into his forehead. Weirdly, he has also been quoted as saying:
“As long as there’s hate in your heart, there’ll be hate in the world. You can’t fight for peace and you cannot capture freedom.”
—Charles Manson
It is a little concerning that in this one area, Manson had more sense than Tim Walz, who also famously said:
“There’s no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech, and especially around our democracy.”
—Tim Walz
I want to be clear that I am not saying that Tim Walz is a violent schizophrenic or even a bad person at heart. I do think his eyes are indicating some form of internal stress. What that is, I cannot say.
But given a choice between the two, I’ll take a nicely trimmed beard over sanpaku eyes any day.
Another good one, Stephanie! Jeff Childers was onto the sanpaku eyes last week(?), so I became aware of the idea then. And that Japan has a cultural history of "Face reading", which probably has a lot of value in it.
Eyes 👀 bulging whites above the eyes. I do know waltz lies … and speaks very fast. He’s over his head, You can’t hide your lying eyes”
I actually like beards it’s male macho. Save shaving everyday.