By Brian Shoener
Contributing Writer
Over the past few years, one actor’s name has been incessantly clogging the airwaves and wasting valuable space in countless newspapers. His recent tirades have given him pop-culture status comparable to Chuck Norris. The problem is that there is no way Charlie Sheen could ever count to infinity and back even once (let alone twice).
Charlie Sheen was fired from his role on “Two and a Half Men” after he made insulting remarks about the show’s creator, Chuck Lorre. Sheen plans on suing CBS for “bazillions” that they owe him.
Some people think he’s awesome and shouldn’t have been fired. In fact, viewership of his show was on the rise. The question has to be asked, though, whether people were watching the show or if they were just watching the Sheen.
More often than not, people like attention. They usually prefer the good kind of attention, where others are speaking highly of them and their good deeds, but there are always the anomalies that want to be in the spotlight all the time. These are the people who will do whatever is necessary to get attention. Partying, exorbitant drug use, violence, cheating and lying become the norm for these desperate people.
This intense lifestyle is bound to have its negative consequences. Simply watching Charlie Sheen’s ABC interview shows how physically and mentally taxing his lifestyle has been. The worst part about all this, though, is the pathological lying.
After watching his interview multiple times, it seems like he truly believes that he is superhuman, but there are multiple points throughout the interview when he shows signs of deceit.
There are many different ways someone can show unconsciously that they are lying. These include deflection (twisting words to delay answering a question), where a person is looking as they are talking, how they are moving their head in relation to what they are saying and what they do with their eyebrows. Though these might seem trivial, if you test these signs in real life (as I have), you will find that they truly are a good predictor of whether a person is lying or not.
In the case of Charlie Sheen, he has displayed all of these. When asked, “When was the last time you used?” his initial response was, “I use a blender, I use a vacuum cleaner, I use household items.” He goes on to say that he doesn’t remember when he last used drugs, but he still initially deflected the question.
In addition, when he said that he doesn’t remember his last drug use, he stared right at the interviewer’s eyes. People actually look away when they are remembering something. They stare straight at a person when they are lying.
Later on in the interview, Charlie Sheen was asked if he enjoys his current life sans partying. His initial response? Yes. How did his body respond? He shook his head no. That was the truth; he misses being a party-boy but was lying about it.
Finally, he was asked if his drug providers are out of his life. His immediate physical response was to raise his eyebrows and shake his head no. These are both signs that the words to come are a lie (and he didn’t even answer that question anyway).
Charlie Sheen’s life is finally catching up to him. He lost his job, has a 71% disapproval rating and is physically and mentally wearing thin. He might be rich, but I seriously doubt that he’s happy.