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Using PT knowlege to fight Terrorism
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Using PT knowlege to fight Terrorism - October 17, 2001 7:35:00 AM
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Andrew M. Ball MS MBA PT
Posts: 271
Joined: September 30, 2001
From: Chapel Hill
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Dear Gen. Ashcroft,
As a physical therapist with an MBA in Healthcare Management and a Ph.D. in progress, I've spent a little time with handwriting analysis. The reason for this is simple, the handwriting analysis of essays that potential employees write can be very telling of the personality profile of the individual. It may also be useful in the course of your investigation. Having reviewed the images of the envelopes posted at [URL=http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/p/nm/20011016/ts/mdf70121.html,]http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/p/nm/20011016/ts/mdf70121.html,[/URL] I think I can offer a few observations about the person responsive for the Anthrax terrorist attack:
There is clear line spacing, indicating mental clarity and a sense of order. Such a person who leaves moderate distances between lines tends to plan ahead and organize life and time effectively. He knows the importance of contingency planning, and is not afraid to use the environment to his advantage.
There is clear and balanced word spacing as well, indicating that the terrorist is comfortable asserting his need for space, expecting others to respect his privacy. He is conventional in social interaction and likes to feel that his behavior conforms to his social group.
Though I'm not sure that all handwriting analysts would agree with the following observation, I find the spacing between letters slightly erratic and inconsistent. Though inconsistency in any area of writing indicates ambivalence, in letter spacing it suggests that the writer is ambivalent about where or not to move forward with a plan, or stay back in the shadows. He's uncertain and worried about what to do as an internal tug of war keeps him unsettled most of the time. With any luck, catching the terrorist responsible could yield great rewards in uncovering any future plots because if he was so conflicted about committing the act in the first place, he's likely to crack with a little pressure.
The return address on the letter to Sen. Daschle is a little crowded to the left edge of the envelope, this suggests that the writer finds the past a more comfortable place than the present or future. Safety and security are very important to him. As such, going into unfamiliar places and situations, trying new things, and change in general is unusually stressful for him. He therefore is likely to tend to stick with people he knows well, and limit interaction with strangers.
The address to Tom Brocaw starts out wide and creeps toward the left margin as it goes down the page. This indicates that the terrorist started out with an abundance of enthusiasm, but doubts began to creep in, even in the short time that it took to write the address. He may have started to wonder whether he was doing the right thing. People in this state tend to look for ways to return to the safety of the past, going home, calling home, or following some ritual that brings psychological comfort.
The address to Sen. Daschle is a little more chilling and defined. Strong self-discipline and will power are required to start every line in exactly the same place. It takes longer to do so, suggesting that in sending this letter, the terrorist thoroughly considered the potential outcome. A rigidly straight left margin is almost always formed by someone who is highly conscious of appearances and doesn't allow himself or others any slack for mistakes. He's so inflexible in fact, that he's not an easy person to be around because his expectations are so high.
It's hard to assess the right margin, which represents the writer's perception of future, because there isn't much to go on in the addresses, but it seems to me that it's more erratic than it needs to be. When the irregularity is extreme, it's almost guaranteed that that writer is unstable. He's unsure about hew he feels about other people or the future. He's an adventurer who is very comfortable with the chaos he creates, taking whatever comes next . . . the more exciting the better. He's unable to stick with a steady point of view about anything or anyone.
The baselines on all lines are downward sloping, indicating either fatigue, or more likely, a pessimistic and depressing outlook on life. It' may be a stretch to say the following, but it looks as though the baselines for the word "Senate" is more downward sloping than most, suggesting the writer's particular disdain for this institution. The words "New York" and "Washington" are wavy, suggesting an emotional attachment to these particular places. Personally, this (combined with the apparent internal conflict that the terrorist had with sending Anthrax to Tom Brocaw has me worried that the individual may be not foreign, but rather an unstable American unhappy with the media and government's handling of National affairs since September 11th.
What I find particularly strange is that the pressure used to write the addresses seems excessive too. Some of the more Freudian of analysts attribute this to eroticism gone wild. Not what I would expect of a foreign terrorist (but that's my own stereotype based upon no knowledge whatsoever). This person's sexuality can be expected to be linked to all sorts of sexual practices frowned upon by society. It suggests an excess of energy and impulse that the writer makes no effort to curb. Guilt and anxiety are to be expected. Perhaps the internal guilt and anxiety will eventually promote the criminal to admit wrongdoing, or confess quickly once caught.
That's about the limits of my expertise, but I hope that it can be in some way useful to your investigation. If I can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me by home phone (919-929-0507), mobile phone (919-423-3374) or e-mail (Drewpt@yahoo.com)
Respectfully,
Andrew M. Ball, MS, MBA, PT
Cc: Tom Dascle
Tom Brokaw
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Re: Using PT knowlege to fight Terrorism - October 17, 2001 9:13:00 AM
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Andrew M. Ball MS MBA PT
Posts: 271
Joined: September 30, 2001
From: Chapel Hill
Status: offline
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SJ,
I'm sure you're right. I'm sure that a ton of handwriting specialists have looked at the letters. Having worked for government though, sometimes things get missed, and it takes an outside observer to raise an eyebrow or two.
Sometimes it helps to know what to look for.
Drew
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Re: Using PT knowlege to fight Terrorism - October 17, 2001 11:37:00 AM
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Barrett
Posts: 967
Joined: July 28, 1999
From: Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio
Status: offline
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Hi Drew,
I went to skepticplanet.com and put "handwriting analysis" in the search engine and got some interesting information about this work. Take a look. Maybe you're talking about something else, but it appears that there are those who would question the validity of these claims.
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Re: Using PT knowlege to fight Terrorism - October 17, 2001 4:02:00 PM
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Andrew M. Ball MS MBA PT
Posts: 271
Joined: September 30, 2001
From: Chapel Hill
Status: offline
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Barrett,
Depends on how you define handwriting analysis. I tend to stick with what's known and has been researched and docd. Getting into the way that people draw their t's, p's, I's, and pressure patterns gets a little metaphysical. I don't get into that.
Besides, I'm more interested in what's SUGGESTED by the handwriting (if you believe in that sort of thing beyond what I've assessed based upon what's been researched about handwriting) than poinpointing details.
The generalizations that I made in my assessment were rather broad, but a few general themes came to light beyond the obvious fact that this lunatic is dangerous and unstable. For example, if sent by the same guy (and my analysis suggests they were), then he was feeling far more justified sending the Anthrax to Daschle than to Brocaw. Could that be a clue as to who this guy is?
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Re: Using PT knowlege to fight Terrorism - October 18, 2001 9:56:00 AM
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Barrett
Posts: 967
Joined: July 28, 1999
From: Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio
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From a commentary in The Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine Vol.5 No. 2 Spring 2001 entitled Fringe Psychotherapies: The Public at Risk, I quote:
“The pseudoscience of graphology claims psychological traits and diagnosis can be derived from the analysis of handwriting. While no scientific case can be made for these claims, even more far-fetched assertions are made by “graphotherapists.” The latter contend that undesirable psychological attributes can be eliminated by learning to remove the signs that indicate those traits from one’s handwriting. Graphology firms routinely offer martial and psychological advice and consultations on hiring and promotion, the creditworthiness of borrowers, and the guilt or innocence of criminal defendants. Although the evidence against graphology is overwhelming (see Beyerstein B, Beyerstein D, eds. The Write Stuff - Evaluations of Graphology. Amherst, NY: Prometheus books; 1992) advertisements continue to appear in journals directed at psychotherapists for graphology seminars that carry continuing education credit for licensed psychologists and psychiatrists. In some advertisements, the promoters promise to teach techniques for identifying secret drug abusers, philanderers, and both perpetrators and victims of sexual abuse from signs supposedly encoded in their handwriting.”
I assume the book referenced is a thorough look at handwriting analysis, graphology or any other name used for this work.
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Re: Using PT knowlege to fight Terrorism - October 18, 2001 4:19:00 PM
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Andrew M. Ball MS MBA PT
Posts: 271
Joined: September 30, 2001
From: Chapel Hill
Status: offline
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Wait a minute! I never even implied that this terrorist should be sent to handwriting school in order to improve his mental state.
That's nuts.
Furthermore, I don't think anything along the lines of secret drug abuses, lover affairs, etc. were uncovered by my analysis. In fact, I think I was careful to say that "What I find particularly strange is that the pressure used to write the addresses seems excessive too. Some of the more Freudian of analysts attribute this to eroticism gone wild. Not what I would expect of a foreign terrorist (but that's my own stereotype based upon no knowledge whatsoever). This person's sexuality can be expected to be linked to all sorts of sexual practices frowned upon by society. It suggests an excess of energy and impulse that the writer makes no effort to curb. Guilt and anxiety are to be expected. Perhaps the internal guilt and anxiety will eventually promote the criminal to admit wrongdoing, or confess quickly once caught." Maybe I didn't say it explicitly enough, but I don't buy much of the Freudian approach, at least not in terms of Handwriting analysis. Too far fetched.
I do think that it's safe to say that this person was far more comfortable about sending the Anthrax to Daschle than Brocaw, which may yield a clue. The other stuff sounds admittingly Miss Cleo (e.g. He's unstable, angry, and interested in some kind of return to the past - duh!).
I just think it's neat that the handwriting analysis paints a picture (unstable, angry, and past-tense oriented) of the obvious.
Drew
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Re: Using PT knowlege to fight Terrorism - October 19, 2001 9:52:00 AM
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Andrew M. Ball MS MBA PT
Posts: 271
Joined: September 30, 2001
From: Chapel Hill
Status: offline
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First of all, graphology and handwriting analysis are not the same thing. Second of all, I just think it's interesting the profile that the analysis paints . . . it could just have easily painted the picture of someone content and well adjusted, but it didn't.
Drew
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Re: Using PT knowlege to fight Terrorism - October 20, 2001 12:21:00 PM
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Barrett
Posts: 967
Joined: July 28, 1999
From: Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio
Status: offline
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Hi Drew,
Exactly how are graphology and handwriting analysis different? In the same way that "remote viewing" is different from "clairvoyance"?
An interesting link: [URL=http://skepdic.com/graphol.html]http://skepdic.com/graphol.html[/URL]
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Re: Using PT knowlege to fight Terrorism - October 20, 2001 7:55:00 PM
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Andrew M. Ball MS MBA PT
Posts: 271
Joined: September 30, 2001
From: Chapel Hill
Status: offline
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I don't understand your analogy. To answer your question, Graphology is used to detect personality, handwriting analysis on the other hand, is used to detect forgeries.
When graphology has been assessed, what are the findings?
Graphologists score close to zero on test of accuracy in personality rating. When performing a test-retest reliability (asking the graphologist to reassess their answer without seeing their previous answer), the retest answers rarely matched the original ones. Graphologists do slightly better than untrained college students in ratings of personality and job performance.
The problem with this study is that it lumps all kinds of graphology togehter. Examination of specific letters, strokes, etc. has not been shown to be very reliable . . . but more holistic examination of line spacing, margins, and word spacing has proven much more reliable. It's by no means exact, but it can yield interesting clues.
Drew
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Re: Using PT knowlege to fight Terrorism - October 26, 2001 2:59:00 AM
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Andrew M. Ball MS MBA PT
Posts: 271
Joined: September 30, 2001
From: Chapel Hill
Status: offline
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Interesting to point out that the Anthrax spores to Daschle were treated and milled differently dontcha'll think? The analysis strongly suggested that possiblility . . .
Drew
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