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Jim Mullen It Takes A Village Idiot APRIL 17,2019 Opinion Rewarding bad behavior... Somewhere today, there will be breaking news that a well-known and/or powerful person has been accused of abusing an employee, co-worker or romantic partner. So, here’s the question: Did their bad be havior only start after they became well- known or powerful? It seems much more likely to me that they didn’t become abusers when they be came powerful, but that they became pow erful because they were abusers. Think about it - isn’t the most conniving, evil, creepy, abusive back-stabber in your workplace the one who’s most likely to get promoted? Isn’t the guy or gal who takes credit for your work, who cuts corners, who breaks the rules and sucks up to the bosses the most likely to skip a grade? If this is true, then serial abusers are more likely to climb the corporate ladder, the church hierarchy or the military ranks than their more worthy co-workers. How else to explain the col lege bribery scandal - not to mention the political scandals, church scandals, corporate scandals and Hol lywood scandals that are all happening at the same time? How is it that so many ethi cally challenged people have risen to the top of the heap over the good and decent ones? Cream no longer rises to the top. At best, it’s tolerated down at the bottom. After all, somebody has to do the work while the abusers focus on getting ahead. So often we hear about famous, powerful people making life miserable for everyone who works for or near them that it’s easy to think that it’s just a few people at the top of the news-making pyramid who are behaving badly. Really? Isn’t it much more likely that the same thing is happening right around the corner at the local fast- food franchise or chain store? The same thing is happening in those workplaces: The abusers will be rewarded by becoming division managers so they can spread fear and loathing further and further afield. It’s not that no one notices. The abusers’ employees all know. But their wives nev er know; their bosses never know. Their equals never know. They are all shocked when the news comes out. “He seemed so nice!’’ Sure, he was - to the people he need ed. The rest? Not so much. There’s an old saying that says if you can’t handle a child at 6, you won’t be able to handle them at 16. The same is true of abusers. They’ll abuse at the lowest level of the totem pole as well as the highest. Rich or poor, there’s always a man who calls ev ery waitress “honey,” “darlin”’ or “sweet heart.” If you call him on it, he’ll say, “What are you so mad about? I’m being nice.” No, you’re being passive-aggressive and con descending. That same guy wouldn’t call the men in his life “honey.” He knows they wouldn’t put up with it. “What about women, then? Are you say ing they’re all saints?” Not at all. But as my dad used to say, “Two wrongs don’t make a right.” Maybe women are just not as good at being conniving, evil, back-stabbing and creepy as men. The proof? Why are there so few women running Fortune 500 compa nies? Why are there are so few women in the Senate? Do 1 even have to mention the church hierarchies? How has that all-male bastion been working out? In short, why do we seem hell-bent on rewarding all the wrong people? What is wrong with us? We can all be jerks some times, but 1 wouldn’t want to do it for a liv ing. Oh, yeah, 1 forgot. 1 kinda do. BERTIE LEDGER-ADVANCE The fabric of Bertie County since 1832 Jim Mullen is the author of It Takes a Vil lage Idiot: A Memoir of Life After the City. His column, The Village Idiot, takes a look at the curiosities of American life. Letters to the editor Loneliness is a concern ■ a ■ It seems we have reached an epic level of loneliness in America. Social media has had a profound affect on relationships and the way we interact - or don’t - with other people. So much so there is now a booming market for “artifi cial human com panions.” We are connect ed now, more than ever, yet we are Deborah more isolated than Griffin ever. FarmWife It seems like the Life cartoon. The Jet- sons, was not as far-fetched as it seemed. If you did not grow up in the 1970’s - you might not know George Jeston. George was the patriarch of a futuristic family, complete with their talking dog. Astro. They heavily rely on Rosie, the Jetsons’ household robot, to clean, some times parent and even dispense medicine. In a recent New York Times article entitled “Human Contact Is Now a Luxury Good,” Nellie Bowles asserts that the poor and the elderly are growing more de pendant on technology, while the very rich shun it. ‘The rich have grown afraid of screens,” she writes. “They want their children to play with blocks and tech-free pri vate schools are booming. Living without a phone for a day, quit ting social networks and not an swering email has become a sta tus symbol,” Bowles continues. “Human contact is becoming a luxury good. The richer you are, the more you spend to be off screen,” she concludes. Care.Coach is leading the indus try in digital pets. They proudly boast they are “pioneering a game-changing innovation for ag ing and geriatric care that lever ages the best of both human and technological capabilities.” _ Bowles writes of Mr. Langlois, 68, who lives in a low-income se nior housing complex. His best friend. Sox the cat, lives on a tab- let. Sox talks to him about his fa vorite team, plays his favorite songs and shows him pictures from his wedding. And because she has a video feed of him in his recliner, she chastises him when she catches him drinking soda in stead of water. Langlois is aware that Sox is not real. He knows she is operated by workers around the world who A good brain zapping... Email Letters To: twhite(3)ncweeklies.com Fax Letters to: 252-794-2835 Mail: P.O. Box 69, Windsor, NC 27983 One of the challenges of middle age is a memory that fizzles in and out like a radio station with a weak signal. Some days are frustratingly full of unanswered ques tions. Where did I park my car? Why did I walk into the living room? Who was I supposed to Janet call after lunch? Storm What happened to The Daily the pen I had in my Reflector hand three minutes ago? Until now, the best hope for the middle-aged brain seemed to be writing things down on sticky notes and plaster ing them in spots where they can not be missed. I have personally used this method for several years. Still, there are times when no sticky notes are at hand, and going to fetch them turns into another trip down no-memory lane. Luckily, science is working on the problem. As reported by The Associated Press, a study has found a specific brand of treat ment can improve a form of mem ory enough that people older than 60 performed like people in are watching, listening and typing out her responses. “But her consistent voice in his life has returned him to his faith,” said Bowles. Langlois told her, “She’s brought my life back to life.” The article explains that Sox, a simple animation, barely moves or emotes, and the voice is as harsh as a dial tone. But little ani mated hearts come up around her sometimes, and Langlois admits he loves when that happens. Bowles explains the technol ogy behind Sox is quite simple: a Samsung Galaxy Tab E tablet with an ultrawide-angle fisheye lens at tached to the front. None of the people operating the avatars are in the United States; they mostly work in the Philippines and Latin America. “If they say, ‘I love you,’ we’ll say it back,” said Victor Wang, the 31-y^ar-old founder and ecutive Care.Coach. “With some of our clients, we’ll say it first if we know they like hearing it.” This all seems a bit disturbing and makes me wonder where our future is headed. Deborah Griffin is Staff Writer at the Martin County Enterprise 6 Weekly Herald and the Bertie Led ger-Advance. She can be reached at dgriffin@ncweeklies.com. their 20s. Here’s the problem — the treat ment is zapping people’s brains with electricity. The report actually specifies it is a “mild electrical current.” Still, anyone who has ever seen a sci ence fiction movie can probably draw to mind an image of brain zapping that seems less than be nign. 1 have to admit I am a bit curi ous about why brain zapping was on the table in the first place. Is there no one out there who can develop a nice, safe memory pill, preferably coated in chocolate? Hooking electrodes to some one’s head seems like a last-resort measure to me. Sort of a “Hey, you know what might be funny? Zapping a bunch of 60-year-olds’ brains. They can’t remember if they turned on the dryer or where they left their cellphone — they probably won’t recall this partic ular treatment either.” According to a report pub lished in the journal Nature Neu roscience, the treatment is aimed at “working memory,” the ability to hold information in mind for a matter of seconds as you perform a task, such as doing math in your head, taking medications, paying bills or buying groceries. Electrical current was adminis tered through a tight-fitting cap that also monitored each sub ject’s brainwaves. For study par ticipants, that current felt like a slight tingling, itching or poking sensation under the electrodes for about 30 seconds. After that, the skin got used to the current and it was imperceptible, accord ing to the study’s author. I have my doubts. For one thing, a tight-fitting cap would play hav oc with my hairstyle. More impor tantly, I would like to get a more specific description than “slight tingling” for what subjects experi enced. More than once, I have had people in the medical profession tell me a treatment would cause “mild discomfort” when in fact it turned out to be a major pain. I’m looking at you, Mr. Tetanus shot. The report actually said that more research would be need ed. I support that notion. Before anyone gets near my head with electricity, I would like to know all other options have been ex hausted. Get to work on that chocolate pill, science. Or point me to where 1 left my sticky notes. Contact Janet Storm at jstorm® reflector.com or 252-329-9587. Bertie Ledger-Advance The fabric of Bertie County since 1832 Tm£ BEFmE LeDQER-ADV.WE was ESTABLBHED IV 1920 THROUGH THE HERITAGE OF THE WINDSOR LEDGER AND ThE AuLANDER ADVANCE, The newspaper traces its history to 1832 when it was first published AS THE Windsor Herald and Bertie County Register Kyle Stephens Michelle Leicester Publisher Creative Services Director ksrephens@ncweeklies.coin mleicester@ncweeklies.com Thaad White Jessica Mobley Editor Advertising Manager twhitc@ncweekiies.com jmot4ey@ncweeklies.com Jim Green Sports Editor • jgreen@ncweeklies.com Sarah Hodges Stalls Staff Writer shstalls@ncweeklies.com Deborah Griffin StaffWriter dgriffin@ncweeklies.com J.W:"Russ” Russell Sports Editor Emeritus bemenews@ncweekiies.com The Bertie Ledqer-Advance (ISSN 051-700) IS PUBLISHED EACH Wednesday for $32.10 (tax included) per year (in Bertie County) by Adams Publishing Group 109 S. King St., Wind sor, NC 27983, Periodicals POSTAGE paid AT WINDSOR, NC and ENTERED AT ADDITIONAL MAILING OFFICES. Postmaster: ' ADDRESS CHANGES TO THE Bertie Ledger-Advance, P.O. Box 69, Windsor, NC 27983. Contact Us: Bertie Ledger-Advance P.O. Box 69, Windsor, NC 27983. Phone: (252) 794-3185 Fax: (252) 794-2835
Bertie Ledger-Advance (Windsor, N.C.)
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April 17, 2019, edition 1
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