The Nose: Fall Guys, Women Comics & How Yoga Clothes Can't Shrug 'Atlas'
Rounding up the week in popular culture.
What will big business head honchos learn from the fall of CL&P's Jeff Butler? Maybe they'll learn not to be the face of the company during a big disaster.
Somebody talked Butler into handling CL&P's press briefings personally, even though the company has a whole staff of mouthpieces on call to do just that.
It may have been a symmetry issue. Gov. Dan Malloy was representing the state in those briefings. So it didn't look right to send out some VP for customer relations.
But when you talk in these situations, you'd better be good at it. You can't afford a Joe Paterno stumble like the one where he talked about "the kids who were victims or whatever they want to say."
You can't, as Butler did, try to blame some of your own mistakes on weather forecasters or give a weird interview when you shouldn't be talking at all, as former coach Jerry Sandusky did to Bob Costas.
Today on the show, we talk about fall guys, self-defense, women comics and more.
Leave your comments below, e-mail colin@wnpr.org or Tweet us @wnprcolin.
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E-mail from Toni
I was really disappointed to hear you say that workplace training on sexual harassment is only a means for employers to avoid law suits. Both the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW) and The Connecticut Womens Education and Legal Fund (CWEALF) provide employer training in this area. Both organizations have no interest in protecting employers against women employees. This training is intended to 1) help women understand their rights; 2) help employers understand their obligations; 3) reduce sexual harassment at the workplace.
Second, there was only one comment today about the real reason that sexual harassment is prohibited: it attacks women's rights to work, to education, and to safety. When people focus solely on the language they miss the point. The language is the surface of an attempt to disempower women at work or in school. You can prohibit words, but without getting at the underlying power dynamics, nothing will change. And I think it was Rand who mentioned the word power, but it he referred to institutional structures; it isn't just institutions, but individuals.
I was really surprised to hear you be so dismissive of the real issues here. Raunchyness isn't the issue, unless it is used to reduce a woman's effectiveness, make her feel threatened, or deny her access. Sexual wordplay that puts men and women on an equal plane can even be helpful and empowering. But that isn't harassment.
Toni Moran
(Chair, PCSW)
E-mail from Dave
Oh, and to Chion's question about Jeff Butler collecting unemployment: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-01/almost-3-000-millionaires-claim...
E-mail from Dave
Have you ever seen a BBC program called "All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace"? It dissects Ayn Rand pretty well. Her life story also reminds me of J. Edgar.
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