Monday, October 17, 2011

Ronson Chapters 6&7

In chapter 6, Ronson pays a visit to Shubuta,Mississippi where he tours the old Sunbeam plant. He learned that Al Dunlap, former CEO of Sunbeam, turned Shubuta into a ghost town my shutting down the plant. Dunlap was know for his harsh, non-sympathetic personality and for shutting down various company plants around the country and firing people whenever he liked. Interested in Al Dunlap, Jon Ronson travels to Florida to visit him in his mansion. He asks Dunlap questions based on Bob Hare's checklist and asks him whether or not he was a psychopath. Al was appalled by the question at first, but then asked Ronson to continue, having Ronson ask him each question on the checklist.

I found both of these chapters to be very interesting. The further I read into the book, the more I think about classifying the people in my life as psychopaths. I had always wondered how people were selected for shows like Jerry Springer, and found Charlotte's way of looking for guests on the show to be somewhat terrible. It's terrible to select someone to be on the show based on the medication they are taking to fight their depression or other medical related problem. It made me wonder if Charlotte could be considered a psychopath because she had no sympathy or remorse for the people she spoke with each day during her job. Like the case with the woman on Extreme Makeover, you never know what could go wrong on a TV show, which could cause problems in a person's life, like depression.

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