It’s off topic, but a lot of librarians are being trained to administer Narcan, and some of them are ending up saving multiple people’s lives. So good that your local librarians are getting trained.
I have the feeling that if Zuckerberg’s harasser habitually offended men instead of women Alaska would have already banned him. Suppose he had the habit of grabbing his seatmate’s drink and drinking it. I’d prefer that to having three hours of lewd offensive commentary. He’s worse than the drink-grabber, yet the drink-grabber would be banned.
My D2 was harassed on a plane a couple years ago as a 21 year old flying back from a grad school visit. She was in a window seat and the guy next to her was showing her pics in the SI swimsuit issue and asking which one she likes best. She didn’t know what to do, so put in headphones and ignored him. Fortunately he didn’t touch her (grrrr). We chatted after about the future option of ringing for the stewardess, explaining, and asking to change seats.
But reading this, I now realize that might not work, especially on a full flight. If not, guess I better coach on loudly saying to the rows nearby, “This guy is a pervert and is harassing me. Can some guy please change seats with me?” I expect she would get volunteers. The guy would be embarrassed, and I assume the airline could be as well. Oh, and Tweet about it after landing.
On one of these threads, I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I don’t take window seats on trains or subways after an unpleasant harassment incident many years ago. I will stand if necessary to avoid it.
I never thought that the same thing could happen on planes. I guess I assumed that it wouldn’t happen in an environment where there were several employees present. My bad.
I guess I’m lucky that I happen to prefer aisle seats and choose them whenever possible. That may be the only reason why I’ve never been harassed on a plane.
Now John Hockenberry, recently retired from the WNYC/PRI show The Takeaway.
Comments I have read include the doozy of “he’s in a wheelchair, how bad could it be?” Apparently pretty bad.
The responses from WNYC, PRI, and NPR are interesting.
Gregg Zaun, a retired MLB player, who has been in broadcasting for several years with SportsNet, fired this week for inappropriate behavior and comments. This would be no surprise to anyone who has watched him on tv. He is a super-aggressive, testosterone-filled man whose obnoxious demeanor was clearly meant to intimidate, even on the air.
Hockenberry is supposed to be a “NPR icon” in one piece I read, but I listened to NPR avidly for 25+ years before moving more to podcasts 2 years ago, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard of him.
I love the rhymes in the song @greenwitch linked. She had me at harassment/pass meant. “Or that crap we could torpedo/Men could own their OWN libido/And stop blaming everything on women” is good too.
“The Metropolitan Opera in New York announced Saturday that it will investigate allegations that famed conductor James Levine, who also once led the Boston Symphony Orchestra, molested an Illinois teenager decades ago.”
I heard that with James Levine, allegations reached the top twice before - in 1979 and in 2016, and nothing was done. All the young men were teenagers! The Met could be in trouble. A fourth man has come forward with allegations.