Monday, October 17, 2011

Chapter 6 and 7!

In chapter 6, "Night of the Living Dead," Ronson visits Shubuta, Mississippi, a dying down due to the closing of the Sunbeam, a local plant, that made toasters. After many thriving years, the plant was drug down by a series of CEO's, most notably however, was Al Dunlap, the last CEO of Sunbeam. Essentially, he was the reason for the plant's failure. He was a ruthless man who fired his employees out of pure enjoyment. A psychopath, you ask? Well, that is exactly what Ronson wonders about the Mr. Al Dunlap. After learning of Dunlap and his tactics as a CEO, Ronson visits his mansion in Florida. When Ronson first arrives at the luxurious mansion, he notices the collection of "predatory animal" statues located throughout the house. These statues and self portraits were the first indicator to Ronson of Dunlap's psychopathic ways, and the Hare Checklist is put to the test once again. Scoring high on the majority of the checklist, Dunlap defended himself by saying that his "psychopathic" traits were being misinterpreted. According to Dunlap, his traits reflect that of a leader, and was so convincing that Ronson was unsure as to whether or not he was actually a psychopath. In confusion, Ronson then visits Bob Hare who clarified to Ronson that one doesn't have to score high on all characteristics of the checklist in order to be a psychopath.

In response to both chapter 6 and 7, I was intrigued by the number of CEOs that were psychopaths, and I found it very interesting yet disturbing how television has been formulated to create "entertainment." I always knew that T.V. was fake, but I can't believe the way that shows like Extreme Makeover treat people. Also, in chapter 6, I found that Al Dunlap's way of portraying himself as a positive and influential leader was very interesting. Like Ronson, I thought he was very convincing, but in the end all signs pointed to him essentially being a psychopath.

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