Archive for October 24th, 2008
The X Factor
Ever noticed how these News channels – I refer specifically to those like CNBC/Bloomberg TV etc – almost always have female TV newsreaders? It’s almost like people in Finance (which I think I can safely assume to be a male-dominated industry) get pleasure out of watching how these lovely ladies are good only for reading their teleprompter in an efficient and sassy manner. I say ‘only’, because whenever it is time for an interview or an opinion, it is the Male TV Anchor who miraculously appears, mildly flirting with his co-newsreader in a magnanimous/ condescending manner while putting on a baritone voice like he’s just swallowed a bucketful of steel ball bearings. I noticed this in NY and in London – maybe this is limited to the ‘developed’ countries, or maybe not.
What astonishes me is that all those fish and bicycle quoting feminists have yet to comment on this grave injustice to womankind and have yet to insist on equal rights for dumb MALE newsreaders.
And did I just end up being sexist by noticing such a blatant sexist practice in action?
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I always used to think that Greenland was not just a misnomer – I mean seriously? That place? ‘Green Land?’
I also felt that it just missed out by not more than a few decades the totally deserved distinction of being called Iceland. My only knowledge of Iceland until a year ago was that a) It has an awesome sounding capital city (Reykjavik) and fairly unpronouncable and unspellable names of people; b) It has these hot springs which apparently are hot enough to burn your bums off and yet people fly quite a few thousand miles to get to; c) It is a tiny island (I actually thought the word ‘Iceland’ was a cute play of words on ‘Island’); and d) It has a coastline probably best described only in Fractal Dimensions.
Today I know details about its currency movements, the different cities people live in, their credit profiles, their preferences vis-a-vis cars/trucks/snowmobiles/cranes/tractors and their ridiculous financial policies. Absolute shite policies, seriously.
So you do get to learn something from this line of business after all.
