Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Grandma had this right as well...
BBC is running an experiment or test open to all, on the subject of status and stress. The basic idea is that low-status people suffer more stress-related problems like heart attacks, because low-status people have less control over their situation. Supposedly this is "new" and "counter-intuitive". Apparently modern conventional wisdom holds that the top dogs get the coronaries and ulcers.
Maybe it's counter-intuitive now, but it wasn't always.
Down Our Way was one of those mysterious syndicated radio series that have been miraculously preserved and digitized from the original transcription disks. Down Our Way was a combination of homespun wisdom and purely heavenly music. The actors and singers are unidentified; I suspect they were network 'utility' performers.
In this episode, old bachelor Ben is feeling especially low, and his hypochondriacal Symptoms are acting up something fierce. Happily married Jenny decides to raise Ben to the top of the status stack for a day to prove a point to her husband Eli. Everyone goes along with the plan, accepts Ben's decisions without demur, listens to his opinions without condescension. Ben isn't quite sure what's happening, but he knows that he feels strong and solid, and his Symptoms have disappeared. No internal pains at all. Jenny's husband Eli, normally the alpha, becomes accident-prone and ill even though he knows what's happening.
Counterintuitive? Not to Grandma. Wasn't counterintuitive to me, either ... though I figured it out rather late in life. ¶ 8:02 PM
Maybe it's counter-intuitive now, but it wasn't always.
Down Our Way was one of those mysterious syndicated radio series that have been miraculously preserved and digitized from the original transcription disks. Down Our Way was a combination of homespun wisdom and purely heavenly music. The actors and singers are unidentified; I suspect they were network 'utility' performers.
In this episode, old bachelor Ben is feeling especially low, and his hypochondriacal Symptoms are acting up something fierce. Happily married Jenny decides to raise Ben to the top of the status stack for a day to prove a point to her husband Eli. Everyone goes along with the plan, accepts Ben's decisions without demur, listens to his opinions without condescension. Ben isn't quite sure what's happening, but he knows that he feels strong and solid, and his Symptoms have disappeared. No internal pains at all. Jenny's husband Eli, normally the alpha, becomes accident-prone and ill even though he knows what's happening.
Counterintuitive? Not to Grandma. Wasn't counterintuitive to me, either ... though I figured it out rather late in life. ¶ 8:02 PM
