Tag: control

Religious Lies, Conmen And Coercive Control: How Cults Corrupt Our Desire For Love And Connection
CULTURE, JOURNALISMS

Religious Lies, Conmen And Coercive Control: How Cults Corrupt Our Desire For Love And Connection

Project Mayhem is an all-male cult – but unlike the real cults that Sarah Steel writes about in Do As I Say, Project Mayhem is fictitious. It comes from the mind of Chuck Palahniuk in his masterpiece novel Fight Club, a dark exploration of contemporary masculinity that describes how a group of men come together to form a fringe group with fringe ideas – and how this can go wrong. Project Mayhem exhibits many key elements of what we see in cults. In Do As I Say, Steel (creator of the podcast Let’s Talk About Sects) explores how cults usually exhibit some of the following attributes: they have unique in-group language, they require intense work schedules of members, their leaders will often deliver endless sermons, and they will restrict access to media. Members are directed not to ask que...
Offices Are Too Hot Or Too Cold – Is There A Better Way To Control Room Temperature?
ADVICE, TOP FOUR

Offices Are Too Hot Or Too Cold – Is There A Better Way To Control Room Temperature?

In any office, home or other shared space, there’s almost always someone who’s too cold, someone who’s too hot – and someone who doesn’t know what the fuss around the thermostat is all about. Someone’s too hot and someone’s too cold. Collage by The Conversation, combining images by Monika Wisniewska and Antonio Guillem/Shutterstock.com, CC BY-ND Most often, building owners and operators find out how their heating and cooling systems are doing by asking occupants if they’re comfortable or whether they want to be cooler or warmer. However, everyone has a different ideal temperature at any given time, based on all sorts of factors, including their age and gender, their physical activity level, what they’re wearing and even how much stress they’re feeling at the moment. This is a complex prob...
How Do You Live With Yourself: How Landlords Unfairly Control People’s Lives
LIFESTYLE, TOP FOUR

How Do You Live With Yourself: How Landlords Unfairly Control People’s Lives

The last 20 years have seen a boom in private renting. Approximately 4.6 million households in England, about 19% of all households, now rely on a private landlord for the roof over their head – and there are growing concerns over poor standards in the sector. In 2018, a quarter of privately rented houses failed to meet the decent homes standard, meaning that they have a serious hazard, are not in a suitable state of repair, do not have reasonably modern facilities or lack adequate heating. There is also growing evidence of the adverse effects renting and landlord practice can have on tenants’ wellbeing. Research has shown that private renting can cause renters anxiety due to a lack of security and control over their home. With this in mind, we examine five ways that landlords can exerci...
‘Real Housewives’ Opens Up A Debate On Wealth, Control And Intimate Partner Abuse
CELEBRITY NEWS, JOURNALISMS

‘Real Housewives’ Opens Up A Debate On Wealth, Control And Intimate Partner Abuse

Erika Girardi's divorce sparks questions from fans — and speaks to larger issues of financial control in marriage. Jennifer Gerson Originally published by The 19th In December 2020, class-action lawyer Tom Girardi was sued by a class of his former defendants from the 2018 Lion Air flight crash in Indonesia. Tom Girardi, they said, defrauded them and funneled cash from settlements to his personal accounts. Some of that cash, the lawsuits say, went to his wife, Erika Girardi, one of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and a chart-topping dance pop performer who went on to write a New York Times-bestselling memoir and star on Broadway in the long-running musical “Chicago.” (Both Girardis will be referred to by their first names in this article for clarity.) When the Bravo sho...