The State We're In, 18 June 2011. A Belgian comedy troupe pranks the country’s biggest telecommunications company with a reputation for the worst customer service. A Nicaraguan woman plays a witch on local radio to name and shame men into treating their wives properly. A 'human lie detector' explains how he uncovers the truth from people trying to hide it. And political pundit Craig Crawford talks about why politicians lie.
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Please hold the line
Belgian comedians Basta play a phone prank on a telecom giant known for its abysmal customer service. Their elaborate scheme involves a shipping container, a telephone line and a lot of laughs.
Video - The Basta team prank Mobistar (English subtitles)
Witch radio
A small radio station in the middle of Nicaragua (Palabra de Mujer or Woman’s Word) begins each morning with a witch behind the microphone. She names and shames local men who’ve abused their wives. Domestic violence there is endemic and the law is weak. But the witch (Yamileth Chavarría) tells host Jonathan Groubert how her show is changing lives.
Yamileth is also the subject of a documentary film Jungle Radio, which was featured in the Movies that Matter festival in The Hague.
To act, or not to act
Esther Plante is a Dutch journalist who spent a year in Kabul. She’s always seen herself as someone who’d step in during an emergency. But in this essay, she describes how she did nothing when a friend got beaten by the Taliban in front of her. Later, she called on friends who were in the middle of burning illegal Bibles before they got caught with them. Esther now had a second chance to prove herself.
The truth about lying
JJ Newberry is known as a human lie detector. He was an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms for 27 years. He explains to Jonathan how he’s learned to spot lies told by petty thugs, terrorists... and people he comes across in his daily life.
Link - The Institute of Analytic Interviewing
Why do politicians lie?
When it comes to telling whoppers, politicians top the list. But why do politicians lie to us? Are they to blame or do we need to be lied to? Jonathan and Washington DC-based political commentator Craig Crawford discuss. Link - Craig's blog
Video - Santa Clause: A Big Fat Lie
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I wanted to share the story of my mom's terrible experience with a giant conglomerate. She had a Verizon bundled package on contract for two years. The bundle was supposed to be telephone and Internet for $80/month. Every month for two years when she received her bill, it would have the two items UNbundled which made it cost around $120/month. Every month she would call in and have a customer service person fix the bill and every month they promised that it was really fixed this time. Yet every month, she would have to repeat the process. Once the contract was up, she immediately cancelled the service. This was in January of this year. Now every month since then, she has received a bill of varying amounts, anywhere from $360 to -$46. Every month, she has continued to call Verizon to explain the situation. She gets the same story that 'THIS time it's fixed, promise.' At the end of May, she received notice that her account had been handed over to a collection agency. This time she called the complaints department and has been assured that it has been taken care of once again. Hopefully this person took care of it because if it continues, it will affect her credit score. She is hoping to buy a new car soon so this could be very detrimental.
Hannah: what a horrible, yet typical, story. Maybe there's a story here we should pursue simply because it's so typical. Shall we see about moving it forward? My email is greg.kelly@rnw.nl. Thanks for sharing your story. Greg Kelly, Editor TSWI
Please, what is the name of the song that is played after the "To act, or not to act" segment?
Hi Turtleproof: the music is by David Byrne and Brian Eno, Solo Guitar With Tin. Enjoy!
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