In chapter 7, Jon Ronson talks with his documentary maker friend Adam Curtis, who criticizes Ronson's journalistic style. Adam said, "You're like a medical monk, stitching together a tapestry of people's craziness. You take a little bit of craziness from up there and then a little craziness from over there and then you stitch it all together." Ronson is upset by this statement and tells himself that he's not going to listen to his Adam because he's a known contrarian. During this chapter, Ronson also converses with Charlotte Scott who used to be a TV producer. Charlotte talked about her career and how it was her job to find the people with the "right sort of madness" to be guests on the TV show. To find the right crazy people, Charlotte would ask the caller what medications they were on. She would then look up what those medicines treated on a medical website to see if the person was too mad (schizophrenics) or just mad enough. If they weren't on any medication, then they probably weren't crazy enough. Because Charlotte and her colleagues made these mad individuals the punch-line of their jokes for years, she has decided to never go back.
The story about Kellie McGee being cut last minute for the show Extreme Makeover, made me realize how much words can hurt someone. Kellie having to hear her families suppressed thoughts about her ugliness, was truly aweful. Kellie had thought over the years that her family loved her for who she really was, but in truth, they were just like everyone else. This situation was terrible and no one should have to go through shame like this. Kellie later overdosed on pills and alcohol and died because she could no longer live being the 'ugly duckling'. These types of situations happen all the time and could easily be avoided if people kept their inappropriate and hurtful thoughts to themselves.
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