Latest news with #DrJekyll
The Guardian
22-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
My petty gripe: we need nature, not Nickelback – please put on your headphones
I love music. I think there's nothing better than immersing myself in a really powerful song. But I don't expect the rest of the general public wants to listen to whatever my earworm of the day is. That is why God invented headphones. For some reason, though, I assume a subset of the population weren't informed of this miracle invention. These are the people who insist on playing music aloud through their phones – or worse, through a handheld speaker – in public places. I will admit that I experience the occasional touch of misophonia. But there's nothing more guaranteed to set off the Hyde to my Dr Jekyll than nonconsensual amplified audio. Why do people do this? Is it just rudeness? I'd blame the fact that iPhones no longer come with supplied headphones except that there has always been someone, proverbial or literal boombox on shoulder, who thinks the rest of the world desperately needs their specific favourite banger, right now. Of course, it's not just music. An increasingly common culprit is the doomscroller who seems oblivious to the fact that everyone else on that peak-hour train can hear the first three seconds of every TikTok they swipe past, too. It's as tedious and rage-inducing as watching someone else channel-surf. So let me make this clear: we don't want to hear it. Not on the train. Not in the street. Not in the office. Not in the park. And it should go without saying (but clearly it doesn't): absolutely not at the beach or in the forest. Do you have no sense of shame? These are spaces for contemplation and quiet retreat, not Nickelback. I'm willing to accept, though I don't pretend to understand, that for some people the noise in their head is so unbearable it must be drowned out by Mambo No 5. I just don't think it should be inflicted on the rest of us. There's a reason nonconsensual music is considered a form of hostile architecture. Are you trying to torture people? No? Then put your headphones on.
Reuters
25-02-2025
- Reuters
In retired French surgeon's child rape trial, son says father was like 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'
VANNES, France, Feb 25 (Reuters) - The son of a retired French surgeon accused of raping and sexually assaulting hundreds of young patients told a court on Tuesday that Joel Le Scouarnec was a good father - but that the crimes he is accused of are unforgivable. Joel Le Scouarnec, 74, faces charges of aggravated rape and sexual assault against 299 victims, most of them children at the time. "It's like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde," his elder son told the court in the second day of the trial, in reference to the 19th-century gothic horror novella about an outwardly respectable man who commits shocking crimes. "I can't hate him because I have nothing to criticize him about as a father. But I can't forgive him for what he may have done." Joel Le Scouarnec is not accused of abuse against his own children, but he was already convicted in a separate case in 2020 of the rape and sexual assault of four children, including two of his nieces. In what is considered France's worst case of pedocriminality to go to trial, Joel Le Scouarnec's alleged abuse of patients spanned 25 years, from 1989 to 2014. As his trial opened on Monday, Joel Le Scouarnec acknowledged that he had "committed despicable acts" and that the harm he had caused was "beyond repair". In a family already shaken by the abuse allegations, Joel Le Scouarnec's elder son told the court on Tuesday that his late paternal grandfather had repeatedly abused and raped him. "I was nine, ten years old," he told the court in the second day of trial. "It happened dozens of times." Earlier in the day, Joel Le Scouarnec's younger son, aged 38, told the court: "For us, it seemed completely crazy that someone could act like that towards so many people." "You tell yourself: it can't be, it can't be." After the younger son - who says he has not been in touch with his father since the allegations against him became public - testified in the second day of the trial, Joel Le Scouarnec told him tearfully in court: "Maybe we'll never see each other again, but I wanted to tell you I love you and I'm sorry." Both sons said they had overall had a rather happy, privileged childhood and that their father had not abused them. "I had a happy childhood," the younger son said. "I have very good memories of my father, I think that's also why I haven't been in touch with him since 2017, because deep down I want to keep that image of him."
