At President Trump's first full cabinet meeting in June 2017, we watched with some amusement while each member expressed over-the-top gratitude for the president's giving them the privilege to serve him and/or the American people.
Nobody likes a blatant suck-up. Television, film and literature do a great job of presenting an unambiguous picture of the suck-up. Think Smithers and Mr. Burns.
In real life, we tend to notice the blatant stuff but not the nuance of sucking-up, including when we do it. That's right. We're all suck-ups sometimes. Other times, we confuse service with being servile. When does a suck-up become a sycophant? It gets complicated.
Today, we take a closer look at what is sycophancy - and what is not.
This show is the 16th show in our Radio for the Deaf series. Watch a simulcast of signers from Source Interpreting interpreting our radio broadcast in American Sign Language on Facebook Live.
GUESTS:
- Deborah Parker - Professor of Italian at the University of Virginia. She’s the co-author with Mark Parker of Sucking Up: A Brief Consideration of Sycophancy
- Mark Parker - Professor of English at James Madison University. He’s the co-author with Deborah Parker of Sucking Up: A Brief Consideration of Sycophancy
- Steven Ferry - Chairman, the International Institute of Modern Butlers, and the author of three textbooks including, The British Butlers Bible: The Key to Private Service in the British Tradition.
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Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show.
