Hi There, Everyone! Happy to Be Here and Meet You

I feel the pain of reality show contestants everywhere, when I go online. But in the long history of humiliation as entertainment, my experience on the Internet barely registers on the torture meter. Our ancestors were a bunch of twisted, sadistic sociopaths. Google the history of the term “Roman Holiday,” or when you’re worried about CTE in the NFL, look up the famous Mayan sport oollamaliztli or the precursor to soccer in Britain called “melee” and try not to cringe! How tug-of-war was played by the Danes (spoiler alert, there’s a fire pit!), or the better-known Gladiator battles. Public whippings and stocks existed in early colonial American days, too...all of which is to say: whew!