If you occasionally find yourself thinking, of some government official, “He’s nuttier than a fruitcake,” have a bite of this:
is actually seeking treatment for her phobia of bananas, and government staff has to sweep rooms before official visits on ‘health grounds.’
The Telegraph reported:“Paulina Brandberg, the Swedish minister for gender equality, said that she was getting professional help after emails detailing her staff’s “banana-proofing” precautions were leaked to a tabloid newspaper.”
The minister has ´posted about suffering from the ‘world’s weirdest phobia of bananas’ in the past, but has since deleted the posts.
“Emails reportedly sent before official visits asked for “no bananas” to be allowed claiming that Ms. Brandberg had a ‘strong allergy.’”In correspondence with then Speaker of Parliament, an aide insisted there should be ‘no traces of bananas’ in any place where Brandberg would visit.
She told the Expressen newspaper that she had ‘a banana phobia’, described its impact as ‘sort of an allergy’, and said she is getting professional help for it.
How could anyone fear an innocent banana? Did she watch too many movies about murderous jungle savages as a child? Or perhaps that Monty Python skit about defending yourself against fresh fruit got her in a sensitive place. (Note that the instructor in that skit never mentioned durians.)
Well, they say it takes all kinds, though “they” have never explained why. Clearly, governments in Scandinavia differ from those in the more temperate climes. Consider Finland’s Sanna Marin, and reflect.
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Proof of insanity….
“Bananas………………we haven’t done bananas have we?” “No.” “Right!”
A few performing groups/artists have received the negative attention for making what seems to be unusual demands, such as Mariah Carey or J Lo demanding a specific brand of sparkling water or Van Halen’s demand for a bowl of single-color M&Ms, but many times, those are small tests to see if the venue managers were actually reading the actual technical specs required to put on a show (weight limits, electrical distribution, potential fireworks, etc.), so if they walk into their dressing room and not see the required bowl of M&Ms/bottled water, they can be certain that the rest of the technical specs were similarly ignored, and everything will need to be checked over, assuming the whole performance will occur at all.
This woman? I don’t see mega amps and speaker towers, with 18-wheelers and dozens of roadies hauling around the equipment needed for a single public appearance, so she’s just nuts. And after all, a phobia is defined as “an irrational fear”.
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Notice that she’s Sweden’s “minister for gender equality.” So we can assume right from the start that she’s a few nuggets short of a Happy Meal.
And the fact that a woman is holding such a “prestigious office” proves there was no need for the office in the first place, but no one ever thinks of the Zeroth Step in any effort: “Is it actually needed?”