It’s 2am. I’m writing a reflection about The Blindside, a recent movie starring Sandra Bullock. The movie frustrated me. I am at the point of just ranting and really hope my professor enjoys this paragraph.
Additionally, this movie followed the trend of media towards the Jolie-Pitts by idolizing those who overtly help the less fortunate. Ihunt19 wrote, “This is realy made me have a 2nd look at how there a good people out there helping the poor and homeless.” The Tuohy’s adopted one child; they did not help the population as a whole. I do not want to condemn the Tuohy’s for adopting Michael Oher, but I do not feel as if they deserve to be idolized for doing so. They are a part of a system that creates opportunities for the wealthy and creates paths for the poor to fail. They helped one human, but may have been screwing over numbers of others with their materialism. Sean owned fast food restaurants. Therefore, he is a part of the meat industry. The meat industry is notorious for unsafe and unfair working conditions. He is feeding his community with meat that is pumped with steroids, antibiotics, and growth hormones. He is feeding others with harmful chemicals, yet his whiteness and wealth forgive this. The drug dealers in the projects are not forgiven for also giving harmful chemicals to clients because they are poor and black. Instead of being rewarded, they are imprisoned. Society accepts one form of these chemical intoxications but not another.
Well, Hamburgers are different than drugs, both in the severity of their effects on the user (and I guess when I say drugs I mean hard drugs that really can do you a lot of damage even with one use) and also in the social and economic practices that surround them. The violence and association with crime that surround drug trade just aren’t there, at least at the level of the meat industry that is publicly known (but I don’t know that much about the actual meat industry). I would say, rather than being unforgiven for being poor and black, the drug dealers are usually poor and black because of the events in the history of our society that began by favoring whites and grew to favoring economic privilege that most black people do not have and are not in the position to gain because of that. I dunno about helping the poor and homeless but it seems like that lady is helping that one kid in her community, which might not be helping the entire community, but it’s still a lot nicer than driving by him really fast in a sports car to splash mud on him because he’s poor and they can afford that sports car right?
… I’m starting to realize that over analyzing movies is basically all my major is in school, and that now I really like to do that. Also, you made me almost want to watch it, but then I remembered Sandra Bullock and her awful southern accent and sentimental one-liners.
The drug trade has overt bad things surrounding it, such as crime and violence. Meat-packing companies are just better at deceiving. They have literally broadcasted advertisements for work opportunities on Mexican radio stations. The messages told that the company would provide transportation to Michigan (or Minnesota, I forget) and temporary shelter once getting there. Illegal immigrants were transported north and then dropped across the street from a homeless shelter. Since they were technically homeless, they were able to stay there. The company considered the shelter to be the temporary boarding of their workers. There are so many wrong things about that. A lot of companies will only allow their workers to see company doctors when injured on the job, yet they will pay their doctors to misdiagnose injuries so that the company is not responsible for health problems of workers. The injured workers cannot get work anywhere else, yet they are unable to do the jobs assigned to them and must quit. There is no compensation for their injuries since the injury was misdiagnosed. Injuries happen a lot, too, because the meat-packing industry is arguably America’s most dangerous industry today.
I don’t mean to rant, but it’s just that these things are not known and because of that, people are not held responsible. In my paper I was trying to make the point that both groups of people are harming others, yet one is perceived as much worse and I am not sure I agree with that.Hmm well, I wasn’t really arguing against that but I get what you’re trying to say. I was more talking about the difference in the way people view those two things, and that the stigmas associated with certain things (like drug dealing) are often attached to a race because of the way race is organized in America in regards to socioeconomic status. Cus, I know nothing about the meat industry, I just like talking about this type of stuff.
Quite honestly, I don’t really know what I’m saying right now. I am on too little sleep with too many things to do. I hope you don’t feel like I was attacking you. I did not mean to be mean. I like talking about this stuff too. Glad you do!
Sam, you’re not at war with the meat industry, you’re at war with cut-throat capitalism. Every industry has practices like these and everyone turns a blind eye to it. While I certainly don’t condone meat packing companies that behave this way, I think it’s misguided to single them out as one of the uglier industries in America today. I understand it’s for the sake of your paper, and that’s fine, but what is really wrong here are a lack of oversight and regulations on the part of the federal government.
Shit like this goes on every day in every industry in every corner of this country. Singling out one industry only serves to hide what’s going on behind every other one.
courtesy of my friend, andrew stern.
Baby Fey? Check. But Baby Palin? No way.
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If you’re cool you’ll listen to this album.
I hope you’re happy, America. You never cease to stupefy me.
I love this.
One of the most beautiful albums I’ve ever heard.