The one least likely to (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} chinesebomb) wrote,@ 2007-02-06 12:31:00 |
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the "liberal guilt"
This is what I'm watching on IFC right now. This guy who creepily resembles the title character in My Name Is Earl is living on the minimum wage with his girlfriend/wife for a month in Ohio.
I think it won't take much elaboration on my part for you to see the intrinsinct (?) flaw in the premise. First of all, being educated enough to be able to make a documentary for a major cable network, you simply can't hide the fact that you're educated. It's in your manners, in the way you talk, the way you interact with people. Which leads us to the obvious conclusion that it's also more likely for you to find people to hire you, and on a more subtle level being treated better by other people. Like, duh? You won't get the cold shoulders and prejudices that people who have always earned minimum wages get, because it's all a trap, a vicious cicle that these people are stuck with. The inability to get good dental care and hence having bad teeth, the permanent smell of grease on you, the slumping shoulders, the look of defeat: anyone who's read Barbara Heinrich's Nickels and Dimes and were haunted by it can recount these details. How can you even claim these 30 days is any reflection at all of how it's like living in the bottom of the society?
I avoid talking about "serious issues" and writing more like a blog because I always feel what I want to say can't be more obvious and I just don't want to write cliche. But apparently these aren't still cliche enough if people are still making shows like this and thinking that they're original and ground-breaking.
This is what I'm watching on IFC right now. This guy who creepily resembles the title character in My Name Is Earl is living on the minimum wage with his girlfriend/wife for a month in Ohio.
I think it won't take much elaboration on my part for you to see the intrinsinct (?) flaw in the premise. First of all, being educated enough to be able to make a documentary for a major cable network, you simply can't hide the fact that you're educated. It's in your manners, in the way you talk, the way you interact with people. Which leads us to the obvious conclusion that it's also more likely for you to find people to hire you, and on a more subtle level being treated better by other people. Like, duh? You won't get the cold shoulders and prejudices that people who have always earned minimum wages get, because it's all a trap, a vicious cicle that these people are stuck with. The inability to get good dental care and hence having bad teeth, the permanent smell of grease on you, the slumping shoulders, the look of defeat: anyone who's read Barbara Heinrich's Nickels and Dimes and were haunted by it can recount these details. How can you even claim these 30 days is any reflection at all of how it's like living in the bottom of the society?
I avoid talking about "serious issues" and writing more like a blog because I always feel what I want to say can't be more obvious and I just don't want to write cliche. But apparently these aren't still cliche enough if people are still making shows like this and thinking that they're original and ground-breaking.
