30 Days
My wife and I just watched three episodes of 30 Days, which is a reality TV series that essentially has ordinary people live out of their element, usually along some specific controversy-inducing line, for a month. The first two episodes were entitled "Immigration," in which a member of the Minute Men lives with an illegal immigrant family for a month, and "Outsourcing," in which a programmer who just had his job outsourced to India moves to Bangalore to work in an outsourced job. Both episodes were reasonably thought out, surprisingly respectful, and all around good television. I felt compelled to blog about them.
The key thought that came to mind is that these two issues are intimately related. We complain about people breaking the law in order to participate in America's prosperity and work here, but we also complain about losing some of that prosperity if jobs go elsewhere. Much of the world lives in great poverty. The poor of other countries can't find jobs; if the wealthy countries don't send jobs there, the poor will try to come here by whatever means they can.
In the second episode, Chris (the guy who moves to India) said, "There's something fundamentally wrong with a world where children have to live like this." I doubt he meant it this way, but essentially I think he was complaining about the Fall of Man. All of these issues come down to the fact that this is not the way it's supposed to be. Families shouldn't have to break the law to feed their children; one person shouldn't have to be put out of a job so another can move his family out of a tent and into an apartment. We need Christ and His Kingdom.
Unfortunately, most of my deep thoughts on the matters were driven away by the third episode, "Atheist & Christian," which was just an awful piece of work. The episode followed an atheist stay-at-home mom who went to live with a Mardel's Christian family for a month. Utter. Rubbish. Nobody learned anything, nobody developed lasting bonds of friendship, and nobody even came off looking good. I highly recommend disc 1 of Season 2, but just watch the first two episodes.
The key thought that came to mind is that these two issues are intimately related. We complain about people breaking the law in order to participate in America's prosperity and work here, but we also complain about losing some of that prosperity if jobs go elsewhere. Much of the world lives in great poverty. The poor of other countries can't find jobs; if the wealthy countries don't send jobs there, the poor will try to come here by whatever means they can.
In the second episode, Chris (the guy who moves to India) said, "There's something fundamentally wrong with a world where children have to live like this." I doubt he meant it this way, but essentially I think he was complaining about the Fall of Man. All of these issues come down to the fact that this is not the way it's supposed to be. Families shouldn't have to break the law to feed their children; one person shouldn't have to be put out of a job so another can move his family out of a tent and into an apartment. We need Christ and His Kingdom.
Unfortunately, most of my deep thoughts on the matters were driven away by the third episode, "Atheist & Christian," which was just an awful piece of work. The episode followed an atheist stay-at-home mom who went to live with a Mardel's Christian family for a month. Utter. Rubbish. Nobody learned anything, nobody developed lasting bonds of friendship, and nobody even came off looking good. I highly recommend disc 1 of Season 2, but just watch the first two episodes.
posted by Norman at 10:13 PM
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