Philosophy
One of the problems with a free market is that when the market is the ultimate decider of values (and doesn't have to answer to anyone), it always decides on the side of profits, regardless of the ethical impact such choices might entail. And when profit is the ultimate goal, even human beings become a mere commodity to be exploited...
Of course, most of us are protected by the Bill of Rights, but undocumented immigrants usually have no knowledge of such rights, are too afraid to demand the respect they deserve as human beings (for fear of being deported, for instance), or have no voice or organization because they are automatically silenced by racist remarks shrouded in the mantra of 'stealing' American jobs (as if any of us would be willing to work that hard for so little pay).
The result, as the following animation shows, is that many immigrants are being recycled through a multi-billion self-perpetuating system of corruption that exploits them, and for which you and I are paying so that a bunch of greedy (and sometimes racists) jerks can profit...
Visit Immigrants for Sale to lend a hand to end this corruption.
And apropos of this entry, today's Calamities of Nature cartoon makes the same point:
Do you know where we really lose American jobs? Outsourcing... but since that's how corporations get to make shitloads of money, it makes sense that they'd want to distract the rest of us with the red herring of illegal immigration... and we are just too eager to take the bait :(
- Is English Only Making Us Stupid?
Research shows that there are cognitive advantages to bilingualism. Speaking more than one language makes you smarter. Neuroscientists are examining the ways in which strengthening particular regions of the brain that are connected with specific...
- Victims And Sympathy
I find myself unable to muster a lot of sympathy for two sets of victims who have been in the news lately. The first group are those who lost money in the Madoff Ponzi scheme. Those who invested with Madoff did so because he was who he was and promised...
- Foreign Languages
So, last week addressing a meeting of La Raza, Obama argued that we shouldn't worry about immigrants learning English because, like all other immigrants before them, they will. He argued that instead we ought to be worried about the fact that the...
- Wouldn't Or Couldn't? Immigration And An Economics Question
If you want to feel completely intellectually overwhelmed, think about the immigration question currently facing the US. Would more border guards or a fence mean less exploitation by smugglers and American business owners of people just trying to help...
- Michael Sandel - The Moral Limits Of Markets
There are some things that money can't buy... for everything else... oh crap, there's no anything else! Over the past couple of decades, and without almost anyone noticing, we have turned from a market economy?one in which we use capital as a...
Philosophy
Immigrants for Sale
One of the problems with a free market is that when the market is the ultimate decider of values (and doesn't have to answer to anyone), it always decides on the side of profits, regardless of the ethical impact such choices might entail. And when profit is the ultimate goal, even human beings become a mere commodity to be exploited...Of course, most of us are protected by the Bill of Rights, but undocumented immigrants usually have no knowledge of such rights, are too afraid to demand the respect they deserve as human beings (for fear of being deported, for instance), or have no voice or organization because they are automatically silenced by racist remarks shrouded in the mantra of 'stealing' American jobs (as if any of us would be willing to work that hard for so little pay).The result, as the following animation shows, is that many immigrants are being recycled through a multi-billion self-perpetuating system of corruption that exploits them, and for which you and I are paying so that a bunch of greedy (and sometimes racists) jerks can profit...
Visit Immigrants for Sale to lend a hand to end this corruption.
And apropos of this entry, today's Calamities of Nature cartoon makes the same point:
Do you know where we really lose American jobs? Outsourcing... but since that's how corporations get to make shitloads of money, it makes sense that they'd want to distract the rest of us with the red herring of illegal immigration... and we are just too eager to take the bait :(
- Is English Only Making Us Stupid?
Research shows that there are cognitive advantages to bilingualism. Speaking more than one language makes you smarter. Neuroscientists are examining the ways in which strengthening particular regions of the brain that are connected with specific...
- Victims And Sympathy
I find myself unable to muster a lot of sympathy for two sets of victims who have been in the news lately. The first group are those who lost money in the Madoff Ponzi scheme. Those who invested with Madoff did so because he was who he was and promised...
- Foreign Languages
So, last week addressing a meeting of La Raza, Obama argued that we shouldn't worry about immigrants learning English because, like all other immigrants before them, they will. He argued that instead we ought to be worried about the fact that the...
- Wouldn't Or Couldn't? Immigration And An Economics Question
If you want to feel completely intellectually overwhelmed, think about the immigration question currently facing the US. Would more border guards or a fence mean less exploitation by smugglers and American business owners of people just trying to help...
- Michael Sandel - The Moral Limits Of Markets
There are some things that money can't buy... for everything else... oh crap, there's no anything else! Over the past couple of decades, and without almost anyone noticing, we have turned from a market economy?one in which we use capital as a...