misterchimpy

I thought this was a good episode, a good start to the new season. Yes, it had a pro-immigrant tilt to it, but it did put a human face on what is a often a noisy and angry debate, which is what this series is best at, imo.

I really think this show is great, I didn't like all of last season's episodes(and there look like there are one or two duds on the schedule this year). But it is generally very intelligent, and tries to tackle controversial issues in an interesting and provocative way. I am looking forward to the abortion episode(5) and prison(6), and the outsourcing one next week looks interesting as well.

http://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/orig...0days/home.htm

DodgingCars

Didn't see the season premiere. As for the abortion episode... I actually know the people who run His Nesting Place (the anti-abortion church) and have even been there. My in-laws are financial supporters of their church and my wife actually stayed there when she got pregnant out of wedlock (not mine!). She gave her son up for adoption. They (the people who started His Nesting Place) even came to my wedding.

Gizmo

IIRC, there was an article on how the show made the main character of this episode (The Minuteman) change his opinion. Either through editing...or something else. My memory is fuzzy.

rocketsauce

I really like this show and am glad it's back. This episode was really good but I could tell nothing was really going to change. I also really wanted to see this episode so i could get some deeper insight into the arguement of illegal aliens. I can honestly say that coming out of that episode I didn't really get anything new and my stance is somewhat the same. I guess the only thing i got was what i already knew and that is that this issue like a million others arent cut and dry and easy to solve.

I am really interested in next weeks episode, though I don't get what the guy is supposed to learn considering he got fired because of outsourcing.

rocketsauce

link?

Bill Needle

More specifically a pro-illegal immigrant tilt. Despite the impression someone would get from watching this show, one can certainly whole-heartedly support immigration while still opposing illegal immigration. Spurlock's presentation overtly glossed over the distinction between legal and illegal immigration, as though they were essentially the same.

Bill Needle

Thank you google: http://www.vdare.com/misc/060718_jorge.htm

rocketsauce

I agree and that's kinda what i was hinting at in my post (didn't want to turn this thread into an all out debate). Like when he was being called a racist by the protestors.

chanster

How about Franks's comments that sounded like Adolf Hitler? I mean the guy was taking about how illegal immigrants are a cancer or alien that needs to be cut away from the body. That is a small step away from Hitler's comments about Jews being parasites, etc.

bluesix

I love this show and Im a big fan of Morgan Spurlock. Its interesting to note that this first season episode serves as a kind of bookend to last season's first season episode which dealt with living on a minimum wage.

While I think this show did a great job of matching up two conflicting perspectives it failed to offer any solutions. I doubt Spurlock feels he should have the answers to any of these subjects but he definitely seems to push a liberal pro-democrat socialist agenda in the way things turn out.

How can he support the Gonzales family's illegally being here while at the same time complaining about how hard it is to live on a minimum wage in this country. The Gonzales family is the whole reason that is the case!

As long as we continue to allow big business to feed off cheap immigrant labor the minimum wage will never offer anyone a middle class life. All we are doing is perpetuating an underclass that drags everyone else down. Its a socialist agenda that uses compassion as its justification.

Sure the Gonzalez family is nice and their story is heartbreaking but so is a hundred thousand other American families living below the poverty line. Things won't change for them until we force Mexico to deal with its own problems. There is no excuse for a country with Mexico's natural resources to be the way it is. Mexicans need to take a stand and make their country what they want it to be. Running across the border is a bandaid that hurts both sides.

And what of the Gonzales clan? If they wanted to improve their lives so badly by coming here why did they have two more kids once they got here. The money saved could have helped afford a place with at least one more bedroom! I know, I know, they are Catholic but that's a whole other issue.

They also don't seem to be hurting for having an X-box, digital camera and computer with internet access. I work with these illegals everyday and its sad because guys like Rigo (the Dad) are some of the hardest working people I know and I know they are being exploited here.

I don't have any solutions either but I can't help but think it would have been a more effective episode if they the minuteman wasn't of Hispanic heritage or if the family was one of the 'bad ones' that have three sons in a gang and a daughter who is 14 and pregnant. I guess Mr. Spurlock is too afraid to go there!

misterchimpy

So, another thing that I like about this show are the message boards at the FX site. Frequently, although there is a lot of crap, sometimes the subjects post rebuttals or other comments, or there are other interesting things.

For example, this link(begging on the internet...it's the American way!)..

www.armidacollegefund.com

As to the liberal bias, the pattern in the past has been the intolerant(i.e. conservative) goes to live with the tolerant(i.e. liberal), and becomes 'enlightened'(or not, as the case may be). This was the case with the muslim, gay, commune, and of course, immigrant episodes. yeah, i know the muslims weren't 'liberal', but the guy who went to live with them was definitely at the intolerant end of the spectrum. that's one reason why i think the abortion episode has the potential to be so interesting, it is a reversal of the prior pattern.

bluesix

ugh! and they spelled recommendations wrong! must have been that pesky english as a second language thing!

kvrdave

First, it is really nice to see DodgingCars.

Second, when I walk through the grocery market and I see a family I believe to be illegal immigrants, I find it tough to think that they ought to be thrown out. They just want to make a living and raise a family. However, it is an issue that has to do with incredible numbers, and security, and can't be reduced to individuals. They tried to make it more of an emotional issue that I thought it should be. I have lots of sympathy for those that go through what they go through. But it is still an illegal activity, and for good reasons.

Turd Ferguson

While the family was undoubtedly nice, I'm sure my tax dollars helped pay the mother's hospital bills when she was having two more kids they couldn't afford. That pisses me off.

Cusm

And do not forget that tax payers are paying for all 5 children's education while the parents are not.

Cardiff Giant11

the thing that gets me about this show is that it every episode seems to have a "I don't like XX but when I experience it first hand I see a human side to it". That's all well and good but I'd really like to see someone stick to their convictions. As for next weeks, the IT staff in my area was laid off last spring in favor of off-shore and on-shore Indian consultants. I've defintely experienced some frustration because of them but in the end they're just trying to take advantage of a great oppurtunity so I harbor no ill will towards them. That and they are some of the most polite people you'll ever meet, so it's hard to dislike them.
The good news is that all of the people who got laid off found other jobs either within the company or externally pretty quickly (most of them before their last day).

Decker

I quite liked that episode. I found it a little bit touching and quite sweet. What the hell was that girl doing applying to a school like Santa Clara, which was too expensive for even my rather well-off family twenty years ago?

Next week's episode looks interesting. The abortion one could be fascinating if Jennifer actually sees things from the other side. It's a reverse of what we'd expect to see. The New Age one looks awful (as unpromising as the anti-aging one was last year). The Athiest one seems very similar to a Wife Swap I saw last month.
Even those who hate the show might enjoy that last episode. Maybe Morgan will get raped in prison....

Cusm

Well she also applied to Princeton, I guess east LA has no community or Jr colleges that people w/o a lot of means could attend.

bluesix

No, there are several community and junior colleges in the LA area, Cal State LA being the most likely one she would attend. The problem is all the other illegal immigrants in the greater los angeles area already go to those schools so competition for a spot is tight.

They are also not exactly the highest quality. I think the fact that so many immigrants end up going to those schools (not just Latinos but also Armenians, Asians, Russians and Persians) ends up dragging these places down. The cream of the crop ends up going to the UC system and the state college system is a dumping ground for everyone else. In a lot of cases these students arent native English speakers and it ends up hurting them. And yes, I speak from experience because I have been a TA at some of them.

Not to mention the whole ESL class debacle which is ridiculous. Why does every school have to offer classes in English as a second language anyway? If they don't know it by the college level then why are they wasting a spot on that person?

Some of the best proposed changes I have seen involve forcing immigrants to this country to have a proficiency in English before they get here. It sounds harsh but it would filter out a lot of people who don't deserve to get in as well as help those who do. I don't know how many times here in LA that Ive encountered someone at a shop or on the street, hell even at the McDonalds drive-thru, who can't communicate in English and then makes it seem like I'm the one who has a problem.

It doesn't seem like too much to ask considering how much their lives improve once they get here. Immigrants should have to do a bit more to gain citizenship than simply WANT to get in.

Turd Ferguson

All he needs is some assless leather chaps and a matching leather sailor's cap to go with his mustache and he'll fit right in.

Gizmo

Thats EXACTLY what I was thinking. Why go through all the trouble of crossing the border and then having to kids which will cost you MORE money. Then of course they need an Xbox, Camera, Computer etc. With apparently only $15k a year thats a good amount of money spent.

I do have a question though. How do illegal immigrats get allowed to goto public school? Don't you need a social security number or something? What about getting into college like the girl did?

kvrdave

You heartless bastard.

Nope, you just need to show up. In fact, I believe it is illegal to ask illegals for identification.

goldi45

That's a tough topic to cover cause the fight over illegal immigration is not about "oh American's don't want Mexican's to be in America". We're not prejudice. The problems is that many abuse the system!! I own rental properties and all the hispanics and foreigners I rent to get assistance from the government. One couple only has to pay $4 of rhier own money a month while the government covers the rest. That basically means I'm paying their rent for them to live in my rental property cause I pay taxes and they don't.

And YES we do need more border control. Would you own a house with no door on it? That is what the American-Mexican border is right now, an open door. I guarentee for every nice, innocent person sneeking in America is a criminal, drug dealer, or anti-American ready to attack us.

Sorry for the rant lol

<3 ny

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Brotherhood marathon of the first 6 episodes Saturday, August 19th from 8pm - 2am!

Gizmo

Holy shit. That is some steaming pile of bullshit right there.

Groucho

At the end of the show, it stated she was going to a community college until she could afford a higher tuition school.