The Right to Sell Labor-Immigration Summary/Response Blog

            In Peter Wilby's "The Right to Sell Labor", he discusses the rise in migrant workers who come to America in search of better working conditions, and a better life in general. By allowing immigrants from third-world countries into the United States, we instantly raise their life expectancy significantly, and have a chance for a much more successful future. It is American employers who seek cheap, pliable labor, that take advantage of these migrant workers and pay them significantly smaller wages and in much worse conditions, because they know it is still better to them than their home country would treat them. This creates a much larger competition for jobs between migrants and your average citizen, because the employer can get away with paying much less money to a migrant, who the vast majority of the time is not even paying any taxes. Unfortunately we have reached a point where immigration is nearly impossible to stop and restrict. With such a constant flow of immigrants across state borders, it becomes difficult to regulate and keep track of. Then after these undocumented workers arrive, they are not likely to contact any authorities about their below minimum wage salary, and so the employer gets away with paying them near nothing, and so the job market is extremely affected. Nearly all politicians agree that what we want is regulated immigration, and the best place for this to begin is in the workplace. Migrants would not be nearly as desired by employers if they were to demand minimum wage and proper working conditions.



After reading this article, I found a lot of similarities in my own way of thinking, and the authors. As he states, "Most proposals for controlling immigration are based on keeping out the riff-raff, but exempting those with valuable skills in, say, medicine", I realized just how unrealistic this is. We can't expect to take only the talented and intelligent people from other countries, leaving these countries without any real educated professionals, and sending the "dumb" people back. Unfortunately, it is by doing things like this that has gotten America to be a leading power, but constantly assisting other countries rather than our own. People look to us for everything because we treat them like they are below us, and so they start to believe that themselves. I also find it to be disgusting how employers treat this migrant workers here in America. The fact that some people don't even have the decency to pay them minimum wage is astounding, and honestly so horrible. I completely agree with the author in his statement that, "the best place for regulation is in the workplace".

                                                                       Works Cited

Wilby, P. "The Right to Sell Labor". New Statesman. November 15th, 2007.
http://www.newstatesman.com/200711150019

Dystopian Fiction-I Robot

Dystopian works are incredibly important to remind society that we need to be careful with just how far we allow technology to control our lives. It normally depicts a futuristic society, in which technological advances govern said society, and then things go terribly wrong and the society is threatened or destroyed. This acts as a much needed warning to us to not allow something similar to happen to our own nation that continues to rely on technology as our answer to everything. Some examples of Dystopian films include Idiocracy (2006), and one of my personally favorite movies, I Robot (2004).

I Robot was directed by Alex Proyas in 2004. In this Dystopian film, we are jetted forward to 2035 A.D. where robots are programmed to live alongside humans, and act as protectors and companions. Detective Del Spooner (Will Smith), has never trusted robots and continuously thought that we would one day have them turn on us, causing the end of life as we know it, but no one would ever listen to him.When he was called out to investigate the apparent suicide of the scientist behind the creation of the robots, Dr.Alfred Lanning, he begins to suspect more and more that his death was actually caused by one of the robots, and then covered up. 

When Detective Spooner begins to question the robots and their programming, he meets the scientist Susan Calvin (Bridget Moynahan), who reassures him that the robots are unable to do anything bad because they are programmed under three laws. Spooner wonders if it is possible for a robot to feel emotions, break the laws under which the are set, and in turn kill. We can only hope his suspicions are false, and that if he is correct, it isn't too late to save us all.

I genuinely enjoyed the movie and found it to be a huge wake up call in regards to our reliance on technology. As each day progresses, I constantly see human interaction being limited more and more. To even speak to someone on the phone is becoming more difficult as automated answering services are becoming more popular. Between the incredible acting of Will Smith who committed to his role, and made me believe in what he stood for with each word he spoke, and the passion displayed by Bridget Maynahan as she fought for what she had worked her entire life for, this movie is definitely a must see.