In this blog post, I will provide my opinions on how a few things should change in America. I watched Where to Invade Next, a documentary from Michael Moore, and wrote a summary based on what I saw. There are so many topics and political issues to choose from, but for this, I have chosen 3.
Topic: Universal healthcare coverage in America Research Question: Should America provide free healthcare coverage to its citizens? Argument: America should provide free universal healthcare for citizens simply because everyone needs it. Not all employers provide this to their employees and it is crucial that they should. People that don’t get this often overwork themselves, and in turn, get sick and now can’t make it into work. When people don’t work, they often don’t make money. It is unlikely that an employer provides sick time when they don’t provide health benefits. People need to see doctors in order to get any and all medical help they need, and so many people unfortunately go without. An employee with health coverage is more likely to get medical attention they need when they are ill. Health coverage often takes care of rehabilitation employees may need when they are recovering from drug use, which Portugal is proof that drug use is lessened in this case. This would also benefit employers, because the better people feel, they will come to work and get their jobs done. Topic: Extended vacation and maternity leave Research Question: Should America provide mandatory paid vacation and maternity leave to full time employees? Argument: America should provide mandatory vacation and maternity leave. The vacation is important because a person will suffer from the stress of being over-worked and feeling as though they are not appreciated or rewarded. Italy provides 8+ weeks of paid vacation time because they believe in relaxing and enjoying life. They find that Italians actually enjoy their jobs more and are more successful at them when they are being rewarded. Italians also live an average of 4 years longer than Americans and get sick less often because their lives have less stress. Italy provides 5 paid months of maternity leave, as well, which is an important time in the lives of new mothers and babies. This gives an appropriate amount of time for mothers to bond with and care for their families. In fact, there are only two countries that do not provide paid maternity leave, America and Papua New Guinea, as they are too poor to do so. Topic: Free college education Research Question: Should America provide free college education to its citizens? Argument: America should provide free college education to anyone looking for higher education. In most cases, people looking for higher education means there are people looking to do the more important jobs of the world. Teachers, doctors, veterinarians, etc. are all people that we need, a well as people looking to go to trade schools. Slovenia has free college for its citizens and will actually allow people to move there and still not pay anything for school. Most American schools are so expensive that a lot of people do not actually finish due to the discouragement from the increase in debt.
3 Comments
In the documentary Where to Invade Next, Michael Moore visits several European countries, plus Tunisia, to find out how they deal with common political issues. He acknowledges that things are much different and possibly even better than they are here in America. As he visits the different countries, along with different political issues, he vows to “adopt” certain practices to bring back to America. He proposes that these countries are living the “American Dream” better than Americans are. This is mostly interesting because a lot of these ideas are ones that were developed here in America, and it seems that we have forgotten about them over many years. Michael Moore visits women’s rights, prison systems, the war on drugs, education, healthcare and much more in this documentary. These are some of the most important topics that we cannot seem to get right in America and it is interesting to see how other countries work through the issues. Americans are entitled people, and most of us don’t even realize how incorrectly we are living. We are taught that America is the greatest “free” country on the planet, not knowing what a prison we have created for ourselves. Michael more establishes ethos, or credibility, by giving facts to the people watching his documentary. He doesn’t choose to sugarcoat the fact that America needs change. He acknowledges, instead of arguing, that other countries are doing great things for their people. Things like universal healthcare, extended vacation time and maternity leave from employers. These are things that Americans can only dream about. Michael uses logo, or logic, again, by using facts. The fact that Italians live an average of 4 years longer than Americans, makes sense considering that they are less stressed. Norwegian children are smarter, because they are less stressed about school and not as bogged down by everyday hard work that American kids are bothered with daily. French children eat healthier because school officials care more about what they put into children’s bodies. These are things that we can do for the children of America because we owe it to them. Michael Moore easily appeals to the audience, pathos, due to the fact that these issues are personal. Even if we are Americans that wholeheartedly love our country, we know that things need to be better for us and for the future. There isn’t any person who watched that film that can say at least one of the many topics discussed didn’t apply to them. The purpose of Michael Moore’s documentary, I think, was to inform Americans. To let us all know we can have so much better if we work for it as one. I think he wants to bring us to a place that we were ultimately meant to be in. His point is that America already has the capability to care about its people, we just needed to be reminded. |
AuthorMy name is Ashlee. Enjoy my blog! Archives
April 2018
Categories
All
|