First World Countries, Third World Poverty
The decision to include the critically acclaimed movie, The Blind Side in the upcoming film festival, Global Issues, has been met with overwhelming support. Director, John Lee Hancock, reaches across class barriers and highlights a growing issue in today’s global society, the increasing disparity between privilege and poverty in developed countries, writes Clary Ritchie.
Do you think that the country that put man on the moon, has the world’s largest economy and invented the internet suffers from poverty? Michael Oher was just one of 26.4 million children living below the poverty line in America (Feeding America, 2013). Despite America and the developed world’s many feats, countries such as Australia, England, the US, Germany and Canada all have serious poverty issues. Globally 76.5 million children living in developed countries are below the
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Hancock uses the excellent technique of a mirror story within The Blind Side to highlight how people are unable to escape poverty without assistance. David, a citizen of Hut Village is shown to have lost his opportunity to play football after becoming involved in drugs. David explains to Michael he was playing football before he dropped out to become a dealer, implicitly manipulating the audience to see the cyclic nature of poverty that trapped David and would have trapped Michael if he hadn’t escaped it. The movie finally closes with Leigh-Anne explaining the David had been murdered, despite his “superb athletic skills” and how “different his life might have been if he hadn’t fallen behind at school and dropped out”. She ends by saying “that could have been anyone, that could have been my son, Michael”. This leaves the explicit and resounding message with the audience, that without Leigh-Anne, Michael could have easily ended up the
The movie tells the story of Michael Oher, an African American male, who was an uneducated young adult living on the streets. His life took a complete turn when the Touhy family took him under their wing and into their home. The Touhy’s helped Michael get an education, and also uncover the fact he is an amazing football player. Ultimately, The Blind Side is a dramatic movie that is full of examples of pathos, ethos, but not much logos.
“The Blind Side” was a movie about a football player that came from adverse circumstances, such as being in the legal system due to an unfit mother, he was behind academically and he was an orphan at one point. The man goes by the name of Michael Oher, who is now an offensive lineman in the NFL, and he has overcome so many stereotypes and obstacles. In the movie, Michael’s home life was the definition of dysfunctional! His mother was a drug addict, his father could not afford to take care of Michael and his brother, Michael is performing academically at an elementary school level and growing up in a neighborhood ridden with gangs, violence and drugs.
The Blind Side can be summed up in three words: determination, hope, and courage. In the nonfiction book The Blind Side by Michael Lewis, the protagonist undergoes these feelings, and as readers, we see him rise from the bottom to the top. Michael Oher is a poor black teenager, who does not know his father or his birthday. His mother is addicted to crack cocaine, and he cannot read or write. Michael’s whole life changes after a rich, white, and strongly religious family plucks him from the streets.
Money: the root of most social problems and one of the few matters that almost everyone has an opinion on. Peter Singer’s “The Singer Solution to World Poverty,” a newspaper article, is no exception. Singer argues that one should donate all unnecessary money to the less fortunate because of the morality of the situation. However, though the goal is noble, his commentary is very ineffective due to its condescending tone, lack of hard facts, and overall extremism. The piece is written by Peter Singer, an Australian professor of bioethics at Princeton University.
“Honey, you are changing that boy’s life.” A friend of Leigh Anne’s exclaimed. Leigh Anne grinned and said, “No, he’s changing mine.” This exchange of words comes from the film trailer of an award-winning film, The Blind Side, directed by John Lee Hancock, released on November 20th, 2009. This film puts emphasis on a homeless, black teen, Michael Oher, who has had no stability or support in his life thus far.
According to Hodgkinson et al, there are “disparities in poverty rates depending on age, race or ethnicity, family structure, and geographic location. Although the largest number of poor and low income children are white, minority children are disproportionately affected, particularly African American, American Indian, and Hispanic children. In 2013, Hispanic and African American children were ~3 times more likely than white and Asian children to be poor. Children raised by single parents and children raised in the South or West are also more likely to be poor or low income than children residing in the Northeast” (Hodgkinson et al, 2016). Children and youth are a vulnerable population because they have no control over their situation or environment;
Child Poverty in the U.S About nine months after conception, newborns come out of the wombs and come to the world. The newborns must be the most beautiful gift the mothers have ever received. It is always moved that the mothers finally see their babies after have waited for long time. The newborns start their new journey in the world. Meanwhile, the babies will embody tomorrow’s world.
According to the PBS Frontline video “Poor Kids” 2012, more than 46 million Americans are living beneath the poverty line. The United States alone has one of the highest rates of child poverty in the industrialized world. It is stated that 1 out of 5 children are living in poverty. The video documented the lives of three families who are faced with extreme hardships and are battling to survive a life of being poor. All three families have more than one child and could barely afford to pay their bills and purchase food for their household.
The American Dream has the nationality ethos of the United States. It is a collection of goals that everyone born in America has freedom, equal opportunity for prosperity and upward social mobility. They can achieve through hard work in a society with few obstacles. However, the fact is cruel. Nowadays, America’s economic inequality is growing.
Poverty is universal but does vary within countries, even neighborhoods. According to society poverty is hunger, lack of shelter, not having the ability to see a doctor when necessary and limited education. In third world countries, it is very common for parents to conceive a high number of children as a source of labor. Not only do these kids frequently receive slight or no education, but large families in these countries are the main contributor to global overpopulation. These children are not privileged with the same basic opportunities given to an American child.
Currently, a child dies every three seconds because of poverty, which means that 30,000 children die every day. Children are the first victims of poverty, which is the main cause of the violation of their
Defined, poverty means someone who lacks the socially acceptable amount of money to survive. Poverty often leads to a cycle of not being able to afford what is needed across generations. The US has about 12.7% of its population below the poverty line and the rate has been decreasing. The two perspectives that look at this topic in both a positive and negative light are the structural functionalist and the conflict theory. The structural functionalist theory believes everything is a working part of society and is needed to create a sort of well oiled machine and that every part has its own use and needed function.
I. Introduction A. Thesis statement: A child’s early development is greatly impacted by living in poverty which leads to poor cognitive outcomes, school achievement, and severe emotional, and behavioral problems. II. Body Paragraph 1. Claim: According to (Short, 2016) poverty consists of two parts: a measure of need and resources available to meet those needs.
How do you define the harshness of society? Social Justice and Poverty is a hard concept to analyze when one does not have a clear understanding of the social justice structure and why most people living in poverty remain poor. Looking beyond the aspects of what causes everyday circumstances and situations, society must become more well-rounded to people living in poverty are lacking their everyday hierarchical needs. In a world with people who are very rich and people who are very poor, society tends to put their focus on making the rich richer. Poverty has swept over many cities, states and countries with low unemployment rates, child hunger, economic violence, homelessness, and major social class issues.
More than 1 billion people live in extreme poverty and half of the world’s population lives on less than 2 dollars. (Anup Shah) Half of our population is living in a poor situation. (Esteban Ortiz) Poverty was not just a problem now, there was a severe amount of poor people in the 20th century. (Esteban Ortiz) Governments and people around the world need to be able to help poor people because one reason is that a large percentage of the world’s population don’t even have access to the three necessary things we need in life, shelter, food, and water. Poverty is a global issue in today’s world.