This past three-day weekend, I was talking to my grandma about my plans to one day leave the U.S. and study or work abroad. It has been a dream of mine since I was little to explore a lifestyle which is completely different in comparison to the way we live here in the States. That is when my grandma mentioned Michael Moore’s film “Where to Invade Next”. My grandma was able to nab a free copy of it on MoveOn.org which is an online democratic group organizing nonprofit. It is ironic because the film outlines how unprogressive we are as a democracy and it was being advertised on an American Democracy site. That aside this film was a HUGE eye opener for me and I hope it can be for you too.
The movie plays off of the nationalism and ethnocentrism that a good portion of Americans grow up believing in. According to Michael Moore, there are things that we should be taking from other countries such as, more time off (Italy), better lunches for school children (France), and the decriminalization of drugs (Portugal). It is perplexing to see inmates who have taken innocent lives have access to resources that are much better than our own school children receive. When did we decide that we should put less money into the future residents of the U.S. and more into the symbol of violence and destruction; the American military.
Moore makes a good point that some countries might pay slightly more in taxes, like France for example, but receive far more benefits than we do. These benefits include free health care, paid maternity leave and vacation time for all citizens, and a maximum of 35 work hours per week. It’s really difficult to conceive how we can possibly make this happen in the U.S. However, I believe that it starts with the people. We can’t be passive anymore if we want to see change happen. Surely there are tons of people out there right now fighting for the rights of our citizens, but when was the last time you went out and participated in social change? I am most definitely a culprit of this as well.
Maybe social change won’t look like it did in the fifties and sixties. With the advancement of technology we need to invent ways that are just as valid as being somewhere in person. Already we can see this technological movement in the response that people have to tweets and Facebook posts for example. When Kim Kardashian posts a provocative photo or Frank Ocean drops a new album, we are all for it. We talk about it, we repost it, we share it with our friends. Maybe we should still do that, but also have the same enthusiasm for free college or two months of paid vacation.
On top of that, it is this same attitude that we have for sitting back and letting things happen that we can’t have during this upcoming election. It is absolutely imperative that we vote even if the democratic nominee is not our first choice. If you are interested in “Where to Invade Next,” I highly recommend that you check out http://wheretoinvadenext.com/
for more info on the film.
The ideas presented in the movie are the real way to “make America great again!"
