Friday, March 5, 2010

Movie and thoughts--part 2

North and South: I began this movie knowing that it was of the Pride and Prejudice era and somewhat Pride and Prejudice-esq. I was quite surprised that the plot was surrounded by integrity to oneself and the goings-on of merchants and workers. Union workers are a central part of the movie, as are "masters" (the mill owners). What was refreshing was that neither was idealized or made to be something it is not. The fierceness of masters is seen, the wildness of those brought to desparation during a strike is seen, as are the benefits of unions and having business owners. Adding to it is the benefit of workers and masters seeing one another's point-of-view. This gave a heightened sense of accomplishment to the movie itself; of course, not all workers WOULD see the masters' points-of-view just as many masters WOULD NOT see their workers' points-of-view. I believe England (and other parts of the world) have much more experience in this than does the United States. We can learn from them. We can learn to let the benefits and drawbacks of unions to be known and discussed. It seems to be a hush-hush issue to mention something amiss with unions and yet there are clearly things that are amiss. In some cases, eliminating certain unions would be the best option for our country and allow people to see others' points-of-view more easily, just as it does in North and South.

1 comment:

Trent said...

I think the best approach to unions is freedom. I dislike what most unions have become. Nevertheless, we need to respect their freedom of association. On the flip-side, they need to respect our freedom of non-association.

Some states (such as Utah) are "right-to-work states." That means that a worker can choose not to be a member of a union. Too many states, however, let unions force workers to be members. I see this as a violation of the same right to association that, in my view, gives unions a right to exist.