Reaction Paper-The Line
The Line is a documentary about poverty in America. I really enjoyed The Line because it touched on many of the reasons people live in poverty on a personal level. Each person interviewed came from different socio-economic backgrounds, had different levels of education and lived in both rural and urban areas. When poverty is talked about we tend to focus on people of color and specific urban areas in America. We ignore the fact that mostly white rural areas have large pockets of long-standing poverty and suffer serious social consequences because of hopelessness felt by the people. I found Reverend Julian to be an inspiration, he and others like him are the unsung heroes of America. The fact that he has …show more content…
In his case, it isn’t just about an industry that the area was built around disappearing, but how it disappeared. In most cases, a city or town fall into poverty when a factory or company close down or move overseas. For coastal Louisiana it is environmental, much of it caused by man, such as the erosion of the wetlands and a devastating oil spill. That with two back to back hurricanes, made worse by erosion of the natural wetland barriers, has led to depletion of fish and seafood. In an area once abundant with seafood, not only did people lose their homes, boats and material items, but also their livelihood and generational way of life. This has led to not only depression, anxiety and poverty, but also to the reality that in time the land will disappear and not be enjoyed by the future generations. To look out at everything you love and know one day it will just be swallowed up by the sea would be a strange feeling. It is one that should cause alarm in our country along the coastlines, but we seem to ignore it in the name of profit. Our short-sightedness makes me angry, I just don’t understand it. How so many are fine with the loss of clean drinking water, loss of large masses of land and serious changes in weather should outrage us, yet apathy is as powerful in this country as judgment and fear seem to be. As quick as people are to blame poor people for their lot in life, they are just as quick to defend large corporations causing the pollution, climate change and loss of water in our country. Ronald’s story should be a warning that our way of life may change drastically in the near future and we shouldn’t be so short-sighted about
The Line is a documentary about poverty in America. I really enjoyed The Line because it touched on many of the reasons people live in poverty on a personal level. Each person interviewed came from different socio-economic backgrounds, had different levels of education and lived in both rural and urban areas. When poverty is talked about we tend to focus on people of color and specific urban areas in America. We ignore the fact that mostly white rural areas have large pockets of long-standing poverty and suffer serious social consequences because of hopelessness felt by the people. I found Reverend Julian to be an inspiration, he and others like him are the unsung heroes of America. The fact that he has …show more content…
In his case, it isn’t just about an industry that the area was built around disappearing, but how it disappeared. In most cases, a city or town fall into poverty when a factory or company close down or move overseas. For coastal Louisiana it is environmental, much of it caused by man, such as the erosion of the wetlands and a devastating oil spill. That with two back to back hurricanes, made worse by erosion of the natural wetland barriers, has led to depletion of fish and seafood. In an area once abundant with seafood, not only did people lose their homes, boats and material items, but also their livelihood and generational way of life. This has led to not only depression, anxiety and poverty, but also to the reality that in time the land will disappear and not be enjoyed by the future generations. To look out at everything you love and know one day it will just be swallowed up by the sea would be a strange feeling. It is one that should cause alarm in our country along the coastlines, but we seem to ignore it in the name of profit. Our short-sightedness makes me angry, I just don’t understand it. How so many are fine with the loss of clean drinking water, loss of large masses of land and serious changes in weather should outrage us, yet apathy is as powerful in this country as judgment and fear seem to be. As quick as people are to blame poor people for their lot in life, they are just as quick to defend large corporations causing the pollution, climate change and loss of water in our country. Ronald’s story should be a warning that our way of life may change drastically in the near future and we shouldn’t be so short-sighted about