The other day I received and email from a friend that contained a video of a story that Fox News broadcast a couple of years ago. The tag line said that I needed to watch it to understand a terrible injustice brought about by liberals, illegal immigration, and political correctness -- not necessarily in that order. It was one of those emails that I receive once or twice per week. Take a look at the video for yourself (it's only a 36 second clip):
If your first response is to tilt your head to the side and scratch the back of your skull while having a dazed and confused look on your face, then you know exactly how it affected me. The thought that went along with said reaction, however, was the same one that I had when I was a kid and someone offered me the opportunity to see a "bearded lady" at the local carnival that passed through my home town each summer -- "this simply sounds too crazy to be true."
Being the skeptic that I am, I decided to conduct an investigation to see if I could get to the bottom of it and find out what really happened. I started by reading some of the comments that were being made on YouTube. They were pretty scathing: "Round 'em up and send 'em home," said one patriot. Another brain surgeon in the making chimed in, "This is what happens when we elect a black man as president." (The politically correct violation that is referenced in the video occurred a couple of years ago, by the way, long before Obama entered our national spotlight.) Clearly, these blockheads were not searching for the real story and so I would not find it there.
So I plugged some combination of words such as "Oregon Mexican firefighter fired" and quickly found what I wanted: a statement from the State of Oregon's Department of Forestry that explained the matter in considerable detail. It took me all of about 45 seconds to read, but what it revealed was very depressing (given the number of people who watched and believed the original story).
It makes sense that so many people hate liberals and Mexicans and political correctness. With stories like this floating around on the WWW, who wouldn't be clamoring for the microphone to add to the shouting chorus of red-blooded Americans who want to preserve the United States for the "real Americans" (not to be confused with Native Americans, of course).
So how many times have you been duped by such an email or a rumor? How often do you find yourself saying, "No way. Can't possibly be true. I've got to look that up before I let it lodge into my RAM?" As opposed to, let's imagine, "This sounds fishy and so I'd better explore it before I pass it on."
This stuff cuts both ways, mind you, because misinformation enters the public discourse from both the right and the left wings of the political spectrum. (This story originally aired on Fox News, but left-wing blogs and web sites picked it up and carried it as though it was true, by the way.) My gut inclination tells me that the right is slightly better at putting out misinformation than the left, and that the right has less scruples about lying--but only by about a 51/49 margin. Perhaps that's just because more of their political operatives have written tell all books about their strategies and misdeeds. (If you haven't read any of these and you fancy yourself a conservative, then perhaps you ought to take a look.)
An addendum: One respondent who is a firefighter noted the utmost importance of communication while fighting fires and pointed out that non English speaking firefighters would be problematic on English speaking crews. I absolutely agree and would maintain that Mexicans who do not speak English should NOT be on crews with U.S. firefighters who only speak English. The point of this blog entry is to highlight anti-Mexican hysteria.
170 comments:
You know, it really makes my head spin and daze when I read these sort of articles or watch these clips that exist in the media today regarding whatever bullshit spin a side wants to put on a story. Regarding this ODF "immigration injustice" as Fox News would probably place it, there is nothing that really seems to confuse me about people more than when they believe this crap that's strewn to them on a platter. First off, there are many things that prevent others from getting jobs, you know, those "boundaries" that people complain are set too high. Take for example the firefighters in Oregon who -are- Spanish. Some of these firefighters could very well be volunteers who merely want to give back to their community in a positive way. What's to stop them? If a fire chief learns a few vital phrases like, "Go go go!" or, "Duck! Get out of there!", which, as far as I understand are very easy to learn phrases considering they only contain a few words. For example, "Go go go!", "Vaminos, vaminos, vaminos!" or, "Duck, get out of there!", "Cuidado! Corre! Sace su vido y corre!" (I think that translates to "Take your life and run!") It's sort of like how people are complaining there aren't enough health care professionals in today's world where there is such a high demand for instant gratification for such and there are just so few who really want to be doctors because the barriers for entry are set so high. It seems that we aren't really conditioning people to believe they can accomplish what they strive for as much as, "If you don't get weeded out, then maybe you were good enough to be in this profession/work". To me, it's a load of socio-political bullshit that really can't be overturned due to the fact that many people today just simply take what they hear on the media as simple truth without asking questions so long as they get what they in the end want. To me, the best example of that is like an information whore. Sitting on a corner, putting him or herself out there until they get what they want and only believe that the means they follow to achieve something are the right ones. If any sort of understanding is to be made between people, spins have to be taken out of the media responses to stories, let alone the complete fabrication of stories as a whole. It's like playing telephone. You have the original message, such as the actual injustices being performed in the world today. Pass the story onto someone else, pass it to someone from there, and so on. It's hilarious to see the message repeated to the original speaker and they just tilt their head and wonder, "How could something so simple have been misconstrued in such a way?"
This just highlights the troubles the internet has brought to the news world. Yes, I know this clip originally aired on television, but it was caused by the ever-growing demand for instant information that has been fostered by cable news stations and the internet. As people crazy constant updates, news outlets are worrying more about being first to break a story rather than making sure all of the information is 100 percent true. The sad thing about this is that as the news world, particularly newspapers, is starting to collapse on itself, good journalism is pretty much just being thrown aside. Good reporters are jobless leaving the watchdog duty to people who aren’t qualified to inform the public because they are irresponsible by not trying to get every angle of a story.
This leads me to Foxnews. Yes, we all know it’s incredibly easy to make fun of “America’s News Channel,” but it’s for good reason. Stories like this are what make it so easy and why the channel has little credibility in my mind. I’m not saying CNN and MSNBC don’t tote their own political agendas, but no channel does it quite like Fox, and at least CNN and MSNBC are more apt to get as close to the truth as possible. This was simply unacceptable from Fox News, did someone from the station even put in a call to the Oregon Department of Forestry? All they had to do was pick up the phone and this story never would have given been given the chance to get legs let alone make it on the air. This is what happens when news channels blend political commentary with reporting. Every time I hear an anchor add in a little joke or statement at the end of a story, it makes me want to cringe. I wonder what Walter Cronkite thinks about shows like Crossfire where the people from the right and left see who can pretty much yell the loudest. These kind of shows should not be on news channels, and if they are they should be forums for intelligent debate, not shouting matches. Thank God John Stewart went on Crossfire and exposed how much of a shame it was. News reporting has never been more important than right now, with crooked CEOs and politicians around almost seemingly ever corner, the American public needs protection and it should come from watchdog reporters, but unfortunately many of the watchdogs have turned into lapdogs. This clip shows a lack of reporting on Fox News part and makes me understand why people choose not to watch this crap. It’s up to the reporters to earn the public’s trust and lies like these do nothing but burn that trust.
As I read this blog, a million thoughts came rushing through my mind. I had a lot to think about during the story because I am a firefighter, which leads me to have a certain disposition to the story. From first hand experience, I know just how important communication is to firefighting. Of course this means that my stance would have to be that firefighters must all share a common language. To be clear, I think that all firefighters in a department must have the ability to speak English and not only the leaders as the ODF website says. Now I don’t want to come off as some redneck firefighter hollering to keep those Mexicans out. The basis behind what I am saying is for safety purposes. If one person did not speak English in my company and I don’t speak Spanish, then we would not be able to understand each other without a translator. This is a massive obstacle to try and overcome. When fighting fires, it is essential that everyone stays updated to the situation. Talking over the radios to each other can be tough enough as it is. Throwing in an extra step to translate to a non-English speaker would not only be inconvenient, but possibly dangerous. You never know what could happen when extinguishing a fire. Often, a situation can go from bad to worse in only seconds. That means responses must be just as fast. This is no time to try and overcome a language barrier. Firefighting is not the only place where I think language barriers cause trouble. The truth is I am often annoyed by people who do not know a word of English. I’m not talking about tourists from other countries who are on vacation and want to come see America. The people whom I am talking about are those who live here in American, yet do not speak English. Many people would say I am just not open to immigration or helping people from other countries, but that’s not it at all. I simply see all the issues that arise from people not being able to communicate. If you want to live in America, you should speak English. Frankly, why would you even want to live in a country where you can’t talk to anyone? Personally, if I moved to another country to live I would want to learn the language. This would, first off, make life so much simpler. Also, when you speak the native language of a country you obtain a certain respect. Even if you speak it badly, at least you’re trying. You want to learn and therefore want to be American. This is necessary if you want to work. This is especially true if you want a respectable job. I do not have problems with people coming to America (legally) to get work or start a new life. All I’m trying to say in this response is that a common language is needed for life to go on smoothly. In and out of firefighting, communication is essential to living.
I would just like to bluntly put it out there that I despise Fox News. Everything about that News Channel is awful. The stories they pick and choose to spread conservative propaganda is awful. If you have ever watched any of the shows on Fox, you would notice the clear and obvious bias this channel has. Fox has a skewed point of view towards the news that tailors itself to true conservatives. However, Fox News is not the only media outlet that has a political bias to it. Other news stations pick and choose various news stories and present them in a way that favors their political agenda as well. Like I have said in previous journals, the only way we can truly understand different races is through good honest journalism. Television news is a powerful medium that should be used to inform, not spread political agendas and ideas. Some television stations are better than others when it comes to being truly unbiased. The one thing that I will say about Fox is that in my opinion, they seem to shun minorities. The way that Fox News showed Mexican-Americans in the Oregon fire segment was appalling. First of all, if a person wants to help put out a fire to save people, why do they need to know English? Secondly, fire departments can’t control the labor pool when it comes to Mexican firefighters who are willing to help. I know communication is an essential part of firefighting, but Fox seemed to skip over that topic. The reporter just lumped in Mexicans and job loss into the story without providing the facts behind it. When it comes to the Youtube comments about this clip, I can see why so many people showed their displeasure online. The way that Fox presented that story just didn’t make sense. Fox skewed the information to make Mexican people look bad to their viewers. This kind of journalism is awful and the worst part about it is that people trust Fox News to be “fair and balanced.” I would bet that overwhelming majorities of the people who watch Fox News Channel don’t think that it is conservative based. How can this kind of irresponsible journalism inform people about world events when all it is doing is deceiving and tricking people into hating minorities? Fox News is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to shedding some light towards minorities in a positive way. Other television news channels like MSNBC have liberal biases to them as well. It goes both ways but I think the one thing we can learn about this story is that we (the American people) cannot truly take any news channel’s word on the stories that they cover. There will inevitably be a bias one way or the other.
In response to the article, “Those Damn Mexicans Are At It Again”, this story angers me. I do not think that the chiefs and people higher up in the fire department should be fired and demoted. The Mexicans are in our country, and should learn to speak our language. However, if they knew the rule of having to speak their newly hired firefighter’s language, then they shouldn’t have hired these people in the first place. Where I am from, there is a surplus of firefighters that do not get paid for what they do. They just sit around thinking that a fire might come soon. Seeing how counterproductive they are, it bothers me to know that people get paid to do this same job. They think they are the greatest people on earth. Maybe in Oregon they are doing something a lot more productive and actually saving a life, but if that is the case then the chiefs need to take who they hire more seriously. If they knew the consequences of what would happen when hiring these people, then they shouldn’t have done it in the first place. I don’t care which one gives in, but one of those people need to figure out the other language. This isn’t that hard of a problem to solve, I am sure there are a few key words that they could get down during a fire to get through it. However, if the Mexican is an illegal immigrant then they should not be here in the first place. They shouldn’t be getting paid or hired or anything. Oregon firefighters could really easily get rid of this problem by only hiring U.S. citizens. If they are so desperate for getting people then they should give in and learn some Spanish or require these illegal immigrants to be speaking English. Come on. My first reaction is to be mad at the illegal immigrants, but the Oregon firefighters are also at fault here. How do you even hire someone if you can’t speak to them in the first place? I don’t think that the people should be getting fired or demoted because they obviously worked hard to get into the position they are in so why fire someone that is good at their job, other than the fact that they cannot speak another language? It is not fair to either party, but if the rule says you have to communicate to everyone, then there isn’t much these people can do. I do not think that such a big deal should have been made out of this because it is a somewhat easy solution. Immigrants are in America, so they should learn some English. And these firefighters hired Mexicans that they KNEW could not speak English….not a very smart decision if you ask me.
I could not believe what I was hearing when I first listened to this Fox News Clip. I actually listened to it a couple of times. Boy am I glad I kept reading the rest of the blog because I was pretty angry before I really understood what was going on with this. It’s disappointing to me to see something like this happen. On the other hand, however, it’s really not surprising at all and I should have been ready for it. This takes me back to my last semester’s class, Comm 410, where we learned all about the media and how it affects our lives, specifically in the international world. Globalization and communication is so important in today’s society; to watch it be abused in this way is something so unacceptable. It almost makes me even more upset because I know how much my parents love Fox News. I’m not saying I don’t agree with many of the things they believe, but I also feel that perhaps they are too single-minded when it comes to the news world. I never know whom to believe. I constantly hear complaints about news stations, especially Fox, and so it gets really hard to tell what’s actually going on in the world. It’s something I’ve previously tried to discuss with my parents but they always get really defensive. It just makes me realize how much people trust what they choose to believe. They hear one thing from one place (that they usually like) and it’s like no other options exist as to what the situation is all about.
In my opinion, it’s incredibly unfortunate how much the media affects our lives in a negative way. Communication is so important but it is constantly distorted and the truth is never completely shown. In this case, communication is even more important in the sense that firefighters clearly need to understand one another. After reading the truth from the State of Oregon’s Department of Forestry, it changed my feeling of anger to one of disheartening. The fact that so many immigrants are stereotyped or put down negatively like this video falsely enables is something that is so hard to change at this point. I can completely understand why people were so upset through their comments on YouTube. After all, how could this video be wrong when it was aired nationally? Alas, though, it is obvious that the media is not always correct. But how do these ideas become so distorted? How do they become the false stories that they end up as? I can’t imagine how I would feel if I was actually involved in this situation and saw this Fox News clip. How even more upset I would feel.
My first response was, is this real? How can you report on something that ridiculous sounding, more importantly how could someone believe that. This is really upsetting that the media would just blatantly lie about such a thing. I mean we know to not take every single word from the media as one hundred percent true, but I would said that the average American takes about eighty five to ninety percent as the truth. Knowing this, it is horrendous that the media would manipulate the story so deeply. Clearly by just reading the article that the Oregon Government themselves published I was able to understand what really went on. I mean its not like the story was so complex that the media mixed up a little here and there. If they had just contacted the Oregon department of forestry they would have learned a lot. For one that the Oregon department of forestry places the responsibility on the crew companies themselves. Stating, “This stipulation places the responsibility on the crew companies: If they choose to hire non-English-speaking firefighters for a crew, then they must have bilingual crew leaders. If they hire only English-speaking firefighters, then the crew leaders need only have the ability to speak English.” (Oregon Department of Forestry). This absolutely makes sense and is completely opposite of the ridiculous claim by Fox News that stated crew leaders were being fired for having Spanish speaking workers under their lead. They simply must be able to speak Spanish, which is a safety precaution for the crew and the victims of fire themselves. Which makes matters worse is this: not only are these rumors presented on television where the local viewers are subjected, but now because of the internet millions upon millions more people are tuning in and becoming infected with these horrible misunderstandings. And its not just a few white lies, this was purposely meant to fuel this issue of “terrible injustice” brought on by immigrants and other minorities. I mean immigrants are not these terrible beings out to ruin the world, I mean they are risking their lives here trying to fight fires that have the ability to affect every American home. There are plenty of white people who wont risk their lives with that. As a matter of fact in my sociology one course we learned that not only do we need immigrants to continue our melting pot of a society but we also need them so that our population and birth rates stay up. Without a continuome of people our society is guaranteed not to be successful. And as the article said similar situations have already happened years before. If Fox news had just acted like a normal and respectable media company and contacted the Oregon Department of Foresetry none of this would have happened. But then again, this was their intent, to attack the liberals and not give the facts.
It seems a few people have missed the point about this article in describing it as a reason the Internet ruins the news or a few words of Spanish will resolve the problem. Instead of throwing one’s hands up in despair at the whole system, or suggesting an incomplete solution, it would be best to completely analyze the problem itself first. The first thing the reporter states is that there is “an urgent need for firefighters in the west.” In this region, these public servants battle blazes from houses to wildlife fires especially, and put their lives on the line for each other and the public. This is not an occupation that can endure a period of short staff, being that the nature of the position is to battle emergency situations for public safety. Therefore, any form of firefighter should be acceptable. Whether it means the senior supervisors take a demotion or layoff is irrelevant when struggling to maintain the peace. If my house catches fire I don’t care if the firefighters are purple and speak in clicks, as long as the safety of my family and myself is guaranteed. To undermine the livelihood of entire communities threatened with frequent wildfires, forest fires, and house fires of fellow citizens is the true source of a lack of patriotism.
Americans too frequently claim that if you don’t speak English then you should get out of the country. What did every other foreign language speaking nation in the world do when entering the business world? They learned English, the lingua franca, to communicate with others across the planet. Unfortunately, Americans have been spoiled with the lack of necessity to learn a new language, and therefore have become linguistically xenophobic. It is my opinion that every single person, regardless of nationality or country of residence, should learn a second language, to better understand and acclimate to other cultures, peoples, and the world as a whole. Studies prove that those who can speak two languages not only achieve better academically, but also later in their careers, as they are more open minded and adaptable to new situations. To declare any non-English speakers should be cast out of this country is basically ignorant. Freedom of religion, freedom of speech, but not freedom of language? At what point did this country narrow its field of freedoms to those that only include English speakers? Of course speaking English makes functioning in this country easier, and of course some miscommunication will exist. However it is also easier to be white in this country, and the miles of bureaucratic red tape causes miscommunications daily at the DMV alone. I’m not asking everyone to learn Spanish, but to write these people off as intruders into our homogenous, English speaking nation sounds more like the KKK than the USA. The fact is, language is but another difference used to discriminate against those trying to make a living in this country. For some, this living includes protecting the lives and property of fellow Americans.
I think that this just shows how shallow America can be when it comes to anything involving race. Race is something that everyone in America has a different opinion about and it was evident in the election. As soon as a black man was put into the race for presidency, the biggest concern in our country was the color of his skin and how we could bring it into the media. If two white men were running, race never would have been brought into the question. But because Obama is black, this was 95 percent of what the media covered. Anyone who contributes to the media also knows that race is something that everyone loves to hear about, loves to be involved in and more than anything loves to cause some sort of controversy over. The fact that this story involved race immediately caught the media’s attention who knew how quickly everyone who saw it would form an opinion, and wanting the publicity and credit for covering such a story, they did it regardless of the rumor it held. I guess they did a good job considering people believed it and spread it around to their friends, bearing in mind we now are discussing it. Fox is a conservative and republican station, generating an audience of mostly white Americans who would be really fired up by this kind of news. Fox, knowing their crowd of people and being a news station, is going to provide their audience with something interesting that they want to hear about and know they can formulate strong biased opinions about. So it is all a big loop. It was wrong for fox to throw something out to the public before backing it up but again, it just proves how shallow people can be when it comes to wanting the attention and credit, especially when it involves race.
In the world we live in today communication is really important. It is easy to understand how miscommunication would cause trouble working in a fast paced environment where knowing what is going on when it is going on is important. Being able to communicate properly and speak to each other is essential. I think this story brought attention to that, but knowing the rumor behind it just shows how they brought it about in the worst way. I cannot really imagine how I would have reacted if I had seen the clip myself. I would have been pretty upset and even more upset when I found out that all of it was untrue after causing such a huge commotion over it. And it is sad but true, but this reaction that was brought about by so many people is really only what the media truly wants.
Regardless of which news source we watch, we are going to willing eat whatever is fed to us. Pick your poison, NBC, Fox News or whatever else we watch or listen to, we’re going to be hearing a lot of misinformation. This is fundamentally because media is a big time money making industry. News corporations are going to show us the American people, what will stir us to continually watch. This is a great irony in the American perception of the media. Competition in the media is a means to expose truth and hold the government accountable. As a democratic nation we expect our journalists and reporters to be fair, free and unbiased, when they cannot be all of these. So we settle for the news source whose bias we most agree with. We too often forget that the very news source we have expected to be most truthful may in fact be putting their own twist on events as to appeal better to their audience.
I am not arguing that the Fox News account of firefighters in Oregon was merely portrayed in a different light; I do agree that Fox News clearly twisted the event to appeal to their target audience. I mean to say that every news station is going to be in this similar business, because it’s all about the money! Yes, that means your very own news source probably has twisted events!
Here’s an interesting example of ethnocentrism in Olympic broadcasting. You turn on the TV in America during the last week of competition to check the medal count. America’s overall medal count is much greater than that of the rest of the world, and the announcer states that America has once again “Swept the Olympics”. However, this differing account occurs at the same time… You turn on the TV in China during the last week of competition to check the medal count. China’s gold medal count is much greater (might I say twice as large as America’s) than that of the rest of the world, and the announcer states that China has “Swept the Olympics”. News sources aim to please their viewers because they have to in order to keep up the ratings and keep rolling in the dough.
We must receive our information not only with skepticism, but also with prudence. The problem is we will naturally receive the information that our ears want to hear. It will come unnaturally to filter through the information that we hear and continuously ask ourselves questions to verify the information. For those of us who prefer Fox News, maybe we need to watch NBC News more often. For those of us who prefer NBC News, maybe we should watch Fox News more often, because in each of these situations, we would be seeing information from a new perspective.
When I first saw the YouTube video I had the same reaction as Sam. I just thought it was unbelievable and I actually felt mad about it. After reading the article that cleared things up a little bit, but what I do not understand is why people would twist the story to that and put it on YouTube for the public to see? Obviously most Americans would get mad about English speaking employees being fired and demoted because they were required to speak Spanish if they had Spanish firefighters in their crew. After first looking at the video my initial thought was that it was bullshit and if anything these firefighters should be the ones learning a new language.
The article explained that no one was forced to learn Spanish or was demoted or fired for the specific reason of not learning the language. The only rule that was made after many primarily Spanish-speaking firefighters were hired, was that their leader of the crew had to know both the English language and the Spanish language because of the risk that was forming in the job from the language barrier. That is reasonable and is a good common ground, whereas firing someone who does not know Spanish or firing firefighters for only knowing Spanish would be too extreme.
Video clips and news reports like this one is what really affects people’s opinions about liberals and immigrants. This kind of situation could make anyone really angry. Sam stated how he looked at some of the comments on the YouTube video and it was clear that whatever people see they believe it without further thought. I saw the video and was definitely shocked by it, but I was ready to just believe what I had heard and not look up the specifics. I am sure many people would feel the same way after watching this video. Unfortunately this is how easily stereotypes and discrimination happens. One person could watch this video and decide that he hates Spanish people. It happens so often and easily and that is why these horrible things, like discrimination, occur in today’s world.
I can also connect this to what we had been talking about a few weeks ago when Sam had us sit in our seats and imagine that we were from Iraq watching these horrible videos about Christians and how destructive they were. Iranians can only have a certain view of Christians if all they watch are those kinds of videos that show that Christians want to kill them and take their land. So, if rumors, like this video, are only shown to our country that specifically give immigrants and liberals a bad name, obviously the stereotypes will develop and get worse.
I feel like when it comes to Mexicans we always find a way to make it seem like they are stealing our jobs. It is not like these Mexican firefighters figured out that if a large number of them became firefighters then they could get a bunch of white people fired. We say that we want Mexicans to integrate themselves into our society, but as soon as they get a job that isn’t on a farm or doing illegal work we give them a hard time. Can we blame them for wanting to work? As for Fox News I could not believe that they were making such bold statements and making it so obvious that they were against the Mexican firefighters and thought that they were the ones doing wrong doing. After listening to that news segment I kind of thought it was a joke. It seemed as though Fox did no research on the topic and got no background information, but instead just used their own views to make the segment. The media today is so influencing to society, yet the media can often be so opinionated and clearly one sided. You are supposed to be able to turn the news on and believe what you are hearing, the anchors are supposed to be informing you about the truth of something important; however you look at this clip and it makes you wonder how much of the stuff you hear on Fox is the truth and how much of it is slanted because of their own views. I honestly do not have a problem with everyone on the fire rescue team having to know Spanish. We need to stop being close-minded and realize how many Spanish-speaking people there are living in this country. Not only would knowing Spanish make it easier for the firefighters to work together, but it would also make it easier for them to communicate with Spanish speaking people that are stuck in the fires they are fighting. White people are being fired from their jobs because they are not the best fit person for that job and it seems like the people being fired are just trying to find someone to put the blame on and the finger is being pointed at Mexicans. Fox news is so worried on who should know what language, but what is the problem with both Mexicans and Americans learning both languages? Why does one person have to be at fault and the other perfectly innocent? In this situation there is almost in a way no right or wrong when it comes to who knows what language because both Americans and Mexicans need to compromise and learn at least the basics of each others languages. Personally I do not understand why people make such a big deal about learning Spanish, maybe it has to do with being superior, but in my community, which did not have one Hispanic student, we started learning Spanish in the second grade. If all communities did the same thing we would not have these problems like we do today.
As a journalism major, I think this is interesting in the aspect of both the racial undertones and the profession I one day may find myself in. I would agree with Sam when he said that both sides – left and right – are guilty of circulating misinformation, and I think that’s a shame since it leads to mistrust in the media, an entity that we should be able to trust. It’s terrible that we can’t just watch a broadcast or read an article without doing our own homework to verify the story or find the whole story. This clip from Fox shows many things: poor reporting, right-wing bias, and this pro-English speaking phenomena (read: anti-Mexican/Spanish speakers).
I think we can all agree that the inability to communicate properly while doing dangerous work like fighting fires is detrimental to the environment, and more importantly, human lives. I would have thought that would have been a screening question in the interview and doesn’t suggest discrimination since safety is the number one concern.
I know this isn’t really the point of the topic, but I’m going to go off on a tangent about language. What I have always found interesting is how haughty and uneducated some people sound regarding the language issue. Do people not know that the United States doesn’t have an official language? Certainly the majority of people living here speak English, and it’s pretty necessary to know (at least the basics). I’m assuming many people who struggle with English are in the process of learning it, as many of them probably just arrived here and are trying their best to assimilate. We are a nation built upon many nationalities. Think of all the German-Americans whose great-grandparents spoke German when they got here. If anything, I think people from the United States need to get more on board with bilingual education. Many other nations teach their children at least two languages as children, whereas we in the U.S. often aren’t introduced to another language until high school. After that, many just take the language as a school requirement. I know I did. But how can we expect people who come here from Mexico to learn English in a short period of time when we didn’t take the time to learn another language ourselves?
Especially with the changing demographics, I think it will become more and more essential for Americans to be multi-lingual. It’s already an asset in the job market, and I foresee it being almost required in the future. Not so much in the firefighting industry, but it will becoming increasingly important to communicate with Spanish speakers in other sectors of business. Basically, people need to be more compassionate and understanding and especially broadcast journalists who aren’t supposed to be showing bias (both journalistically and racially).
Upon first hearing listening to the video, I thought that it was crazy for a leader to get laid off just because it could not speak the same language as their workers. At first I was not sure if it would have been racist to not hire the Spanish-speaking workers, but then I figured it would have made sense to not hire people who cannot even communicate with their leaders. But hearing that the leaders were the ones that had gotten laid off made no sense to me what so ever. Being Hispanic I have gotten questions from people asking in their clearest voice if I speak English or people trying to say something to me in extremely broken Spanish. My response to them is “I don’t even speak Spanish” or “I speak English, you know.” I honestly do not speak Spanish but I do not necessarily have to announce it to people. I could just respond “yes” when people ask me such things but I get really offended when I am asked if I speak English or when people try to speak Spanish to me. I want them to know that I don’t even speak Spanish so that they don’t associate me with those people who come to America and can’t even speak English. I am kind of on the fence about those people myself, since many of my own family members are such people, but I figure that most people have some type of quip against Hispanics coming to America without knowing English. I figure that I will be accepted if I am someone who is obviously not some kind of “intruder.” So when I see a video like this I feel bad for the people who only speak Spanish in America because they are the “stubborn” ones that join the group and affect the whole team by getting the leader fired just because they can’t speak English. So then there is conflict against Spanish-Speaking immigrants by Americans who think that they should not be here and that they are ruining our jobs and etc. I personally don’t totally think that they should not be here because, just like everyone else in life, they are just looking for a better quality of life and happened to look towards America. That makes me proud to know that so many people find my country to be so full of opportunity, yet some people are so bitter about it for some reason. I think that it is their choice to learn English or not. If they feel that they can get by without English then I do not care. It’s convenient for them that this is a multicultural country so there are neighborhoods where Spanish-speaking-only people can reside comfortably. Upon reading the true facts I was very disappointed that FOX had even covered such a story so incorrectly. Now all of this controversy and hatred against immigrants was raised for no reason. The true story made much more sense; I just wish that that was the one people knew about.
When I read this article, a few thoughts came to mind including media misreporting, racism towards Mexican Americans, and the language barrier between different cultural groups. I was not shocked to discover that Fox News had originally broadcasted this story, as they are known to take a right-wing stance on many issues that they report on. What does bother me is that a basic cable network is given the freedom to misinform the public on so many current events, especially since journalism is supposed to be unbiased and fact-based. However, I realize that maintaining this viewpoint on the media is a bit naïve, given that all media channels put their own spin on stories in order to manipulate the public. Everyone wants his or her own views to be accepted by the public, and by holding back information or putting a subtle twist on a story, this can be easily accomplished. In addition, it does not help that many Americans accept what they get from the media to be pure fact based. People need to start getting their information from a variety of sources, and then draw their own conclusions based on what they find. Relying on one source can be dangerous in that it leaves people entirely misinformed. If our views are shaped by lies and propaganda, how are we going to grow as a society? Racism can never be entirely combated if people are willing to accept everything they hear by biased news sources.
This relates to the news story about the Caucasian firefighters losing their jobs in Oregon because the story almost promotes and encourages racism towards Mexican Americans. The implication here is that Mexicans are coming into our country and threatening the “White” way of life by refusing to adopt our language. It implies that they have a responsibility to learn the language before they move here. In response to this, I do feel as though people from other countries should make an attempt to learn the predominant language of the country they reside in. However, how often do Americans move or attempt to find jobs in other countries where they do not understand the language? We simply assume that everyone speaks English so we do not need to even try to teach ourselves any other language. If we did try, we would realize it is more difficult than we had originally thought. Mexican Americans should not be criticized because they are trying to make a better life for themselves in another country. If they are helping their community by becoming firefighters and protecting the environment, why should there be a problem? The crew leaders can even choose which people they are going to hire; they are not restricted to hire Mexican Americans. In addition, there is no reason to perceive Mexican Americans as a threat towards Caucasians’ career opportunities. Caucasians have had opportunities handed to them for years now, and it is time to allow people of other ethnicities to find work wherever possible; especially if they are helping the community.
This video reminded me a lot about our last section’s discussion mainly concerning the pros/cons of illegal immigration, as well as Mexicans taking our jobs. Examples of such evidence that was supported for the “pro” side was that white Americans are not willing to do the “dirty work” and therefore Mexicans are willing to do the work that is necessary to survive in our culture. An example on the negative side is the ever popular, “Mexicans are taking our jobs.” Needless to say, throughout the discussion I was torn between both sides and agreed with what both sides had to say. I am in 100% agreement with both sides, but I am unable to form my own opinion about this topic. I have found that after watching this news broadcast from FOX News, I was left with great confusion as well. Once again, I understand that it is not fair to fire the Mexican firefighters because they cannot communicate with their supervisors. Why not get new supervisors? Ones that speak only Spanish. I think this idea relates back to the fact that Mexicans are taking on the roles in the workplace that are dangerous, dirty, etc. As you can see, the supervisors in this instance only speak English. I am going out on a limb and assuming that they are white blooded Americans within the “business” realm of this profession. Of course the supervisors are not going to be booted out and replaced by Mexicans!
Now on the other hand, I can understand why they need to fire the Spanish-speaking firefighters as well. A language barrier, especially within a dangerous field of work, can set you back in an already crucial setting. Time is of the essence and miscommunication is definitely not a positive addition to a time of crisis. Now to go against my idea of firing the supervisors, I can almost side with them on this issue as well. Supervisors need experience, training, and a degree to lead their company successfully so that not only their men go un-harmed, but also save the lives of the community. If a Mexican American had this experience and professionalism, they should be the one taking on the role of supervisor.
As confused as I am I understand that there are pros/cons to everything and that misinformation is distributed everywhere, especially on the web. I think that what needs to be focused on here is that there is no mixture. Why can’t there be a mixture of firefighters that speak both Spanish and English? There has to be some that speak both languages that are able to translate within their companies. But this needs to pertain to the people in management as well. Why can’t the supervisors speak both Spanish and English, including both races? This would ultimately solve the problem of supervisors not being able to communicate with their firefighters. I think that as a greater goal, we need to focus on not worrying so much as who gets what job and who is higher up than me, etc., but we need to worry about the equal opportunities and who is taking the chances to seize those opportunities.
There is a lot that comes to my mind when I see this story that is broadcast over FOX news. First, one must agree that it is FOX news. Yeah, yeah, FOX news has the tendency to report news that is often not the most truthful, but I am going to play devil’s advocate and take the side of FOX news and assume this is true. As a conservative anyway, I believe the story anyway. I think this is the most absurd thing I have ever heard in my life. How can some sort of high authority just make a rule that supervisors are fired because they don’t speak a language? How can someone just decide to fire someone, a supervisor, who has worked their way up from the bottom of the totem pole just because they don’t speak a certain language? Wouldn’t one think it would be more fair to NOT HIRE someone because they don’t have certain qualifications? This thought seems to make a little more sense, don’t you think? I agree that communication is very important when dealing with public services/defense, but I truly think this is outrageous. As a firefighter for a hometown company, communication is absolutely key when working at a fire scene. Therefore, speaking in the same language is key. Take the tower of Babel for example. Since everyone spoke a different language, nothing was accomplished. This example can be accounted for the work at a fire scene as well. However, back to the topic. I don’t think I have ever heard of anyone being fired from a high position (that they already had!) for not being able to speak a certain language (especially one that is not normally spoken in their place of work). How would you feel if you worked in a job for a certain amount of time, and then lose it because you don’t know a language that has been suddenly introduced into your workplace? I would feel so bad at the events taking place, and I’m sure if it were up to the fire supervisors, they would attempt to learn Spanish in order to keep their job. I think it is unfair for people in general to come through and take jobs for lower wages, but one has to remember the rule of one man for himself. How would you feel if you were an assembly line worker for a car manufacturer, and lost your job to foreign hands? I think one would have some resentment toward people who took their job, and I think this will be the case for the fire supervisors who lost their job to Mexicans. I certainly think they will resent them, because of losing their jobs, just because they didn’t know a certain language.
I really liked the guest speaker in class today. He was hilarious and he really made a good point. I think Sam’s classes should be more like his. More straight to the point and productive rather than repetitive and accusational. Whenever I am in Sams class I feel like I’m being put into a highly generalized category and blamed for doing things wrong. Although I enjoy going to class because it makes me think, I really don’t agree with his approach to race relations. The whole race relations project just seems like some kind of weird cult. It’s like he oversimplifies everything and throws out these vague answers. A lot of the time I feel like what he’s saying is kind of bullshit.
I think my real problem is that his approach to race relations seems to be perceived equality through distinction. I don’t like the idea of trying to prove everyone is equal by pointing out how they are different. I think that people of different color are the same as different gender or ethnicity or religion. Everyone is the same there are just some cultural barriers.
The only problem with todays speaker is that he put up a lot of ridiculous statistics. I hate when people use statistics as the bulk of their argument because you can find a statistic for anything, and these statistics were all really vague and didn’t really support what he was saying. But I really liked his exercise with drawing the house. That was a lot of fun and it proved a good point.
I read the article about the Mexican firefighters. That’s pretty stupid. That’s the reason I never watch the news. Too often I turn it on and hear the most riduclous statements of slander and bias. It’s so stupid. They never want to deliver the news straight up, they always have an agenda. Here they literally made a story up to make Mexicans look bad. Even if this was true, it would be crazy, but it still wouldn’t be any Mexicans fault. But I guess people hear stuff like that again and again and that’s how they become racist or full of hate and stuff.
I also watched that movie with morgan freeman. That was just stupid. There was no reason for him to attack the reporter. But I have to admit, he did tear the reporter up. It was pretty funny to see that uptight news reporter get cut up by Morgan Freeman. I guess this week was fun in class, and I am looking forward to the recessitation tomorrow. I don’t like the idea of trying to prove everyone is equal by pointing out how they are different. I think that people of different color are the same as different gender or ethnicity or religion. Everyone is the same there are just some cultural barriers.
Even as a small, 36 second blip on the radar of stories at the Fox News Channel, I am still shocked (well not really, actually) that they would run a story that is BLATENTLY false; especially one involving another culture and group of people that already faces intense prejudice in the United States.
It was too hard for me to believe this story, as much as the Spanish language is becoming more used and widespread in the United States, I was highly doubtful that the state of Oregon would incorporate such a rule that would say if you didn’t speak a language, which isn’t our national language, you could be let go. Perhaps in a more highly populated Hispanic state such as Florida, Texas or California this may happen, but I doubted that Oregon would do this.
It’s disappointing that some people (that do actually believe the story is true), are misattributing the cause of this to be President Barack Obama; but then again there will always be the misguided racists who look for any reason to complain and place blame on people of another race. I understand people who are upset about another language slowly gaining speakers and becoming a prominent second language of the United States, but it’s happening and being prejudice and downright nasty regarding it will not help curb this from happening.
So many e-mails are sent out every day that are, honestly, just propaganda from people spewing hate. Unfortunately too many people to count actually believe crap like this, and then further propel it by forwarding the emails and telling their friends. Fox News is a disappointment for not fact checking this, and pretty much just reporting a rumor that they found to be interesting. I’m not going to lie and say that when I get crazy emails like these that I go and immediately look them up and check to make sure that they are actually fact; but I do normally take them with a grain of salt and forget that they exist in a couple of hours…and I certainly do not pass them on.
While I do agree that both sides of the spectrum, both liberal and conservative, come up with and pass on things that are not 100% true or politically correct, it is hard for me to not agree with Sam in giving a majority of blame to the conservatives; for all intensive purposes they ARE the news source in this blog. Also, I have noticed some shady and perhaps untrue stories on Fox News before, but have never further investigated as Sam did. Maybe from now on I will double check everything I hear on Fox News, but then again I probably won’t be able to watch enough Fox News to care.
I don’t think that people in America should be getting fired for not speaking Spanish- that’s clear to me. I do think that people working as firefighters need to have some sort of knowledge of the English language, even if they aren’t fluent. That’s not because I think all people living in America NEED to speak English, but people working in a dangerous environment that requires saving peoples lives, then yes, some sort of English knowledge should be known- for their own safety and the safety of others. As for everyday life, the issue is different. I think if people can get by not having to learn English, then fine, but my guess is that they know a little bit. Just as I know a couple words in Spanish, and could possibly be able to get by visiting Mexico.
Clearly, these are not the issues needing addressed by this article. It is the fact that the news report stated actions of the fire department and not the reason for these actions. If you look further into this, like Sam did, and read the article you basically see that it was the companies own fault of hiring people who could not speak English, just as they couldn’t speak Spanish, or any other language. Also, if they knew the rules they’d know their own job would be in jeopardy, but at the same time they were in need of firefighters to fight these wildfires in the west. The companies that hired the non-English speaking firemen may have been desperate and did what they thought was right, then accidentally got screwed over.
And this seems to be the issue of the news report. There is more to it than American firefighters getting fired because of Mexican immigrants. But it is these kinds of stories that get people fired up. I think even if everyone who had seen this story and read the rules of the ODF that there would still be people who were upset over this because they have the mentality of Mexican immigration being a bad thing. And maybe it is. But people need to know all the facts before getting SO fired up. I think in a way, this is why I’m not so passionate about any of these issues because I don’t know enough about any issue to strongly defend it. Knowing the whole story, then basing opinion on it is alright, but you always need to know the whole story before getting heated about anything.
I’m glad this article was put up because it made a very good point of not making rash judgments. I do think it’s a bigger deal when your directly affected, so maybe this story was brought about by those people, and therefore portrayed as more of an injustice than it really is.
The article “Those Damn Mexicans Are At It Again” really does confuse and anger me. The main reason that this news announcement was so appealing to people is because it spoke about race. In our society, people love to hear about race and the controversy it causes. Most people believe whatever they hear, especially if it is information coming from a source as “reliable” as the news. Fox New is a conservative station, with an audience that, for the most part, would truly be angered over a news story of this sort. It is clear that Fox News altered the story to appeal to this type of audience. Most Americans, especially those watching this station, will get mad when they hear that firefighters were being fired because they only spoke English.
My initial reaction to the video was quite honestly just that. In a country like America- why would someone get fired because they could only speak OUR language? Although, after reading the follow-up article things were now much more transparent. The article clearly states that no crewmembers of the ODF were ever fired or demoted because of the inability to speak Spanish. It is actually required for the firefighters or members of the crew to be able to speak English, not Spanish. It is true that if a company decides to hire many employees that speak a language other than English, the supervisors of the crew have to speak the predominant language of the crew. This is for communication and safety purposes and only makes sense in order for these firefighters to do their job to the fullest potential.
There are so many negative comments under the video posted on You Tube. There are two rude, specific posts that stand out in my mind. One post said, “Speak English chili-choker.” Another angry person writes, “Round em up, check their papers and first off, if they're not here legally, put them in PRISON.” This is just one example of how angry people get and automatically blame the innocent people being falsely portrayed in the media. It is truly unfortunate because the story is just twisted and false information is being given to the public.
The skewed rendition of this story leads to many people feeling angry towards immigrants, especially Mexican Americans. It is unfair and some people do not understand the truth behind the story because they believe everything that they hear on the news. We have to acknowledge that not everything that we see in the media is the truth and take this into consideration. It is important to be skeptical about news stories in order to prevent something like this from happening.
When I first saw this clip I definitely did the confused look and head tilt to the side. A bunch of things rushed through my head. Now, I am no firefighter but communication seems like it would be very necessary in a life-threatening situation. If the walls are crashing down around you, people are screaming, and you are blind by smoke how are you going to find your way out unless you’re working as a team. If an English speaking firefighter is trying to help a blinded firefighter that does not speak English how is that suppose to work? Visa versa as well, firefighters are like a family they have to help each other out and if they are as good as deaf to one another because of a language boundary they could hurt themselves and be less of a help to those who are in need.
One of my good friends has a father who is a firefighter and he has always been telling us about his experiences. The firefighters have radios and it is 100% necessary to keep everyone in the crew up to date on where each member is. Being that his is happening in a collapsing building, all of this has to happen within a few minuets. Imagine trying to throw a translator in there, it just would not make any sense at all! A language barrier in a situation is both inconvenient and dangerous to everyone involved. I just want to make clear that this danger in a language barrier applies to all; German, French, Chinese, you name it. If you do not speak the language of the country you should by no means be in a lifesaving profession.
On a different note, this story spreading like wildfire shows how much people need gossip. It started in high school with gossip about who kissed who, and now it has moved to political issues. We are all still just a bunch of adolescents in a “grown-up” body. In my opinion news is a very powerful vehicle and it is very often abused. What the news should tell the people has been clouded up with political agendas and overly fabricated stories. The news was created to inform people about important issues, and as far as I am concerned they should stick to that. Fox’s presentation of this story simply did not make sense, so I understand some of the logical criticisms that were posted. It is as if Fox news tried to trick people into hating minorities. The only thing I am sure of is that all news stations have their own biased opinions. One way or another there will be something on that channel that we disagree with. The best thing we can do is have a broad spectrum of where we gather our information.
When I first watched the clip on Spanish speaking firefighters causing English-speaking bosses to be replaced I was as confused as anyone else would be. This seemed to be the case of a news station picking up and reporting on a story before it got all of the facts straight. Too often this happens on cases that are racially sensitive perhaps because of a reporters biases. Whatever the case for the misleading reporting, the result is that the vast majority of people, who hear the story, will believe it as though it were factual. This perpetuates the spread of inaccurate facts that often surrounds minorities. While I am irritated that any news station would do such a poor reporting job I think that it is more important to address how much the average person listens to what they are told by reporters. Too frequently people get all of their information on a particular topic from a single newspaper or news station. Despite attempts to deliver the news without bias it is unlikely that getting it from one source will provide anyone with a wide variety of opinions. Thus people need to begin to take the responsibility upon themselves to do some research on their own, specifically on topics that they are passionate about or which they have only vague knowledge about. Don’t just sit blindly by and allow some news crew to dictate how you feel about an issue. Learning to be proactive in the quest to discover truthful facts is one of the first steps necessary to combating racism. Racism persists and even spreads when people are too afraid to challenge beliefs that have no basis in fact. As soon as people gain the confidence necessary to question the news they are getting especially if it sounds as ridiculous as the article about the firefighters did then racism will lose its powerful grip in our society. All articles like that do is serve to create an unwarranted panic about something that isn’t even an issue. Anyone who even took a second to actually think about the news report would realize how ridiculous it would be to have an all Spanish speaking firefighting crew in an English speaking country. Especially in an emergency situation, problems caused by the miscommunication between the crew and their captains and the people they are trying to save would be insurmountable. This is not to say that there are no truthful reporters out there. However, too often stories are sensationalized to draw a greater reaction and this always must be kept in mind. Despite my position on reporters I still think it is crucial that people keep themselves informed and at least read a few articles everyday. Perhaps something they read will spark their curiosity and cause them to do greater research into the topic. Certainly I know that’s all I wanted to do after hearing the report about the Spanish speaking firefighters.
Those Damn Mexicans Are At It Again
I feel that the story shows just how ridicules the hysteria has gotten over the whole Mexicans are taken all the jobs routine. I mean first of all this story is just freaking ridiculous anyone with any type of common sense would be able to see through this bull crap in a second. Like there is no way they would fire multiple fire chiefs simply because of a few Mexicans joining their crew that’s ridiculous. I mean there is no way a Mexican who spoke no English could possibly successfully work with and English speaking crew. I defiantly feel like there is way too much infuse being put on the whole Mexicans are going to take over the United States stigma. I mean for god sakes most of them are still getting the worst jobs that are in America I mean most work as made and construction workers. Most of them are still receiving the worst wages that America has to offer many of them are over worked and under paid. I mean honestly if people want Mexicans to stop supposedly taking all the jobs then maybe people need to stop hearing them illegally and using them to build houses. I mean honestly at this point I do not know what we as Americans would do without the help of cheep Mexican labor. I mean honestly they are the ones who are blinding this country at this point they are on every construction and landscaping job that I have seen. I mean like if they weren’t here supplying America wit cheap labor we as a country would be inn dyer straits. I mean as far as I’m concerned their the new version of slaves in this country they work for little and are treated with little to no respect. I feel that many people are using Hispanics as a scape goat for all the problems that were caused by Americans long before they ever came to this country. I mean I feel that those on the right wing are trying to use this hysteria to simply make white trash Americans feel that their way of life is in danger because they are going to lose their job to a Mexican. I feel that they use this technique to get their votes, when it comes time to elect a new president. I mean it seems like whenever they run out of things to use to get people behind their party they simply blame the poorest group and blame them for all the problems America is haven. All in all I just feel like the whole Hispanics are going to take over America stigma is ridiculous and should just be put to a stop as soon as possible.
This is a perfect example of how often times people don’t dig deeper into a story to find out the solid facts behind the controversy. In terms of the media, I think often they hear what they want and just enough of the story (and no more) to make it in to a bigger situation than it actually is. When I first read this I was kind of in disbelief but then, being somewhat of a pessimist I thought to myself, “this is no big surprise.” I mean we have all these immigrants coming into the U.S. and you know very well that there are tons of people that are completely against immigration (they think the zillion mile wall being built is the best idea ever). Personally, I don’t have a huge problem with immigration (although there are some instances when it really does piss me off). The fact of the matter is reading this article made me kind of hate that more immigrants were coming into this country. In the news clip it stated that supervisors were being laid off or demoted because they could not speak Spanish, which is the language of many of the people who are applying for these firefighting jobs. I think that this is ridiculous because it seems as if we are accommodating a little too much to the needs of these immigrants. Everyone knows that when Americans go and travel abroad the natives of that country appreciate if at least Americans can try and communicate in their language. In this instance I believe this idea applies to any immigrant who comes to live and prosper in this country. If you’re going to live here, then take the time to learn the language. The U.S. has become a country where Spanish is basically a second language. We as a nation are slowly accommodating to this increasingly popular language. Now when I first read this article, again I was amazed that this really could be happening. Usually I feel like we would hear this story the other way around where immigrants were not being hired because Americans were not making the effort to learn their language. However I think we have realized that with these types of laborious jobs, which many Americans do not want and where often times a large majority of immigrants take on, we as Americans realize the importance of adopting another language to communicate with our employees.
When I finally read the statement from the State of Oregon’s Department of Forestry I began to see the real light behind this story and how the media can often times blow these situations completely out of proportion. I think it makes sense that if you are going to hire an immigrant who only speaks Spanish that you should also be able to communicate (on some level) with your employee. HOWEVER, I also think communication works both ways. If the immigrant only speaks Spanish, then they also need to take the time to learn English otherwise they will have a hard time fitting in with their fellow employees. If this happens then this person will probably not stay long in this job. So it works both ways. We both need to compromise and make the effort.
The comments left on this video on YouTube are some of the most illogical things I have ever read. Yes, it is a problem that the firemen could not communicate. That however, is not the fault of the Mexicans or Barack Obama for that matter. So a Mexican man wants to be a firefighter. That doesn’t mean that his boss should be fired because he can not speak English. Maybe instead they could find an official or squad that speaks Spanish or both Spanish and English to lead the only Spanish speaking men. It is obviously important that the men be able to communicate easily in an emergency, but no one should be denied the right to work in the area that they want.
While I don’t think it is necessary for all Mexicans to learn English if they truly don’t want to, I think it should be a requirement if they are planning to work in a field that involves the safety of the people of their county, such as firemen or police officers. With the vast majority of people in America speak English this only seems logical to me. I also don’t see why, if these Mexicans went through the whole process to come to America in the first place, why they wouldn’t want to learn English anyway, at least to communicate with other Americans. They don't need to learn every detail. It’s not like it erases their native language from their minds. It would just be safer for them, their families, and the others around them to be able to communicate.
Another thing about this that bothers me is the comment, “This is what happens when we elect a black man as president." Now it’s obvious this man had no idea what he was talking about, but it still bothers me just the same. Lately, everything that has gone wrong or anything that sounds suspicious is automatically blamed on our BLACK president. This may be my liberal side talking, but President Bush didn’t do much good for this country in my opinion. I believe most people think that as well, which makes me curious as to why they don’t give Barack a chance. It was obvious that we as a country needed a change, maybe even in appearance. Forever, our president has been a gray haired middle aged white man. And forever our country has accumulated a huge debt and lost so many of its people in stupid wars. Change in style seems almost necessary at a time like this. A black man, a woman, someone with some different views for a change, anything so that I don’t need to see the same stereotypical president speaking on my TV all the time. And seeing what our black president has been left to deal with, so far he hasn’t failed too poorly. I just wish conservatives would give him a chance to see what he can do.
The phrase I am reminded of in this instance is “Believe nothing you hear and half of what you see.” News stories like this just make me think believe nothing what you hear or see on the news, period. This is pretty sad if you think about it. People turn on the news in the beginning and end of each day to learn about what is going on in the world. Instead of hearing the truth, they are fed exaggerated claims and details, which are considered lies. The truth is simple, not some intricate story with added details. And then these people who watch the news believe these stories because they were on the news. But they shouldn’t. It’s almost like the news caters to the public by publishing what they want to hear. Although this may be good for obtaining a large audience, spinning the details and changing the facts is not what news is about. People want the truth, and if the truth hurts the public then they should just live in a box or something. I’m just saying that people need to know the facts of the country and world rather than having stories that “sound good.”
Someone else who responded said that he think it has to do with people wanting instant details. Always being the first news crew on the scene with the first coverage. Okay, fabulous, you guys can speed on the high way. But is your story accurate? Is it the truth? Or is it half-assed because you wanted to be able to claim you were there first. I really don’t care which news crew is there first, I just want to hear what happened with accurate details.
So I just have one question to the Fox news people: Really? Did you really just air that story? Wow, I’m not even a journalist major, but that sounds just wrong. Not only does that story sound unfinished, but it sounds half-assed. Did you even do research for it at all? My guess is no. You probably just were looking for social desirability and aired this nonsense story. The truth is way more interesting than what you aired anyway.
Now to the whole anti-Mexican hysteria and them not speaking any English: I agree that those who cannot speak English should not be allowed to work with a crew that speaks only English. Without a common language, how can the firefighters be able to communicate to get their job accomplished? It’s kind of like the exercise Dr. Jones had us do in class yesterday when we had to draw a house with a partner using one pencil and no talking. The one picture he showed on the projector was a square. That’s not really what he wanted us to draw, but with the lack of communication, they could not get the job done. And the firefighter’s job is a little bit more than just drawing a house with the same pencil; it’s saving lives and the community. So if someone cannot speak English, how will they get the job done? This isn’t saying that we should not let any Hispanics in the field, they just need to learn the language so everyone can communicate efficiently.
Or maybe it’s us who needs to learn Spanish. The U.S. doesn’t have a national language and Spanish is becoming the most commonly used language in the country. Just being the devil’s advocate…
Those Damn Mexicans Are At It Again
I find this news television story about the Mexican firefighters to be pretty ridiculous. I must say that the ability of the media news to twist and turn a story around to make it sound just the right way to catch viewer’s attention does not surprise me at all. Unfortunately this probably happens much all too often than we are conscious of. The problem with the news (newspapers, television, radio, etc.) is that with freedom of speech, they can say whatever they want, whether the story is fact, fiction, or a little fancy mix of the two. The problem that then results from this is that Americans rely on such sources to find out what is going on in the world and believe whatever they read. Although there usually is not too much wrong with this, because most of the news is based on fact, it creates a bad situation with false stories are reported and Americans don’t take the time to investigate the story for themselves. It’s very good that people are interested and read the news, but they are too quick to judge when a suspicious story is reported and they believe it for all that it is worth.
In listening to this report of the situation with the Spanish speaking Mexican firefighters and English speaking crew bosses, I find myself slightly offended that a reporter would air this story without looking into it himself, especially when it sounds so silly. His job is to relay the news to the American public, and he should take a little more responsibility for doing so. And to suggest at the end of the report that the Mexican firefighters “just learn English” adds to the typical American way to just jump on the band wagon and believe the story.
I would additionally like to address the comments that people left on the youtube website. First, "Round 'em up and send 'em home." Does this person even realize what they are saying? Round up the American citizens, who happen to be of Mexican heritage, who are fighting fires for us and saving our lives (a job that this commenter would probably never be brave enough to endure) and send them back to the Country of Mexico, which may be a place they never called home in the first place. Second, "This is what happens when we elect a black man as president." As the blog pointed out, this story came out years before Obama was elected into presidency. What is this person thinking, to openly say that English speaking firefighters were fired because other firefighters spoke Spanish. Let me just point out that Obama speaks English too. Regardless, the two events have no correlation whatsoever. This person, clearly, has no idea what they are talking about and is way too quick to judge when he doesn’t have all the facts, a problem that is all too common among Americans.
The first time I listened to the fox news report I actually did turn my head and scratched it. I was in a state of wonder that was just like no way that’s not possible kind of thought. Although, I am all for having Spanish on labels because there are a lot of people in this nation (legal of course) that do only speak Spanish. But to fire anybody, let alone a people high up in the firefighter job. I think that is ridiculous but that is not the point of the blog. I think that the point Sam was trying to make is just as ridiculous or even more so than what was going on to the firefighters in Oregon. Both sides of the political spectrum put out these articles and whatnot on issues that just get the other side furious for exactly that reason, just to get the other side furious. In other words, they only put out certain things that get a point across that mention bad things to a certain side. Now I think that this is all well and good if they tell the whole story, then its fine, the people get to chose for themselves. But when the story that is published is not telling the whole story then that is not really what is going on, so the people really can’t decide on their own which side to take. I just think that it’s bad for both sides to be doing this kind of thing because when the people who start to investigate the stories, like Sam did, find the truth these people get upset at the whole thing and then don’t know what to do about it. To me it’s almost being counterproductive and not realizing what they are really doing. They should be spending their money in a more productive way, for their own cause, not for the hurt of the other.
Now I see things as they are shown to me, which is not very good I know. So when something like this comes along and is emailed to me right away I believe it and get upset. I don’t go looking into the story and make sure it’s true or anything like that; I just take it for what it is. Although, I don’t really know which side of the political spectrum it is hurting or which side it is coming from I still take the stories word for what it is saying. I can’t really help that because I don’t really know that much about the political things that go on in this world. I would like to take the time to look into a story like that which bothers me as much as this one did. But to be honest, not only do I not have enough time but I wouldn’t know what to think after I looked into the story. I just think that both sides should tell the whole story.
Hysteria is a strong word—a word that should be used carefully and only when completely necessary. Professor Richards threw out some serious allegations in his latest blog. We all know that misinformation is everywhere, but to accuse one side of it more so than the other is a bit ridiculous. However, I’d like to focus my attention more on the anti-Mexican ‘hysteria.’ Sam showed us a picture in class of Mexican students taking OUR flag, putting it upside down, then putting the Mexican flag overtop of it. Does that qualify as anti-American hysteria? 17% of our jails are comprised of the illegal population, most of whose violent crimes were committed against American citizens. Does that qualify as anti-American hysteria? If we went to Mexico and acted the way Mexican people do here, we’d be in jail in the blink of an eye. This is not my opinion—it’s a fact. Their laws on illegal immigration are stricter than ours. Why anyone who is not running from American law would want to illegally reside in Mexico is beyond me, but I digress. The problem in this country is that we are too accepting. We are too willing to prove to everyone else how diverse we are and how we are the true ‘melting pot.’ And that’s fine—as long as we don’t alienate our citizens. So I have to disagree; I don’t think there’s an anti-Mexican hysteria. Well, not a prevalent one, anyway. I think that there is an anti-racism hysteria though, and it can be very dangerous.
Anyway, I think Sam’s blog just plays into the big, bad conservative viewpoint. I caught the sarcasm in lumping liberals and Mexicans together, but why is this a political argument? I thought this was about anti-Mexican hysteria? He’s pretty much implying that only conservatives hate Mexicans. Is that true? I feel like it can’t be. However, it is a conservative viewpoint that illegal immigrants should be shipped back to where they came from. To me, it’s about right and wrong. They WRONGFULLY enter this country, WRONGFULLY go about their way of life, and our country rewards them for it. But I guess I can’t expect much more from a country who seriously considers allowing Gitmo prisoners to enter the United States, and then FURTHERMORE, give them welfare. It’s pretty clear that our country is quickly going down the drain.
Now, the material in Sam’s article may be fictitious, but who’s to say that things like that aren’t happening across America right now? There’s no guarantee that people aren’t being unfairly fired because of the politically correct HYSTERIA. Sam’s apparent condemnation of patriotic citizens shocked me a bit. Why shouldn’t we want to protect the values under which our country was formed. We are getting so far away from what we used to be (good or bad, it’s debatable), and it’s a little disheartening to sit and watch from the sidelines.
The fox news clip does not surprise me at all. I feel that people feel frustration towards Mexicans and have a hard time praising their successes. The fact that Oregon is hiring Mexican Fire Fighters, right away has to be an issue that white fire fighters are losing their opportunities. The Oregon Department of Forestry website clears the rumors about the unfair firing. They were untrue what a surprise. As Sam stated, I often hear stories on the news and have to scratch my head and wonder if they are true. Stories often get stretched to sound better on televisions.
I feel bad for these fire fighters who are doing nothing but finding jobs to support their families in this economic recession. Perhaps they do not speak English well but they should be given the opportunity at the job. Communication is essential for firefighters. Therefore, management needs to ensure that they all can communicate effectively with each other. This does not mean fire the people who do not speak Spanish well.
Sam noted that the point of this blog entry is to forecast anti-Mexican hysteria. I feel that anti-Mexican hysteria is very common among Americans. Mexicans are treated unfairly by many American workers. Mexican Americans are very hard working people. Mexican immigrants are essential for the low prices we are addicted to. They often take the unattractive jobs that so called “Real Americans” won’t take. I often feel that successful hard working legal Mexicans take the heat for the illegal’s that enters the country. Their successes are always tarnished from illegal immigrants. Yet Americans do not know how much our economy relies on illegal immigrants from Mexico. They are employed and pay income tax. However they never file their income taxes. They work in industries that are deemed unattractive for very low wages. I am not saying I support illegal immigration, I often it is just an excuse for people’s racism towards people of a different culture.
The media does a great job in reporting stories about a particular class of people but does not make it seem racist in there interpretation. Fox News may have just misinterpreted the story due to the lack of facts. I recall them doing this during the election. But before they report a story on such a controversial topic, it is there duty to ensure that the facts are reliable before reporting them to the public. It took Sam all of 45 seconds to find the facts behind the story. I’m not just picking on Fox News, it is all media sources. I feel for hardworking Mexican Americans in there efforts to gain the respect they so truly deserve. Just because we elected an African American As President does not mean racism is over.
First of all, the title of this video brings such an extreme impression of America right away. “Those Damn Mexicans are at it Again” is one of the most stereotypical things I have ever read and this video is not helping in getting rid of these stereotypes. This just goes to show the impact of media, including television and the internet. Media is also responsible for distorting much of the information they get, mostly because they hope to gain large audiences. This is not fair for the public because they are then misinformed, and then lead to believe such stereotypes. When I first watched the video I was a bit angry for the firemen that lost their jobs. All their hard work they have devoted to their job and all of the sudden since they speak English and others speak Spanish, they are fired. The first thing I asked myself was, how can this be fair? If I did not keep reading the rest of the blog, I would have been left with this intense angered opinion of Mexicans. But, I did read on and since the research was right there for me to look at, I clicked on it and read the truth behind Oregon’s Department of Forestry laws on fire safety. Reading their regulations I can definitely see their argument dealing with the ability to speak the language of those working under extreme circumstances when saving lives threatened by fire. Workers must be able to understand commands and warnings shouted out during an intense rescue mission, otherwise lives are in danger. So then, with this new information I began to understand the meaning behind Mexicans overpopulating the fireman squads. But, I was still taken back by the many Americans that still were said to have lost their jobs. Maybe I did not fully understand the posted article, but I still feel I need more information to not believe what they are telling me on Fox News. Quite frankly, I still feel it was not fair to fire those Americans. The Mexicans are in our country, they should know how to speak our language and then help out the society they choose to live. Maybe this is me being one of those people who did no research and posted those nasty comments under the video on YouTube, fully wrapping myself up in the media. This just adds to my statement that the media is extremely powerful. If background information or further explanations are not clearly laid out for viewers, they most likely are not willing to go search for the truth themselves. We live in such a fast paced country we have drive-thrus for our coffee, chances of people questioning/researching what they see on TV and eliminating racism and stereotypes are slim to none.
Despite the addition that the statement released by the Department of Forestry in Oregon contained an explanation “in considerable detail,” one point that holds great importance to the story is overlooked. While the department maintains that the facts of the contract would regulate against any possible demotions based on a leader’s inability to speak Spanish, there is little consideration beyond a sentence given for the time of implementation. As the statement evidences, the facts, referred to collectively as a “language stipulation,” was added only after more non-English speaking firefighters were added to crews.
However, no time frame for this implementation is ever given. While FOX News could have easily been fabricating stories of supervisors being laid off, it is possible that, at the time of production, the stipulation had not yet been added, and a requirement was still in effect to require supervisors to speak the language of the crew majority. Since there is no official language in the United States, there would be no reason for anyone in the crew to be required to speak English, hence why the new rules were added only after an influx of Spanish-speaking workers. The news channel could easily have had their facts straight at the time of airing.
More research, of course, would be needed in order to successfully create a timeline of the FOX News story against the implementation of the new “facts.” Until then, to draw conclusions that FOX News was deliberately fabricating stories, and not just focusing on sensationalist stories that fit their platform, would be irresponsible. Considering the seemingly-deliberate hold on all available facts by the Department of Forestry, it would be even more irresponsible to rely on a “gut feeling” of a generalized population rather than immediately reaching the most self-apparent conclusion. Basically, research should not be stopped once one finds the conclusion they desire and promote out of context, a fault found in both the original video and in the blog post responding to it.
It does remain that the ability of people to blame occurrences such as these on “liberals, illegal immigration, and political correctness” is far-fetched and without merit. What seems to be asserted is that, as American workers, people should be required to speak English. However, as previously stated, there is no official language of the United States. Nor, then, is there a limitation on jobs that can be given to non-English speaking workers, and anti-discrimination laws make sure that people are not treated poorly due to their language. The firefighters now have limitations in place that set up English as the “firefighter’s language,” an act which is certainly a good move, though some thought should have been given to this issue before crews started readily accepting firefighters who could not speak English.
This article is a great example of how the media determines what Americans think all the time and basically about any important issue. We actually discussed this last week in our discussion group last week where we addressed different television shows. One of them was with Hughley on the CNN network, and someone brought up how the television show was getting taken off the air due to some comment or view that had been brought up. Obviously every conservative American in the United States totally hated the view and started to write letters to the network for the show to be taken off. In the end, the show was taken off, which is very unfortunate since it was a very entertaining piece of work.
This example that was brought up in class goes hand in hand with what happened in Oregon with the Mexican firefighters. The segment that was put out by Fox News allowed for other videos to be made be put all over the internet. Subsequently, after anything goes on the Internet people will think it is definitely true and start to make their opinions regarding the situation. Specifically with this example people thought the Mexicans were not forced to learn English, but the supervisors were required to learn Spanish if anyone on their team spoke the language. Certainly this was not true as Professor Richards pointed out with some researching. However, even with such skewed details people will not to take on the most aggressive opinions concerning on how Mexicans should be thrown out of the country. This is so uncalled for as how people can make such stupid and racist judgments off a video they found online.
In this case the video was not true, but if it were true I would definitely think differently. I would make any firefighter learn English if they were going to help citizens of this country. Look at paramedics and police officers. They are all required to know how to read, write, and speak English from what I know. Therefore why would it not be required for firefighters to learn English as well? These firefighters are going to be contact with people who most likely speak English. So how are they expected to help those individuals then? I think that would totally be unsafe and should not be allowed in any case. On that point, I am pretty sure it is probably not like that anywhere in the United States, as it is not like that even in Oregon even though some ignorant people think otherwise. In the end, I hope Americans will become smarter and start researching things a little big more extensively before they start to make their opinions on different subject matters.
Reading “Those Damn Mexicans Are At It Again” opened my eyes to just how prejudiced many Americans are. Although I know not everyone in America is as open minded as people at Penn State often seem to be, to me, this story obviously stretched the truth. This story shows that even legal immigrants, regardless of where they are from, are constantly discriminated against. People often complain about illegal day laborers, yet this seems to be the only work that immigrants can find because when they try to obtain other jobs, such as by becoming fire fighters, they are discriminated against and even disciplined or fired because of their immigrant status. Communication among fire fighters is no doubt one of the most important aspects of the job, just because someone is not a native English speakers does not mean they are unable to communicate with others. America, which has often prided itself on its melting pot status, is home to millions of immigrants, legal and illegal. Accepting someone regardless of their ethnicity and nationality should be natural, since we all began our lives in this country as immigrants. The only real Americans in this country are American Indians, yet somehow the majority has found a way to discriminate against them as well.
Not only was I shocked to see that most Americans believed this could possibly be going on, but the fact that a respected (although infamously conservative) news station such as Fox could air such a story. They obviously did not research this information because as Sam posted in the article, the statement from the state of Oregon’s Department of Forestry explains that this is absolutely not true. The blatant lies in this news story are ridiculous. As a communications student, I find it appalling that a professional journalist would agree to publicize such a story without doing any research to find if the facts are true. Also, this story seemed to outrage a large number of people, yet when someone is fired because they cannot speak English, it seems perfectly fine. When the tables are turned and it is an America who is discriminated against, all hell breaks loose.
This type of story seems to becoming ever more popular in America, whether it is a restaurant who will not accept orders placed in languages other than English or it is a business who will not allow Spanish-speaking customers, these stories seem to continually be finding their place onto the news and into the headlines. Although it seems logical that these businesses would want as many customers as possible to help increase business, I think it’s sad that business owners would choose to discriminate against people over wanting the highest possible profitability for themselves.
I believe that this specific news story is yet another example of the media running out of things to talk about. I personally believe that there is not enough news out there to fill several 24 hour news channels and as a result of this, news stories end up being blown out of proportion or simply made up. Now, depending on the particular news stations affiliation with either the right, or left wings of politics, they can end up turning a story about a grain shortage in the mid west, into a story about liberal politicians destroying the lives of the good old American farmer.
This brings me to another beef I have with the American news media. I feel as though, the way the news media currently presents itself, it is doing no more than fanning the flames of hatred. I mean this in several different ways. For one, everybody thinks that the days of propaganda are over, but how many times do we see a group of Taliban insurgents driving in the back of a pickup truck driving around in the Middle East someplace unknown. When Katrina happened it was extremely tragic and an estimated 2000 Americans were killed. This was a huge story, and was covered by our media for years after the event and is still covered occasionally today. But what about the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean? 225,000 people died! That is more than 100 times the amount of people that died in Katrina, entire islands full of people disappeared off the map and how many times did we hear about that tragedy? Oh I’m sure you heard of it, all the media stations talked about… for about a month.
Putting those problems with the media aside, what about the problems they cause here amongst ourselves. Day in and day out, they have nothing to talk about, so what do they do? They start fights. Have you ever seen that episode of South Park? I forget what the main idea of the episode was, but it involved the 4 main boys betting over who would win, these two other boys, Craig or Tweak. Craig and Tweak have no reason to fight but the boys want to see who would win so they make up reasons, and tell Craig and Tweak separately things like “Craig said you’re moms a whore” etc . Craig and Tweak end up duking it out and nothing is resolved. I feel like the news media is playing the part of the 4 main boys, and Craig and Tweak are the Democrats and the Republicans. I mean sure, the left wing and right wing schools of thought don’t agree on a lot of things, but why can’t they just agree to disagree? I feel like the media is there to egg us on, to broaden the gap between the political parties and generally make America seem like more of a divided place. Is it possible that in a world of no good news to talk about, the media, out of desperation would purposefully create a false conflict between two people simply to generate more news?
As an advertising major (and soon-to-be graduate), I can honestly say the most important single piece of information I have learned in my four years of study is, without a shadow of a doubt, perception is reality. What this ultimately means in advertising – or in life, in general – is something becomes “real” when a person hears something or sees something (or perceives something) over and over and over again for an X number of times or an indeterminate period of time. McDonald’s Chicken Nuggets are not made out of kangaroo meat, but once the rumor spread and people kept hearing the same thing over and over again, it stuck and the company was forced to release a statement. It does not matter one teeny tiny little bit whether that something is, you know, real or not. Once it sticks, it sticks. I imagine one particular part of our brains is a lot like wet pottery clay. For a period of time, this part can be molded and shaped to resemble anything. One minute, the clay can look like a box and the next it can look like a ball. As long as water is consistently applied, you can shape this part for as long as you wish. After awhile, however, you run out of water and the clay becomes hard and permanent, stuck in that position forever. In our minds, what we believe changes countless times throughout our lives. Yet, at some point, some things become fortified in our minds – whether they are real or not, true or false – and we believe them to be fact. This is where Professor Richards’ post, “Those Damn Mexicans are at it Again,” about the head-scratching Fox News piece finally comes in. Nowadays (and I can attest to this first-hand), whenever a story flashes up on the news about any minority group (in this case, Mexicans, but it can also be African-Americans, Arab-Americans, gays and lesbians, etc.) being discriminated against by some social institutions (in this case, the Oregon Department of Forestry, but it can also be companies, schools, or other public organizations), I feel most people are (A) appalled, (B) angered, (C) not surprised in the slightest, and (D) automatically assuming that this is fact, never bothering to research the thirty-second clip in order to uncover the truth. As upsetting as C is, D is the most important part. We often tend to take the news as fact --- I mean, after all, broadcasting news should be synonymous for broadcasting facts. Unfortunately, as Professor Richards’ alluded to, the news is not neutral. Channels such as CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC take the news and then apply their own slant to it in order to appease their political agenda. This is the biggest problem with today’s media; however, with astronomical ratings and larger-than-life egos (ahem, Bill and Keith), it is a problem that I do not envision being solved in the near future unless we take a stand against news being run through a left-wing or right-wing filter before it is presented to us.
The continual problem of news source credibility seems to keep coming up over and over again in the courses I’m studying this semester. Which, I don’t mind at all because I find it an extremely interesting problematic issue. As a public relations major, it is repeatedly drilled into my mind how important it is to provide truthful information the way the hard facts prove it, not information spun into the ways in which it may be desired to be heard. This doesn’t seem like a concept that needs much reinforcing, but oh how it obviously does. I was not aware until very recently just how much the news we obtain is biased. Not to mention, all of the information, stories, events, occurrences and messages that are withheld from us. This is bad. This is very, very bad. We look to the media to provide us with our up to the moment news so that we are well educated, knowledgeable and informed. But how many of us really question the job the media does and the true content of what we receive? Don’t we usually just search cnn.com, foxnews.com (or whatever site we prefer), scroll through the headlines, spend some time reading the articles that interest us, process the information, form our own views and then move on to maybe talk about our thoughts and spread our knowledge to other people? The same goes for television, radio, etc. We obtain our news, and then we move on with the knowledge we acquire from it. With all of the information I’ve learned in this semester alone, I will argue that by doing this, we are not doing our jobs as active citizens. Yes, we’ll hear time and time again how important it is to use multiple news sources in order to ensure that we’re receiving the right information and the true facts. But the real truth is that it goes far beyond that. It’s about us doing our research to make sure that our news sources, no matter what they are or how many we use, are giving us all that we need to know. The ugly truth of the matter is that very rarely, especially when it comes to political and economic issues, do we know the full story. I’m not about to say that our media is utterly terrible, as I know we are not presented with completely false information and we do have to credit most of the knowledge we acquire to the media, itself. However, we need to consider the fact that the information we do NOT hear that is NOT presented to us and is conveniently left out, is often critical for us to make accurate and truly knowledgeable judgments. Case in point: the Oregon firefighter news clip. So, for every person that has the opportunity for their eyes to be opened to these issues that a lot of Americans aren’t in tune to, do something about it. Not only use multiple sources to obtain your news, but like Sam, do you own research.
I think American media is one of the biggest problems we face here in the United States. Yeah, we are in an economic slump, and there are so many issues that need resolved, but the economy generally always goes through ups and downs and there are many people who devote their lives to solve some of our nation’s greater problems. Yet, no one is sitting around in conference rooms talking about what we can do to get the media, from either the left or the right, to stop putting out misinformation (At least that I know of). It’s disgusting. We go to school here and learn so much about journalistic integrity, yet in the real world it’s hard to say if there is such a thing. And then we expect people to vote and make educated decisions about the future of their government. I know TONS of people who registered in State College because of the election, but then when it came time to elect local representative (who they’d never even heard of), they went down the list and picked random people. And even if they had watched the news and heard something about one of the local representatives, how do we even know its true at this point? It’s really quite sad.
As for the Mexican firefighter story. That’s just crazy. What’s really funny is that if the TRUE story had been put out, conservatives would be happy. The article from the Oregon.gov website said they do require English, and that’s what most conservatives really care about. When the truth is pleasing, why not report it? Fox News could have easily written a story about how Oregon requires its firefighters to learn English. I’m sure there would be people on the left who think it shouldn’t matter (or maybe not so much because it is more of a safety measure), but at the very least it would just be an account of a state who is “really taking action to keep this country American!” All the right-wing people would watch it from their living rooms and feel warm and fuzzy inside, and there would be no manipulation of a story. Why is that so hard?
And about the Mexican hate thing, it’s really sad, but true. I go to California a lot and a large portion of the population really dislike Mexican people. And they don’t call themselves racists. You’ll hear, “Oh I let one clean my house.” Haha as if that makes you not racist. And a HUGE majority of the people living in Orange County will move to a different part of the county just so their kids don’t have to go to school with a lot of immigrants. It’s really crazy. Here in our race relations class we may not be so ignorant but in some parts of the country we are FAR from eliminating racism.
Reading a blog entry like this reminds me of why every time I watch the news I take the stories I hear with a grain of salt. I don’t really know if Fox News, by dint of being conservative, reports more false news than other networks like CNN or MSNBC. I haven’t done any research on the topic, and I’m not going to, because I trust neither conservative nor liberal news reporting. I’m willing to bet that even if I did find a more trustworthy news network, it would still be reporting only news that supports its own agenda. Any kind of “fair and balanced” reporting (as Fox News claims to give) is a complete farce, and that goes for all the other networks, too. I can’t stand anyone who is all conservative or all liberal, so it can be hard for me to the watch the news without cringing inside.
While I don’t agree with networks supplying news and focusing on headlines that only support their own ideology (even though I don’t see the trend changing anytime soon), I do think, however, that it shouldn’t be beyond them to at least check the validity of the stories they are choosing to report. Even though many people don’t like to admit it, I know most people realize that the reason they like their favorite network is because it matches their own political leaning--meaning most of the time, conservatives are going to gravitate toward Fox News and liberals toward CNN. For people who enjoy being gung-ho about the political Right or Left and only like hearing news that support their own viewpoints, this is fine. However, networks REALLY cross the line--and anger me even more--when they start reporting news stories that are half or totally false. Too many people watch the news and take everything at face value, never dreaming that their favorite network may be supplying them with false information. For every person who watched this Fox News clip about the fired firefighter and scoffed at its accuracy, there were just as many--if not more--people who simply accepted it as fact and moved on with their lives. Even if they didn’t realize it at the time, accepting stories like these as the unquestionable truth will slowly shape the way they see the world, and this story in particular can only add fuel to the anti-Mexican fire.
Just because someone accepts this news story as authentic doesn’t mean that person is stupid, deluded, bigoted, etc. It simply means that someone assumed a well-known, national news network like Fox News would only be reporting the truth, so their assumptions about the story are actually justifiable. We shouldn’t be forced to research the validity of all the stories we hear on the news--the whole point of having a news network is so those people will go out and find the stories for us. The problem is with the network, not the audience. I hear too many people criticizing those who watch Fox News as being backward, blind to reality, etc. But do you really think the other news networks, like CNN or MSNBC, are any better? Wake up--because they aren’t. Don’t be so willing to criticize other people if you are making the same mistake.
This blog reminds me a lot of the exercise we did with our guest speaker in class yesterday. One person was told a story, who then had to tell the next person the story and so on. By the time the story reached the last person it was cut shorter and changed. This was also a topic of discussion in my discussion group today. My personal belief is that this is how misunderstandings occur. I can’t even tell you how many times my friends and I tell each other stories that we heard from someone who heard from someone who heard from someone else. The stories are never the same. Details get lost in translation and meanings are misconstrued. Now I know this doesn’t have to do much about race, but I’m going to use, for example, the story of Chris Brown and Rihanna.
The media has played up this situation so much it’s hard to really know what happened. One day, while sitting in the HUB, I overheard a group of people discussing the events that led to Rihanna’s beat-up appearance. One person said he heard that Rihanna gave Chris Brown a STD and because of this he assaulted her. Another person heard that he received a text message that Rihanna did not like and she started attacking him first. The next story was that they just got into a car accident and no abuse took place at all. Even now, no one really knows what really happened. But a rumor was started and it took off like a blazing fire.
The same can be said for situation involving race. Morgan Freeman said he thought Black History Month is “ridiculous.” Well I’m sure that if the story keeps getting told and no one is actually seeing what he says then the meaning of his comment can be greatly misconstrued. How much do you want to bet that someone out there was told that Morgan Freeman hates his own race? I’m sure it’s been said.
This is why it is true that once told a story like these, one needs to investigate further to get the whole story. Words are taken out of context. Actions are seen as purely actions and not for the whole picture. Details are left out and some are added in. It surprised me that someone in the class said that the story retold in class took place at a party when it really took place in a classroom. How did a party end up in the story? I wonder if things are omitted or added in just to make it a little more interesting. This is usually the case. Either way, unless a story is fully investigated, no one can really say what the truth really is. Not even the people involved because they are biased to their own side of the story.
The saddest part about this article and clip is that everyday American’s hear hundreds of stories and tales like this, and we believe them because they are on the news and the news is supposed to tell us the truth…right? I know that I am equally as guilty as everyone else at believing these stories when I heard them. If I had heard this news story I would have immediately sided with the firefighters and blamed the Mexicans. I would have not taken time to do the research on the topic and I would have ended it there, still believing that the Mexicans were taking American jobs and that it was a sad story that had nothing to do with me. This is where the problem comes in. Why do we constantly believe everything we hear on the news? We know as Americans that the media embellishes and doesn’t get its facts straight, yet everyday millions of Americans buy newspapers, magazines, and sit down to watch the 5 o’clock news. These are entire cable TV networks (cough, cough, E!) which as based completely on celebrity news and gossip. I am completely mesmerized by E! News, and I always take what they say for fact, but is Brittany really pregnant every 2 months? So where do the real problems in America lie? Is the problem really Mexican Americans taking American jobs, or is it something a little deeper in the American system or perhaps the system itself? The media portrays to the American citizens what the American government wants its citizens to believe. Because of this we get half stories, embellished stories, and flat out lies. If you watch a news story on a problem in Korea, you get an American woman who was “caught it the battle” and “struggled to get out the country.” You don’t get any information on the actual problems in the other country, just another American citizen getting their 15 minutes of fame. The media is causing Americans, legal or illegal, to go against each other, to blame each other for the problems in this country, which really are there any problems? Or is the government just creating issues and putting them into the media to get everyone fired up? I know its easy to say, “just don’t listen to the news” and “research things before you hear it,” but who is going to do that? It is so much easier and more entertaining to take what we hear from the media and accept it at face value. I know I am not about to go out and research every piece of news I hear to make sure it’s true. This is where the cycle begins again, with people believing false information. The system isn’t going to get better, and the truth isn’t going to come out into the media until we stop believing what is being said and demand facts. But who is going to waste the time to do that?
Articles like this are why I take everything I hear or read or see on the news with a grain of salt. I don’t trust any media outlet in this country because most of them do nothing but spew shit to get peoples attention when half of their facts and figures do not add up or even make sense, but it gets peoples attention. When we look closer at this article beyond what reliable Fox News tells us, we see that the story is not true at all. Supervisors are not being fired for not being able to speak Spanish to their crews. In fact the crews don’t even work for the Oregon Department of Forestry; they are contracted as private companies to do the firefighting work. There is a clause written into the contract that the ODF has with the firefighting companies that if anyone on the company’s crew speaks Spanish someone on the crew must be able to communicate with them. This is based on safety and efficiency, the firefighters must be able to understand orders and they must be able to understand them to work efficiently, regardless of the language the orders are given in.
Fighting fires is not a job for the light hearted, I know I would not want to take that job and put myself in the face of danger everyday, and obviously many Americans are not interested in this line of work either because companies are having to get workers from Mexico and other countries to come here and do these jobs. If English speaking people will not take the work, it will go to whoever will put themselves in the line of danger and if those people happen not to speak English, so be it, at least they are putting their lives on the line to protect American soil. How many Americans do we see protecting Mexican soil who are just there for a job, not involved in federal government or military affairs? Very few I would imagine. As the saying goes “beggars can’t be choosers” and if we as Americans don’t want to take these dangerous jobs, foreigners will take them because they need the money and we have to realize that even if they don’t speak English, they are still doing us a favor.
If Mexico needed labor they way the US does and the Mexican’s wouldn’t do the work and I knew I could go to Mexico and get a job like this without speaking Spanish, I would do it. And my attitude would be, “hey I’m here risking my ass for your country, and even though I don’t speak your stupid language, at least I’m doing YOUR jobs so be grateful and stop complaining “this is Mexico, speak Spanish or get out”. This is the same attitude I imagine many of these workers have and I support them for taking these dangerous jobs. I agree that someone on the crew where they are working needs to be bi-lingual so orders can be understood by everyone and the job can be completed safely and quickly, but that’s the cost of doing business if your own countrymen won’t get up and do the jobs that need to be done.
How could anyone argue against the most fair and balanced news organization in the United States of America? I’m not sure weather any of you are aware but as soon as you put on Fox News you’re in the No Spin Zone and to argue anything else is quite frankly unpatriotic and means you hate America. If you don’t acknowledge that this is the greatest country in the history of the world, ever, and realize that we speak English in the land of the free, then you can get out!
But really story like this is really nothing new for Faux News. At the top of the comedic misinformation industry it is the premier organization for paraphrasing stories in all the wrong ways. That being the case, I am not entirely sure as to what the purpose of this story is. Is it to argue that Spanish speaking immigrants should leave? Or that they should not be eligible to work? If that were the case, within the first day of that action being official America’s service industries are gone. That’s not even trying to be funny. In my experience, they are a very hardworking group of people, but because they are not extremely fluent in English, they are given the behind the scenes jobs, which are often much harder. In my time working at a semi exclusive country club, I noticed that when I showed up to work everyday at 6, sometimes 530 in the morning, the Hispanic workers had already been there working for at least an hour. When I would ask the course superintendent where the white grounds crew workers were, he would give a half laugh and say they were all to lazy to be up that early. The case is the same if you go to any restaurant in any major city. You will see many workers, who maybe do not speak English, but are putting in a great deal of effort just to earn a living. It’s a shame that in a society that glorifies that Paris Hiltons of the world who have done NOTHING to have money and fame, we denounce those who are doing a hell of a lot more.
Furthermore, if there is a problem with there being only Spanish speaking firefighters, where the fuck are all of the English speaking people who are not willing to fight fires?! I really doubt that when it comes down to application time the fire departments have plenty of candidates from every background and language capability. Maybe all of the white English speaking people can get up and stop bitching about the situation. Its not as if this country goes out looking for employees that can’t communicate effectively, it is probably a situation of who is willing to do the job.
Even though the Internet is a great tool for research (good enough for Fox News, apparently), it seems like just about everything you read on it has to be taken with a grain of salt. There has been numerous times when someone has told me some random factoid about a celebrity or an event that turns out to be simply untrue after I’ve dug a little deeper and done some research. In most cases it’s fairly innocuous, but in a situation like this, false information has the potential to do some real harm. I can’t even begin to imagine the amount of hate mail this fire company got from people who disagreed with their alleged practices. Unfortunately, very few people would do the research that Dr. Richards did to find out the true story behind this misleading news story.
It also just goes to show how eager people are to ignore the facts and simply agree with whatever news item confirms and/or supports their own biases and beliefs. Sometimes I feel as though as a society we don’t ask enough questions when presented with questionable material. All too often we just choose to take all of our information at face value rather than attempting to do any deep analysis of the content with which we have just been presented. I can think of a couple of reasons for this behavior. First, people just don’t have the time to put every little news bit under a microscope. Here in the “Information Age” it’s become almost impossible to talk about some news item before it becomes irrelevant. Second, I think that people are somewhat afraid to ask the hard questions for fear of making someone angry or appearing even the least bit confrontational. Sometimes I feel as those our society is far too passive and then the tough questions are left to be asked by people who have obvious biases (e.g., Michael Moore), which doesn’t really clarify anything. It just presents another extreme viewpoint of a societal issue. People need to realize there truly is no harm in asking.
This is exactly why I’m becoming a big proponent of instituting some sort of high school class on effectively consuming media in this country. With all the information and images that are out there that are preaching one thing or another, future generations need to be taught not to believe everything they hear right away. It’s already been shown numerous times the kind of effects the media has on body image, so it’s becoming clear that many teens need to learn how to decipher the messages that many media outlets are sending. I think it would be difficult to reshape the entire media at this point, so I believe we now need to focus on better educating people on how the media operates. That way more people may begin to ask questions about the material they are hearing on a daily basis.
I have to admit that I laughed when I saw the Fox clip about the firefighter captains, who were fired for not being able to speak Spanish to some Mexican crew members. It seemed almost ridiculous that someone would be fired for not being able to speak Spanish because someone on their crew was Mexican. However, it does make sense that in order to keep all the crew members safe it is important that the captain is able to communicate with all of them. It does seem as if the conservatives are simply trying to portray liberalists, political correctness, and illegal immigration as something that is a problem and needs to be taken care of.
I think the article brought up a good issue that Americans deal with when listening to the media. How much of what the media is telling us is actually true? Can we really trust everything they say or do we need to take it with a grain of salt? Clearly Fox did not do enough research when talking about the firefighters and it is almost embarrassing that other news agencies reported the same story. Oregon Departments of Forestry clearly stated that “ODF has no requirement that its employees speak Spanish, and does not demote or fire anyone because they don’t speak Spanish”. I just cannot comprehend how no news agency took the time to investigate their sources to make sure they were valid.
Fox definitely had an agenda when showing this story. It is common knowledge that Fox is a conservative network, and they clearly do not support illegal immigration. So of course they would jump on the chance to show how “hard working Americans” are getting the shove by the Mexicans, who are getting a free ride in this country. I will admit that I am more on the conservative side, but when I saw the video I thought that Fox was nuts and clearly did not do any real research. Also, I never really watch Fox anyway because I believe that they are definitely biased. However, on the same note, there are liberalist news programs, which go completely in the opposite direction when showing their side of the news.
Also, based on the responses to the videos it is clear that people are all too willing to believe anything they hear or read in the news. Sadly, by the comment by the man who blamed the firing of firefighters on Obama some people are just ignorant when it comes to really watching the news and actually paying attention to dates. I guess there are always going to be those crazy people who blame everything on groups of people that they do not like.
Overall, I think the article should make people rethink everything that see and hear in the news, and I think that people should be careful about what is said about different races of people because sometimes the network might have a different agenda. The firefighter story was an interesting story, but it would have been nice if the Fox network got both sides of the story. In the end I know that whatever news I watch I need to take a grain of salt, or at least be willing to do some extra research in order to get my facts straight.
Decades are defined by extraordinary events. The 1940s are classified by the Second Great War, the 1950s are overshadowed by the Red Scare and the rise of suburbs, and the 1970s are referred to as the decade of the energy crisis and the Vietnam war. The current issues that postulate our current decade range from the September 11th attacks, the War in Iraq, and the influx of Illegal Mexicans. The most controversial domestic issue is boarder control along the Mexican boarder. Immigration policies are highly debated in the House and Senate. So much, that news about illegal immigration tyrannize the television, radio, and Internet. This substantiates its prominence as a political issue. The main issues that pertain to illegal immigration deal with cost and entrocentrism. To increase security measures along the boarder, more money is needed to allocate the necessary resources to the southwestern part of the country. Entrocentrism complicates the issue because it influences many Americans to believe that illegal immigrants should not be hired by American companies because they are taking jobs away from the American people. This creates animosity toward Mexicans, whether they are citizens or not. So when a story about Americans losing jobs to Mexicans, many Americans are gullible to believe just the surface of the story. The reason why is because the continuous controversy regarding Mexican immigration has created this anti- Mexican movement. That is why when there is a story about Americans losing jobs to outsourcing or illegal immigration, the response by the American people is generally patriotism with undertones of isolationism. In the broadcast about white Oregon firefighters losing their upper- management position due to the influx of Mexicans that can only speak spanish. On the surface, this sounds absurd and believable because the media constantly runs stories that underscore the relevant issues of immigration. Plus, this specific broadcasting is aimed at a conservative target audience. The purpose of the broadcast is to dehumanize Mexican Americans as leeches that take jobs from the hard working Americans. It is easy to believe such a story if the audience shares similar ideologies concerning immigration. It is wrong to twist a story in an effort to raise awareness about an issue that is not even problematic. All it is doing is creating more stereotypes and increasing discrimination against a certain type of person. In reality, the Oregon firefighting team has never demoted or fired an individual for not being able to speak Spanish. Effective communication is an important aspect of firefighting. With that in mind, it makes sense that managers could be fired on the technicality of not being able to communicate to your entire battalion. The story also underscores another concern, job security. In a time of economic distress, unemployment is a common concern. To blame Mexicans for the increasing unemployment rate, it increases ignorance and racial stereotypes.
I definitely was super confused after watching that news report. I didn’t really know how to take it. It seemed absolutely ridiculous that someone was fired because the didn’t speak Spanish. It also seemed ridiculous that people responded that Mexicans should go back to where they came from and only be hired here if they speak English. But then again, I do believe in the “when in Rome, do as the Romans do” for the most part. And think that if you are going to live in any country you should learn the language. Anyways, after being confused, I did not think to look up more info on the story. One more reason I hate media. I will hear something, think it sounds impossible, and then just let it go. Probably at some point I will repeat the story and say it’s ridiculous, but never actually look up the facts. I’m glad that the facts were found for me in this case. Knowing the actual rules for this group makes me look at the whole case differently. And makes it seem pretty obvious that no one was fired because they didn’t speak Spanish and that any rules that are in place are all there because of safety reasons.
Fox new, and all news for that matter is so biased. I remember the moment I realized this and it totally changed the way I look at any news report I ever hear. I was in my US government class and my teacher asked us where we get our news from. Some people said FOX, others ABC and others CNN. I always saw FOX as the most biased until I was made aware that the reason I thought it was biased is because it is usually biased away from how I view things. Because of this the diffferences in opinions stand out and it is more obvious to me that the news is not completely objective. On the other hand someone watching CNN who doesn’t fall on the same political spectrum as their bias will be able to see that bias better than I can. Keeping this in mind I think it’s really important that we all constantly filter everything that we read, hear, watch etc. because I really don’t think it is possible to completely objectively report anything. Everyone always has some sort of bias and it’s basically impossible to keep that bias from your reports. There is no way for us to read every side to every news story but it is important that we try as much as possible. I don’t know, the news I ridiculous especially TV news. We should probably all stop watching and start reading because I really do think that print is at least a little less biased. But that may just be my hope for humanity.
In the blog about the Mexicans, the first thing I noticed about the article was its title. I thought it was a bit sarcastic and kind of rude. Like what is being insinuated by “Those Mexicans are at it again?” I don’t know but it just wasn’t funny although it was intended to be and could offend someone Mexican. In regards to the film, I thought it was a bit odd. The video definitely made me tilt my head to the side in confusion like Sam stated in the blog. I was thinking what this is absurd and don’t make sense. I don’t understand why these firefighters were hired if they didn’t speak English. How were they able to talk during the interview process, it just didn’t add up. I don’t see how these Spanish recruits even planned on successfully completing their jobs knowing they didn’t speak English. Even in the video, the reporter asks the question why not require the workers to speak English the government/state has no idea. A confusing story as this one wouldn’t quite have made me go research it in further detail but I would just think about it in my head and try to make sense of it or figure it out. I do think that it is a good idea as Sam stated to research on your own about different things. You can’t believe everything you hear in the media especially FOX. They are the worst form of media to believe anything from sadly and everyone knows it. I already think that the media in general takes the smallest thing and blows it up ten time’s worst making it something it really isn’t. I feel like FOX does an even better job at that. But anyways, I think the person who stated the comment on YouTube, "This is what happens when we elect a black man as president" was just an idiot. If this was something that supposedly happened a couple years ago, Obama had nothing to do with it. In the blog it was stated, one respondent who is a firefighter noted the utmost importance of communication while fighting fires and pointed out that non English speaking firefighters would be problematic on English speaking crews. I absolutely agree and would maintain that Mexicans who do not speak English should NOT be on crews with U.S. firefighters who only speak English. I feel like everyone would agree in saying so. It doesn’t makes sense to have a mixture of Mexicans who don’t speak English and English speaking firefighters working together when people lives on already on the line. I am not saying Spanish speaking firefighters should be out of work in this field but just should be amongst an entire crew of all Spanish speaking firefighters.
Why Can’t they just learn English?
Leave it up to Fox News to get the story wrong again. This news station, while they do sometimes manage to get the story right gives such a one sided view that you may as well get your news from The Daily Show or The Colbert Report. They have a very specific demographic of conservatives that eat up anything they are told from the great and all knowing Fox News Channel.
The problem exists when they get the story as wrong as they do in this case. These conservatives, that, and I know I am generalizing here, want to keep America the same forever and hate change, are the people being biased against the Mexican immigrants. They (some, not all) already have a negative view on what immigration is doing to our country. I take this moment to note that unless you are Native American, we are all the children of immigrants. When each group came from their countries they didn’t all learn English right away, but by the next generation many did learn.
Had Fox News told the story as it actually was and went off the information provided by the firefighters they would have seen that the Spanish speaking workers were only hired if the crew boss could speak Spanish, that would not have been a news worthy story. It is very easy when you don’t know all the facts to conjure up the wrong ideas about things.
Now a story could have been that if all crew members didn’t speak the same language and the difficulty communicating within the group was a problem, that would be a story. I could foresee that drawing the same reactions from people, and I might agree with them. If lives are put in danger, as they easily could be because we are talking about a very hazardous job, then I might say they that there is a valid argument in requiring everyone in that crew, not just the bosses to speak the same language. If there is a breakdown in communication in this field people get hurt or die. And I would agree that should be a consideration.
In this case the news station was not talking about this potentially valid point. They did not fact check and they are responsible for what some would say is anti-immigrant propaganda. They strayed from the usual immigrants are taking American jobs argument and outright said people were being fired because they could not communicate with the work force. At very least they are guilty of poor journalism.
America is changing. We are growing more diverse and I would say growing as a culture. Some people want to stop it, and some want to help the process, with this segment it seems that Fox News is on the side of stopping progress. I wonder what their ancestors that immigrated to America would say about their actions?
This is upsetting…but not shocking. It amazes me how this aired on FOX news. I would’ve thought that something like this would make the media but not something as publically known as FOX news. At the same time, I may be one of those people that would not take the time to research this, I wouldn’t go as far as saying that Mexicans are taking out jobs – but I wouldn’t take the time to research it. I know that the media lies and exaggerates many things, but it really does take effort (even with today’s world wide web), to search and go through articles to find out the truth. It is easier to just believe what we are told. As bad as that sounds…this reminds me of all the times we blame the media for things and say that we should be responsible for researching and not believing everything we hear…I wonder how many people actually research things before spreading it? My gut feeling is that not many people do. We are so use to just reading and watching things, and trusting that it’s the truth. Perhaps because it confirms some of our beliefs (that Mexicans are taking our jobs), we are just too afraid to find out the truth, or we are just plain lazy. I’m sure that not all stories on the headlines are as bad as the media makes it seem (some stories may be but there are a few…that are just OUT there), more outrageous that things really are. If people knew the truth, (that Mexicans are not taking our jobs) would people be disappointed? I highly think so. Who else would we have to blame?
I’m sure that those people who commented on the video, saying, “Round them up and ship them back” would probably feel stupid and just say that; they are lying in order to try and hide the fact that Mexicans are taking our jobs. Its pretty amazing what people will tell themselves in order for it not to affect their egos. This also reminds me of the twins we saw in class. If they were told the facts and truth about the Holocaust…they would not believe a word we say. Mostly because this is what was drilled onto there heads, but also because this would mean that what there parents, friends, neighbors told them is a lie. It will be hard for them to accept that the people they are closes to, the people that nourished and took care of them, can lie to them at that extreme. As sad and unfortunate as this Mexican Firefighters, news piece is, it isn’t the first nor the last one. I sometimes wonder how different things would be, if the news and the media had to prove their stories before it is aired or published. Perhaps only then, would we be able to have the truth.
That whole case is foul. HOWEVER, let’s take into consideration the community that these Mexican firefighters live in. This community may very well be an area where a lot of Hispanic or Latino individuals live and may be a predominantly Spanish speaking area. So speaking the dominant language of the area is more beneficial in doing your job. Yea, there may be a few individuals that speak English, but couldn’t that be the case vice versa anywhere? What happens when a fire occurs in State College, and the person trapped only speaks Japanese? So basically at the end of the day, the department needs to determine what language the person in the fire is going to most likely speak. And when these situations come into play, sign language is your next best bet. The United States of America does not have an official language so for people to think that these Mexican workers need to learn how to speak English, and the supervisors are fine the way they are is a tad bit ignorant. I’m not going to lie, it was a bit foul that the supervisors are being fired because being bilingual or learning the language of the area should have been a requirement when obtaining that position. It would make sense to think that the Mexican firefighters were higher after the supervisors because higher the supervisors after the fact, and then laying them off is ridiculous.
I can understand the complications in working with individuals that speak a different language than yours. But somehow, that’s when compromise comes into play and as a team, the entire staff has to make it work or else situations like these occur. I mean, during the summer, I work at a bagel shop and most of the workers in the back are Dominican and speak, I want to say broken English. I mean communication isn’t as severe as in a fire department, but the English-speaking workers speaker some Spanish as well. Actually, we teach each other Spanish and English. There are times when some of my coworkers that speak English only get really frustrated with the Dominican coworkers because at times, it seems like they don’t apply what we’ve taught each other. She’s constantly cursing under her breath that they need to learn but you know, it is a compromising situation.
I honestly don’t have a full on opinion about the situation for the simple fact that we’ve only been given 36 seconds worth of information about the story. So how can you pass judgment on the situation?
The “blockheads” who commented on the YouTube video made me laugh. It’s always funny when someone tries to assert himself by making some outrageous claim he thinks he has proves a point with. And sad.
These blockheads are probably those that make up the majority of anti-Mexican hysteria. They watch Fox News, think it is true without questioning the credibility of the story, and suddenly they think they now have evidence to support to prejudices. First of all, as a journalist, I know the news makes a lot of innocent mistakes. I also know that journalists sometimes are unethical by being bias (hence Fox having the reputation of seeming right wing). For this reason, it is usually a good idea to get the news from more than one source. Second, the reactions to this clip are incredibly stubborn. These people clearly have a very definite mindset with a very definite set of opinions. It is stubbornness that leads people who are anti-anyone to retain their hatred and enhance it with anything that seems to agree with them.
The facts that Sam discovered say the opposite of what anti-Mexican people think: They suggest that Mexicans –illegal or not—are NOT taking the jobs of “true” Americans. Not in the firefighting industry, anyway.
I wonder how many people who are anti-Mexican are actually jobless because a person who is definitely Mexican got their jobs instead. I tend to think not many, and that instead, it is just a racist mentality. I have known people with this attitude from where I live in northern, suburban New Jersey. It’s ironic to me because wouldn’t illegal Mexican immigrants be saturating the job force of Southwest America, not middle to upper class Jersey? Maybe I’m wrong, but at the very least, my idea is logical and makes me skeptical toward whether or not there is any validity or reasons that directly affected those from my neck of the woods.
Back to the fact that miscommunication happens in the news though, it is also a huge problem that this happens and that it spreads through the public discourse. Just as I think people are guilty of being stubborn and looking for everything possible to support their opinions, I think the media is at fault, too, because people are very much influenced by the media. It is one of many sources from which we get our ideas, opinions, and ideologies. For this reason, it really is the responsibility of the news to be objective and check their facts, and reporters should be more careful.
It is so important whether we are just citizens or reporters to make an effort to know the truth because if we believe everything we hear, we are bound to hear some wrong information. That is why I think it is ignorant of most anti-Hispanic people to have the attitudes they do when they can produce few no hard facts or numbers to support their claims.
When I read Sam’s blog and watched the clip, I was so confused and astounded that this could possibly be true. How could they put people out of their jobs because they couldn’t speak Spanish? I knew it had to be false, but when I personally see something on a news channel, I am gullible enough to think that it has to be true or else they would have to be charged with libel. I am a journalism student, and speaking the truth and making sure the public is getting the right idea from the news is so important to me. Then I read the document Sam attached from Oregon and I couldn’t believe that FOX news couldn’t do the research to figure out that what they are presenting is bullshit. Hearing this would definitely persuade those who don’t go to the next level and research to think, damn those Mexicans they’re taking our jobs. Obviously the people that do believe this are stupid and it is their own fault for not doing the research, personally I believe those people should be out of a job! But for FOX news to present something like that, I don’t ever want to watch that station ever again. I am a liberal, true, but it just sickens me that they would have the guts to put something on air that is so far fetched. Someone who believes that America would ever fire those who are out there to protect others because they cannot speak a foreign language is just absurd. I also, could, but didn’t want to believe that people were commenting on the YouTube video that it’s because Obama is in office! It’s something that my parents would probably listen to and believe. They are both hard core republicans and they definitely would hear this and believe. And honestly, if I hadn’t of moved away to college and formed my own opinions it is scary that I may have once believed this as well. It is so sad that news stations have to present such information and then people look back and wonder why Americans hate Mexicans and such discrimination exists. So many thoughts are running through my head that this journal seems random, but this entire news broadcast just infuriates me to the nth degree. Although I do believe that Mexicans should be able to volunteer and it is such a great thing that they do want to be a part of it, obviously they should have to speak English properly for the safety of others. It is just scary that people would actually think that what FOX news had to say was true. It was just so surprising to me and I guess that I am naïve but I am just astounded by it!
I think that myself and many other people really do need to be a lot more careful about what they believe and the type of stories that they spread. I am very surprised that a large network such as FOX would broadcast such a boldfaced lie. You would think that news stations would be a lot more careful and selective of their information sources and the way that they portray their stories. But then again, FOX is run by wealthy conservatives, many of which a probably racists. It seems like people will find any reason in the word to jump on someone else’s case and point the finger. I also have to look at myself and be more careful about the extent to which I allow stories, that I have not yet been able to determine at truth or rumor, influence my opinions and feelings about other people. I need to start being a lot more skeptical of everything that I hear in the media, along I have always maintained that the media is in fact the fourth branch of the government. Since it is in fact something that many people would not expect it to be, and is a lot stronger that people would expect, it can never, ever be fully trusted in any circumstance. Its amazing how the simple fact that the leaders of fire fighting squads had to speak the language of the works got twisted into the accusation that Mexicans were making people lose their jobs because chiefs were getting fired because they could not speak Spanish. It is obvious that they just wanted to stir up a riot and had no care about the consequences or repercussions. They just wanted to spread hysteria, fear, and hatred. After seeing and reading the facts in the article, all I could do is shake my head because the news report did not even resemble the facts in the article at all. This really makes me stop and think. Many racists individuals out there do not even need a reason to continue to be the way they are, but stories like this make it all the more easier. People who just spread rumors and gossip all day make me sick and the media is just like that loud conniving friend that everyone has and tries very hard to stay away from. I this just really makes me wonder: How much of the world do I really know? What portion of everything I’ve heard is true? What portion if everything I’ve heard is false? How do I even begin to separate the lies from the truth. All I can really do is use my best judgment and keep an open mind about everything out there.
I have to agree with the fact that I tilted my head and wondered why after viewing this video… maybe it’s the sociology class but to be honest this is absolutely absurd. Your right, the questions never really came up prior to taking this class but as I keep forward in this journey through life things are becoming more and more uncertain. Therefore, in this particular case I feel annoyed. Annoyed of how much impact the media has on our lives. This blog brought me back to class on Wednesday when we did the experiment of telling a story and seeing it change from person to person. This is exactly what happens in the media and we tend to believe everything we hear from it.
I often ponder if media is one of the main sources we get all our bullshit about society’s “norm”. We talked in my discussion group about how years ago fuller figures were the fad, then stick thin was “in” and now its being “fit”. It’s exhausting to say the least. Why does the media play such a prominent role in the direction of our lives.
I concur with the idea that the right gives out more misinformation than the left and there are books to learn how to do so. Writing books about “how to” strategies based on these implications is mistake number one. Publishing them is the last mistake. From there on out it’s a domino effect.
In response to Mexicans on predominantly English speaking fire crews, I have to say that why can’t they be allowed? Are they suppose to have their own Spanish speaking crew? I think that both the English speaking men should learn Spanish and the Spanish speaking men should learn English if they are on the same crew. Therefore, they not only can communicate in one language but they can communicate in two.
It’s really sad that we have to dig deep to find the truth these days. Most people would not care enough to do so which is why we tend to believe what we hear. I think a lot of the times we do this to make things more “exciting” for ourselves. In some sick way I think this holds true. Another thing, wouldn’t you think someone would be so pissed that the story was aired with such bias that there would have been a headline of some sort stating the truth. It’s funny what makes the headlines these days.
As for the social status of the story, well its up to us individuals to know and realize that 98% of what the media says is either bullshit or twisted in some way, shape, or form to allocate bullshit in a less obvious manner.
When I first watched the Fox news clip I too found myself tilting my head to the side with a very confused look on my face. The sad part is that I would of just believed it if I saw it on my own time. Most people watching the news do not think that it is false information. I mean why should they be allowed to pronounce to our country misleading information when they did not even do the research to see if it is true before talking about it on air? Personally, I do not think that any News stations should be allowed to air topics that are “fluffed” with information to make it more interesting or to make more people want to watch that news station. I understand that these types of stories are the ones that people want to watch because stories that do not make you reveal any sort of emotions just aren’t interesting. This news story angered many people because according to Fox news, the American, English speaking citizens were getting fired as more Mexican, Spanish speaking people were getting hired. Of course this would anger any U.S. citizen, and having it be said on the News, Youtube, blogs, and many other places on the internet, how many other people saw this and believed it as true? This in a way reminded me of the activity that Dr. Terrell Jones did with us at the end of class when he told a story to a girl and she had to try to remember as much as she could and then pass it on to another person. Then that person passed it onto another person, and kept going through 7 people. Eventually the story was completely wrong and had a total different meaning behind it. This is what happens in real life though with stories like this Fox news one and with any other story that continues to get passed on through people, with each person adding a little bit more of their own side or story and forgetting the actual true story. I’ve learned that when stories get passed through people like this it is not worth trusting the information given to you, so my motto has been unless I heard it straight from the person that was involved or saw it with my own two eyes then don’t believe it. It astonishes me the amount of people in our society that just love gossip or rumors, its everywhere! This story started from a rumor, there’s gossip magazines, daily emails, blogs that continue to talk about the gossip, and many other places that it can be found. Although many of these topics being talked about you read and say “No way, it CAN’T be true” people decide to pass onto other people anyways because it’s interesting to read about. There are many times that I got emails or read stories about something and believed them and passed them on. So basically once again we learn that reporters are just trying to sell a story and that most of the time it is not completely true.
My father, a staunch conservative who is notorious for his anti-immigration views sends me links like this all the time, especially during Obama’s first few months in office. To be honest, I never really give much thought to his emails because I know he is just sending them to get a rise out of me and my equally liberal brothers, but I can imagine other people on his email list taking them seriously. I remember him sending one about Obama and his ties to Hamas and various other terrorist groups in the Middle East, and it’s obviously untrue, but I’m sure other people would remember it as being factual. I was appalled that the news station didn’t do a more thorough fact-check before pitting this on the air, but I guess that’s modern media for you. It’s unfortunate that a “scandal” like this wasn’t more thoroughly researched, because instead of highlighting the positive effects of immigrants devoting their time to fight fires, it just makes them look like lazy, incompetent workers who forced the demotion of the pour white souls whose only fault was not knowing Spanish. With the technology we have today, that youtube video probably reached millions of people and did nothing to inform them. It just added to the anti-immigrant hysteria that is already a huge issue here in the United States.
I think it’s fantastic that Mexican immigrants are willing to put forth their time to be firefighters, and it’s great to see them giving back to the community. It’s definitely not an easy job, and I know many Americans who would be unwilling to do it. While it is important that firefighters are able to communicate, I don’t think it would be too much effort to try a little give-and-take in terms of language. This is the perfect opportunity for the government to step in and assist immigrants with learning the English language. Even with the most rudimentary knowledge of the language, I believe that the Mexican firefighters and their superiors can communicate enough to be effective. I’m sure there are firefighters that are bilingual, and if an instruction is too complicated to be delivered in simple English, there is probably a way to have someone always there to translate. While I agree with Sam and do not believe that firefighters who don’t speak English should be on a crew with firefighters who only speak English, I believe that the barrier could be lessened if everyone made a little effort to accommodate each other. These Mexicans aren’t just living off the government money and not bothering to do anything to help out the community that is giving them a home, and I think that with a little effort, these immigrants could become successful and productive firefighters, as well as members of society.
It is incredible to see how much influence the media has on us. This story, for example, was a thirty-six second broadcast, yet so many watched and believed it. Why would the media not thoroughly research something before announcing it; especially if it is something might cause problems among the people? Was this their intention? If this was their intention, it is disheartening to see what America has come to. The story is obviously flawed, but because of it, some Americans are enraged because of the immigration of Mexicans to America. This really makes you wonder what else the media has instigated.
Media has so much influence on our lives that we are oblivious to. In class when we watched that video of the little kids that were asked to pick which doll they think is “the good doll,” their decisions were clearly had some influence from the media. The original Barbie was white, blonde haired and blue eyed. Growing up with this image, kids may start to think this is what beautiful is. On an earlier blog about 9/11, I remember reading that when one of the planes crashed with a bunch of Jewish people on it, there were people cheering yet the media chose to show the group of Muslims cheering when a plane hit the twin towers. The media selectively showing news prevents people from hearing different sides of the story. The one class we had about jihad, for example, is a perfect example of the misunderstanding people have due to the media. We as Americans are manipulated into thinking that jihad is a philosophy that terrorists go by; this is definitely not true, but since this is all the American public that is not educated in Islamic practices sees, they assume that it is true. The truth is, only a very small group of radicals believe that jihad is a holy war; most completely disagree with these views, yet we as a public aren’t given a chance to see that.
Back to the original article, it is unbelievable that the news would broadcast a story that is 180 degrees away from being true. It is the exact opposite of what actually happened! Saying that Oregon is requiring people to learn Spanish because of Mexican firefighters when the story is that Oregon is requiring firefighters to speak English is so different! The second story makes sense since it would be a hazard to not be able to communicate. Hearing the first story would make many people upset that Oregon and requiring a whole crew to learn a new language due to one person. It is amazing how many people heard the original, false story. The media is everywhere, we just need to learn to keep our minds open and not believe everything we see.
Good old Fox News, always telling the whole story behind something. It’s sad to see that they constantly air news stories like this that never tell the whole tale. People nine times out of ten will believe whatever they hear on a news channel or broadcast which makes stories like this even worse. Therefore, there are Americans who are getting upset because we are getting fired or demoted because of an inability to speak Spanish. There people believe we are losing jobs in our own country because of Hispanics. I know some people who would see this news clip and immediately start saying things like “this is America, they should be the ones required to speak English” or “they shouldn’t fire these English speaking fire chiefs because of some damn Mexicans.” The media and Fox News in this case, are simply causing false allegations. I also thought it was humorous when Sam said he checked the YouTube comments to try to get a better understanding of the story. The amount of responses on YouTube that have nothing to do with the video or in no way, shape, or form make any sense is amusing. Finding a sensible video response on YouTube is something a rarely, if ever, see.
Now, when it comes to being duped by videos like this, I probably fall for it almost every time as well. I definitely have a bad habit of watching something on the news and believing that is what really is going on. For me, I have always relied on the news to update me on what’s going on in the world. I don’t see any reason for them to lie to people, so I just assume what they’re saying is legit. It’s a habit I should probably get out of. If I saw this video air live on TV, I would probably assume this was really the case and get angry about it.
Finally, I have a friend who is a firefighter. From the stories I hear from him, communication is definitely the biggest importance of the job. Having other firefighters who did not speak English could be a huge problem, even the difference between life and death. IF, lets say, this news story true in all aspects, then I think people would have the right to be angry about the story. I’m all for believing that Mexicans should at least try and learn English if they want to work in our country. I do not think it should be a requirement, but that should be let up for bosses or local government to decide. But in this hypothetical situation, the men who were fired or demoted were totally done wrong in this case.
I do not feel it was right for a person to get fired because they do not speak Spanish. I also do not think someone should be fired for not being able to speak English. I think this situation is different than others. I can agree that being able to understand one another in a time of emergency would be very important. I can see if a place was burning and safety was an important issue everyone would need to understand what is going on and what was going to happen. I t would be very hard to save people if you could not understand the other firefighters. I find this to be a very difficult situation to decide. I think you really cannot discriminate against either person. I do not know if there is a clear or right answer in this situation.
I personally find it annoying when people cannot speak English. I was recently ordering in a burger king in New Jersey and I could not understand the person waiting on me. I felt very rude asking them to repeat what they said multiple times. It made something that should be very easy extremely complicated. I do think language is a huge barrier. With many immigrants in our country there are many different languages in our country. The two most dominate languages being English and Spanish. I do think that people who speak English should understand some basic Spanish. I know there are people who speak English who think that they did not need to speak Spanish and there are people who speak Spanish who think that they do not need to speak English. Having this type of attitude is not going to get us anywhere. We need to reach a compromise. I still think English should be the dominate language. We all never to understand that America is a mix of both cultures and languages. Everyone is so proud that America is a “melting pot” yet we do not want to take are time to learn other peoples culture. A lot of people just think that their culture is superior to other peoples. I do not feel that one persons culture or language is better than someone elses. I just think each culture have something special about them.
I do not think that immigrants should be sent back to mexico. I think there should be less restrictive ways to become American citizens. If these people become citizens then they will have to have a better understanding about the American culture. If they just come here illegal they do not have to take the exams to become and American citizens. Now some of them will have a regard for the American culture but some will not. They will still come here no matter what we do. So instead of just trying to get rid of immigrants we should try to find a better way to deal with this.
Of course, when something happens like this, it is always crazy liberals fault. My first reaction was defiantly to tilt my head to the side and scratch the back of my skull while having a dazed and confused look on my face. Of course, the responses on YouTube do not surprise me either. People never know the entire story and always jump to conclusions. Again, people always think that there are things in the background that are conspiracies. I found it hilarious that the one guy who is a future brain surgeon in our country decided to blame it on the fact that we have a black president now. It truly is amazing how someone who can be so intelligent can be so ignorant.
I agree as well, for safety reasons, all firefighters on a crew should speak the same language. Obviously, they will not be able to communicate properly and this could pose a problem. But, Sam is correct when he says this article highlights the anti – Mexican hysteria.
I really can say I have not been duped or confused by an e-mail or story like this. When I see something that just does not seem right to me, I immediately research it. Of course, I automatically assumed a story like this would be on Fox News as it is a very conservative network. I do not, however, find it hard to believe that even liberals would spread this story around as if it was true. A lot of people in the United States are ignorant and do not understand that everything the news says is not necessarily true.
I really do think Mexicans get a bad reputation for the actions of only a few. Granted, yes, some Mexican immigrants cause issues. I am not refuting that. I am simply refuting the point that if these firefighters are putting their lives on the line for the citizens of that city, we should be a little more grateful towards them and realize that maybe we should respect them and their culture and language.
The more I read blog posts in this class, the angrier I get about our society. Last weeks blog about the disabled host of the children’s show made me get angrier at our world’s culture. Then, this weeks blog took the cake. I can’t believe we are now complaining about firefighters and their backgrounds. I am just not sure what is next. I continue to be baffled by these posts. There are some days I may question my own beliefs, but I will never question the service that firefighters, police officers, or other public servants perform. Sure, most of them are conservative and have different political views than me, but I still know that their job is not easy. That their job is dangerous. And for that, I respect them. Maybe the rest of our society should as well.
I find it very interesting that Fox news would run a story without backing up there research and sources first. Just kidding. This type of think is something that is seen on all of the 24-hour news stations and is starting to be more frequently seen in newspapers. The need in broadcast journalism to keep up ratings, make sure that stockholders and trustees are happy, as well as the need to provide information is resulting in a breakdown of fact checking by numerous journalism outlets. The fact that Fox News was discussing illegal immigration and the prevalence of Spanish speaking in the U.S. is not surprising considering their audience base is generally more conservative and if polled would be outraged by this type of event.
On the topic of requiring firefighters to speak a certain language I believe that having members on a crew speaking different languages would be a problem, especially in a situation that involves a lot of fire. In recent years immigration to America has become a big deal and along with it the debate about having an official language of the United States. I don’t necessarily know how I feel about this. On the one hand I think that if we were to have English be the official language it would make certain situations much easier. However, if we do not I believe that complications could arise, including the abuse of workers that do not speak English. I also think that speaking two languages would be a very difficult problem to solve in schools. Would there be a class for speaking Spanish and a class for those who speak English; or completely different schools? We have seen before that separate is not equal and in certain places in the U.S. I believe that this would hold true.
Furthermore on the point of Mexican hysteria I feel that the U.S. has come to almost a breaking point. We are struggling between our past of multi-culturalism and a vastly multi-lingual society and the fact that we have become a unified and sheep like society. From the time we begin to crawl we are taught to fear things that are different, even if they do not pose any threat to us. This continues into our adult life when for no reason we resist things that we do not know about or have not already experienced; we make new experiences scary. I think that this is translating to the prevalence of Spanish speaking immigrants in the U.S. We rationalize our fear with statements like “they are taking all the jobs” and stories like the one run on fox news. But the overall fact is that we are scared because a future of speaking Spanish is something different from what we are used to. When people picture their future they do not picture their children learning Spanish and English in school. The fact is that we have always been a changing society in which our children have a vastly different life than us and an almost unrecognizable one from their grandparents. This is the same argument that can be applied to ethnocentrism; just because something is different doesn’t mean that it is worse.
Should we really be surprised that a story like this would take off? Those in control of the news should be ashamed of themselves. A story like this is going to cause a great stir so why not make sure it is factually based. That is part of the job description for journalists unless I am mistaken. Bashing major news stations is the easy route in this situation because their faceless. The truth of the matter is that Americans are lazy and more than happy to just take someone else’s word for it in such situations.
I am wondering how much misinformation is out there and just what kind of impact that has on race relations in America. I saw a program on the National Geographic channel on T.V. last night about the New Black Panthers. Their former leader, a former high ranking member of the Nation of Islam, is said to have promoted the murder of whites in their beds. Another member at one point claims that change will never come until “We start killing some crackers”. The current president of the group claimed that black people could not be racist or prejudice because they were denied any meaningful power in society. The statement made me sit up because last week the very same quote ended up in my weekly blog entry. The words of this Black Panther militant were part of the curriculum in my brother’s race relations class at a separate university.
I like to think that student like myself are benefitting from this class, I would say the opposite in my brothers case. In a position of power his professor is attempting to pass off the same radical thinking on impressionable students. Students who disagree will leave the class jaded by what may be their first exposure to race relations. Even worse they may take this woman’s preaching as gospel and infect others with this backward logic. Misinformation is like a virus. The minute a person takes in the information they become a host for future misinformation. I do not know how large my brother’s class is but I would imagine his professor has passed this information off to hundreds of students. It would only take a handful of “believers” for this misinformation to have an impact.
I feel that people need to be consciously aware of all the incorrect information that is out there. We need to ask ourselves the question, “This sounds fishy and so I'd better explore it before I pass it on.” People in positions of power need to be even more skeptical. It is human nature to trust someone with authority (parent/teacher) and that brings with it a wealth of responsibility.
Oh Fox News, once again you disappoint me. I’m never ceased to be amazed by the ludicrous attitude of some of the things that people are permitted to put on air as fact when all that is presented is racist propaganda. This issue extends past the point of race relations but also into the realm of journalistic integrity. I, like Sam thought that this was entirely too crazy to possibly be true
I am first stricken by the hypocrisy of the lead into the story, “Well there is an urgent need for firefighters in the west…” and then the reporter continues to say that Hispanics are the number one recruit groups coming to fight. Suddenly however, these “Hispanics” are not good enough because they are causing the English speaking men to lose their jobs. In my mind, I see it as, there is a desperate need for people to fight the fires in the west and obviously only a certain type of person is willing to put their lives on the line to do it, so instead of bullying these people for the language they speak we should welcome them and be grateful that someone is willing to help. I just cannot understand why everyone is so threatened but a group of people who are willing to put their lives on the line for the good of their community just like all the English speaking people. I understand the problems that can ensue around language barriers, but by working together I think that they would be able to work something out that is safe and effective for all the firefighters and the community. Creation of Spanish-only crews is one solution; so that everyone can communicate and be safe all at the same time. Didn’t this happen within the branches in the armed forces throughout history?
In this story broadcasted on Fox News, they cite no specific examples, show or interview no “fired” foreman, seem to have done little or no research, and of course throw their own opinion “so why not require the workers to speak English?” at the end of the story. I want to pull my hair out when I see and hear things like that.
It’s just the regurgitation of a rumor played toward a specific audience of hateful people hunting for fuel for their fires. How disappointing that all it took for Sam to find an official document with an answer to all this hysteria was a quick Google search that anyone researcher in the news department could have done. As a journalism student this type of story is frustrating because America as a majority is losing faith in the media, and this is the type of thing we are taught to battle everyday in the classroom. Only a small amount of research is necessary before we scare each other into hateful attitudes about race.
Communication is key, when it come to firefighters. If the workers do not understand the leader or the leader cannot understand the workers, then that can become extremely problematic. I believe that the English speaking leaders should not get fired because they don’t speak the Mexican native tongue. I mean, we are in America; therefore there should be an effort to learn the English language. Even though, America does not have an “official” language, the majority of the population speaks English. Now don’t get me wrong, I am all for immigration and America being this huge melting pot, but if someone from another country comes to live in America, how would they be able to communicate with others or even hold a job when they don’t speak English. Think about it, if I were to move to France for several years I would have to learn French because that is what the majority of people speak. Therefore, I would have to make an effort to learn and understand that language. Now pertaining to this blog, I don’t think the French leader should get fired just because I don’t speak the language, since that is dumb! If I don’t speak the language then I should be fired or demoted to another station. Now for the Mexicans, I know they came here for a better life, but not learning the English language can really affect their communication abilities in the U.S. So, I was actually thinking that the Fire Dept. could establish an English speaking class for those workers who speak another language. By doing this, they wouldn’t have to fire the leaders who actually speak English and they won’t have to demote the Mexicans to other units.
Now going off of that, I actually had to write a blog about English being the “official” language in the U.S. for one of my humanities courses. At first I thought it was a hard topic to write on, until I had a lot of opinions on the subject. As a result, I do believe that English should be the “official” language in America. Think about it, almost every country in the world has an official language (i.e. France speaks French, Spain speaks Spanish, Germany speaks German), so why can’t the most powerful country in the world have one? Yeah, it might be hard to catch on for people who don’t speak English as their first language, but look at the benefits it will have in the future. I feel like non-English speakers in America are missing out on a lot of opportunities, since majority of everything in the U.S. is English. For example, I know a few Asian students who have to communicate things in English to their parents because they don’t speak English and/or they speak little English. And it gets frustrating to them because they have other things to do than to be their parents’ translators. I know it’s hard, but to survive in this country speaking, learning, and understanding the English language can go a long way!
First of all this whole story is just ridiculous. As well as confusing. I’m going to start off by saying if you want to be a firefighter and your crew boss only speaks English and you only speak Spanish pick a different career or learn English first. I don’t want to hear about how its not fair because it is. If a whole family dies in a burning house because your crew didn’t understand the distinction between left and right or water on and off that’s ridiculous. When your job is as life threatening to you as well as your co workers you need to all be in sync and on the same page linguistically. I don’t want to hear how its discrimination its just too dangerous of a job to be screwing around and dealing with a language barrier during a job or in this case a crisis.
What I really don’t understand is how a national news channel could openly spew the incorrect facts on something like this and apparently people don’t really notice until years later. I know a lot of people are thinking its fox news so of course I believe it but seriously though think about it. A news national news channel is basically telling the story completely backwards. And I feel safe in assuming and saying that they were making up facts. Fox News stated that Mexican, Spanish only speaking employees were hired under English only speaking supervisors. Ok please tell me how that interview went for that job? Like honestly people? You completely made that up. What did they show up for the interview (I am assuming that the supervisors hire their own crew members, which would make the most sense, especially in such an important job such a firefighter) look at the guy and say yea he looks good enough? I hope not. I would hope you would have to go through some sort of training or skills test before you just sign up and get hired for a job like that.
As for receiving those emails I guess I have been victim a few times. But most of the time they are not politically charged. I used to get all the stupid emails about how American online was going to start charging users for using their instant messaging service. I used to get along the lines of the same thing for xanga and myspace too. Then there was the if you send this email along this company will donate this set amount towards this cause. Most of those were some sort of guilt trip about a dying girl who you could save but sending this email to 10 people in the next 12 hours. Or my favorite the chain email that if you send it to so many people in so may days your, wish will come true, something will pop on your computer after sending and the love of your life will show up at your door. I never sent them on and I could never understand why people partake in these things. Why do you want to send on the mindless crap even further?
The video is describing a situation of needing fire fighters in Oregon to fight instances of wild fire. The newly recruited fire fighters are mostly of Hispanic Spanish speaking origin. The supervisors of the crew are required to be able to speak with the fire fighters that make up their crew. In this instance the supervisor’s are being laid off or demoted unless they can speak Spanish. The reporter in the video jabs at the idea of why, is it the supervisors necessity to speak Spanish, why can’t the workers just learn English.
“This stuff cuts both ways, mind you, because misinformation enters the public discourse,” how often is the story skewed one way or another based of the thought process of the source? This can also be shown by the activity participated in class on Tuesday similar to telephone, that with additional intermediaries the story has the ability to change and vary. I think one problem in general is that sometimes Americans are so quick to believe what they hear with out taking the information with a grain of salt. One problem with this situation is that before they tried to implement a solution to this dilemma. Such as coming up with a system so that Spanish and English speaking fire fighters could either work together or work in separate teams, they just decided to fire individuals. This last statement’s belief comes from the video of the news reporter. However according to the Oregon Department of Forestry, “The ODF has no requirement that its employees speak Spanish, and does not demote or fire anyone because they don’t speak Spanish. And to our knowledge, no crew boss on the private contact fire crews we use has ever been fired because of the inability to speak Spanish.” So based on these two very different mediums it leads one to wonder who is correct. After viewing the video, one would conclude that they ODF was firing supervisor’s if they could not communicate with employees. However the previous statement by the ODF paints the picture a different way. Was this statement produced by the ODF a result of trying to cover their liability, or was it actually in place? The entire situation seems like a case of something wrong was happening the new media indicated this to the public, and as a result the ODF came out with these statements that would indicate that they in no way discriminate. The question is should it really take a new media outlet indicating your wrong doing to cause change (the ODF issued the statement)? If this firing of supervisors did occur, they should have admitted to their wrong doing and changed the situation. There is no real way of knowing if their statement issued change or if it was purely just a public relations move to deal with the situation at hand.
When reading this blog, my first reaction was, why does Oregon have such a high demand for Mexican firefighters? I then read the entire blog and realized that the reason Mexicans were being hired was because of the sudden need for firefighters to fight the two dozen fires in the west. Hiring workers quick for a tough blue collar job is difficult, but I’m sure some of the Mexican immigrants in the west were eager to make money to support their families. Communication between firefighters is definitely one of the main parts of the job, and having a fire chief who doesn’t understand his workers and vice versa could be very detrimental. When I watched the Fox news video my immediate was response was that English speaking fire chiefs who have worked hard to get where they are shouldn’t have to suffer just because the company is desperate to hire workers and are willing to take workers who speak only Spanish. This video was good propaganda to get Americans fired up about Mexican immigration, and there is definitely enough uneducated Americans to believe the video, but it wasn’t even true. I thought to myself, an American fire fighting company would never fire an English speaking crew chief just because the newly hired fire fighters were only Spanish speaking, and this turned out to be the real truth. In reality the Spanish speaking fire fighters were the ones being fired, and in my opinion this is what needed to happen. In this country there are homes that consist of Spanish only speaking residents, but there is without a doubt many more homes with English only speaking residents. I realize that the fires being fought were probably wild fires with no victims involved, but if a fire was to spread to a home with English speaking residents, there would be no way for the fire fighters to communicate with the victims if they were trapped and needed to get out. The same could be said for an English only speaking crew, but there are many more English only speaking homes than Spanish only speaking homes. There is no doubt in my mind that Spanish speaking fire fighters can put out a fire just as efficiently as English speaking fire fighters, but I do have reasons why I think this is just one of those jobs where the employees have to speak English. This is a situation that I look at my opinion and think I am discriminating against Mexican immigrants, but if there was a fire in my home and I was trapped on the second floor of a building, I would want an English speaking firefighter to guide me out of the building.
When I first watched the YouTube clip about the Oregon Firefighters, I thought to immediately watch it again. To me the news story seemed completely ridiculous and very hard to believe. Since it is a story airing on Fox News people watching it would think it would be a reliable source to listen to. I think I would even for a few minutes think it was true and be very angered by the fact that is happening. But like Sam, I think I would have looked farther into the matter especially when it is as easy to get the information as googling it.
Once you look at the facts of the issue, the whole scenario makes sense and I could see where the misinformation came from. The only requirements from the Oregon Department of Forestry are that the leaders of contract crews speak English, the primary language of firefighting in the United States and that if a person who speaks only Spanish (or any other language) joins a crew, that crew’s supervisors must speak his or her language. Rules are put into place to ensure safety first and foremost and these facts were somehow turned into a story that said crew chiefs were being fired, because Mexicans were being hired and the crew bosses did not speak Spanish.
I think it’s interesting to think about why the story became what it did. Does the story result from anti-Mexican hysteria in the United States? I think to an extent, yes it does. Many people in this country are angered by illegal immigration and have a strong dislike for Mexicans. I think that if people hear this news broadcast it may further their hatred for immigrants, but more importantly I think the reason this story formed was because the hate already existed.
I can remember a similar experience to this with the rumors that went around about Barack Obama over the summer. I received a lot of emails from some family and friends saying that he was a Muslim and part of the Taliban and a terrorist and all sorts of crazy things. Every rumor stems from somewhere, so I quickly looked it up on the internet and was able to find facts that I took and used to make sense of the situation. I wrote back to all the emails I got and laid out what I had learned. It was shocking to me that people had thought this was true without second guessing it at all and wanted to spread the rumors further. A few of my friends I talked to were actually scared of him being elected because the really believed he was going to destroy our country.
I think it all comes back to the fact that the media can easily cause hysteria because people are willing to believe things about issues they don’t fully understand and do not take the time to get the facts.
I am so confused because this is absolutely ridiculous. People are getting fired or demoted because they can’t speak another language. While it is understandable that being a firefighter you need to have excellent communications skills, getting fired or demoted does not seem fair in any way. Although I recognize that on the scene of a fire if walls are collapsing, people are stuck inside and smoke is blinding you firefighters need to be able to talk to one another. There are radios involved so everyone on the scene is up to date and they can call in for backup if necessary. But some of these firefighters have been working for years to get a promotion and now they are denied because they can’t speak Spanish.
Why if the state believes the firefighters don’t need to learn English why should the supervisors and department heads not have to learn Spanish? This seems like a bit of a double standard to me. The state has no answer for why they aren’t teaching these native Spanish speakers English yet they continue to hire them for jobs. I have no problem with them being hired especially if they are qualified for the job. If they are willing to learn English that is great and could be beneficial to the fire house. But since they are not being forced to learn English then why should the supervisors have to learn Spanish in order to save their job? Obviously no one is forcing these supervisors to learn Spanish but they know other supervisors are losing their jobs or demoted because they can’t speak the language. So how is this fair? Honestly I don’t think it is. Just because someone can speak Spanish they should become a supervisor of a fire house over someone who is qualified and only speaks English. Maybe these supervisors who are being hired are qualified and can speak Spanish that’s great but this language barrier is giving them an advantage.
Injustices happen in the work place all the time and this is just another example of that. Someone gets hired even though they aren’t qualified. Someone get s denied a job because of their race or ethnicity. Someone get s a raise or promotion even though they haven’t done anything to deserve it. How do you stop injustices and unfairness in the work place? Unfortunately I don’t have an answer for that. Laws should be protecting and benefitting the people. People need to use this to their advantage to fight these unfair situations. Unions need to fight for the benefits of their employees. Unions are meant to protect their workers so that’s what they need to do.
I don’t think there will be a day where everyone can sit back and be proud of what they have done at work. There are always going to be unfair situations and someone is going to a have to make a tough decision. It may not be you making that decision but you may be affected by it. The best we can hope for is that people make smart, well informed decisions and that somewhere along the line it becomes easier to make challenging calls you are faced with.
Alright, so let’s begin… The first thing I did when I got on the Race Relations Project Blog site, I started reading the latest article and then watched the video. After watching the video, I thought to myself, “Huh? What? That is an absolutely crazy law!” I have no idea how a state could legislate this law. I am so glad that Sam Richards did some of the under belly work and uncovered the truths that lay behind this totally brain teasing news story.
The law has some sense somewhere tied into it. If someone in the crew can only speak a language that is different from every other person in the firefighting team, this should not be allowed. But the law didn’t do the right thing. So this law had blamed this problem on the supervisors by demoting them or firing them. That is preposterous… That just ain’t right! I do agree with Sam Richards when he says that it is absolutely crucial for every person of a firefighting crew be able to fully communicate with one another. This is a necessity.
To solve this problem, I believe that everyone should speak the same language. And if someone does not speak the desired language, they should not be hired, plain and simple. I am not saying that the language should definitely be English, I am just saying it should be a common language. In terms of firefighting companies in the United States of America, the language you must be able to speak should be English. In Mexico, the language you should have to speak in order to be a firefighter should be Spanish. It is a lot easier that way. This issue has absolutely nothing to do about race. It has to do with effective way of communicating on the job. Imagine you are a firefighter and you are stuck in a house that is about to burn down. You do not know this information and continue to look for, let’s say, the house dog. Your supervisor speaks another language than you and commands you to retreat from the house as fast as you humanly can. You won’t understand this. You’re dead where you stand.
I believe people as a society twist and turn things way too much. We want to know the truth. Excuse my language, but I think it is complete bullshit that this story was aired. I am deeply outraged that this news program would change this story around. Some people are so damn ignorant, it just infuriates me. What is the point to do that? Anyone who was involved in this story should be outright fired and labeled as “idiot racists!” I want to know why this story had to get racial? Race has nothing to do with it!!!
My first reaction to the video was that it seemed sort of counter racist to fire someone because they couldn’t speak Spanish. However, like Sam alluded, I kind of had to take a step back and think that this seemed a bit farfetched to be true. I probably would not have gone to research it the way that Sam did, but now that I’ve seen the facts about this situation, I might be more inclined in the future to do so. After reading the official website, I felt a bit dumb for my initial “counter racist” thinking. Clearly, the video didn’t tell the whole story, and told what would get a rise out of people. The whole story absorbed with the facts, it makes perfect sense why some overseers have been fired. In a job so dangerous, of course you need to be able to communicate with your workers, and if Spanish is the language of a great portion of your work force, then you should be able to speak language.
This story actually reminds me a lot of other stories between the races. Whether important parts of the story were left out, or certain parts were exaggerated, people twist some of their stories of interactions with someone of another race. I’ve heard white people do it, and I’ve also heard people of color do it. I’ve been present in certain situations where there was a disagreement between a white person and a black person and the white person retold the story later that the black person threatened them, which certainly wasn’t true. I’ve also had similar experiences where a black person claims that the white person called them a nigger, which also wasn’t true. I have to wonder why people do this. Is it because they don’t think their story is convincing enough to be worth telling so they embellish it to make a point? Is it to get a rise out of people (as it seemed this news report did)? Is it because a white person interpreted someone a black person said as a threat? I don’t have the answer.
Speaking of racially interactive conversations, after talking about race interactions today in class, and how it can be annoying and even offensive for a white person to ask a person of color questions, I can understand both points of view. First of all, it definitely matters what the person asking the question is getting at. Are they meaning to be disrespectful or are they just genuinely curious? Someone who I was discussing with said that it’s pretty obvious when someone is trying to be offensive, so if you’re not sure, people could try to give the benefit of the doubt more for the benefit of those genuinely asking. This goes back to the distortion and misinterpretation of these conversations. Maybe people could just give each other the benefit of the doubt and these things wouldn’t escalade so much.
We, in America, do not have an official language. English, Spanish, Portugese, Chinese, etc. are all languages spoken in this country. Now that I have expressed that point, I feel it’s necessary to say that the positions which are in high demand and are in need of employees should be employed by a qualified person. Just because they do not speak English does not mean that they are unable to successfully complete the job. The language is a communication barrier, which I understand, but why not have a Spanish-speaking supervisor rather than a solely English-speaking one, so that all different kinds of people are able to fill the position needed.
In a country with no official language, how can we make a note in the job field that English is pertinent to filling a good-paying job? We wonder why there are so many walls between our races, but in this “Home of the Free” we require that successful workers be fluent in English. Within years, white people will be the minority and other ethnicities will become the majority. How would we feel if all decent-paying jobs required that the now majority Spanish speaking country required fluency in Spanish to be able to get a job such as a firefighter. In this case, one man was exposed to this issue.
Spanish-speaking people face this crisis everyday. They came to America, the melting pot of people and found that they would not attain the “American Dream” because success equals conforming to this country’s expectations and standards. Perhaps if we quit making success so unattainable for all people, some of these other problems would resolve themselves.
The separation between people and the distinct classifications of black vs. white vs. brown, etc. leads to these unnecessary issues. I hate to be typical and say “Why the unequal treatment?” but it is truly how I feel. Having darker skin and speaking another language shouldn’t leave these people scrambling for small landscaping jobs or working at KFC.
In a country as “free” as this, speaking another language should not be a barrier to success. How can we say “You’re in America! Speak English!” when more diverse languages are probably spoke here than in any other place in the world! Being white and European doesn’t make this our country anymore than anyone else who lives here. To say “we are white and speak English” is to reinforce that we stand for the mistreatment of groups in society historically. Meanwhile, all this time, we’re trying to bridge the divide and help other ethnicities understand that we are different from those white Europeans of the past.
Fox News has an amazing history of skewing the news, so this story comes as no surprise to me. Ever since watching Bill O’Reilly, and Sean Hannity I have tried to make a point of never watching Fox News. It’s not to say that CNN or MSNBC don’t skew the news to their own degree, but it just happens that Fox is more annoying and also conservative, which I certainly don’t consider myself to be. In response to the story of the Oregon firefighters, I wouldn’t disagree that there should be a strong communication between workers. By this I mean there should be a bilingual work place where all employees can interact and communicate appropriately. Especially in a job where each and every day the employees put their lives on the line, it is extremely important that all the employees are understood, as opposed to a typical job like an office or something. However, I feel as though it is more important that these Mexican employees learn to speak English first before they expect that everyone else to learn Spanish. Had it been English speaking citizens in Mexico, I’m sure the Mexican community would expect a firefighter to learn Spanish before they expected to work at the establishment. I’m not against immigrants legally coming to America, but I feel like often times they do cut corners and expect privileges where they don’t necessarily deserve it. Although America is a melting pot of societies and cultures, I think it is kind of ridiculous that the national language not be strictly English, considering a majority of the population speaks it. I do resent the fact that news stations, in particular, Fox, create a negative image of immigrants that they are stealing our jobs and no one is safe, what they probably forgot to point out was any background information about the situation. For example, maybe the Mexican employee was very qualified and consequently the workplace chose him over the English speaking employee. It’s up for debate, but one thing is certain, Fox didn’t present the facts correctly, thus illustrating how poor the station is at delivering accurate news stories. Too many times, people assume that African Americans, Asians, Latinos or Hispanics are simply getting jobs because of their racial identities, when in fact often times it is simply that they are just as qualified if not more than a white employee. Although this obligation to hire minorities does exist, I would say it doesn’t exist as much as everyone claims it does. I haven’t received any emails like this like Sam said, but if I do, I will certainly do some research before I make a snap judgment, because a majority of the time, the source is not one hundred percent accurate.
Before I get to the topic at hand I really have to say it bothers me when anytime any stories about Mexicans are aired people immediately assume that they are illegal. It may be true for the most part but I never once, in that entire report, heard that these people were illegal. So people need to stop using that as bases for making an argument that this is wrong. I’m sure there are lots of Hispanics that are legal Americans that do not speak English. But anyway, my response is going to be a bit more geared toward my reactions from reading other people’s blog responses to this news clip. I’ve never been a big fan of Fox News and this is one of the reasons why. I know that there are no perfect news channels but I feel like there need to be a limits to what news networks can and can not air. It is almost as if these people do not realize the kind of power they have over what people think, which in turn turns into actions (as an extreme example: Hate crimes). A lot of people would feel angered by this broadcast of how Mexicans are getting hard working Americans, who belong here, fired. But then Sam made a good point as to how a lot of people don’t really take the time to research such ridiculous stories. I mean seriously, I highly doubt that any sound minded American, let alone the people who live in that town, would let that sort of thing happen without some kind of public resistance.
Another thing is that firefighters have really tough jobs and I admire their willingness to put their lives at risk for the safety of others. So as to the issue that people are raising that it is not fair that they get paid to sit around and do nothing, I feel is very unfair; especially if it is being said just because the people are Mexican. Be the person American or Mexican or whatever they maybe, race should not, in my opinion be the determinate of compensation; especially out in the west where there are constant wild and very dangerous fires. If the department feels like the works should be paid, then so be it. Just because it is a volunteer job in some states doesn’t mean it should be one everywhere. You can’t compare, for example, the Alpha Company here in State College to one in California, seriously.
So overall I think people really do need to take the time to think about the comments they make instead of just speaking out of passion. This is most often than not, the wrong reaction. But I can’t entirely blame individuals because this is stuff they have been fed by the local news channels which are supposed to be giving people informative news. I just think the entire media industry needs a make over and should be neutral and unbiased when it comes to political issues.
Anti-Mexican hysteria... I used to be a part of it, and I’m embarrassed about that. I come from a conservative background, with both parents outspoken on issues like immigration. Some of their points are valid, but they see through the lens hardly bigger than the ones that their own parents gave them. Maybe I never was involved in this “mania.”
I mean, kids who have never thought about an issue are going to soak up and regurgitate the first point of view that they learn, and in my case, this was my parents’. When I started thinking for myself, I realized that this was not my opinion on the issue. I’m against illegal immigration, not against immigration. And if I’m not against immigration, then that means that I will have to accept other’s languages as they try to mix in with the rest of the citizens. This includes Spanish, and Spanish-speaking workers.
Let’s assume that these Spanish-speaking workers are all here legally and abiding by United States law. If they get a job as a firefighter and someone else gets demoted because of his or her inability to communicate with this new fireman, it is deserved. They are removed from the position because that person is no longer qualified for the job in which they previously occupied. If someone isn’t qualified, it makes sense to get rid of that person.
Some ignorant people argue that “they should just speak English.” To those of you who think that (if any), let me remind you that THERE IS NO OFFICIAL LANGUAGE in this country! It is true that the majority of the people living here speak English as a first language, but it is also true that many do not. Also, think back to whenever Europeans had mass immigration. They didn’t speak English immediately. They were forced to learn it because the government didn’t really care what was going on, but they continued to speak their own tongues at home, and in their communities. At some point, someone in everybody’s family line had to be an immigrant to the US (leaving aside Native Americans).
I’m going into engineering. If I go the construction management route, (which I very well may), I am aware that learning Spanish will be quite necessary. It is not yet required, but the majority of the workforce in this area speaks Spanish, so I would learn it outside of school (maybe with that Rosetta Stone program?). At least I understand that it would be up to me to learn the language of the workers to make myself more qualified for the job.
Blockheads who make stories like that and sell them to Fox anger me. Then I think, maybe they are people who don’t really have an opinion. When they hear some crazy statistic or “fact” they get all excited and tell everybody that they can about how unfair such-and-such is. Maybe later on they read the other side and are embarrassed about what they had just backed up as true. Maybe, but probably not. For those who don’t regret things like this, we should just ignore them.
This clip is pretty unreal. It is honestly amazing to see the things that end up in the news that have no truth or backing to them whatsoever.
Would it have killed Fox and the other news stations to do some investigative work? My guess is that they received a press release about the whole incident and completely turned the words around, making a story that would sell. Mexicans seem to sell these days because people are entranced by America’s supposed “War on drugs” and illegal immigrants. What exactly are we fighting here? Just because there are illegal Mexicans in our country does not mean that all Mexicans are illegal, nor does it mean that all Mexicans are bad. I feel like this story is just reinforcing the thoughts of the American people – the thoughts that Mexicans are, as a whole, detrimental to our society. I’m surprised Fox does not mention the whole illegal immigration problem because that is such a hot topic right now. Going off the race issue this particular news story brings up, I feel bad for Mexican people. They seriously get such crap for living in America. It’s sad to me that they would choose to be in America, where basically no one respects them, over living in Mexico. Just the fact that they prefer America over Mexico is amazing.
In one of my public relations classes this semester we are discussing how people believe everything they hear. That is the reason why stories like this become so popular. People believe that if they hear it on the news it HAS to be true; they do no background work to investigate anything. Kind of off topic but look at the supposed weapons of mass destruction the Bush administration created to justify our war on Iraq. When it was announced that Iraq had weapons that could potentially blow the world up, everyone panicked and thought war was the most amazing thing and best solution ever. Then we found out that there are NO weapons of mass destruction. But everyone believed the government when they said there were. Now there are questions and the government needs to fix itself. And by fix I mean they will just cover everything up and let Obama take over. I’ll admit I am guilty of just believing everything I hear, though coming to college has improved my desire to seek out more information on claims made by anyone.
The news can be dangerous, especially with the power it has today. Public relations is dangerous, especially when it is used incorrectly. News stories have always been tailored to the audience. They tell what sells, and right now the American public loves hearing about Mexicans. It’s even possible for the public to “patrol” our border with Mexico online on a site called Blue Servo. The things people will do because they do not like a particular group of individuals never ceases to amaze me.
This clip is pretty unreal. It is honestly amazing to see the things that end up in the news that have no truth or backing to them whatsoever.
Would it have killed Fox and the other news stations to do some investigative work? My guess is that they received a press release about the whole incident and completely turned the words around, making a story that would sell. Mexicans seem to sell these days because people are entranced by America’s supposed “War on drugs” and illegal immigrants. What exactly are we fighting here? Just because there are illegal Mexicans in our country does not mean that all Mexicans are illegal, nor does it mean that all Mexicans are bad. I feel like this story is just reinforcing the thoughts of the American people – the thoughts that Mexicans are, as a whole, detrimental to our society. I’m surprised Fox does not mention the whole illegal immigration problem because that is such a hot topic right now. Going off the race issue this particular news story brings up, I feel bad for Mexican people. They seriously get such crap for living in America. It’s sad to me that they would choose to be in America, where basically no one respects them, over living in Mexico. Just the fact that they prefer America over Mexico is amazing.
In one of my public relations classes this semester we are discussing how people believe everything they hear. That is the reason why stories like this become so popular. People believe that if they hear it on the news it HAS to be true; they do no background work to investigate anything. Kind of off topic but look at the supposed weapons of mass destruction the Bush administration created to justify our war on Iraq. When it was announced that Iraq had weapons that could potentially blow the world up, everyone panicked and thought war was the most amazing thing and best solution ever. Then we found out that there are NO weapons of mass destruction. But everyone believed the government when they said there were. Now there are questions and the government needs to fix itself. And by fix I mean they will just cover everything up and let Obama take over. I’ll admit I am guilty of just believing everything I hear, though coming to college has improved my desire to seek out more information on claims made by anyone.
The news can be dangerous, especially with the power it has today. Public relations is dangerous, especially when it is used incorrectly. News stories have always been tailored to the audience. They tell what sells, and right now the American public loves hearing about Mexicans. It’s even possible for the public to “patrol” our border with Mexico online on a site called Blue Servo. The things people will do because they do not like a particular group of individuals never ceases to amaze me.
After reading Sam’s latest blog entry, “Those Damn Mexicans are at it Again,” I felt a huge loss of respect for the Fox News Network. You would think that such a huge news company with so many people working for them would check out their news story before reporting it. If Sam was able to find the truth that quickly than why couldn’t they? It seems absolutely crazy that this story was actually on our news. It really makes you wonder how much of what you hear on the news and read in the newspapers is true and how much of it is twisted into someone’s version of the truth. Shouldn’t there be something in place to be sure that the news that we hear is actually the news and not a made up story. There has got to be someone who regulates what is put in the media. Otherwise, the media will (and does) spin things to suit the story they wish to convey rather than the true story. People depend on the news as their source of information from the rest of the world. It is so frustrating that we can’t be everywhere and talk to everyone so it is impossible to know what is going on everywhere in the world. But the solution to this problem was watching the news. However, if the news is not telling the true story it totally defeats the purpose of even watching the news. It’s possible that nothing they say is true. How are we supposed to decipher the truth of every story we hear on the news. Also, Sam’s blog really frustrated me. I hate that people are always ready to jump on any story about Mexican people and believe any story that makes Mexicans out to be the bad guy. There are bad Mexican people who don’t deserve to be here and want to live off of the government or take jobs from people who are worthy of them and don’t want to put in an effort to make their own place in the world. But there are millions of “Americans” doing the same thing. Why does it make a difference if the bad person is an “American” or a Mexican? The only real Americans are the Native Americans and I can bet most of the people who are complaining about this and reporting the false stories are not Native Americans. There is no reason to be so hateful and aggressive to these people. If the Native Americans had acted in the same way towards our ancestors things would be a lot different today. People really need to take into consideration how hypocritical they really are when they get all upset about these situations.
I want to first start out my saying that in America if you do not speak English then you should not be hired. This may sound bad, but it is true. Why should firefighters who had seniority get fired to let firefighters who cannot speak English take their positions? I am not saying that that is what this blog is about. When FOX News broadcasted this story, they should have gotten their facts straight. For this story to keep running and get many hateful comments is just wrong and discriminative. At the end Sam made it very clear that this blog was not about Mexican discrimination, but is in fact about anti-Mexican hysteria. Let me be clear that I am not racist against Mexicans. I do, however, have a problem with what is happening in this country. Fifty, maybe one hundred years ago, my family and many, many families of current citizens came to this country from their home countries. Each had the same hope – to live the American dream. Our families strived to get ahead and work hard. They learned English and became citizens. Today, Mexicans do not need to because they can get by without it. If we do not know Spanish, we are wrong. It has now gotten to a point where when you call an operator, it says press one for Spanish and two for English. America is a country of many different nationalities and heritages. Whether your family came fifty years ago, or two years ago, we all knew that learning English and becoming a citizen are necessities. With that being said, for this story to even make the news is absurd. It is very clear that at any work place, most importantly a job that is life threatening and requires teamwork, that everyone NEEDS to speak the same language. It is not just Mexicans who get discriminated on. Every race and nationality feels like there is some type of hate toward him or her in this country. I do not think that it matters what political party you belong to that will determine your standing on an issue, or airing an issue. I think that a belief is a belief. I cannot say how many times the news has lied to me, or twisted a story to make it more interesting. I am only educated enough to know not to believe everything I watch on the news. This story is one example. This is something that is totally over the top and should have not been believed, at all. I believe that the more a racial group is hated is determined by how much coverage it gets by the news. The Mexicans, being our closest neighbors with the influx of immigrants coming in right now, have the most coverage. The media is the cause for a lot of the misunderstandings and hate toward different groups of people.
When I first watched this video, I can’t say I was surprised by the fact that the English- speaking Oregon firefighters were required to know how to speak Spanish, but the Mexican firefighters were not required to know how to speak English. I can only justify this through my opinion that Americans are backwards at times, and are always out to cater to non-Americans’ needs rather than hold them to the same standard as other Americans.
This opinion of mine, however, does not diminish my anger at the subject. It’s definitely not fair for these Mexican firefighters to not be expected to speak English, as it could very well cause serious problems when dealing with a fire. This story only adds to the already low opinion of Mexican people, implying that we have an obligation to adapt to their language and other ways of living, even though they are in our country working with our English-speaking people.
This is assuming that this story of true, of course. But even if it’s not, it’s too late- the damage is already done. The fire of intolerance and hatred towards Mexican people has already been lit for years, and stories like this only add gasoline to it. People have a tendency to believe the first version of any story they hear, assuming that it’s the only version that exists. And caught up in their own fury and single-mindedness, they make comments such as the ones listed under the YouTube video instead of stopping and taking a moment to breathe and consider the validity of this story.
Regrettably, I also consider myself among the people who do not go out of their way to seek the true story, on most occasions, but unlike the hotheads commenting on YouTube, I don’t do this out of anger or intolerance. I typically take on a stance of indifference, and although I try not to believe the first version of any story, particularly if it sounds farfetched, I still don’t search for the true version, at least not for a subject such as this.
There have also been times that I did believe the first version of a story, and nothing else could convince me otherwise, because even the full-version of one detail of any story puts doubt in my mind, because in the back of my mind, it does not change the fact that the story happened in the first place. For example, I read in the Collegian that one candidate for the UPUA election was involved in some problem with authorities involving drinking or providing alcohol to some students under the legal age. He was consequently removed from his office as Student Government President at his campus. I also happen to be friends with the candidate, and some of his friends, who told me that he was never formally charged for this offense, and he resigned from office voluntarily.
Despite this new information, the fact that this incident occurred at all made me question the candidate, which lowered my opinion of him as a candidate. But the fact that I didn’t seek out the real story (it was volunteered to me), says something about me as well: although I didn’t react vehemently to this information, I should have paused to verify the facts, and to do otherwise is not only a disservice to myself, but the candidate as well. But now that writing this blog has pointed it out to me, I intend to try harder to get the full story, which is a personal goal every American should have.
I’m not going to lie, I usually do not take the time to look up and see if the story I am hearing on the news is true or not. At the same time I tend not to watch the news on television because they usually only highlight the negative things like shootings and robberies and not the positive things that are going on in the world. Most of the news I consume comes from newspapers that I would like to consider reliable such as USA Today.
As for the anti-Mexican hysteria I have mixed feelings. First off, this country is made up of people from all over the globe. If you are Mexican and you came to America legally, I have no beef with you. However a recent issue that has taken rise in America is the number of Hispanics that have not learned English. My take. I understand it is hard to learn another language. God knows I have been trying to learn Spanish since the ninth (technically the seventh but the teaching was so sparing that I don’t think I learned how to say anything except hello until ninth) grade, and I can barely hold a conversation. But when you are constantly surrounded by English and that is the national language, I hope that these people are at least trying.
But I can definitely make the statement that Americans are ignorant when it comes to other languages. When I studied abroad for the summer and met people from all over the world, I felt extremely ignorant only knowing how to speak one language when everyone I met from European countries spoke at least four. Even the best friend I made, a guy who is coincidentally Mexican American, had a much bigger advantage when talking to others because he could fluently speak English and Spanish. Not everyone speaks English. And even though I too am guilty of saying that everyone should just speak English, language is a part of culture and we need to respect that. Each American should take the time to learn at least one other language. The world is becoming smaller and smaller, but if we can’t communicate with each other than the world is never going to become a better place.
Personally I don’t have a problem with Mexicans, or Mexican-Americans (whichever is referred to in the blog). But at the same time, I am not really in contact with a lot of them. Many people are worried about illegal immigrants taking their jobs, but that isn’t really something I think about. Others don’t like that illegals don’t pay taxes and get free health care because they don’t pay, and while this does make me a little angry, I know that regardless I live a good life, I am not in poverty for paying a little more taxes and I’m not any more hungry. In fact, I’m still probably better off in the long run.
So what has this blog really done for me, well it has reminded me that I should call my best friend from my study abroad program. I haven’t talked to him in a few weeks and I miss him.
This story proves the misunderstanding that many people see through newspapers articles and the media. After one person gets the wrong idea or story, they pass it along until eventually false statements are made and people reading these stories are believing them. This story makes the reporter out to be someone who obviously did not dig very deep to find out the truth behind this particular story. Our guest speaker, Dr. Jones, did an activity in class, which just proves how easy it is for a story to get mixed up and jumbled. One story, seven students, about five different stories. Each time someone passed on the story, they left something out or added something completely made up. I wonder how many filters are present before an actual story makes it to the news. How many of these stories are straight from the source?
I think it’s amazing how much people believe on the news. My family members will freak out and call me after every viewing of the five or six o’clock news and just vent about how eating peanut butter will kill me and I better not stand in front of the microwave. Maybe those are bad examples because they are actually dangerous but the tiniest thing will have my family freaking out.
Some people have been commenting about how they feel bad for Mexicans because they are treated so poorly in America and life would be so much easier for them in Mexico. Over the summer, I worked in a restaurant where the cooks were Mexican. One was particularly friendly and shared some stories with him. He told me that after working in the country for about eight years, he will return to his home country and be wealthier then most people. He spends little money in America, lives with multiple cousins and will be rich when he returns home. I thought he was brilliant. And therefore, I think I have a lot more respect for Mexicans who come to our country to work. I think some people are very simple-minded and just believe everything they see on the news without thinking about the real story.
A language barrier is always something hard to figure out how to deal with. As a future teacher, I fear that my students will come from homes who speak two languages. Parents may only speak a language I am unfamiliar with. That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t teach their children or that their children should not be in my classroom. It means I need an interpreter or I need to learn a second language. It doesn’t mean people need to be exluded from something such as learning or fighting fires. That article and video was ridiculous.
Yeah..this is messed up. Hopefully, this some sort of a joke. So the guys get fired because he doesn’t know the language? It’s like me coming from abroad to work for a company in the United States only knowing Yoruba (a Nigerian language), and my co-workers get fired because they don’t know my language, which is a safety issue. Yes, Spanish is becoming a popular language in America, but the national language is English. The first language I learnt was French when I was in Cameroon. My English was awful. But sooner or later, I was forced to learn English. Is it fair? No. But did it help me? Absolutely. I’m one of those guys that thinks there should be one language that everyone should know a bit of. It’s absolutely wonderful that their various types of languages across the world, but there should be a language that we can all come to grasps with, whether it’s French, English, Spanish..etc. But that shouldn’t limit us just to know English. Knowing other languages is just as important. But this is where it gets unfair. These firefighters got fired because they didn’t know Spanish. We should remember, this is America. America’s primary language is English. It would be pretty unfair if an American went to Korea only knowing English and the Korean workers there get fired because they don’t know English. You know where I’m going with this. If one is going to live in another country for a long period of time, they should know the language. The country can only adjust to you to a certain point. Sometimes, you have to adjust to the country that you’re in. I know a friend that went to the States and didn’t know any English. Not only did he tell me that he wanted to learn English, he needed too. This brings up a question for the Spanish dudes. Why can’t they try to learn a little bit of English instead of the whole department regulating with the Mexicans? This may sound wrong or offensive, but one must ask this question, “Should employers in the fire department get fired just because they don’t know Spanish?” And let’s say this was a true story, I think those firefighters that got laid off wouldn’t let that go through so easily. There would’ve have been some sort of a “Pro- American” riot or something.
Now I understand what the guys on top are trying to do. They’re trying to address the department that they are making a serious push to make the department more versatile in the area of language. But how they handled the situation was completely wrong. I think firing employees in that manner would hinder their goals rather than strengthening it.
Even before I first watched the news report I felt some skepticism about its accuracy, although probably not for the right reason. As soon as Sam mentioned Fox News I automatically felt this prejudice against it. But after watching the article and reading what Sam had to say about it I realized that my way of judging the accuracy of information is completely wrong. Researching articles and news reports, no matter what the source, is the correct way to find this out, and is something that I often do not bother to do. We stick with our favorite sources, whether it is FOX News or CNN. We get our information from our one specific source daily, and as we don’t venture outside of this information box there’s nothing to contradict it. We seem to have the idea that our personal preferences are obviously always right and what others are saying is a sham. This is where the dangers, such as anti-Mexican hysteria, come into play. I think that at times we are so overwhelmed by the content of an article or news report we do not even bother to question whether or not it is accurate. These days, with our economy in the state that it is, our worries about foreigners taking our jobs are even greater. All it takes is one little slip of fact and within a short period of time this little slip grows into a ridiculous lie. I really liked the saying the Oregon Department of Forestry used, “Rumor can run around the world before the truth has got its boots on.” I remember Sam mentioning this concept several times in class and it makes complete sense. It is one of those things that should be remembered as it can relate to pretty much any topic. I am happy to say that over the years I have become far less gullible when it comes to any kind of rumor. I have this one friend who is an honest to God hysteric. After years of listening to her trying to convince me of everything from “Heating butter in the microwave will give you cancer” to “I heard that Obama has ties to cannibalism” I’ve learned to ignore most of it. I’ve also learned not to believe someone when they say they “read it on some magazine” or “a reliable source told me.” There’s nothing I hate more than those generic phrases that are supposed to convince me of a cold-hard fact. Although, after reading this blog, I now realize that it could be from CNN and still be only a small portion of the truth. This blog has really taught me to think twice, because what often seems completely outrageous very-well could be.
To begin, I am aware that all of the media, not just FOX, but CNN, MSNBC, and whatever else is out there, put there own spin on the stories they report. They are at their root entertainment corporations, because that is how they make money. When there are no plane crashes or wars or other dramatic and important events, (and sometimes even when there are), the media elects to give otherwise boring stories an ideological twist, because viewers find it entertaining and empowering to hear someone on TV mimic their views, and because they have to fill that airtime with something. It is not how the media is supposed to work, and it is only beneficial to those lucky few who are making money off of it.
In this case, the use of spin is beautifully illustrated by Fox news. Let’s analyze this scenario without ideology. There are 24 deadly wildfires rampaging through the west. These are most likely causing large amounts of damage, and are probably only held at bay by the multitudes of brave volunteer firefighters. As Fox reports, there is an urgent need of firefighters, so I assume that means they need as many volunteers as possible. So, there are large numbers of brave volunteers, willing to risk their lives for others, but they only speak Spanish. And as Fox news points out, because of their linguistic difficulties, English speaking supervisors are being laid off or demoted, because they cannot fulfill their duties as supervisors if they can’t speak the language of the firefighters. So, in the face of two dozen deadly wildfires, we chose to lay off a small number of supervisors so that we could instead have larger numbers of Spanish speaking crews. There is only one thing I see wrong with that. If they have a shortage of firefighters, why lay off the supervisors when they could have instead been transferred to another unit that speaks English? Obviously, communication is essential to firefighting, so why not just have Spanish speaking and English speaking crews, so that there is a maximum number of people fighting the fires? Instead, Fox decides to claim that the Mexicans need to learn English and they are stealing our jobs. But the real problem with the story here is that THERE IS NO STORY. All of the debate from above was based on the limited information Fox decided to share with us. As Sam points out, one quick google search explains the entire matter in a rational and very simple way, and shows that much of what Fox news said was misinformation. So why didn’t Fox news find this? Was it just shoddy reporting, or was it a dedication to their own ideology, which amounts to lying? There is no way to know. Because the media is dysfunctional and/or corrupt, it is up to us to discern the truth, and unfortunately, the gut-instinct response is far easier than doing a little research.
After reading this article, I too was one of the people who turned my head, scratched my skull and said, “What?” I just couldn’t believe what I was reading. I think it is somewhat ridiculous that these supervisors and crew chiefs are being laid off because they do not speak Spanish. Why not make the fire fighters speak English? I feel bad for the families of these fire fighters of who are being laid off and demoted because of a lack of communication. Of course I believe that communication is key when working as a fire fighter, but if your committee is hiring Spanish-only speaking workers, then you should be held accountable for communicating with them. What also upsets me is that it is being reported on Fox News. I absolutely cannot stand Fox News. They have a tendency to stretch the truth and that is why I don’t believe much of what I hear from that program. Also, this video just goes to show that the World Wide Web is so powerful that this information is spread so quickly to numerous amounts of people at one time. I can agree totally with what Dr. Richards said about getting an email like this once or twice a week and just being in awe over reading it. I think this story is completely ridiculous and just unfair.
I do not feel that this article has as much to do what hate for Mexicans as it does for unjust actions taken on chiefs and supervisors who cannot speak Spanish or any other language besides English. Whoever hired the Spanish speaking crew should take into account who can speak the language and who cannot. If they recognize that their fire fighter chief cannot speak Spanish, then they should not hire a Spanish speaking fighter! It is that simple. I think the person responsible for hiring these fire fighters should be punished, not the chiefs themselves. I have no problem with Mexicans, Spaniards, Frenchmen, etc. finding jobs in the United States, but when it comes to hiring them, the people in charge of the hiring need to be aware of how it will affect the company. If hiring a Mexican fire fighter that only speaks Spanish will cause you to lose your chief and some fire fighters in the process, maybe it is not the most logical thing to do. I feel that the United States is one of the most diverse countries in the entire world and without numerous ethnicities and cultures here, there would be no such diversity. However, if this story is true, I find it very wrong for them to be firing hard working individuals on the sole basis of not being able to speak a different language. They got to the positions that they were at because of hard work and dedication and to take it all away just because they can’t speak Spanish, or any other language, is just unfair.
It does not surprise me how misleading the news and media are in this country. It has being like this since its early stages in the late 50’s when television was no longer a medium that would help check on the government and maintain a democracy to help us vote. When the day of Edward Morrow’s idealistic views of what television should have been were over; it had become a capitalist medium interested only in money. What I don not understand is why people forget history so quickly or don’t even research to learned why things are the way they are. It should be obvious for most American that the news are not reliable sources of information. Has anybody wonder what happen to the so call “weapons of mass destruction? Although this may not be seen relevant to the subject, it is. Just like this idiot in FOX news is saying that non-English speakers in Oregon are been hired to be fire-fighters, while American supervisors that don’t speak Spanish are been lay off; we were told that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass in Iraq and guess what? They never found the weapons of mass destruction, which never existed. We see how they how the media and television influence our daily lives. If there were no tedious lies, I would not be reading or hearing racist comments from the majority. As far as the Oregon fire department. I think that if they knew about this being told in the news, why we did not see a clip from them making sure everyone knew that what FOX news were alleging is a lie or misleading information. What I keep asking myself everyday why don’t we do something about this. If a reliable source such as the Oregon fire department knows about this, why don’t we see them on TV clarifying the misunderstanding? We often blame the media for lying to us or influencing our behavior, but let’s face it is not the problem of a single group. Intolerance, racism is systematic problem in our culture, our history. We have this flaws and frauds because we as a nation encourage them and support them. Do you think FOX news or any broadcasting network would be making such comments if they knew we did not approve of it? No, the answer is no. News feed Americans the type of food Americans want eat. Television in America supports dominant ideologies, they will never go against our own views and this why this video clip represents the way we function as a nation. I am not saying we all hate Mexican immigrants and are racist to them; I am simply looking to the big picture. Reality is though; I cannot see a fast solution to a systematic problem because systems are complex and it seems that the larger majority are happy with the way things are. The media sells dominant ideology for several reasons first that’s what we like to hear. For example, in the news we will very seldom hear a story favoring Mexican immigrants or any other immigrants. Just think of the way our culture works and the news works, how much do we focus on other countries, if it does not concern or affect us them it will simply not even be mention in the news. Due to the fact Mexican immigrants are in American territory illegally working or “taking American jobs” then it is relevant to make them seen as the villain in the stories and blame our government. But really what American would work 12 to 16 hours a day for $4 or $5 dollars an hour? Not many, perhaps nobody in America with legal would documentation would do that. I’m sure they would rather go on welfare before “humiliating” themselves like many immigrants do.
There are two aspects to this post that I’d like to address.
First, I don’t exactly have a solid stance on illegal immigration. I think sneaking into America is wrong, but on the same page, America is the land of opportunity and Mexicans have as much the right to be here as any other person who inhabits this land. However, if Mexicans do decide to reside in the United States and find jobs, speaking English should be something they strive to do. Yes, English is not America’s official language because we don’t have one, but a majority of Americans get through everyday life by speaking English. I studied abroad in Spain last year and I tried my best to speak Spanish at all times. Sure, I spoke English with my American friends and spoke English with Europeans who wanted to practice his or her English, but it was my goal to learn the Spanish language. I think when you are in a country that predominately speaks one language, it should be important to make an effort to learn the dialect while also embracing your native language at the same time.
In the work place it may be a little different. My dad owns a fairly large business and has a few Mexican employees who struggle with speaking English at work. It’s difficult for my dad and his English-speaking employees to communicate with the Mexicans because they just don’t understand the language. And when it comes to circumstances like Mexicans being firefighters, it is essential to speak the same language as your colleagues. When safety is an issue, I think the same language being used is absolutely critical when human lives are at stake.
The other point the post brings out is accuracy and power of modern day media. I am a senior journalism major and it pains me to see news stories, like this one by Fox News, broadcasted on television and the Web. Newspaper are quickly going down the drain because of Americans’ high demand for quick, short news. Journalists are now trying to get the story out before any other company rather than sitting down and really getting his or her facts straight before publishing the story. And of course, Fox News represents itself quite strongly on the right side of the political spectrum. So, when it comes to stories that seem a little bogus, I urge American media consumers to question everything they read and see. This coming from a journalist may shock you, but journalists are humans too and unfortunately make mistakes. I fall into the traps of believing the first thing that I hear too, but especially now when speed is valued more over accuracy in the journalism world, it is critical to question what you are told.
This article shows the reality we have to live with on a daily basis. The news media leaks a story with a tiny portion which is true, and just runs with the rest. The media, especially programs like Fox News, should not be referred to as “news” programs. Rather, they are a far cry from what is actually happening in this world. Any smart person can see that Fox News takes a story and twists it to fit their overall conservative viewpoint. To anyone who watches and actually believes the outlandish statements coming from this “news source,” is being fooled. In the case of the Mexican firefighters, Fox News gives viewers a very limited clip. This allows them to present fabricated information without many details. If the details were included, they would reveal a very different story. Clearly, media outlets, especially Fox News, have a way with words. What I mean by this is the media construes information to make us fearful or act in a certain way. In the case with the Mexican firefighters, Fox News’s motive is to present a twisted message from little known facts in order to make Americans fearful of immigrants. The fact that the white supervisors are being demoted to the “lowest of the low,” immigrants, is what could be termed reverse racism. White people never expect to be at the bottom of the totem pole, and this is exactly what this story exposes. The fact that white people are loosing their power and jobs in this state of the economy is scary. However, when people see that white people are loosing their jobs as a result of immigration issues, people start to get extremely aggravated. The people who actually believe the story are so angry they become trapped in racist thoughts where they want to ship all immigrants back to where they came from, or implement some crazy type of border security or control to insure this does not continue to happen in the future. In turn, this allows white people to fear their culture is being taken over by other races, which really hampers racial integration. Little do they realize, this was the original plan of Fox News: evoke fear and hatred towards immigrants. The biggest issue is that people tend to really believe the first thing they hear, like this story. This is a serious problem because it leads to ignorance and anger that people feel by hearing this story as a result of the persuading and altering media. The lesson learned is we need to stop relying on media for our main source of news and just see it as entertainment.
Once again as a people I do not think we realize the amount of power and manipulation the media has in our lives. The media is like 2nd place government, and the government controls everything, they tell us anything and we just believe it, or they just have us so brain washed that we never realize when they are telling the truth or lying. I find it so amazing the control the government has over us, but that is another story. The whole purpose of the media is to inform us of thing we otherwise wouldn’t know, but in many cases they are just manipulating us. In this case they are manipulating us to hate Mexicans. What I don’t get is why we Americans are so anti-bilingual, what is the big deal of learning another language? What is it that we only want bilingual people when it is convenient for us? I find this whole country a huge contradiction, on that promises to be the land of the free, yet when people get here they find a place that is filled with underlying motives. What is true and what isn’t? How do we decide what we want to believe and what we don’t want to believe? I have often heard the saying, “there are two sides to one story,” not only are there two sides, but after you hear both sides you find that the truth actually lies between the two stories. With the media, I think they are providing their side of the story, and sure there are some truths, but some things are taken out of context. But why is it that the media takes stories out of context? I think they do so because it is a way to keep the public’s interest and increase their ratings. I think it is another way for us to remain brain washed, America is trying to hold onto our standards, but it makes me wonder, “Who came up with these standards? Who decides that these standards are right and which ones are wrong?” Personally I do not watch the news for three reasons: one because they only show stories that they think will increase their ratings; two, the format is always the same and I have lost interest for hearing the same old murder stories; and thirdly, they don’t always report the truth. This particular story sows that you can never believe everything you hear or see, because in the end you can never be sure that it is the truth. I think this goes for anything, if there is one opinion or position being taken and backed up with facts, then you better believe that there are arguments against those opinions and positions and they may just as well have facts and evidence to back up their points, so we just have to take it all in and find our own criteria for deciding if something is true or not.
The fact that this story aired on the Fox news channel actually boggles my mind. As Professor Richards had said in his blog, I can’t say I didn’t tilt my head as well and think to myself am I crazy to think what the hell is wrong with this story, or did I just hear the facts wrong. But, then I watched the clip again before even reading on, and definitely thought to myself that this was just pure crazy, and wrong. Truthfully, before I watched the clip, I actually thought it was going to be about firefighters being fired because they could not speak English, and therefore not be able to communicate with the majority of the crew. If this had been the circumstances, to an extent I would then probably have understood why certain matters may have required that to be done. But, to be fired from your job because you can’t speak English-- in America-- is just absurd. The worst part about the whole situation is that If I hadn’t read any further into the blog, I would still think that this story was completely true, and mainly because I saw it on the news. It is sad how much influence the media may have on the thoughts of a person or a whole country. Until now it has never really occurred to me that news channels may report rumors, and makes me wonder what other false news stories I have believed without so much as a second thought to research its credibility any further. The activity that we did in class this past Tuesday with the guest lecturer really emphasizes the concept that really any story can be completely blown out of proportion or told falsely, even where we may least expect it, like on the news. On a somewhat of different note, what also confuses me is how and/or why such a large news channel is allowed to report stories like this, that are not true. Is there no sort of law against that? Also, the thought of how this really highlights the anti-Mexican hysteria really never hit me until halfway through writing this entry, and it amazes me how in the media may manipulate information to a certain extent to bring out dislike for a group. Of course this story would be one to cause dislike of Mexicans, as Americans sit in front of their television and think to themselves, this is America, where we speak English, not Mexico where Spanish may be the first language. It was not necessarily my first thought about how “those god dam Mexicans” cant just come into our country and take our jobs, but the more I continued to think about it, If this story were to be true, I could definitely understand why people may think just that.
This story was slightly ridiculous on a few accounts. The fact that a legitimate news channel would so clearly misconstrue story details in order to further their own political leanings. The fact that such heated opinions arose from a bullshit news story. The fact that people are seriously so close-minded, and afraid of those “crazy Mexicans” that they think that they are trying to take over our country, take over our jobs, and make us all speak Spanish. All of these things culminate in this ridiculous story.
I agree that both sides of the political spectrum are guilty of misconstruing facts, but I will say that the right-wing seems to be more deliberate, even so far as to say ridiculous in their biases, especially in reporting. How are people going to learn tolerance and respect Mexican immigrants if the news they hear about them is all negative, from a legit news source. I like to think that I would be very skeptical upon hearing such a story, seeing as I was very confused about how this one could possibly be true. However, if this story had run today, with the economy in the state that it’s in, anytime people hear of what they decipher as job “injustice”, they get very upset.
Regardless of the reasons behind believing such a story, the fact remains that this story makes no sense. Why would the heads of fire teams be fired if they were put in charge of mostly people who do not speak English? English is still the only national language, so they would not be punished for that. Effective communication is extremely important for fire safety, so it is necessary that the heads can converse with their teams. It is also only fair that everyone is giving a chance at the job. If they are willing to risk their life to save others, they should be given respect, and the job if they are qualified. Making sure that non-English speakers are not on a team with a solely English-speaking head is very important. All it takes is a little time and common sense to match people up based on their language abilities, but in the long run it seems completely worth it.
I think it is sad how news sources are declining in credibility and taste. With so many channels and mediums for the news to be reported, anyone can become a reporter in a sense, and there is no longer the same gate keeping process. It’s hard to know anymore what news unbiased, because it seemingly all is.
I think racism and intolerance is fostered by ignorance and hatred. This story exemplified examples of both of these. It makes the fight against racism a little harder when the messages we hear about different people and minorities is false and misleading.
Wow! The message of this blog resembles the epitome of racism. If I didn’t have an excuse to think about how this country was a fat bigot before, I sure as hell do now. If people in America are going to act like they can’t have foreigners working for them then why don’t we tell Kevin (whose real name is Baahir Mallesh) over in Kadur, India to stop answering my T-Mobile costumer service calls? You see our problem lies in the soiled soot of being two-faced and not making up our minds if we’re going to enforced certain rules and regulations. To be honest, I don’t even think we would have this problem over in Oregon if they had supervisors who were Hispanic or came from a Hispanic background. Not everybody should have to come to this country and assimilate to “Western Culture”. If I could sum up how I really think about America, I would call it a bag of Chex Mix with the same salt on top. As one nation we’re so wrapped up on what it means and what it looks like to be American that we forget that no two persons are culturally the same. We can strive to be just in case we need to appear more intimidating but, at the same time we shouldn’t act like there’s a disruption of the peace when someone decides to resist following suit. In this particular case that is utterly fragile, the firefighters need to use their brains to realize that 1) In employment like this, the more the merrier and 2) These Mexicans that we’re fussing over obviously need the job to support themselves and their family. Why else would they apply?
It’s so funny how this blog brings me back to an email that I received not too long ago about how America was the present day utopia! I had to do a double-take and read further on. It was a brochure for vacationing in the USA. Clearly it was meant to deceive foreigners immigrating to the land of the free because no citizen of this country would ever come close to calling it a utopia let alone a place where they would hands-down vacation in. Afterwards, I deleted it fearing if I had just opened up spam and since then I’ve been mumbling the Pledge of Allegiance. I hope I don’t come off as too anti-American but I just don’t approve of taking the food supplies away from a child or the one bedroom apartment that houses twelve family members. This is not my country and it’s deeply rooted values soaked in filth do not equate to mines. States like Oregon need to break the chain of narrow-mindedness and think about the conditions and circumstances of people who are different from what is considered and expected to be the norm. After all, these people do want to save “our” lives….
A central problem with many individuals, more than it is comfortable to this about, have beliefs and convictions so deeply rooted and so unshakeable mere facts have no power to dissuade them. Yet, there other individuals who have a similar primordial desire to blindly accept what is justifiable to them they simply need a powerful booming voice to reinforce it. In this way the mass media is an entity of unparalleled power, a fact they are well aware of. In order to maintain such power and such influence amongst the masses they require loyalty amongst their viewers. As a reward to their faithful they will often present a take on an issue near and dear to their heart and the issue of the perils of illegal immigration is certainly near and dear to the hearts of many Fox News viewers. The stories such as the one presented serve to justify the many fears and paranoid lines of reasoning about the ‘slow but certain brown person takeover,’ actual facts be damned. Unfortunately, not only do the majority of people sustain a gut reaction prior to a head reaction but once the gut has made its decision the head is often powerless to compete. The author and psychonaut Robert Anton Wilson once said something along the lines of that our goal should be to be agnostic (honoring the dual possibilities that a higher power either does or in fact does not exist) not just about the existence of a god but about everything. So whenever we hear or feel or experience something we should take a few steps back and ask the hard questions concerning its validity. This view may in fact work if it wasn’t so utterly satisfying to follow an impossibly rigid line of thinking which is present on both sides of the ideology spectrum. Taking the all things agnostic point of view brings with it the possibility that you may be wrong, and who among us ever wants to admit that they are wrong, or on the losing team, or be faced with the possibility that everything we know could very well be a lie. Simple put there is a great deal of comfort in following a set system of beliefs especially if you’re one of those people who isn’t exactly big on thinking. The unfortunate side effect of this is that it makes any sort of further understanding that much more elusive. Human beings are oriented towards seeking whatever is most comfortable and the powers that be are always eager to exploit this. So when Joe racist down the street wants to be complacent in his belief that there is a far reaching conspiracy that Mexicans are attempting to take back the territories lost to America in the 1840s and teach his kids to speak Spanish then with Fox News as his witness he won’t yield his convictions for anyone.
Let me start off by saying this response in no way is a result of anti-Mexican hysteria. These people do not speak English and here are the following reasons why this negatively affects all parties involved. One, people are losing their jobs because they cannot speak a 2nd language. Two, communication with English speaking firefighters is lost in this process also. Three, what about the saved victims that only speak English?
My first issue is that people are being laid off or demoted because of this. Once people start losing their jobs because of a language barrier something needs to be done. I think that this is a moral issue. You cannot lay someone off because the department has decided to hire people who no longer speak that language. There could at least be some kind of crash course for Spanish that the supervisors have as an option to take before taking a serious pay cut or being fired.
The second problem I have is the mix of Spanish-speaking and English-speaking firefighters is detrimental to what needs to be accomplished. Forest fires are devastating and spread quickly without warning they can change direction and a lot of things can happen within minutes. This means that communication among the firefighters is crucial so that everyone remains safe and fires can be quickly and efficiently taken care of. I would say that the English speaking firefighters should learn Spanish, however would it not be more beneficial for the Mexicans to speak English? There are more English speaking firefighters than Mexican ones. Also, in the long run I feel likes its probably more helpful to know how to speak English when you are living in America just because that is what the general population speaks unless you travel to parts of Texas, California or Florida.
Third, what happens to these all Spanish speaking units when they rescue English speaking victims? How do the victims get information? Are they just removed from a state of terror and in some cases unconsciousness picked up by strange men who do not speak their language and thrown in an ambulance? This sounds pretty traumatic to me. But after an exhausting ordeal like just barely escaping with my life from a forest fire, it would be less stressful if I could at least communicate with the people who rescued me. What if my son is in the fire and I need to let the firefighter know??
In all my point is that either Spanish speaking firefighters should learn English for the benefit of the victims and the sake of efficient teamwork. Also, the supervisors should be taught Spanish as opposed to lose their rank or job. Both parties must become bilingual in order for everything to run smoothly and cohesively.
When I first watched this video clip I was confused and felt that I needed to watch it again. Why would they lay off so many people off just because one person spoke Spanish on their team? It just seemed crazy. I mean I understand that all the fire fighters should be on the same page speaking the same language, but just because one person could only speak Spanish you are going to lay off a Supervisor who has probably been working there for longer than the single Spanish employee. I choose like Sam to think that there was something else going on here. When I found out that it was true I was a little perturbed by that thought, why would they do that. I do not have anything against the Mexican people, but I believe that they should be taught to learn a little English so that they can communicate with everyone else on the team, and the team should learn a little Spanish. Having a little Spanish in your vocabulary is a good thing especially if you are going to be dealing with people all day, you never know what language they are going to speaking.
I personally never even look at the emails like that, let alone even pass them on. Most of the time these stories are not even true. People make up lies all the time to get you one their side of the story, so I consider myself better off ignoring those chain like emails. I feel the same way about text messages like that. I got one not too long ago about gang killings that were going to going on outside of a Wal-Mart. It did not tell me which one it just said to stay away from Wal-Mart because they were going to be killing white women outside the front door. I do not know if that is true but I doubt that is was, even if there had apparently already been 2 women killed outside of one.
So this little video does not have me hating all Mexican people, not at all. If anything I hate the system, why not just have them on the team and have them work with the Mexican on creating a way for them to communicate with each other. People who hate on Hispanic people for coming in speaking only Spanish into an only English speaking place, I say what do you think it is like when you go over there speaking only English? I am wondering how they rescued people who only spoke Spanish, before they had Spanish speaking people on their teams. It must have been hard. One idea that I have is paring a Spanish speaking firefighter with a bi-lingual firefighter for a while and see how that works out. It could not hurt anyone, because they might use the buddy system when they go into a situation. Who knows, but I sure do not hate the Mexicans for this.
This is what happens when a few corporations own the majority of news stations. Everyone knows that the news we are getting feed is mostly bull shit but we are not getting real news from anywhere so we still get what we know from these stations. People say that the world wide web is the answer to the problem but it is not, blogs only talk about and recycle material that has been put out by these stations. All of the news channel are jokes, particularly fox news but its that 51/49 thing same was talking about. They are only in it to make money, they don’t care about the news as long as their investors are happy. This means that they want to give us something we can watch. They want something that is controversial, something that you will get pissed off about. That is why this lie about the forest fires can be spread. It plays into fox news audience’s preconceived biases to offend them and keep them watching so fox news stock can keep going up. That is news stations also show more black people getting arrested. The white viewers are more afraid of black people, so you get more of a reaction out of it. If fox news were to say that the united state does not have an official language and expose the terrible structures that keep Mexican immigrants from even wanting to become a patriotic US citizen, people would not turn the channel. That may be true and maybe green pieces of paper with dead guys on it only have meaning in it because people believe in it but people need to hear the truth. People need to know what is really going on if they want to have a opinion on it. This leads into a set of questions that I am sure journalists debate endlessly. You come into problems like how can you possible be unbiased, how can you understand what is going on and what is truth anyway? The best you can do is report with the interest of truth being your highest motivator. That’s hard because people are not motivated by that they are motivated by status and money. But if you look back to Vietnam, you will see reporting that changed things. American for the first time saw the realities of war in their living rooms and it made it harder to stomach the meat and potatoes they were eating. The reason for that was the amount of access they were given to the war. We don’t have that access any more, with the war in iraq or (at least with bush) the white house. We need to make things open and expose everything we possible can because “the truth will set you free”.
This is an interesting report from the media, whom I am already skeptical about when I hear news stories that I did not see first hand. Sense I do not see many stories first hand, I have to remind myself that there are usually a lot of background information that the media purposely leaves out in order to portray a better story. They fail to report important and often times necessary details about occurrences, all for the sake of a good story that people will follow better. The media picks a certain image that they want to display, or are forced to display from a higher source, and they do whatever is necessary to portray it in that way. I am sure that there are also legitimate stories from the media that speak the absolute truth, but often times they are spun a certain way and they know they are doing this. I read the paper a lot, but I also realize that the information that I am reading about may not be the exact truth. The information did happen, so technically it is truth, however, they usually put twist it in a way that leads the reader to believe and think certain thoughts and opinions that might not necessarily be true. The media thrives off of this because that is how to get people on your side for support. The American government loves to do this when they take a normally awful thing and make it into something good. Like supporting corrupt governments in other countries but not emphasizing that part but rather making it seem like they are helping the economy of that country. Sense American people do not live in the other countries and cannot see first hand what takes place; we have no other choice but to believe the media, to believe what we are being told.
Fabricated stories are all around us and I am sure that I have contributed to them one time or another. When we hear something, we tend to either accept it or question it. Sense accepting it is a lot easier than questioning it, which is usually what we end up doing. Especially if you are the only one who wants to question it, it becomes even more difficult because now you create trouble and controversy. Even if you really want to bring justice and truth to a situation, or simply raise awareness that there might be more to a story, people are still going to view you negatively because they are not willing to accept that fact that what they heard might be fabricated and short of detail. This is the society that we live in, that we become the enemy when we search for truth. It stems from the media because that is the driving force and guidance of our sometimes brain dead society.
I am so completely and utterly confused by this video clip and resulting story. After I finished watching this clip, yes, I definitely scratched the back of my head - at a loss of where to start writing this blog entry. The things that people choose to release to the general public never ceases to astound me. But even more than that, I am bothered by the fact that so many Americans would just flat out believe a story like this. Most of us, at some point in time, have been told to question everything - is that not the purpose of pursuing a higher education (other than the obvious desire for a secure job and competitive market)?
In America, we may have the great gift of being able to freely express ourselves and our opinions without fear of persecution, but what is the use of that if we just believe everything we are told like a flock of sheep? What good is the ability to freely express ideas if we are not informed correctly of the real issues at hand? Honestly, I would propose that it is rather useless and only results in a standstill of movement, rather than a process that goes forward.
Of course, both sides - right and left - are guilty of misinformation being presented to the general public. To a certain extent, it is only natural that this would happen (I am not saying, however, that it is right). They are trying to convince their audience in favor of their beliefs and against their opponents’. What the general watcher’s responsibility is, then, is to receive the data and to check to see what the real story is. Everything that is presented to us in the media has some sort of spin to it, some point of view being presented, some quieter, more subtle message behind the obvious flashing lights and catchy phrases.
If we, as a nation, hope to change anything, we must first begin by holding those in control of the media accountable for what the say and sell to us. Of course the media has a huge impact upon the thought processes of society as a whole, but they are nothing without an audience. We must all take an individual responsibility to really critique and gather information on our own, in an attempt to really get a les biased view of stories that are being told in the news. This is something that rests on anyone under the influence of the media in this country, in my opinion. Yes I do fail at this at times as well, but it is not the failings that necessarily matter. Rather, it is the effort to hold ourselves accountable that begins to change things.
It is frustrating to see how the media portrayed this story, because the statement from the State of Oregon’s Department of Forestry clearly shows that this news clip was full of lies. There is a giant difference between firing and demoting crew bosses because they do not speak Spanish and the truth, which is that bosses choose their own crews and if they choose non-English speaking members, then the bosses need to be bilingual also. It is an egregious error to omit the fact that the crews are chosen, not assigned; so these bosses are voluntarily choosing people who speak Spanish.
I also find it difficult to understand people’s dislike of Hispanic workers. Most of the time, they are not even stealing your jobs! They are taking jobs that more than the majority of Americans would not do. They know the real value of a hard day’s work and are willing to sacrifice everything they have just to better their families’ lives, and yet we still get angry at them. What is the difference between you an them besides your skin color and the fact that you were born north of a certain river? They did not choose to be born in Mexico and have a hard life, so why do we sit here and act like they are stealing something that is rightfully ours? Shouldn’t all humans have a right to make a living and send money home to their family? These firefighters in Oregon are putting their life and personal safety on the line to save your life and how do you thank them—by making up lies which blame them for the firing and demotion of the leaders who chose them.
I just wonder why in the minds of American citizens we are better than Mexican citizens, or even American citizens with Hispanic backgrounds. I hope that the people who wrote that news clip or complained about its contents find out the truth behind the lies and feel like the jackasses they are for making those statements. And the person who commented that this is what happens when you have a black president is ignorant. Even if this event occurred during Obama’s reign, which it did not, in what way does having a black president equate to demoting and firing of people who do not speak Spanish? The last time I checked, nobody had deemed Spanish the national language, and having a new President certainly has not changed that. Yes, Obama is part black, but that does not mean that he is about to go coercing people into demoting and firing all the white leaders of American businesses and services. There is no mass conspiracy for people of races other than white to take over and suppress the white man. Every citizen just wants to make the best living he or she can for him- or herself, regardless of race.
Chain mails are dumbing down America. People will believe anything they hear – or…read – especially if it comes from a “reliable” source. A reliable source in this instance could be anything: a family member, an old teacher, or really any message that says “THIS IS REAL. DO NOT IGNORE.” You know the ones. There’s this apparently great site called Snopes.com that my mother and grandmother both swear by. My grandma is not one to just blindly believe everything that’s thrown at her, so she found this site online that apparently legitimizes any rumor that floats around the web and analyzes it. Is it true? False? Undetermined as yet? Snopes tells all. But how reliable is Snopes? It’s like Wikipedia in the sense that it has a ton of what sounds like reliable information, gives notice when that information might not be so reliable, and references other places that have more information. Sounds pretty good to me. Perhaps more people should think about going there before they believe rumors like the one on this week’s blog?
I think that every time something new comes along people make a bigger and bigger deal about it. This is far from the first instance of racism in this country. People have been being discriminated against for hundreds of years. I talked about this last week, so I won’t go over it again. And it’s not like I’m saying it’s not bad or that it’s ok that this is happening. I just think that with the technology these days, the shrinking world, and the mass communication, everyone knows everything and has something to say about it.
What can we do about this “anti-Mexican hysteria”? Not a thing, I don’t think. There will always be people set in their ways enough to be unwelcoming to those different than them. Additionally, the media loves drama; I’m pretty sure that’s how it came about. Put those two together and you have media highlighting racial hysteria and blowing it hugely out of proportion. People eat that stuff up. I’m of the opinion that the media rarely tells the truth, or at least not the whole truth. There are too many things that we have to be ashamed of for the press to tell the straight facts about our country and the people living in it.
As for the anti-Mexican nonsense, I don’t actually have a lot to say about it. I’ve come to find that I don’t really have a lot to say about these weekly topics directly, but am quite opinionated when it comes to the issues surrounding them. My opinion being, of course, that all this happens all the time, always has, and I don’t think there’s much that can be done about it. Not to say that I think it’s ok, it’s just that it kind of happens. What should we do about it? What can we do?
When I read this article it reminded me a lot of the picture of the Mexicans hanging the flag upside down. As Americans we immediately jump up and get upset over things that may affect our jobs and our lives as Americans. Sometimes I think rightfully so, our ancestors who immigrated from all over the world came to this country and adapted to its culture and ideals. My grandmother came over on a boat in the 1930s and learned how to speak English so she could get a job and be able to be educated in school. We are in a period of increased immigration but a period no different than the ones our ancestors experienced. Obviously, I don’t agree with the unnecessary uproar that is created when rumors such as this get started and as a public relations major and a conservative I am slightly appalled.
Just to touch on the comment Sam made about conservative media and liberal media. People typically talk about the media and how Fox News is so conservative and lies. Well yes they are a little over the edge at times and are pretty far right but that is because the rest of the national media is so incredibly liberal. People, especially college students, fail to understand how bias the CNNs and MSNBCs are. Just look at the incident of President Obama saying he should be in the “special olympics for bowling.” The media would be screaming and yelling if Bush would have made a comment like that. They would call him stupid and say how ridiculous it is that he is our President. So Thank you Sam for noting that this article is not about bashing the only right wing media source its about discussing the need of the American people to always get into a tizzy based on a rumor that threatens who we are as Americans.
After reading over the Oregon Department of Forestry’s website you can clearly see what Fox News did, they assumed that since the rule was that you must speak the same language of the person who was leading you that, it would mean that with the influx of firefighters of Mexican descent that everyone would have to learn how to speak Spanish. Does this make it ok or justifiable? Of course not. I’m sure that this would fit into one of our stages as white people, that when we feel threatened we immediately express and transcend our anger and disapproval.
The purpose of a news network should be to present an unbiased presentation of the facts to provide information to a population so that they can make intelligent and informed decisions. It is bad enough that listeners already possess their own particular bias and therefore strive to interpret the facts of every situation to support their predetermined prejudices. Combine this with the fact that many people are so naïve that they believe that what they hear is the undisputable truth, especially if it has been broadcast on the national news. Quick to applaud the affirmation of what they already believe, these listeners perpetuate their close-minded and ignorant perspective.
The news networks have a responsibility to the population they serve because the influence they have over society is overwhelming. A slanted view can promote prejudice rather than provide truthful accounts. FOX news is despicable because of its blatant and irresponsible and what appears intentional misrepresentation of the facts. If it was so easy to dispute their story about the firefighters in Oregon, obviously the FOX news story was not researched well or information was intentionally presented incorrectly. FOX news is evil in the greatest possible sense because they prey on people's paranoia and ignorance to spread fear, hatred, and negativity. Unfortunately, people are always looking for a scapegoat to blame for their own misfortune and the Mexicans have been unjustly targeted over and over again. "Send the Mexicans home" is the war cry, and all of the social and economic problems in our country will be resolved is the assumption. Find out what happens to the service industry and agriculture if that wish comes to fruition. We should be grateful to the Mexican immigrants who are willing to perform jobs that many American people are too lazy, spoiled, or proud to even consider.
The language issue raised in this story is also infuriating to me. It is absolutely necessary for firefighters to be able to communicate and they have resolved that issue simply by requiring that supervisors of teams with non-English speaking members be bilingual. The fact that people get so pompous about the fact that some immigrants have not mastered the English language only points out the fact that many Americans are resistant and incapable of learning another language themselves. What are we afraid of in this country really? Is it that we may be enriched by another culture and its language?
I guess the lesson to learn from this is not to jump to conclusions. Consider the source of your information (especially if it is FOX NEWS) and investigate a story or both sides of a conflict before forming an opinion and spreading information. Be a firefighter yourself: stop forwarding inaccuracies and propaganda through e-mails where misinformation spreads like wildfires!!!
I do not wish to directly attack anyone, but as I was reading through some of the comment one in particular really bothered me. Although I will not throw you under the spotlight I would like to comment on what someone wrote, “The Mexicans are in our country, and should learn to speak our language”. Honestly, if you would have said this to my face I would have called you ignorant and completely dismissed you as just another close minded idiot. Honestly, who says that? Ok, I can understand that it if these Mexicans get these jobs as firefighters it is a safety hazard. This does not mean that people should go yapping away about how they need to learn the language and that non-citizens should not get jobs. Lots of non-citizens do the jobs that others do not want to do. If it was not for them then America would not be where it is now. Everyone has ancestors, other than the Native Americans, that were once immigrants. Are you trying to say that these people are just supposed to sit around and starve to death other than get jobs while they wait for their citizenship to go through? At least they are doing something beneficial for their community. It’s a shame people still think the world needs to revolve around America and that everyone should learn English. If it was so easy to learn another language so quickly, wouldn’t everyone do it?
Anywho, now that I got that off my chest I can comment on this blog appropriately. After I saw the short clip I started laughing because Sam’s explanation of his reaction looked just like mine. He was right; it was too ridiculous to even take seriously. I am not upset that people are mad that these people were wrongly demoted for not knowing Spanish. I am upset because the media has a predictable way of twisting the truth to make their headlines more interesting. It does not occur to the media that things such as this can bring unwanted negativity towards innocent Mexican-Americans. It does not seem fair that one isolated incident must cause so much anger and hostility. The guidelines for hiring firefighters are clearly given; there should be no problem. If these people in higher positions want to hear these non-English speaking people than they need to deal with the consequences. It almost seems like they are trying to place all the blame on the Latinos just because they do not speak English. If they had such a problem with it then why would you hire them in the first place? In the end, I feel that people need to stop relying solely on what the media says because people need to learn to come to their own conclusions. Sam said so himself, it was sad to see how so many people believed the lies the media spun before even doing their own investigation. Apparently, people are guilty before proven innocent in the eyes of the media.
My first reaction to the video clip about the Mexican firefighters who didn't speak English was, like Sam's, confusion that supervisors would actually be demoted for not speaking Spanish. Then, I remembered that the clip showed a news report from Fox News and I realized that the report was probably sensationalized crap meant to stir up the conservative base. If this report was seen by people in my hometown area (the Wyoming Valley), I can imagine the reaction: “See?! Those damned Mexicans are causing trouble for all of us “real” Americans who speak English!” It's incredible to me that Sam (a single individual) did more research on the issue than Fox News (“Fair and Balanced” with massive resources that could be used to get information) did.
First of all, without even mentioning that the story isn't as black and white as the video clip made it out to be, I'd like to take on the issue of the “Welcome to American, now speak English” culture. I really can't stand this kind of thing. The vast majority of our European ancestors, especially those who came to American in the early 1900s, did not speak English. This is why neighborhoods of people with the same ethnicities formed. Many of the neighborhoods within New York City's boroughs were originally inhabited by people who were ethnically alike. In my area, I live in a predominately Polish town. The city where I went to school was predominately Italian. The town where I used to attend church was mostly Irish (the church was St. Mary's, a popular name for Irish churches). When many European immigrants came to this country and settled alongside others of like ethic backgrounds, they were able to get by speaking in only their native tongue since most of the people in the stores and churches spoke their language. However, many people today who are descendants of these same European immigrants seem to have much less tolerance for the Mexican immigrants today than the citizens of the United States in the early 1900s had for their ancestors.
Despite everything I just said, I understand that it is extremely important to have communication between firefighters. If the fire departments in Oregon need to hire Mexican-Americans to be firefighters, than they should attempt to hire English-speakers. If they can't get enough English-speakers, than they should make sure (like they do, according to their website) that the supervisor of the crew can speak both Spanish and English.
As far as how many times I have been duped by a rumor or e-mail, I can honestly say I can't remember it happening much. If I get some type of chain e-mail that offers facts that I am not sure are true, I research them. My girlfriend just forwarded me an e-mail last week that said that Mr. Rogers (the guy who used to be on TV with the sweaters on singing about beautiful days in his neighborhood) had been a Navy SEAL who had like 20 confirmed kills, and that he wore the sweaters to cover up his tattoos. After reading the e-mail, my “bullshit alarm” immediately went off so I decided to do some research. After searching for “Mr. Rogers navy seal”, I found an Urban Legends web page from about.com that confirmed that the story was indeed a fabrication.
I think that when people first see the clip about the firefighter they just jump straight to conclusions and assume that it is the head firefighters fault for not being able to speak Spanish and English, if some one grows up in the United States and has only lived here and lived a sheltered life it is not really their fault that they can only speak English. I showed the video to my friend Jackie who comes from a Hispanic background and she thought it was ridiculous that people can not take the time to learn the language another country speaks, she feels the same way I do that if you are going to come into another and live and work here they should be able to speak the language of the country they are living in. My friend Jackie told me about how her mother who is also Hispanic has to deal with some people she works with who speak Spanish and she tells them all the time that she is not always going to be around to translate for them to other people who do not speak Spanish, Her mom tells them that they should learn English just to be able to help themselves in a country where the majority of people only speak English. I understand that if there is a group of firefighters that only speak Spanish they should still learn English because they are living in the United States where the language most spoken is English. I do not just expect that of people who come to the United States I also expect that of any American who goes to another country to at least know a little of their language so they can communicate with the other people around them. Communication is not just important for firefighters working together to put out a fire, it is important for everything we do every single day. You cannot get food or buy a house or find somewhere to live or get directions or anything with out communicating with some one. Communication is the basis or our every day life. I understand that there are groups of people who work together and all speak the same language which may not necessarily be the main language spoken in the country they are in but they should still learn at least a little bit of that language. It would make everything a lot easier because they would be able to communicate with so many more people than they would if they only spoke the language from their native country. Part of being in a different country is experiencing new things and learning about new cultures and it all starts with a common language
I had to read the blog and watch the clip about the Oregon firefighters twice before I fully understood what they were all about. How awful that this news station would use this story as a chance to generate more bad feelings about Mexicans in this country. My first reaction after hearing the clip was to respond to his final comment: “So why not require the workers to speak English? The state has no clear answer on that.” I thought to myself, why don’t they require the Spanish-speaking firefighters to learn English, rather than firing the squad leaders who do not speak Spanish? Or provide Spanish lessons for them… it doesn’t seem fair for them to be laid off for such a reason. Of course, when I read the statement from Oregon’s Department of Forestry, it all made sense. Obviously, the news coverage was inaccurate. This is when I watched the clip for the second time. I couldn’t believe the way they made the story so much more dramatic and shock-inducing than what was actually going on. Of course firefighters need to communicate when they are battling fires. And if a squad captain decides to hire a Mexican firefighter who speaks only Spanish, it is only reasonable to require that he speak Spanish as well.
It is sad that news stations are using situations like these to perpetuate anti-Mexican hysteria. I’m sad to say, but if I watched this story on the news a few years ago, I would probably not have taken the time to research what is really going on. I’ve always taken the news to be 100% accurate and objective. Pushing stories that are untrue just to cause an audience reaction is what the tabloids are for. Telling me a made-up story to try and get me to turn on someone is something that happened frequently in high school, but not while watching the news. Unfortunately, since I came to college and began studying sociology and race relations, it is glaringly obvious that this is not the case. Now I understand that sometimes even the most seemingly trustworthy sources can have hidden agendas. One of the things that makes me so sad about this situation is how eagerly people seemed to believe it. They see an opportunity to once again get themselves worked up about immigration and Mexicans, and they completely take advantage of it. What a shame. Talk about a lesson in taking what you hear with a grain of salt. I would have never guessed that Americans would need to do this so frequently. I am sad for the people who commented on the video without the slightest idea of what was really going on. I wonder how they would react to the truth, whether they would feel stupid for believing a lie and getting upset over it, or indifferent, since the news was simply playing right into their views. I hope that Americans will learn to be more skeptical regarding the flow of information. Also, I hope that news stations will keep their integrity intact and provide viewers with accurate and unbiased stories.
It seems to me that this video about Mexican fire fighters joining English speaking crews and the chiefs of these crews being fired for not speaking Spanish is absolutely ridiculous. I cannot even begin to ponder how it can be legal for any type of journalist or news station to report this type of false story. As much as I love the United States, and the fact that it is the “most free country in the world”, it almost makes me sick that these types of stories can air because of freedom of speech, to make some groups of people sound bad for something that they have not even done. This video for example, makes it seem that the Mexican fire fighters are doing something wrong. Clearly, they were just trying to help the fire fighters already working on the fires since they seemed to be in dire need of any help that they could get, but instead it is reported that their help is hurting the American chiefs who don’t speak Spanish, and getting them demoted or even fired.
The only thing that I can think of after hearing this story is racism. It seems evident to me that they heard that American chiefs were being fired for not being able to speak Spanish to maybe one or two men out of twenty, and automatically had to make it a breaking story. Everyone wants constant updates, whether it is breaking news that interrupts a TV show, or they are simply just looking on a search engine such as Yahoo or Google for an interesting article to read. Because of this constant need for news updates, journalism and reporting quality are significantly increasing. Reporters no longer have as much care for the truth behind the story, rather they will take the more interesting story, or the story that will bring about more controversy, simply to help their ratings.
I have no problem understanding why all firefighters on the same crew must be able to communicate. It is quite obvious that it is for their own safety. That is not my concern. Even though I know this story probably has a good deal of bias to it, some parts of it still annoy me. I don’t see why only the captains would have to speak Spanish. Not that I know much about firefighting, but it would seem to me that all members of the crew should be able to communicate, not just the captain. Also, I don’t understand why they would have to speak Spanish. I am not trying to come off as racist, and even though I know we have no national language, but I still believe that anyone that lives in the US should be able to speak English, not only for the sake of people who do speak English, but for these people themselves. I know that if I were to move to a different country, I would want to know the language, so I simply can’t understand why they wouldn’t want to speak English.
When I read this article I was really shock at what I was reading and listening to. I think its funny how fox news took the story and lied about it when the truth is on the internet. Does the news station think the viewers are stupid? They took this story and lied about it just so they can make their ratings higher. It’s a shame the news stations takes stories and change them around to benefit themselves not their viewers. We the viewers have right to know the truth about stories that happen in our country. This article goes back when Dr. Richard was talking about how the news only shows the negative side of the stories and not the truth about them. He showed us the many video clips of what the American people do to the people in Iraq. He also told us stories about how friendly the people were and how they sent their greeting back to the American people. The news stations flip the script and make us think they are the evil people.
I think all employers need to be able to communicate with their employees; however I do think that if you are an American citizen you should be able to speak the English language. A majority of Americans only speak English. How are Spanish only speaking Americans going to communicate with English only speaking Americans if they don’t know the language? I’m not saying that they should leave their native language in the country they are from but I do think they need to learn language that is spoken in America so they will be able to communicate with other Americans. Communication is very important part for any job not just for firefighters. It is important for employers to be able to communicate with their employees so they will be able to get the job done right. I don’t think the employers should’ve been fired or demoted especially when it is not required to speak the same language as their employees. I do think that the company should have provided a Spanish speaking course for the employers and an English speaking course for their employees so they will be able to communicate. I know what it feels like to not be able to communicate with someone. Working in retail, there are some customers that come in and they don’t know how to speak English. It’s frustrating because you can’t explain to them when something is wrong with one of the items they are about to purchase. You don’t want the customers thinking they got cheated out of a deal. A few years ago there was an incident in Philadelphia where a local restaurant put up a sign that said “Speak English When you are ordering.” This caused some controversy in the city of Philadelphia and a lot of people saw this comment as racist. If the customer can not speak English how will the waiter know what they want? We need to be able to communicate if not how will know what is important or what we need to do.
This video clip just proves how the media twists information around just to make it more interesting. Sometimes stories are “slightly” changed in order to turn a small issue into a big one. Why is that they feel the need to use propaganda and exaggeration to make something entertaining? Most people watch the news in order to find out the truth around the world and in their home towns, not to see how creative the stories can get or how the anchors can make them laugh. There are plenty of other channels on the television that can entertain us; the news should not be one of them.
A few weeks ago, it was brought to my attention in our discussion groups that Fox News is known to reword stories to make them either more interesting or in favor of whites. I honestly had no idea that that was even an issue that had been brought up. When I heard of this I was honestly stunned. I couldn’t believe that such a famous and popular news channel would suddenly have such bad reviews. And what do you know, this exact clip originated from Fox News. When I listened to the clip, the first thing that popped in my head was “is this one of those fake things from comedy central?” Then I looked in the bottom left corner and noticed that no, it was not from comedy central, it was from Fox News; the exact channel everyone was talking about. After I realized that it wasn’t a joke, I had to listen to it again. And then I became really confused.
Why was the focus on how the Hispanics are taking over the white firefighter’s jobs? Is Spanish the dominant language in Oregon? I think not. So why is it that the firefighters are recruiting so many Hispanics that only speak Spanish, and are letting go of multiple non-Spanish speaking whites? Well, Fox News is trying to get people to feel exactly this, and to feel some hatred towards the Spanish, even if they have no real reason to do so in the first place.
Well did anyone ever consider the fact that maybe it just happened to be that some Hispanics were being recruited and that the fire department just happened to let go of some White firefighters? There could be no direct correlation between the two, and the White firefighters are just angry that they lost their job, and are taking it out on the ones who are replacing them.
I understand why some Whites are taking this situation as if the Spanish are taking over, and why is it that the Whites should be fired for not knowing their language. I agree with the fact that communication is key, but why is it that the Hispanics don’t have to know the dominant language, and we have to know theirs?
But on the other hand, why is it that Fox news, and the white firefighters are making this seem as if it is a race issue? This could well be just a coincidence and not even a problem in the first place. Now honestly, I don’t know how I feel about this whole situation, but what I do know is that it is necessary to get all the facts first before making a conclusion.
This article is very interesting. Personally, I do not like reading articles about Americans complaining about how immigrants are taking their jobs. People do not realize the notion of human beings and how cruel it is to turn your back on people who need to work the most. Think about this. Who wants to work in the farms under the hot, hot sun? Who wants to mow the lawn under such hot circumstances? I am assuming that Americans do not want to do those kinds of jobs and when people are willing to take those jobs to support their family, where they have absolutly nothing, Americans then complain that the immigrants are taking their jobs. That being said, one of the commenters said that if you are a firefighter, communication is very important. If you have one person who does not speak English, he should not be working. The title is also also horrible: "Those damn Mexican Americans are at it again". How ignorant can people be? That being said, Whoever come into this country should at least make an effort to speak English. Just as so if Americans were to go to Mexico, they should learn Spanish, even so if they want to get by. "Round 'em up" is such a terrible statement to make towards the Mexicans! How dare they say that to them? People need to start looking at immigrants as hunam beings and not as an object. You can not just say things like that and expect to get away with it. I also agree with one of the commenters in which he/she said that sometimes the news reporters do not have tradional proof and can not back their fiesty statements. They state these such appauling lines and yet they have no proof that it is actully true. It is more about the merit than it is about the job because people work harder than Americans. There are certain companies that do nto hire international workers and in that case they are compaters. Again, who wants to do labor work? The same issue also applies to when Americans say that all job should stop going oversees. Why don't you guys gain some more knowledge and learn more so that way you can level up to those foreigners who are a lot more smarter than you! Companies want and hire the best so they go to people who have brains. I hate it when people say "every time I call Dell (or HP etc) and Indian answers the phone". Of course! And that should tell you that we are a little smarter at computers than you guys. However, I think that they should learn to diffuse their heavy, thick Indian accent. I actually find it annoying that when I call HP, I could hardly understand the person I am talking to and I always have to ask them to repeat it several times.
When I read this story, I was not surprised to see that Fox News reported this story first. I interned there last summer and that is one bias station. But then again many of the news stations are very bias in one way or the other. It doesn’t surprise me that the cable network is broadcasting information to the public that is not true or misinform them. I am a journalism major and one thing that they teach us is to be unbiased and ethical, however, you see it everyday in the news, where reporters and news stations are doing something unethical and biased. It is obviously done to gain attention and attract viewers because anything that is either sad, awful, or just a lie people seem to like.
When it comes to this article about the firefighters, I have mixed feelings about it. I do feel that people in the United States need to know English. In this case, these firefighters should know some English. They make not be fluent but they should know it because it this case where they are saving people’s lives, how would they know what the victim’s are saying if they can’t understand them. People who work in law enforcement or jobs that require saving peoples lives should be required to know English. I know I wouldn’t want to get into an ambulance with paramedics that don’t speak English because how would they know what I am telling them is wrong with me?
I think the fire department is also to blame for hiring these men who did not speak English so I do believe it is just as much their fault. The main reason why I think this made the news is not so much about the issue but because it involves a different race. I know we talk about this in class and how whites just have it so easily and I’m white and I agree with this. Any story on the news that contains someone of a different race seems to draw more attention. A majority of the crimes they show on television are committed by black males, or are they? Maybe they just make it seem like it is mostly black males. By showing this kind of story on the news, I think it make Americans dislike Mexican Americans more. For some reason, we already tend to discriminate against them because we think they are “taking over” our country and people always assume they don’t speak English so I think this broadcast could increase the hatred towards Mexicans.
Whatever race it may be or whatever language, Americans will always discriminate to some extent. Whatever the situation, language barriers should not be that big of a problem. We should all try to communicate with each other.
For some innate reason, I’ve always felt that individuals educated in a particular field have the duty of not just conversing in the small circles of their field of intellect, but also to inform others not involved in their field about what is going on, what breakthroughs are happening. Basically, I’ve always valued all of the subfields within the profession of journalism. This is not easy task by any means, dumbing down technical jargon for the general public is tricky. Also, it’s never easy to determine what to include and what isn’t necessary to include. Subfields within journalism, such as medical journalism, can do the general public a lot of good, or do just the opposite and cause a lot of harm. It’s a delicate balance between informing the public and causing mass hysteria for no reason. All of a sudden you have all of these people rushing to their doctor because they think they have many of the symptoms of a certain disease or condition they heard about on the news. Then, you have people thinking they know enough form one story or one article on PubMed to diagnose themselves. Journalists certainly have their work cut out for them.
The Fox news story is similar in the fact that it causes mass hysteria, causing anti-Mexican attitudes. Not all mistakes have such consequences but in this case, prejudice was an effect. In this case, information wasn’t left out; the information was just completely incorrect, masquerading as fact instead of fiction. Even if Fox had followed up with the truth, that there was no such case of an English-speaking firefighter being fired due to Mexican-speaking workers, much damage would probably have already occurred. Who’s to say the same audience who heard the originally story would also hear the apology? Fox has to get it right the first time at least for its own credibility if for nothing else. What’s the point of watching the “news” if we can’t believe anything that is said?
My first thought after watching the video was these reporters are educated people. Parts of the story made sense like saying communication is a vital part of the firefighting profession, but didn’t they notice that it sounded a bit off that a firefighter leading a crew would be fired if just one of the workers under him/her spoke Spanish? Not one of the reporters working on the story took a step back and thought English-speaking firefighters looked like victims and Mexican-speaking firefighters sounded like the perpetrators and might cause an outcry? Even just a little background check on firefighting in general in Oregon would have revealed the truth behind their policies. It’s scary to think there are journalists out there making information up entirely or failing to check their sources. Deadlines are important, but so is avoiding misinformation. After so many mistakes, viewers are going to look elsewhere for their information where reporters report real news instead of trying to make good television.
I agree with Sam’s last words in the blog- I think that if firefighters are going to be speaking a different language, the other members of the company and their chiefs should be able to communicate with them. In firefighting, communication is a very important part of helping to put out fires. So obviously, I think that if the people volunteering their lives to put out fires should learn English to be able to communicate with the others. I also think that it should work both ways and the chiefs should need to be able to learn some of the firefighter’s language to be able to communicate.
I do not think it is fair that the people volunteering to and putting their lives in the face of danger should be punished/fired/not allowed to do what they want. Besides, who else are we going to get to do the jobs that nobody else wants to? After all, the needs for firefighters (and other jobs of this nature) are extremely hard to fill. As soon as men or women start families they are concerned about the possibility of not only losing their life, but not being there for their families lives. If people are willing, I think that the others around them should be accommodating to that even though “we are in America.” I feel that the need for people to adjust must be on both sides.
To the bigger topic- I find it very nerving that information like this gets so misconstrued. It saddens me that the news people need to find news stories so much that they resort to airing information that is not even accurate. It would really be in their best interest to make sure that the information they are airing is in fact true. I know that that may be a hard task to accomplish, but why not give the people whose stories you are airing some dignity. I know that it is important to air the bad things and events occurring around the world but why not showcase a good story. Perhaps, they could even air a story about the positive aspects of those who volunteer their time, safety, etc. for others.
Furthermore, the fact that other people took this information from the news and used it and further exploited the false information makes me even more upset. This is one of the many reasons as to why the internet is not always such a good thing. So many stories get misconstrued through the internet and through stories written or told by people who are not fully and properly backing up their information with accurate evidence. I have to admit, I have found information on the internet and not thought twice about it being true and have shared the information with others around me. I am guilty of having done the same thing but this article has showed me how important it is to really know and find truth in something you hear.
Seeing that video of the news cast was so strange. When I first watched it I could not believe that a company could even find it remotely plausible to fire someone over something like that. And then to read that other article from the State of Oregon's Department of Forestry and find out that was all made up was ridiculous. Who thinks that it is ok to even start a rumor like that which is completely unfounded is beyond me. Then the fact that Fox News aired a story on it is so disappointing. They did not even bother to check facts to make sure they are reporting on an actual story. It is not like there are not enough people in the company to type it into the internet and find that it is totally false, just like Sam so easily did. People these days depend so heavily on the news programs in the media that they do not bother to make sure it is not completely made up to create a great story. And even if there is a slightly true story, whichever news station it is, they spin the story to fit what they want to hear. And to hear that people flipped out and wrote some very offensive material when watching the clip on YouTube is even more disheartening. I totally understand that watching something that crazy can be easily misinterpreted, but at the same time, why comment on something you are not sure is even real.
People in this country jump to conclusions so quickly especially when it includes a group of people they are not fond of. To hear someone say such horrible things about a group of people is always hard to hear. I agree that some people do take advantage of our country and the government. Then there are the hardworking Mexican people who live in our country legally and just like the rest of us. It is unfair to group all of these people together and say that they all need to be kicked out of the country. They are just a part of this country as anyone else and it cannot be generalized to such a large group of people.
And when people are so ignorant as to say “this is what happens when we elect a black person as a president” it is even more ridiculous. They did not even bother to see when this news broke and that is what not even close to when Obama was elected. People need to start taking the time to check what stories are true and those that are complete fabrications, and then maybe some problems can be avoided in the future.
After seeing the video about the supposed firing of firefighter crew leaders because they did not speak Spanish I was surprised. But then I remembered that this was a Fox news broadcast, and suddenly I was slightly more skeptical. To anyone it should sound ridiculous that someone is being fired because they are not bilingual, and I was happy to find out that the information presented by Fox was completely false.
I do recognize, however that there are many people who think that Spanish-speaking people do not belong in America, because English is our “official language”. I’ve seen people get outraged when grocery stores began presenting their aisle signs in Spanish in addition to English. I have always thought that this was ridiculous, but the truth remains that there are people who hold a very strong prejudice against Mexican Americans and other Spanish-speaking citizens.
I think that part of the reason there is such an anti-Mexican feeling among some people is because the assumption is made that if someone speaks Spanish, then they MUST be an illegal immigrant. There is a pretty large disapproval of illegal immigrants because they are cheating the system and getting into the country very easily. Meanwhile there are other people who are not from central or South America who wish to immigrate but must wait their turn because they cannot swim over or run across the border. I, personally, do not think that illegal immigration should be tolerated as much as it is, but for a different reason. People immigrate to the United States because they want a better life and want to live the American dream. These people, however, are being paid under minimum wage, and living with over twenty people in a 3 bedroom house. In short, they are being taken advantage of, and yet no one is outraged for this reason.
It is ironic that people are so easily fooled by misinformation, and yet most of them have such strong opinions about what should and should not be done. It is outrageous claims like the ones made in this clip that cause people to have such negative feelings about Mexican Americans. People believe the news way to easily, and do not recognize that the stations, and reporters, all have their own agendas. The media is a very powerful entity that stops many people from thinking for themselves, or seeking out the truth, because after all, the news is always the truth…right?
There is a certain responsibility on each of us to seek out the truth for ourselves and not listen to everything we hear or read. Misinformation is one of the main things that causes prejudice to exist, because some intolerant and ignorant people are in a position to broadcast false things.
When I first watched the clip I said, “what?” That was my response mainly because I was not paying attention. When I watched it again, I thought it was ridiculous. Well I feel anything Fox News reports is ridiculous, but that’s beside the point. But then I thought, it kind of makes sense if it is true. If there are people that speak different languages on a crew, there should be a leader that speaks all the languages. But of course I also thought about why the crewmen don’t have to speak English. Then I thought, maybe they needed all the help they could get. Maybe they really needed the manpower to fight a raging forest fire so they had to make exceptions and having a boss that spoke all the languages would be easier to get than having to find thirty English speaking guys to replace the thirty Mexican firemen that were just fired. I was thinking more towards a practical application than racism or anything of the sort. It is just a dangerous situation for everyone involved if firefighters cannot communicate well in a situation. People will die if the firefighters are not communicating with each other and communicating well.
I definitely did not stop to think if it’s true or not. I thought, “I guess it probably is true. Oregon could be full of crazies, I do not know.” I have been duped by weird stories in the past. But on the flip side I have spotted completely fraudulent stories at a glance. Sometimes though, it is hard to differentiate between the two because this world has some pretty stupid people. So sometimes when you think that there is just no way that a twelve-year-old impregnated a fifteen-year-old, it is actually true, but not as true as you think. Because it was not that specific twelve-year-old, it was a different twelve-year-old, but they just are not sure which one yet. They are not sure because apparently the fifteen-year-old girl had a lot of fun at a Pokèmon convention. Just so you know that really did happen, look it up, it is quite fascinating. Well, the story minus the Pokèmon thing is true.
Now, back to the firefighters and their issue discussed in the video. After I thought about how the story could have just been a rational decision for a specific situation, I thought about it some more. I didn’t read on in the blog entry because I wanted to formulate my own thoughts before reading Sam’s. After reading the rest of Sam’s entry I realized how I was easily duped by the story. It seemed legitimate, even coming from Fox News. I did not read the comments to the video, mainly because I did not care all that much too. But it made me think about how lazy we are and how a lot of Americans just take whatever crap is put in front of them as gospel. I guess that is what this country is all about, allowing people to have their own opinions, no matter how retarded and ludicrous they might be. Reading is not this country’s strongest asset.
Marlon Chopra
Those Damn Mexicans Are At It Again- Just the title of this article tends to make me cringe “those damn Mexicans are at it again”- well yes, “those” Mexicans are “at it” again, trying to get a job. I mean, what are they thinking? How selfish and rude of them trying to get a job to live and survive off of, to maintain their homes and families, and to provide the necessities of life. But what about everyone else in America, aren’t we all trying to get jobs and provide for our families/lives? What makes this situation any different-because they are Mexican? I just find it funny that their nationality and heritage are brought up continuously--“THOSE” Mexicans because it seems to me, or at least I was under the impression that America is, or was, the land of the free, the land of opportunities, the Melting Pot of the world and that our diversity was just as big a part of this country as is our freedom, our consumerism, and our greed (except the last two are usually not mentioned).
It’s said that history has a tendency to repeat itself, and we should study our history in order to help prevent situations from happening again—but that clearly isn’t the case here. When the first real big wave of immigration was happening in America, weren’t those immigrants being looked down upon and being harassed, stores being vandalized because the “American’s” at that time felt that the immigrants (the Irish. Italians, etc.) were taking their jobs? And while these Mexicans may not necessarily be harassed, they are being looked down on and having racist ignorant comments made to them/about them which is just as bad. Racism, ignorance, unaccepting comments and thoughts are intolerable in this world today and especially in a country that is the prides itself on diversity.
Lately, everyone/everything seems to be so hypocritical and no one is calling it out on anyone else-oh no that would be to inappropriate and unheard of, better to just keep our voices to ourselves instead of calling people out on their-excuse the language- bullshit. For instance, we’re a country that finally elected a black president, but at the same time in California took away gay people’s right to get married…so much for progression. What happens to the marriages that already took place? Are they now invalid and if they aren’t then why could they marry and it be seen as a valid legal contract but now it isn’t? What exactly is the basis for not allowing gay people to get married-because if you mention religion, not everyone is Christian/catholic, jewish, etc. That is what WAS the beauty of this country-freedom of whatever we want to believe or not believe like agnostics and atheists. Going with that, religion seems to be the only reason, that I personally see, as to being the reason gay people can’t marry.
It’s all just a bunch of bullshit.
I decided to respond to this blog because both my uncle and sister are volunteer firefighters and I hear stories from the both of them almost on a daily basis. A lot of times when they tell me about the fires they are fighting, they talking about how intense it is to actually be in a fire and how every second they are in the building is a second closer to the building falling apart altogether. One of the most important things when they are in the fires it is the need to be able to communicate because of the dangerous situations they are in.
After reading this blog, watching the video, and reading article I feel that not only the chiefs should have to be able to speak English, but anyone who will be taking part in putting out a fire. I believe in equal opportunity for everyone, but in this case, I feel that EVERY person has to speak English because how serious the situations can be. I feel that the only way Hispanics should be allowed to become a firefighter is if they learn how to fluently speak English. What would happen if they were in a fire and another firefighter told them not to go into a room and they did not understand them because they did not understand English and they end up going into the room and getting seriously injured or killed? It would be a lost life all because two firefighters were not speaking the same language.
Like I said earlier, every second matters and if firefighters have to stop and repeat themselves so that a non-English speaking firefighter could try to understand what they were saying, someone may get hurt or even killed.
I am not against people not speaking English in other aspects of life, but when it comes to safety hazards I think that you must be able to speak English in these cases. I work at a grocery store in my hometown in the summer and a lot of time Hispanic people come into my store and are unable to understand what I am saying. Sometimes I get aggravated because sometimes it is nearly impossible to talk to them. In this case, since there is no risk of life or injury, I have nothing against people speaking Hispanic. If I talk to them slow or try to find a way to communicate to them, I am usually able to successfully help them out with whatever they need. I just think being a firefighter is not a good job for someone who does not speak English.
I do not think this is an issue of racism, but rather an issue of safety. Being a firefighter is just one job in the U.S. and I feel that non-English speaking people should just look for a different job unless they learn English.
When it comes to hearing information and forming my own opinions on the subject that I just heard I find myself always recalling the words of my 8th grade Geometry teacher Mrs. Huffins, “Believe nothing of what you hear and half of what you see.” The woman obviously didn’t intend for me to follow her exact words and never believe a word that is spoken to me for the rest of my life. Her intentions were to get us as 8th grades to not always take things at face value to really look into things before forming opinions or jumping on bandwagons. So when I look at the clip of that article I do question the authenticity of the story. Whenever I watch the news or read the paper I am always skeptical because I know that the things they tell us on the news and in the papers are at times very subjective on the basis of the author’s opinion. Certain news stations report news for the left wing crowd and other news stations typically offer news for the right wing cloud. This particular news station, Fox News, seems to always report the stories of the news in this fashion. As for the story itself I find it very hard to believe that a person in any firehouse would hire someone who didn’t speak the language of the majority. I also agree that it would be extremely detrimental to the people in the crews of the Mexicans because firefighting involves a lot of communication. I find it hard to believe that people would knowingly hire someone who could cause such a massive barrier in the crew’s communication. I also feel that this shows support for the anti-Mexican hysteria that we have here in the United States. The story made it seem that a mass influx of the population is now Mexicans who were “probably” here illegally or came over illegally or whatever; you know what I’m saying. So all these Mexicans are taking the jobs of the white people who worked there way up to the top and had been around for a long time, but now everything is going to shambles and it’s because of the Mexicans. This is a bit off topic but I just wanted to comment on the knuckle heads that same pointed out, you know the guys on blogs and who post comments on videos that you can tell lack complete aptitude and post the most ridiculous comments. I really can’t stand those people. Sorry to go off on a tangent but it’s just how I feel. But the news stations should be held responsible in my opinion. They shouldn’t be allowed to shape their reports to left and right wing audiences. As a reporter and a journalist you should be obligated to report the story as is, without bias and many news stations don’t do that.
I almost forgot to write this journal again. Luckily I wrote myself a reminder so that I can get all two of these points. Also, I’m doing pretty bad in my other classes and I need an A in Soc 119 to help my GPA. This brings me to the topic on grade-deflation, what a crazy idea. What happens if have the exact grade as someone else and you’re both on the fence, how does the University decide? Well it beats me and that’s enough to make me hate the idea. Hopefully this never happens to PSU because I’d have to drop out of college. Anyway its Friday night and I’m ready to party. Both these topics are pretty lame and I cant really find myself getting too animated about either. So with that said, maybe I’ll switch to the blog on Mexican firefighters. I hope this is allowed. Anyway, I think its bull crap that the crew bosses are getting laid off. One solution I think could be a common list of signals that all firefighters have in common. Like “stop” with a closed fist, or “go” with a wave of the hand and pointing the direction that you want them to go. However I’m not certain that this is the topic at hand. It is really easy to believe stories like these that you see on the news because although they report most of the information they leave some out such as when the anchor man says in response to why the firefighters don’t have to speak English, “the state has no clear answer on that.” That’s leaving a load out of the story. I completely agree that communication is key while firefighting and that everyone needs to be on the same page. It is a safety issue while battling crazy fires, for instance, what if while fighting a forest fire a tree is about to fall on a fellow crew member. “Watch out, a tree!” But unfortunately the fellow man is a Spanish speaker and has no idea what you just said, consequently gets injured from the falling tree he didn’t see. Now if that same man who saw the tree falling said, “Cuidado, un arbol!” then the Hispanic man would know that he was about to be pan caked by a tree. I think that maybe if the Mexicans don’t know how to speak English (which I think they should learn) than they should be put into an all Mexican firefighting squad, similar to how they had all women’s or all black divisions in the military. Granted this is kind of hard-core segregation, but it is more of a safety issue. This is at least until they learn how to speak English, or a little at that. El final!
First of all i question anything that fox news reports. Fox news(to me) is not a reputable source because of there biased attitudes in the past.All this article does is reassures the American peoples "naiveness" and ignorance to truth. Most Americans believe whatever they are told and dont take it upon themselves to research anything that sounds fishy. The assume everything the American media reports is true and takes that for what is is. They say if you wanna know whats going on in this country, to watch news reports from another country. i do nt disagree that all firefighters should share a common language and be able to speak it fluently. This is obviously for safety reasons. But as soon as i read this article i could help but not believe it and say how can that be. in our system, in this society they would never fire two american men over two mexican immigrants. Seriously did anybody believe this at first? with all the controversy in this matter and all the people against immigration or illegal immigration .Did we really believe that this could happen in this country come on? I would really like someone to report the truth. And seeing as how Fox news failed to report the truth and obviously slanted the story, This just goes to show the attitudes people at fox news, and many other American citzens, want the American people to have towards immigrants. Fox news has had clearly biased reports and reporters on there channel. As far as iam concerned nothing the report is reputable. As far as immigrants learning to speak english, I think that is very important for there social development in America. I think all immigrants should learn english. All aspects of life revolve around communication and without it our society would only suffer.However i dont feel that people should losse there heritage and in trying to assimilate into American culture. I also belive that Americans need to be more understanding of people who's first language is not english. Instead of assuming the are less intelligent and that they dont know what they are talking about we need to try to be better listeners and stop thinking we are superior to eveyone else. My father was not born of this counrty,however he does and has always spoken english. Yes he has an accent because he was not born of this country. But no matter how well he speakes english people always assume he dosnt know what he is talking about they hear is accent and then completely shut him out as if they cant understand him . When really they arent trying to understand. i think all of our social problems in america can be fixed with a littlecommunication. While being openminded and understanding we can figure out many of our faults and learn how to work better togethe. However I know this is easier said than done.
I feel as though there is probably more stories, articles, pictures, etc. on the internet that have little or no truth to them at all. It does not surprise me at all that it seems to be Fox news putting their own little spin on an otherwise uneventful story. In a sense they simply added racial controversy to a story that is solely about firefighters and the communication problems that may arise due to language barriers. I feel that the guy that said to “round ‘em up and send ‘em back,” formed this opinion just because of how Fox news decided to spin the story and attempted to make it focus more on racial differences and immigration rather than the actual problem at hand; wild fires. The documentary Outfoxed is probably the best piece of evidence and is the basis for why I feel the way I do about Fox news. In my opinion it is a joke, just as much of all media seems to be these days. Fox news has set views and obvious ideals that do not correspond with a news station that simply wants to put out facts and let viewers form their own opinions. They press their own views and try to convince their viewers into thinking, acting, and believing what they want them to. And it is due to this fact that this story does not surprise me in the least. But when I say I wasn’t surprised, I’m speaking about the fact that Fox news got the story completely wrong and their story is exactly that, THEIR story. What did surprise me was how Sam explained the feeling or thought of “there is no way this can be true.” I definitely felt the same as he did and in most cases would have done the exact same thing after seeing the Fox news story as Sam did; research to prove my gut feeling, that there is no way this could be true. Despite the dishonesty and blatant disregard for the actual story or truth, I can understand how certain facts may be interpreted differently from one person to the next and can understand how such a story could actually be shown on national television without any concern of the 100% truth. In most cases, especially on Fox news and the internet even more so, I’d feel safe in assuming this happens more often than not. I just find it sad that the ones suffering are the viewers and I am sure that most have no idea or would not consider the fact that this, or any other story, may be completely false. I can just imagine how people may view it; “its on TV, fox news, it must be true. How else could it be on the TV?” And in my opinion this is the underlying problem behind this entire ordeal.
After reading the Oregon Department of Forestry site and watching the video, I think that the lesson to be learned in this instance is not to believe everything you hear. Once again, the media makes something sound worse than it actually is by stretching the truth. In the video, the news anchor talks about how many of the workers being hired or volunteering to be firefighters are Hispanic, predominantly Mexican. This very well may be the truth. He also says that it is a law that the crew bosses or supervisors speak the language of their crews in order to effectively communicate with them and for other safety reasons. According to the Oregon Department of Forestry site, this is also truth. However, the difference we see by close observation is that the crew chiefs or supervisors choose their own crews, and if they pick people who do not speak English, than they must be able to speak that language as well. The news story, however, states that crew chiefs are being demoted or even laid off because they cannot speak Spanish, and yet being able to speak Spanish is not a requirement for crew chiefs according to the Oregon Department of Forestry.
This story is just another reason why the media can make things worse or blow things out of proportion. We see it today when there is news coverage about the Iraq war or other hostile countries. All we see in these videos are people and children holding weapons, destroying buildings, performing acts that make us think of them as terrorists or an entirely different group of people. I feel that the media paints a picture for us, and that’s what we see, and also what we think of those people. Just as Sam had said in class about how people over there see us as “Christian Killers,” we see them as terrorists. But it all comes down to the media. If we aren’t over there, or don’t understand the culture, what else are we to think? It is simply all that we know of them, because that is what society shows us. They don’t necessarily explain to us that they aren’t much different from us, that they have families, children, and a life.
Clearly, as Sam had pointed out at the end of the blog, the movie clip shown is to highlight anti-Mexican hysteria. I must admit, I watched the video first without reading the Oregon Department of Forestry site, and I had a feeling of “You know, it’s true, it isn’t fair that they are firing these firefighters for not knowing Spanish, it’s not their fault that they are not familiar with the language.” I did not agree with the idea that all firefighters should speak English, because that would not be fair either. Then I read the notes on the site about the Oregon Department of Forestry and their requirements. After realizing the true standards, then I watched the video again and saw exactly what Sam was talking about. It is obvious to see that the coverage was making an issue with the Mexican firefighters coming to work and taking over the jobs of people in Oregon who speak English, and who were born in the United States. After realizing this, then it just struck me as appalling how a well know news source such as Fox News would put forth this issue in a racial way, and it made me think about other news stories that may be twisting the truth to call attention to those who are against any other races or religions in the United States. What else is there that we don’t know?
When I first watched this clip, I had a very different reaction than I am sure most people had--I laughed. This is just a case of gold ole’ Fox News filtering another bullshit story. To be honest, the only reason that they are the most watched news television station is because they are amusing. Everything that comes out of Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity’s mouth could be featured on Comedy Central. Fox news is not a real news station, in my opinion. When people complain about the American media fabricating its stories, they are alluding to Fox News; however, this journal is not supposed to be consist of me bashing Fox News, so I’ll shift to the topic at hand: Anti-Mexicans.
Now, nothing about this story is funny. The fact that this country is still so full of hate for other races such as Mexican Americans is pretty shocking. While I agree that anyone who plans on working in an only English speaking workplace must speak English fluently, this does not render as an excuse to hate. Especially in the case of firefighting where it is a matter of life and death. Nevertheless, you cannot blame someone who does not speak English. When we go to other country’s we do not expect ourselves to speak their native language fluently and neither do they. This whole thing relates back to ethnocentrism, thinking that English is the best and most important language. Maybe if everyone in the United States could speak at least three languages fluently we could have a reason to complain, but we obviously do not. So we need to relax on the issue.
Today, illegal immigration is an extremely relevant issue. Everyday you hear about the Mexican border and illegal alien control. It is an important indicator for those running for office. With our failing economy, it is bigger than ever. People living in the United States who pay taxes and are unemployed are pointing their fingers at Mexican Americans, who are generally harder working and willing accept less pay than white people thus “taking” their jobs. Nevertheless, the only ones whom to blame is ourselves. Those running businesses are not going to hire someone who is lazier, less efficient and expects to be paid a heftier amount. The fact of the matter is that we have become way to reliant on illegal immigrants. In fact, we can’t function with out them. If we were to eradicate every single illegal immigrant today, we would dip into a depression. Prices of everything from apples and oranges to fitted caps would sky rocket. So before we start placing unwarranted blame on Mexican Americans, we need to look at the cold hard facts.
So thinking about Sam’s mentality on life in general and as a professor I can see how this trend would piss him off. However, he is in the minority of people who I feel can argue against kids feeling like they should get A’s, and sweating over the importance of them. The problem with today’s societies is that increasing competition in graduate schools and the job market has led to employers and admissions officers separating people by such fine lines. Not only are the lines thinning, but the criterion is increasing vastly. For example, the LSAT has added a new writing section in it that is not graded, but used for judgment when applicants are on the edge. What I am getting at is that all these professors want to say that my generation is lazy and doesn’t care about college, but I think that is the fault of “the man.” The thing is we are so pressured into getting A’s that we freak out and do anything humanly possible to get them. I personally want to go to law school and I have been told that the better law schools simply look at GPA first and if you are under a 3.5 they throw out your application. What kind of bullshit is this? I currently have a 3.46 and I am so beyond stressed this semester working to get it to a 3.51 just for that reason. That pisses me off beyond belief. I might be much more qualified to be a lawyer and succeed in law school than someone with a GPA .4 higher than mine but that is not the way this bullshit world works right now. So before I am accused of taking an easier class to get an A or buy nittany notes to get extra studying or even regurgitating information that I will never remember to get a better grade on a test I want these professors to realize it’s not my fault. I don’t have connections to get me into law school all I have is my GPA and my LSAT’s; those are literally 85% of my application. Sure, I may have interview to prove what kind of person I really am, but they won’t give me one without great LSAT’s and a GPA over 3.5. So while most teachers have no right to be mad about this because they use powerpoint slides and just read what is on them which they got from a measly textbook, I do feel like Sam has a right. Soc 119 is one of the only classes at our school where I have learned how to get in A simply by being in class, listening, and then reading the books. There isn’t much studying involved, because Sam makes lecture interesting and makes sure we comprehend the information in class.
The video saying that fire crew supervisors were being fired because they did not speak Spanish surprised the heck out of me. Therefore, I was not surprised to find out that the video is actually false. Immigrants and Spanish only speaking workers is a very sensitive subject. It is clear that many workers were needed to help fight the fires, so it is good that we have the availability of these Mexicans. However, it bugs me that these Mexicans who come across the border do not always attempt to learn English. If they are coming over and being accepted into our country, they should learn English. Especially when it comes to fire fighting. It is a high risk job, and all the fire fighters need to be able to communicate with each other, or things get dangerous. If something were to go wrong, and safety was compromised, how could a Spanish only speaking Mexican warn and an English only American of the danger? It seems very problematic. At the same time though, Mexicans are filling up jobs that would be otherwise unfilled. So if it was not for these Mexicans, their might not be enough manpower to fight these wildfires. But even with the Mexicans, there are communication problems that could make things very dangerous. It all comes down to language. If these Mexicans feel that they are being discriminated against or not being considered real Americans, they should at least do their best to learn the language of America. If we are being kind enough to welcome these Mexicans into our country, then they can learn our language. It reminds me of that situation a little while back where the cheese steak shop in Philadelphia got in trouble for putting up a sign that said order in English. It is ridiculous that they would get in trouble for that. It should be assumed that everyone would order their cheese steak meals in English; after all, English is our country’s language. It is not always that the Mexicans are unwanted, but it is that it is annoyance when communication becomes an issue. It is also an annoyance when Americans lose there jobs to illegal immigrants who can’t speak English. It is a hard topic to take a position on because some Mexicans who work for cheap are taking jobs that Americans used to fill. At the same time though, Mexicans also fill up jobs that many Americans do not want. So it is labor that this country needs. As for the video that was simply made up, it gets me thinking. What majority of the stuff I see on the news or on the internet is simply made up? I’ve never been a naïve guy, but I like to believe that at least most of the stuff I see on the news is true, but maybe not.
Well, I have noticed that for the past couple of years there has been a trend to broadcast news material that has a strictly anti-immigrant and especially an anti- Hispanic, anti-Mexican slant. This is definitely true with Fox News (Faux News, False News) but also with other media personalities especially Lou Dobbs. Now don’t get me wrong I agree that people who work in emergency positions such as the Fire Department, Police, etc. should at least be able to communicate in English as the medium of instruction. If somebody cannot communicate in English, then they should not take a position of such importance and necessity to people’s lives. Anyway, given that, I believe the story from Fox and the statement from the Oregon Department of Forestry were so divergent that they could have been two different stories altogether. Given that a shocking amount of people get their daily news source ONLY from Fox News, that is worrying because they absorb the misinformation and tend to react by expelling that information in public in whatever manner possible including in outrageous ways.
A lot of stuff is often based on rumor and by the time it reaches the public domain the story is often very different from the original. It is similar to the class exercise we did with Terrell Jones when several people were supposed to retell an incident that happened to the next person after hearing it from another person. Well what happened is that the story told in the beginning ended up being something else by the time the last person was finished. In essence a lot of stuff that appears on the evening news or on the morning paper may have travelled such a journey and if the content was controversial, it ends up sparking a fire that would not have been ignited in the first place.
If the issue is controversial, it is important to examine the story via many angles. Many people make the false assumption that left wing media is more objective then right wing media. That is not true of course. As much as I am dismayed by what comes out of Fox News, a lot of the info I see on left wing channels such as MSNBC and to a lesser extent CNN can be equally shocking. The problem is that many people are devoted fans to a certain media channel or whatever and will plainly believe what is dished out to them, the truth behind the story notwithstanding. The only advice I can give to people is to stop being so gullible.
Within the past century alone, huge advances in technology and communication have propelled the public news media into a position of considerable power. Television and the internet allow news companies to reach millions of people instantly, almost anywhere in the world. Unfortunately, like many other great inventions and ideas before it, human nature has once again managed to corrupt it to all shit. People have used the gift of instant worldwide telecommunication to manufacture and spread lies; by keeping the people living in fear, they are free to exploit their trust for political and financial gain. In short, this news report from FOX serves as a great example of why We, The Sheeple, are f*cked.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not singling FOX out. Bias in news reporting is not a new concept, and everyone is guilty of it in one way or another. They just happen to take it to a new level, and have a history of: takings things entirely out of context; omitting important details to spin the story; blatantly falsifying information; fear-mongering and being overly liberal (pun intended) in reporting accurate statistics and data. For example, the recent conflicts between Israel and Palestine and the resulting attacks on Gaza received a great deal of media attention. In the early days of the Israeli attacks on Gaza, it was becoming clear worldwide that this was a very serious matter and that hundreds of Palestinian civilians were being killed. Out of curiosity, I browsed the updates on the major news networks and compared the reports. For the most part, the statistics and stories were similar. However, FOX’s statistics on civilian death tolls were significant underestimates. The overall report was vague, claiming that the majority of the bombing victims were Hamas police while several other news agencies confirmed this clearly wasn’t true.
As for this story, it’s just absurd. It defies common sense, and I’m struggling to understand how that news anchor got through that report with a straight face. It makes no sense legally, socially, politically or financially. In fact, I’m not sure which makes me sadder – the fact that news corporations like FOX expect people to believe this, or that some people just submit and swallow the crap that’s force-fed to them. In the end, it’s a pretty solid example of how things get done in most of the world: through fear. It’s pretty ingenious, actually. Fear is an incredibly powerful motivator, and the media has been taking advantage of this for quite some time. By spreading misinformation and lies, they can get the public to fear what they can’t understand or control. After being tricked into assuming this is something beyond their comprehension or control, the people all-too-willingly submit to any solution or protection the government will offer up. I get the feeling this is how stupidity manages to reign in government.
I think it is quite obvious that Fox News would present a story like this, a story with such conservative ideas. Fox News did not do a thorough job investigating their story, because it was found to be untrue. I have no doubt that viewers of Fox News would agree with this story, as most of us would, because what reporters present to the public should be backed up with support from a reliable source. The claims presented from Oregon Department of Forestry are much more logical and reasonable. These are not wild accusations; this is merely a statement presenting the facts. Fox News should be held responsible for presenting erroneous information, and they should have had some kind of broadcasted apology to the Oregon workers. They shouldn’t have taken some rumor that was flying around on the internet and presented it as news. If other people want to pass their “findings” along, that is absolutely what the internet can support. I think it is good that we do have so many options to publicize our personal opinions and beliefs. The Internet is fair game and easily accessible, not to mention that we have the right to freedom of speech and freedom of the press. People can and should post anything they want for other people to read. It is the responsibility of the news organization if they decide to take the rumor as a legitimate, verifiable source. I know I have gotten emails, most of the chain emails, asking me to help an organization. I remember one of them very distinctly; it said something about Walt Disney’s son giving out his fortune. Walt Disney never had a son. Everyone who had read that email and forwarded it on completely missed the bigger picture and did not see something as obvious as that sentence read in the very first line.
Hiring officials in a human resources department are responsible for selecting their workers. They should be able to assess whether or not the crew can act as a cohesive unit. Firefighters who save lives must have some sort of communication with each other, and I would think that most companies need to talk to everyone. As the Oregon State Web site says: “Because English is the language of firefighting in the United States, we must have the ability to communicate with all crews. Accordingly, the contract requires that the leaders of contract crews speak English. This requirement covers the crew boss and the three squad bosses on a typical 20-person crew. If a company elects to hire employees who do not speak English, then the supervisors of that crew must speak English as well as the language of any crew members who don’t speak English. This is a matter of good communication, safety, and effectiveness for the agencies that hire crews under the contract. Over the years, this system has established a record of solid firefighting performance and safety.” This, to me, is a perfectly logical statement that I would imagine most companies would agree to. This also completely disputes the sentiments expressed by Fox News.
I don’t think it is only an anti-Mexican hysteria; it’s an anti-Hispanic, an anti-anything but American hysteria. And I am in agreement with Dr. Richards, English is vital in a lot of situations. English is what unites us. But so many people are against the idea of cultural diversity. Each culture has so much to offer. It’s just that the media portrays the worst sides of things, and fear comes to those in areas where another culture is proving to be more successful. I will say again, but only once this time because I am pretty sure I say it in each blog on race and background, where does it get lost that we are all human beings, with hopes, dreams, emotions, and to be real, even flaws? But I guess this article starts to answer that, and part of it is due to the media.
This article reminded me of an argument I was in with the husband of my cousin on immigration. My argument was “they are here just like the first Americans because of opportunity and support for their families.” His argument had three points: 1. His parents spoke another language, but they spoke it at home, 2. It pisses him off that he works his ass off just to see some guy in the aisle over at the grocery store using food stamps, and 3. The most dangerous gang in the world is a Hispanic gang in Hazelton (about an hour from where he lives), a gang that would throw a grenade into a crowd of people that included women and children in order to kill only one person.
But I learned quickly that he did not care what my rebuttal was after his points were presented, because hell his points sound valid. And they are valid if validity is assumed when facts are presented, if the person doesn’t stop to check the facts. But like the article says, even the news is not always the best source. Which means to argue his points is pretty simple. First off his parents may have spoken their native language at home, but Hispanics and Latin Americans do not have to. In all the uproar over immigration and assimilation Americans still show their greedy side, because when it comes to making profit bilingualism is all of a sudden okay. Claiming they need to know English while making everything with Spanish labels is sending mixed messages. Second he has no idea whether or not the person in the aisle next to him is an immigrant and on top of that there are plenty of Americans who take an unfair advantage of food stamps. And for the last point, did he see the grenade? And if not how is it that the most dangerous gang in the world is only a few hours away from State College and yet I had never heard of it before. Now he could be right, I am sure there is a gang and I didn’t check the facts, but I am almost betting that he didn’t check the facts either.
My point isn’t that he doesn’t have a right to argue his side, we all do. But when making an argument the points need to have some validity. But not many people search for validity, especially when it comes to immigrants and even people of other cultures all over the world. And so in the end when all the media shows is the negative half-truth we have to rely on ourselves to seek the truth, because without it we only create more obstacles to overcome in the search for equality and respect.
Those damn Mexicans. They’ve then done did it again; went and took another man’s job and it’s a job that e just oh so care so much about; firefighters. We as people love our heroes. We love our police officers. We love our firefighters. We love our army men and this and that. But as real Americans we’re supposed to be upset with Mexicans. Now, I whole-heartedly believe that in times of trouble we need to communicate with each other properly and on a simple and modified level. The fires in Oregon were sick and they (the local departments) needed all the help they could get and who came knocking on the door, Mexicans. They came running. They came lending a helping hand, ready and willing to do the job that needs to get done. Time and time again we hear Americans complaining about Mexicans coming over and taking our jobs. Back home in Philly, there’s this Cheesesteak place called Geno’s and they have a sign where you have to order in English and this cause a big stir. Some were outraged and some and understood perfectly. There is a language barrier that still divides us. Now there is a big difference between ordering a cheesesteak and giving someone orders in trying to put out a fire. Our spoken language is also the line that connects us as a people together. It has to be hard when a fire is raging on and you have to scream out in some other language when you can just speak in the universal language that the world knows. English is spoken primarily around the world. It’s the common bond that a lot of us share. That’s why we have it be we also have to be wary of the fact that we’re not the only people on Earth and that everyone has to succumb to us. The first thing that crossed my mind when I saw this story was that I wasn’t shocked. I’m not shocked anymore by a lot of things that we as people do. I understand what the locals are feeling at that present. They want to get these fires out as quickly as possible and save lives. But coming from the other side you have to understand our language. The line needs to be crossed by both sides. I should have a need to understand you. I should want to understand where you’re coming from. But you should understand that it will get hard for us to understand you. It will get hard for us to look towards you for help. We as a people overall have to get better. We have to be better. You know what I mean. Que pasa?
Lies have their way around the world. Hitler once said that if you tell a lie big enough, for long enough people will eventually believe it. This is exactly what happened here. When the public doesn’t research their news misconceptions take place. People need to compare their news with other news sources. Very few people practice this and I fortunately am one of them. Over the years I have learned that people will do and say anything to get what they want and it is up to us to spot the culprit. Misleading the public as been in practice ever since the world came into being. Lets take George W. Bush as an example. Everyone has their own opinion about why his administration invaded Iraq. Was it to get rid of the WMD’s or was it to get access to the oil reserves? These are questions that will get answered but through research and looking back into history some assumptions can be made.
Spreading rumors is a coward’s game. Trashing another person’s reputation on false accusations is a weasel’s way out. When a major news corporation air’s a news that has no base what so ever, tells us to think before we speak. These are supposed to be legitimate non-biased sources of information for the nation. Though I laugh at this statement myself, as we all know the truth about fox news. Though we should still give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Some deserve it and some don’t. In my opinion the authenticity of news sources need to be checked a bit more. Because if the world keeps on working this way then we might as well make Wikipedia our primary source of information. But keep in mind Wikipedia at least has people in the background trying to check every new entry whether it is correct or not.
One should read different articles on a topic from different sources and come to his or her own conclusion as that way at least you are a step closer to the real truth rather then just staying in the bushes. If a lay man was told that people are being fired because they can’t speak Spanish from the fire department they would laugh at the person. I actually laughed in disbelief when I saw the fox news video on you tube. The nation needs to be educated on how to take news and when to believe it and when not to. There are always exaggerations in every news and that’s the only way the news agencies will keep their ratings high enough i.e. to add some spice to the news even if its at the cost of misleading millions of people.
Mexican Firefighters
This is just the same old thing for me. I’m used to FOX News churning out false information which is detrimental to ethics and society. However, it does not lessen the uneasiness in the pit of my stomach, nor does it answer the questions of how people can actually watch and believe this crap. I mean, come on, what type of fool listens to this stuff and really, truly understands the full story. The type of nonsense that FOX spews out is racist, evil, and degenerative. I pity us Americans who have to deal with such an overly biased news network. Why in the world must we be subject to this cruel and unusual punishment that is done to our ears.
Misinformation has been a bane to my existence since I was born. Since I am Muslim, it has cursed me with ignorant fools who believe everything they see on TV. It causes inconvience and it creates a paradoxal hatred. Stupidity breeds strife I guess. Anyway, about the Mexican firefighters, I understand if he cannot speak English, but why don’t they just put him on an all-Spanish speaking firefighter team. This could quench the demand for more firefighters, with a steady supply of cheap labor. Sure, you may think that’s cold, but think of the Spanish speaking people who could benefit. They would be granted amnesty for service, and they would be able to support their families with labor that would help to ensure a safer America. Plus, these are courageous men if anything, so why should we discriminate against people who have strong moral fiber. They have a stronger moral fiber than those that complain about these Spanish-speaking people taking fireman’s jobs, yet they themselves do not apply themselves to such a dangerous job. They should not speak ill of those that protect them. This in turn creates a mutual relationship between us and Spanish speaking people which is prevalent in many facets of American life.
Also, English is not our primary language. By law we have no primary language. It would be hypocritical of us to ask others to only speak English, when there are so many immigrants that came from the original colonizers. They came here and spoke their own language, but they forgot their language and then they assimilated and lost their heritage. They lost a part of themselves, and became conformists. These people should not be listened to, since they are not unique, and they are far from important. These hypocritical white supremacists are dumb fools stuck in a tradition of ignorance. The problem is that these people are not open-minded and will be stuck in their mindsets which have been taught to them by their parents and their community. If only some people would get brains.
I’m not sure what to make of this entry and of the story. I agree with Sam that most of what we hear on the news is just factoids and that both the left wing and right wing say many things on their talk shows, tv shows, etc. that are not entirely true. I also agree that there was something fishy about that news story that just didn’t seem right. I don’t feel that they would just lay of firefighters who didn’t speak Spanish because they have many people on their crews who only speak Spanish. There wasn’t enough said about it and it just left you wondering what the hell was actually going on. I left it thinking that not everyone is speaking Spanish in that fire department, it just can’t be. If communication is such a major requirement while combating with a fire, which I’m sure it is, then shouldn’t they just have all Spanish speaking teams and all English speaking teams? The way fox news put it was that all the Mexicans were just taking the jobs of true blooded Americans and that they were to blame for everything. Without telling the whole story, the reporters left you thinking in the back of your head if you didn’t think about it too much was that these illegal immigrants were just taking jobs and that they need to be dealt with. This is the problem with major news right now. Stories like this just go to show you that most of them have their own agenda. They are trying to get you to believe a certain way, and think a certain way. In most cases, they are successful in doing so, because most people trust the news and take it for what it is. Im not saying that all news is like this, there are many stories and journalists who do report very fair and very honestly, but not most of them. Many reporters see a story, make their own opinion on it and try to convince the rest of the public to think that way by twisting the words or not telling all the facts. I think this is the reason we even have the words conservative and liberal out there. I think generally most people think and want just about the same thing and fall somewhere very close to the middle. Yet, we live in a society where everyone must be on teams, and you must pick a side, so we read and watch the news and are basically forced to do so based on half truths. It’s really a shame that we live in such a world like that, and most people don’t take the time, or don’t have the time to reconsider their views or to think of what they are actually reading or hearing.
When I first watched the clip from the Fox News, like most things I see on the news I took it to be true at face value, no questions asked. So the fact that the argument is over false truths that the media portrays concerning “anti-Mexican hysteria” is completely valid when you actually look into the facts of the story like Sam did. The problem here seems an easy one to fix. Wanting to be informed Americans, we cannot just take what we see, hear, or read in the news at face value; and this is something that I definitely didn’t even realize was an issue until now. I always think that if informed professionals are reporting a story on the news, than it must be true. However, this is obviously very naïve and wrong to believe. News stations have a job to report current events while also maintaining viewers, which gives them incentive to air the most recent and juicy sounded news even if they have not done a lot of research to verify that their facts are true. We also must remember that the people who write up the stories are grown adults who have their own opinions and bias, and even though it is wrong, it may cross over and translate that way in their stories that they write.
So the real issue here, is why do we as Americans have such bad feelings towards Mexicans? Obviously this is an issue of discrimination that comes from various things such as immigration, ethnocentrism, arrogance, and misperceptions. While I do not agree that workers in the United States should have to worry about their jobs because of immigration, I do feel that it is totally unfair to categorize a certain group of people and assume that all Mexican Americans are ignorant, poor, non-English speakers. Mexicans have gotten a bad reputation in our country because of the problems that illegal immigration has caused, and this is a valid concern for Americans. However, if the majority of Americans were not so “on their high horse” and quick o judge or jump to conclusions, this story may have looked completely different.
Still, the door swings both ways. We do have a problem with illegal immigration that needs to be solved for the sake of all citizens in our country. I believe that in this case, because communication is key to the success of a crew of firefighters, English speaking fire fighters should not be in fear for their jobs if new workers cannot speak English. Even though Oregan state officials denied the claim that anyone is getting fired, they did admit that the language barrier poses serious problems and that they cannot turn down non-English speakers because they cannot limit their hiring pool. I do believe that this is a problem that needs to be changed. In general, Americans need to stop being so judgmental and stop stereotyping, but the government needs to work to solve problems associated with immigration.
I am not sure whether or not I should feel as if I were lied to. Did Fox News basically just misinterpret this story or is it just me? Honestly, they need to get the facts right. How is something like this even allowed or legal for that matter? Is it possible to get a news station in trouble for doing something such as this and providing inaccurate information? Although the point of the blog as Dr. Richards explained is to highlight anti-Mexican hysteria, what I see more than anything is how this story portrays another prime example of the influence the media has. Although it may be weird, this story actually made me think back to the movie Mr. Deeds. In it, Adam Sandler is led to believe that his current “girlfriend” is in the relationship for him, when in reality she is working for a news station and trying to get a story on him. At one point, she gets footage of Sandler rescuing a woman along with her cats from a burning building, and when the story is aired in the morning it is portrayed as something entirely different. The network producer changes the story and rather than making Sandler a hero, he makes him look as though he is a rapist. The producer provides the viewers with a 5 second clip of Sandler on top of the woman he saved, after having jumped from the burning building together. Although it may seem like nothing, this scene actually seems as though it teaches a lesson about the media. It portrays how much power the media holds, and how easily they can warp a story. It is scary to think that if something untrue were portrayed about someone on the news that made them seem like a terribly bad person, there is nothing they can do about it. Whether they like it or not, whoever watched it is most likely going to believe it. This is why I am not usually one to believe everything I see on the news. I’ll actually sometimes look up the story if I’m really interested, really bored, or if it seems totally absurd. As I explained in my last journal, news stations such as the one portrayed in the blog are extremely focused on having as many viewers as possible because it increases their revenue. Whether true or not, by having more interesting and appealing stories than other news stations their number of viewers will increase. Therefore, I feel that the truth may sometimes be twisted on the news solely for this reason. I have heard a certain saying multiple times throughout my life, and it should almost be common sense at this point: do not believe everything you see on TV.
This goes back to what I said about the most wildly available source. Mass Media I believe is the word their usually bullshit. Just like Pop Music is usually the worst crap out the perfect example Solja Boy. LOL. Most widely available crap Fox News, CNN, and CNBC. which was recently trashed by John Stewart. to the dismay of Jim cramer and his crocodile tears. As a young listener to talk radio (from the age of 10) I learned the importance of animate political groups which are in control to use misinformation to veer attention to a problem their leadership has caused or failed to address. I fact people's ignorance is feed back to them in an endless loop. My of you believe that who you elected should spend their time mulling abortion, gay rights, stem cell research, ect.. When the real issues should be fiscal policy, military spending, the crime and the privatization of the detention facilities, helthcare. Furthermore, this nations beliefs are so backward when it comes to the belife of the ideological path of this nation into socialism and that socialism equating communism. LOL close minded ignorance. The wealthiest people of the country were once taxed over 90% on their income. Its okay to question youre goverment we all learned our lessons from the 9/11 are u a patriot inquisions and you are either with us or against us ordeals. It prefectly fine to do this we are a "democratic" nation. More so be more willing to question if ure gov is killing innocent people. Dont just came your open minded or attempt to make an opinion when you dont have all the facts. It okay to be ignorant out of lack of knowledge its another to ignorant from the defiance of truth. MaSalema
I truly am offended when I read this article this is a bunch of shit. This honest man, and and other men like him are being fired because an illegal immigrant is not speaking the language. What the fuck is going on in this world. I have lost all faith in mankind and I don’t know what to do with myself. The key word hear is Illegal and that should be the end of the fucking story. Don’t get me wrong everyone that wants to join this country and be a part of this lifestyle and improve the quality of life for themselves and others is wonderful. But it has gotten to the point that we are so knee deep in bullshit that we can’t see straight. Jesus Christ why should this guy who has be a loyal hard working American have to bend over backwards for these illegal immigrants. Part of being an American is assimulating and becoming apart of the culture, I would expect the same thing if I wanted to move to another country. I would have to learn the fucking language, end of discussion. I understand that he is in charge and responsible for these men and therefore has to take responsibility. But he didn’t have to give them a job, he knew that they couldn’t speak English and still hired them, giving them a better job and able to support their families better. This poor bastard is getting screwed. But in retro spect I don’t even think it is eve that big a deal as long as the fires were getting put out who gives a shit what language they were talking in? A life or a language, it is not a very hard decision is it? Everything in life is falling apart and we need to wake up and really get a good idea and vision of what really matters and what does not. I honestly think that this race relations class is getting a little out of control. I mean all we seem to do is talk about ways in which white people are evil and need to be blamed for everything. I honestly want to throw up, but I can’t because I don’t have enough words to fit the requirement yet. Why don’t we take a little more responsibility for our own actions and stop blaming people. If we would all just shut the fuck up and stop letting other people run are lives. If you are white stand tall and be proud of how you are it isn’t are fault that idiots fucked it up for all of us. Just sit back and listen to what mr morgan freeman had to say and everything will be alright.
After I read this article, it seemed that the government of Oregon should be blamed for this. I understand that illegal immigrants want more opportunities in the United States, but that doesn’t give employers the right to fire current workers. Firefighters are sworn to protect us just as police officers are, and they need to communicate with one another in order to get the job done. If they cannot speak English, than the job would be difficult. It might not be a good judgment to make but in the long run it wouldn’t be fair to other people. I feel that the Oregon government is only concern for saving money and hoping that the satisfaction for the community will be the same. The Mexican immigrants are not to be blamed in this situation because they want to help their families by earning money. However, if they are able to earn this job than the current American workers should not be fired at all. I feel that Oregon should run an education program that teaches Mexicans how to speak English. On the other hand, they should be thought how to use the equipment necessary to do their current jobs. I remember a similar incident in which one of my good friends was laid off because the worker that was hired would be willing to work at a smaller wage. He was a German worker but both had the desire of helping out their families. I don’t understand what an employer cares more about: saving more revenue for themselves or wanting the best from each worker. It seems that most people are stupid enough to blame President Obama for this even though our stock market is rising. I feel that this is more of a common thread to immigrants who want to work today but to their perspective, they must understand to speak the main language like most Americans do. When people are in interviews, most managers would look at their previous history and criminal background to see if that applicant is worthy. However, in these situations managers already know the background of that individual and feel there is no problem of teaching him to communicate with others. Would people consider this a form of slavery? Most immigrant workers are willing to work at any wages because they do not understand how the American system works. I feel that the Oregon system in this situation has not told us anything in terms of the financial debt they face. Instead, people who have served our communities for good amount of time are suddenly jobless. This recession continues to force people to live difficult lives. If we are to depend on immigrants who cannot speak English, than what happens if customer satisfaction won’t be the same? I hope Oregon will realize the decision they have made and quickly change it.
What left me floored about this story was the fact that it was a legitimate news brand making these empty allegations. It was reported to the nation as if it were true and legitimate. Usually when you here things from reliable news sources you most likely tend to believe what they are saying the legitimate truth. I believed that we have come way past the days of stories that lacked credible sources. It is definitely a shame, because if I had seen this story on television I would have believed it without a second thought. I would not have hesitated or even questions the legitimacy of the story.
So how are we supposed to decipher through what is deemed credible and what is not credible. The amount of news that is produced on a daily basis is incredible and to sit there and investigate each and every story for validity would be ludicrous. So I guess what I am saying is that we must listen to stories and if we find ourselves questioning its validity then investigate. I also am suggesting that we leave left wing and right wing news sources alone and start watch more bipartisan news shows without a spin. Politics are involved with everything and it can even affect the quality of news we are receiving.
By reading this article I have come to the conclusion that people are so quick to point the finger and blame someone else. It a shame that the Mexicans who are doing a job that most of us could not even imagine doing, are now the scapegoats for a series of firings. I don’t know if the source of the rumor was ever addressed, but I’m pretty sure English only speaking people were fired for other reasons and decided to blame the fact that they didn’t speak Spanish. This got out to Fox News outlet and they decided to blindly report it without looking behind the story or even interviewing anyone from Oregon. This in fact raises the anti-Mexican sentiment that many right wing people feel. It fuels the fire that Mexicans should not be in this country especially illegally. These individuals are taking jobs from right underneath American’s feet. It is hard enough to sustain work, but now the regular Joe has to compete against non-English speaking Mexicans for work. This story only creates more unwarranted division between Americans and Mexicans.
Like Dr. Richards, I also agree that Mexicans who do not speak English should not be on English only speaking crews. To think otherwise is just plain stupid and dangerous. In firefighting, lives are at stake and non communication cannot occur in these instances. For safety reasons, this should never be allowed.
When I was deciding which articles to read and respond to, the title “those damn Mexicans are at it again” snagged my attention right away. I am tired of reading and writing about the black and white struggle. Time to talk about the brown. When I watched the video, I too was scratching my head thinking why is this able to happen?! When we are dealing with emergencies and issues that must be dealt with in a fast and orderly manor, speaking the same language should not even be an issue. If the whole team does not speak the same language, that will lead so some ridiculous issues! I want to know what the crew boss was thinking when he hired a non English speaker. Maybe he did deserve to get fired because of that. However the Mexican fire fighter realistically should learn to speak English before he is hired. The comments on you tube like “Round ‘em up and send ‘em home” is just ignorant. Even though they should speak the language of the country they are living in, it is not 100% necessary. The other comment, “this is what happens when we elect a black man as president” is also stupid. Obama is not included in this issue at all. Why would he be brought up? After reading some more, and feeling that firefighters MUST speak the same language, I thought, maybe whoever fired the crew boss was trying to avoid being called racist if he fired the Mexican instead. Maybe that person was the idiot who just didn’t know how to handle the issue. After I made all my conclusions (half way thru the read) a part where a respondent who is a firefighter pointed out the utmost importance of communication while fighting fires and also said that non English speaking firefighters would be problematic on English speaking crews came up. I was happy to hear this part. I think that the crew boss is going to get support from his team and maybe some other fire fighting teams and be rehired. Or at least I hope so. I think it was a bad move on whoever fired him. The point of this blog is to highlight anti-Mexican hysteria- I don’t understand how that can be done with this blog. Yes it does bring up the issue of the language barrier, but I must have missed the racial part. The Mexican stayed and the crew boss was screwed. This is racism against white people (I assume the crew boss was white because it was not stated otherwise) in my eyes because if language is a must, there is no reason for the boss to be fired as opposed to the employee.
That news story actually was a tad disturbing to me at first. I want to know where the news station got their facts from. The facts were obviously false, so why advertise them? That does not make sense to me. Why didn’t the news station do some more research before airing that story? Now that story is being passed around in chain emails about kicking all the illegal immigrants and how the United States needs to stay “pure” and “natural”. It’s the kind of chain letter I would receive from my aunt.
I clicked on the link that sent me to the Oregon Department of Forestry (or something like that), and after reading that, it made sense. It makes sense that everyone should speak the same language when in a dangerous job like firefighting. Good communication is the key when fighting fires. I personally think that the boss should not get fired, but rather the employees. If a person wants to work in an environment where a certain language skill is needed, then damn it, learn the language. It will create a safer work environment, especially for that line of work. Also, it should be the boss’s responsibility to learn the employees’ language, if he/she chooses to work with non-English speakers. The way the news report went, it sounded like the boss was “stuck” with the immigrants and got fired for lack on communication. That was not the case at all.
Another thing I did not really appreciate about the blog directions was the title. Why did Sam automatically assume that the people who were taking the firemen’s jobs were Mexico? The video clip stated that the men were Hispanic. I was under the impression that Hispanics covered more than just the region of Mexico. Maybe I’m wrong.
This news clip also makes me wonder how regulated the media actually is. Does the government tell the news stations what to say, and if so, is it always positive? Or if it is a business running the news station, maybe the business has a personal vendetta against Mexicans and the Spanish speaking population. Either way, it does not make sense that that news station would run a story like that. It makes the station look bad and the Oregon Firefighters. What I do not understand is the fact that the story is far from the truth. I know that this argument does not deal much about the topic of race, but how on Earth could a television station air that? They did not even have all the facts straight. It is because of that that this “anti-immigrant” and “keep the United States nature” bull shit is appearing everywhere. Wow. I hate being told lies.
I’m not surprised by the news station’s lack of research on this topic before running it on air. It all goes back to what we have been told since we have been very young…”Don’t believe everything you read.” Everything we read in the news paper or on television is skewed in some way. I use the Daily Collegian as an example, I have heard at least five separate occasions from professors, lawyers, and coaches about how the writers who do interviews and write the articles will twist and change the actual story to make them more interesting. I have heard that many professionals here at Penn State refuse to speak to them for this reason alone. The same thing happens on the national level too, people will get a hold of a story and try to make a mountain out of an ant hill.
When I first watched this video, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. People getting fired or demoted from their job because of the hire of someone who doesn’t speak English. As a fire fighter myself, I could not understand why they would hire anyone who was the only Spanish speaking person on the crew. Not only would the person in power need to speak their language, everyone would need to as well. The goal for fire fighters is to work as a team, to communicate, and to act on instinct. It’s like an engine; everything has to work and work smoothly for it to run correctly. To have one person who cannot communicate clearly with anyone on the crew, they would shut everything down and put everyone at risk. But once I read the article that was released by the Oregon Department of Forestry, it made sense, they have the option to hire fire fighters who speak different languages as long as they meet the requirements that have been put in place.
I never really thought about the anti Mexican ‘hysteria’ when I read this blog. I personally know many fire fighters who are racist, and fill the stereo typical ‘hick fire fighter’ and can see them having the same narrow minded reactions as some of the people commenting on YouTube. I feel that people will jump on anything that paints the picture of a citizen of the United States getting screwed out something by someone from a foreign country, let alone ones that are here illegally. For myself, it just proves how naïve people can be out in the ‘real world’, arguing about things like a video that is first of all, is false, and second, is something most of them probably have no idea what they are talking about. A person must learn not to take in all the bull shit that is spoon feed to us though the media, and go blindly arguing with others until your blue in the face. Our country as a whole will never progress like that.
I highly agree with Sam that a lot of anti-Mexican videos and sentiments are hurled throughout the worldwide web and public circles nationwide. I also agree that a vast majority of these are unfounded and based on lies. A good point is made that many people see these “viral” videos and immediately accept them as truth. I will admit that even I have fallen for such misinformation before. However, I have learned from my mistakes and now research this information before passing it on to others.
I do not have a problem with Mexicans or other people from foreign countries immigrating into the United States in search of better lives for their families. I do not have a problem with them not knowing the language when they get here as long as they make an effort to learn the language in the first few years they are here. I also understand that certain jobs these people are qualified to do also require effective communication between co-workers. I do not believe that this should keep them from doing these jobs, especially when the job in question is short on employees. I feel sure that a bilingual crew boss can train and oversee these workers effectively. If there are problems with co-workers not being able to communicate, teams could be divided into groups that speak the same language. By doing this, the work force would not be affected and the overall cohesion and production of the workers would be stabilized.
I understand that this could only be utilized in certain situations. There will be many instances where a language barrier will exist between a boss and his employee. Hopefully, they can work together to improve and resolve this issue as quickly as possible. We are in an ever-changing society where foreign-born people are joining the American workforce almost daily. I do understand that most immigrants to this country have knowledge of the English language; it is the ones that refuse to learn that I have a problem with. If we would all work together instead of sticking to our nationalistic pride, this nation could grow on multiple levels. As I said before, I have no problem with people from other countries immigrating here. I also do not have a problem with them keeping their culture while living here. The problem lies when they do not accept parts of the American culture; mainly knowledge of the English language. If foreign-born people make an effort to learn the language upon arrival in the U. S., as most do, then there will be no problems. Americans can also help out by reaching out and learning about other cultures as well. If both sides would come together on this issue, we could better educate ourselves and greatly improve ethnic relations.
I also completely agree with the idea that if there is non English speaking firefighter, than they should not be on an entirely English speaking crew. To be honest, I think that should be pretty clear. While, I do believe that Americans need to become more attentive of the influence of Latino culture on American society, and become aware of how important it is to learn Spanish – in this situation, I think if it’s all English speaking, you must speak English. It’s just ridiculous how the media is able to take a story, twist it all around and promote these negative ideas about groups. These ideas that come from the media really play a significant role in shaping the opinions of Americans throughout the country. For the naive American, they would have watched that video and immediately have some type of negative comment to say about Mexicans and how they are taking American’s jobs. I find it so interesting how so many Americans are always so quick to jump on an idea without an extra research when it comes to going against people other than their own. Now, let’s bring up the history of the white American settlers taking everything away from Native Americans, and then I am sure many Americans wouldn’t be so quick to promote or jump on those ideas. I find it extremely unfortunate how influential the media has become in making people think a certain way. I once watched a film about fox news and it pretty much went undercover on fox news and revealed a lot about how they twist stories and promote some stories over others, and it really opened my eyes to the governments role in the media and again how effective the media is in making people believe what they put out there. The media puts what they want in the spotlight, and if they decide to put information that may make a non-American group look positive or an American idea negative, it will be a the shortest clip of information. So for this situation, so many people, such as those individuals that commented on the youtube, jump on this anti- Mexican hysteria, because for some they don’t see any other way of going about it. When someone constantly has messages being thrown at them that say nothing but negative things about something, its no wonder they begin to jump on the bandwagon of believing and promoting these messages as well. When it comes to this anti-Mexican and really anti-Latino hysteria, I become so frustrated because people are able to highlight the negative things that they are doing and even promote ideas that aren’t even true, but then neglect the fact that these immigrants play a huge part in supporting the money and economic situation of this country. And the ironic part about the whole thing is that those benefiting from the Latinos in this country are often the first ones to be anti-Mexican and promote these false and negative messages about them.
I think it’s so appalling how much false information the internet has on it. Aside from this article I have mistake much information for the truth and it is far from it. I have even put some of the information in my papers to later find out I was deeply misled. This is definitely someone who clearly has no idea what they are talking about. I can’t believe how madly their information was twisted. It said crew leaders were being demoted because Spanish speaking people were taking over the crews, but the truth was that no one was being demoted. The only truth in the story was that everyone had to be able to communicate on the squad for safety. This makes perfect sense to me.
I couldn’t believe the terrible things people commented under this YouTube video. It does humor me that one man wrote that it was all because we had a black president when this video was posted before any of that happened. Shows how uneducated people are. They don’t think before they speak. If they were just to reverse the process they would look way more educated and sophisticated to people. Another said, “round ‘em up and send ‘em home.” If you are going to insult people I think it might even be more effective if you sounded intelligent doing so. It is ridiculous the way people talk about minority groups. I want to ask them why they feel so superior. What makes them feel like people have nothing bad to say about them? If I were to ask or try to talk to people with such a narrow mind it would not be worthwhile. They would keep a closed mind and label me something negative because that seems to be what they are good at.
This article shows how quickly people are to think the bad about a situation. It reminds me about a vacation I took with my family not too long ago. I overheard a conversation with a man and woman talking about Jena 6. The man said, “Every black boy has a temper, and those boys are getting exactly what they deserve.” This man was so quick to judge the whole black community because of something that is controversial occurrence between a couple of people that may have had nothing to do with race. This happens so much in our society that we just assume the worse about people.
Our society is so quick to judge. Even within our own race. If someone isn’t wearing the right clothes or shoes, they are put into a category. This is the reason for all the bullying that goes on in school. People set standards so high that other people will never reach or don’t care to reach.
When I first watched that clip, the fact that English-speaking crew leaders were being fired because their crew was made up of Spanish speaking only fire fighters, it did not make any sense to me. Why would the people who have been committed to a job, probably one of the hardest and important jobs to some, the people who risk their lives, why would they be fired at the expense of a dozen people or so? I understand that safety is the number one priority when it comes to fire fighting and fire safety, but maybe having a crew speaking the language of the qualified and skilled supervisors would be more beneficial to the crew all together.
Too many times I hear stories like this, and believe what I hear. I mean, why should I have to question the new channels that people hold trust in every morning with the weather report, and every night with stories like this. Maybe I am just being naive to think that left or right wing opinions and views can sway a story and only highlight certain facts. Or even in this case, relay completely false information. This makes me sick to my stomach. I HATE liars and I hate that politics can bring out so much hate in people.
I know that jobs need to be filled, and the Mexican people who choose to come here for work, if they are able to work, then why not get the job done? But at the same time, these companies that the ODF or, Oregon Department of Forestry, have contracts with to supply fire fighters, they need to comprise some sort of system to teach these Spanish speaking workers at least the terms and phrases used out fighting fires. This seems much more productive to me than laying off those who cant speak the language, or not hiring workers cause they only speak Spanish.
I need to keep in the back of my mind that these ridiculous stories I may hear on the radio, watch on FOX or read in the paper, may be false. Who knew we would have to question everything we hear? It is exhausting.
Pointing the finger at our president is not going to change these broadcasts, so get over it, there is nothing you can do about who is in the oval office. Conservatives and liberals alike, or people who even consider themselves one or the other, it seems we all need to be in check and possibly grow up? But that is just what I think.
After watching the video clip, I was left in complete shock. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I can’t even put my thoughts into words because I think the government regulations in the video were completely out of line. It’s funny because this video takes places in the United States, however the firefighter chiefs must speak Spanish? I must say that the video seems out of place.
I then moved on to the next paragraph to read that we should “round them up and send them home”. At first I truly did agree. I don’t think people should move to the United States if they are not able to speak the language here. Now, it would be the same as if you moved to Spain, or another country where they have their own language. If everyone could just move here and speak their own languages, then we wouldn’t really get anywhere. Yes, we would have a lot of diversity; however no one would be able to do anything with one another. However, I don’t think it’s the president’s fault. Obviously he has something to do with the rules, but they are not the main reason. Also, just because our president is black, what does that have to do with it? Absolutely nothing.
When I read articles, a majority of the time I am left in confusion, or wondering how that was possible. However, I never do anything about it. Until I read this article, I never realized how much I just “brush off” articles that I don’t understand. When I first read this article, I was in such disgust that I didn’t think it was even true. I thought that there has to be more to this story. Reading this article allowed me to realize that I can’t keep doing that. If I really want to let myself be informed on certain issues, then I have to take the initiative. My problem isn’t with Mexicans coming to our country. I think many people are out of line when they say they shouldn’t be allowed in country, because after all I thought we were the “free country”. The country that lived the “American Dream”. If we want our government to work we have to make fair rules. Especially with the tough economy today, finding a job is extremely difficult. I think Americans should have first priority to jobs since they have lived here first. I was really shocked this article especially, because we were firing Americans who wanted to protect their country and people from fires. Something seems wrong here. Just because it’s not completely the President’s fault, that doesn’t mean we don’t need to change anything.
With the rise of Mexican immigrants into the United States it is completely understandable for them to begin to take up jobs above that of labor and enter the world of public service. I personally find a trend like this to a positive one. Through public service such as fire fighting and perhaps more and more legal Mexican law enforcement officers our two cultures will be able to begin to merge. This merger would lessen the cultural tension between “Real Americans” and Mexican immigrants. As for this story it without a doubt comes across as a bit shocking at first but once you read the actual facts makes perfect sense. The manager’s ability to communicate with his crew, especially in the case of fighting fires, is essential for the safety of the crew and to ensure that fires are extinguished efficiently. The political right does find ways of stretching the truth to their own will at times and thus making stories to fuel their own cause. But on the other hand the people who decide to watch Fox News and other politically sided news programs, almost always know that the things they are going to hear will reflect their own views and not challenge them. I definitely feel that few peoples view points are being swayed by stories like these. Many people complain about the increase in Mexican and the new increasing Hispanic population of United States and how it is affecting our job market while “true Americans” are unemployed and “intruding on the English language “. Both these statements speak poorly about the American culture. Many Hispanics are taking up the labor jobs which this country was built upon. It shows that a large about of Americans who would rather not work than to work hard jobs requiring physical labor for a small pay. This projects a negative image of the American work ethic and proves that many Americans wish for easy well paid work to be handed to them, but for some reason get made when our neighbors to the south decide that they wish to better themselves and their families by taking these jobs. The other statement concerning language is almost absurd. The United States of America is one of the few countries in the world where a majority of its citizens know absolutely no language other than their national one. This again speaks to the laziness and unwillingness to learn something new. It would not require much effort for English speaking Americans to spend a few weeks to learn some basic Spanish and be able to begin a strong communication process between the two cultures. Our country as built on immigrants and the process of immigration will never stop and actually speaks highly about America.
When I watched the video, my first response was oddly similar to Sam’s response to the bearded lady. Or at least it is what I think my response would be, being that I’ve never been extended an invitation to go see a bearded lady. I was astounded that this was actually happening. So yes, I originally believed it, but why shouldn’t I have, it was on FOX? What are these Mexicans doing coming into our country and taking American citizens’ jobs? The firefighters should be required to speak English, considering it is the primary language of this country. Right as I was getting all stirred up I reached the next part of the blog, with the link to Oregon's Department of Forestry. After reading that website is right about when I smacked myself in the forehead and thought of what I tell myself all the time, “don’t believe everything you hear.” I feel like this rule is true more often than most people even realize. It is falsified stories like this that give Mexicans a bad name and also liberals. One person sees this, believes it, tells ten other people, then those ten tell their friends. It is shocking how fast things can spread. In another post I read, someone was comparing this to the telephone game exercise. One person is read the actual story, then must pass it on, and that person does the same, and so on. I thought this was a good connection to make, and it got me thinking. Was this a simple case of a misunderstood plot in a story, or was this a deliberate American media attack on immigrants? I would like to say that this story was way too exaggerated to be simply a game of telephone, but then again my man Isaac in class pretty much butchered the original story. That is an example of how twisted a story can get. The story was originally about students fighting over a classroom, and somewhere along the line (Isaac) the story changed into a fight at a party. This just goes to show that this is a fucked up world with fucked up people and you really should not believe everything you hear. It seems so elementary and cliché, but it is actually one of the best pieces of advice someone can receive.
I understand the importance of communication in the firefighting course of work, and I understand that this is one major point that this news report was trying to say. However, when the new caster said that commanders were being fired for not being able to speak English, it caught me off guard. That did not make sense to me, and if it were to be true, I would consider it unfair. Guaranteed firefighting is a dangerous job, and if Hispanics are willing to do it so be it. But I think they should have to learn English considering most of the men on the crew would speak English and again communication is very important in this business. Other men should not be fired for another person disadvantage. I also understand how this can make American citizens mad if they did not know the truth. It was like the media wanted to give another example of how illegal immigration affects and harms American citizens just to make the public angry. False articles like these are sometimes what cause racism and hate acts. However, men being fired for not being able to speak English turned out to not be the case. It is sad how the news and media can twist and turn things to make it say what they want, and obviously this news station was against illegal immigration so they wanted to do anything they could to get people to stand behind their belief. The news does this for all kinds of events. They twist things that can be far from the truth just to make America look good or to justify some of our actions, personally it is not right. We do not know who to believe any more, and I think it is fair to say that the population should at least be able to believe the news. The media does this will images too. They use vibrant and extreme images to catch ones attention but then the actual report itself can be something far from what the image represents. When it comes to hearing things on the news, it is best for people to find out the truth before rumors are spread that are not true in the slightest. I know for me, I am not the type of person to just believe something that someone tells me. I need proof or backup. I was always the kid in high school asking “Why?” or “How do you know?” Anyway, I think the main point in this article is to find out the truth for yourself because the news and the media, even people, twist things to make them what they want to believe or say what they want to say. It does not mean they are telling you the truth.
Well, obviously Fox News did not do their research correctly before putting its story on live television, which is just pretty sad. Their job is to get the correct story and send the message to inform the rest of us around the country. It is very clear that while FOX News was reporting on miscommunication, they were involved in some miscommunication themselves. My first reaction after reading the story saying that the news report was true made me wonder how much of what I hear on the news is or isn’t true. I have to admit…I am addicted to shows like Access Hollywood and Extra and I like to read about celebrity gossip. All those shows always have a section about what headlines are telling the truth or just plain rumors. When I hear something extremely juicy, I have to go online to Google what I heard because some things are just plain ridiculous. Anything that is said on TV, the internet, or even by a friend is only the true story a small percentage of the time. You can never believe what you hear. I think it’s completely bogus if a man gets fired from his job because his workers only speak Spanish. There has to be someone in Oregon that speaks Spanish with an all English speaking crew that could trade positions with him. Or even have the head of the crew take a few Spanish lessons and learn key words and phrases that would be important or vice versa with the Spanish speaking firefighters.
However, I feel really bad for those Spanish workers who don’t speak English and the English speakers who speak no Spanish. It must be extremely hard to be put in a situation where you do not speak a word of the language needed. I grew up in a very Hispanic town, where the majority of the population was from Columbia, Ecuador, and Mexico. In school there was a big divide between the English speakers and the Spanish speakers. we made them learn English so they could fit in with us, but not many of us took the time to learn English to fit into their culture.
This article just goes to show that as well as there being a problem of miscommunication between cultures, it also shows that a lot of what we see and hear is either extremely biased or just plain false. I remember during the election, one of my teachers told us to be careful as to what programs we watch about what was going on. He said FOX News was supporting McCain and CNN was in favor of Obama and we should know that before we make our judgments off of what we see on TV. If we can’t trust the news, which is supposed to be a reliable source, how do we get the correct information?
As a media student this type of thing does NOT surprise me at all. This is just another example of how media can really affect the views and opinions of ignorant people who refuse to further investigate the truth behind the story. I believe that because it was aired on FOXNEWS such a popular news channel it was made easier to believe right away without research rather than going to GOOGLE and putting it in the search engine. People are most likely to believe something first hand from a newsworthy channel like FOXNEWS rather than a place that is not as credible with information. This is where the media can be damaging to a person and to our country as a whole. If people just believe everything they see on their TV as true then we could be in for some greater issues. By just watching the clip from FOXNEWS I was not able to get the full story. However because I was told to read the article put out by the Oregon state government itself I was able to fully understand what was going on. But most people would not look further into the story and take what FOXNEWS or any news channel put out at face value.
The article informed me that just because a person on the fire crew did not know the Spanish language did NOT mean they were being fired or demoted. The rule was made that if there were a majority of only Spanish-speaking crewmembers then the leader of the crew would have to know both English and Spanish to keep the crew safe and able to do their job correctly. I believe this is a good thing because being a fire fighter is already a very dangerous job and if someone was to get a command wrong because of the language barrier the job becomes even more risky. People die every day in high risk jobs like this and it would be a shame to lose someone because they couldn’t understand what the members or the leader of their crew was saying. I do not believe this is racial, but I think that FOXNEWS should have researched everything before putting media out for people to believe as true right away.
Okay so my first response to this naturally was, “what the hell” are these People serious? Sounds like bull shit to be quit frank. I mean it’s like the media will put anything on the air to get people’s heads spinning, and it can be extremely bias. I can’t speak for all people, but I do believe that a lot of folks take what they hear and see on the television for face value. It’s almost as though they say to themselves, “Well it was on the news, and therefore it must be true.” It’s like it’s a big joke to them (media/news) because it is know that there are ignorant and uniformed people in this society that will eat off of the platter that is given to them. People are just too lazy and possibly just stupid to go out and back up what’s been told to them. To top it off if you’re one of those individuals who already had these pre-conceived notions about Mexicans in the USA then media to you is like fuel to light “your” fire.
It’s almost as though it’s like a completion for everything now a day’s. Who can air the story first? Who can get the information out to the public specter before anyone else can, whether it is factual or strait bias bullshit? And people have just become accustom to taking things for face value. When I think of Fox News it just puts a bad taste in my mouth. It’s a prime example of conservative propaganda used to spread “disease” amongst the uniformed and week followers. I’m a Media studies major and Fox News is always the center of attention for discussion in my class. Ranging from politics, to the coverage of the last election, or light show in Iraq (past war.) Don’t get me wrong Fox News cannot single handedly be given all the credit for being bias in its airings of news. PR can be just as equally guilty and other news stations. They all have a message they want to put out and they are willing two twist words and stories to play in their favor.
Back on the topic of the firefighters it is a key essential for firefighters to have good communication skills in order to do a proficient job. These brave men and women risk their lives for others and I can only respect that. I can understand why it would be a problem to have a group of firefighters that spoke to different languages, mass chaos as though they weren’t already faced with it. What Foxes problem was they turned strait to job loss to trying to portray these Mexican firefighters as the reason for job losses.
No matter what you watch or hear on t.v one should always question it, don’t take anything for face value
Okay so my first response to this naturally was, “what the hell” are these People serious? Sounds like bull shit to be quit frank. I mean it’s like the media will put anything on the air to get people’s heads spinning, and it can be extremely bias. I can’t speak for all people, but I do believe that a lot of folks take what they hear and see on the television for face value. It’s almost as though they say to themselves, “Well it was on the news, and therefore it must be true.” It’s like it’s a big joke to them (media/news) because it is know that there are ignorant and uniformed people in this society that will eat off of the platter that is given to them. People are just too lazy and possibly just stupid to go out and back up what’s been told to them. To top it off if you’re one of those individuals who already had these pre-conceived notions about Mexicans in the USA then media to you is like fuel to light “your” fire.
It’s almost as though it’s like a completion for everything now a day’s. Who can air the story first? Who can get the information out to the public specter before anyone else can, whether it is factual or strait bias bullshit? And people have just become accustom to taking things for face value. When I think of Fox News it just puts a bad taste in my mouth. It’s a prime example of conservative propaganda used to spread “disease” amongst the uniformed and week followers. I’m a Media studies major and Fox News is always the center of attention for discussion in my class. Ranging from politics, to the coverage of the last election, or light show in Iraq (past war.) Don’t get me wrong Fox News cannot single handedly be given all the credit for being bias in its airings of news. PR can be just as equally guilty and other news stations. They all have a message they want to put out and they are willing two twist words and stories to play in their favor.
Back on the topic of the firefighters it is a key essential for firefighters to have good communication skills in order to do a proficient job. These brave men and women risk their lives for others and I can only respect that. I can understand why it would be a problem to have a group of firefighters that spoke to different languages, mass chaos as though they weren’t already faced with it. What Foxes problem was they turned strait to job loss to trying to portray these Mexican firefighters as the reason for job losses.
No matter what you watch or hear on t.v one should always question it, don’t take anything for face value
When I first watched that video clip I was thinking are you serious; this is ridiculous. I was actually mad at first. When I think of the news I think of the truth because usually they find the facts and report them. As I watched that clip I was thinking that’s not right, this news castor has to be wrong. In the back of my head though, I was thinking how could that have happen. Why would this happen? How could those men be fired for not knowing Spanish in America? I mean I completely understand Spanish is part of there culture but why not learn English. I was relived when I read the article which cleared up the actually event. I’m glad it wasn’t true but just the through that people think it is, is just sad. It is kind of scary to think how much people rely on the new stations on TV. I usually do. I understand that all stories may not have every fact but most of the real story is there for people to learn about. This misunderstanding probably had a lot of people upset and angry, just another thing feeding racism, wrong information. I guess some news reports have become like a weather report, not always reliable.
Another scary thing I bet a lot of people who watch that report believed it. I’m sure some people were saying that can’t be right but what about those other people. In our society of different race groups people are judge. If you look Mexican you speak Spanish and you probably work outside or don’t have the best job. Well this is how Mexican our seen where I live. So if a Mexican become firefighter he must only Spanish because Mexican. This is the same for Asians. Asians all are from China or Japan they weren’t born here or at least people assume they weren’t at first. People’s different interpretations of stereotypes effect how they react to a situation. So when this news story was aired on TV, people said, hey those guys are Mexicans of course the only speak Spanish. That is the stereotype in their mind. These stereotypes are what keep rooted where they are.
Then the whole idea how if you are a firefighter it is imperative you can communicate with your crew for your life and theirs. For people to see that the fire company was supposedly hiring people who can’t communicate, it is wrong. People believe the media and that is a scary thing. It is also sad how the media doesn’t tell the real story and people are lead to believe horrible things. All because they didn’t find the facts or they thought the wrong information will improve there ratings. Oh how our world has changed.
I was very much shocked after seeing the news about Mexican firefighters has been on Fox news. I mean obviously, news lie to you. There is no doubt in my that happened. I am just shocked at the how wrong the news is and how long it look to find the right answer. I mean, it’s Fox news, don’t you think they would have someone who can take 45 sec to verify the news that they are playing are correct? All Sam did was type into google, and there is the correct answer. Don’t they ever check their source? All it takes is a min and a computer with internet connect. I am completely in shock at this news. This makes me feel like they are just making up stories! Like someone is sitting at the table and think well lets just say all firefighters need to speak Spanish. Pick somewhere random. Or like, well this is a rumor, and it’s good gossip, so we don’t care if it is right, let’s just put it on TV. What are they thinking?
Second point in the article is the anti-Mexican moment across the country. I mean I know it’s wrong to cross the border illegally, but are such hate needed? Being a 100% legal immigrant, I understand the pain of country, I mean my green card was delayed for almost SIX years, because the illegal immigrant problem is slowing down the department of homeland security and the immigration office. And the funny part is, a women my family knows (who is here illegally) got her green card two years before we did, and we applied around the same time. But you don’t see me being anti-Mexican or anti-illegal immigrants. And I love how people hate on thing that have NO direct influence on them. I am sorry, but when was the last time a illegal-Mexican work stole your job? This reminds me of one of Russell Peter’s joke,” I am sorry, but I didn’t know you want to open a dollar store.” I think it’s when people find something that doesn’t benefit on them, they all jump on it. Finally, someone they can take it out on without upsetting the general population. Because they are illegal immigrants, they have no right in voting and speaking rights. Yes, I think the illegal immigrants should have to compensate for their action, but what rights do Fox news to say that? Do they even know they are making a mistake or purposely did that just to cause an out burst so their rating would go up? If you think about it long enough… how absurd. A firefighter boss that is required to speak Spanish? What the heck are they thinking when they broad case this?
This video is almost humorous. When I first began watching the YouTube video about Oregon firefighters being laid off because they do not speak Spanish, I immediately asked myself, “Are you serious?” If there is a need for so many firefighters, why would you simply lay off, fire, or demote the head firefighter? It makes absolutely no sense. If people used their brains along with common sense, questions would have arisen very quickly. But apparently when you see something on the news, it has to be true. The news would not have a news story on a lie! Come on! The news media lies every day, but people are irrational and believe the stupidity! It is no wonder people refer to us as the “Dumb Americans.” The news media becomes so biased on particular issues, it is absurd. Throughout the election, the news media clearly favored Barack Obama in the election. They never mentioned the negative issues of him. However, when it came to Sarah Palin and John McCain, they were doing everything possible to hurt their chances. Katie Couric interviews Sarah Palin, and when they showed the article to the public, Sarah Palin’s words were completely and utterly twisted.
To play devil’s advocate, what if the story got released and then Oregon tried to cover it up. For example, if a news story leaks, people automatically try to cover up the truth if it is a negative thing. Personally, I believe that the actual firefighters and the people close to them are the only people who will ever know the truth. People will continue to talk about this certain scenario and word will keep traveling because they do not know it is a myth. In Sam’s article, he said he had to search to find out if it actually was true. Most Americans could care less to continue to find out if the video is true.
A few months ago, when the Chimpanzee attacked its owner, I could not believe the story to be true. So I looked it up to learn about it, but most people just listen to the news media and do not continue to learn more about the topic. If everyone did learn the truth from the lies, the news media would not exist. They do news stories on topics the public will be “interested” in disregarding the truth from lie. When I was in ninth grade, my high school went on strike, and the local news media took hold of the topic. They misrepresented our school, and changed peoples words around. For instance, a person would be telling a story, and they would cut out part of the story so it better fit their story.
This article is sadly not very surprising to me. As an American I have gotten to see some of this American pride that we have in good and bad lights. America is the home of the free and the land of choice. But then take a look at how we treat immigrants and foreigners. I am going to agree with everyone that has been saying that they HATE fox news. Everyone is controlled by the media; they can at the snap at a finger have someone believing whatever they want. I understand that every story has two sides and we rarely ever hear both, but this article still brought mixed feelings out of me. I understand that the message was to show anti Hispanic hysteria but I am just boggled by the fact that if this article was true that someone would really get fired because they couldn’t speak a language. I realize that knowing Spanish is going to soon be a really important quality to have in America, but shouldn’t people know English too. The problem with this topic is that there are so many factors to take into consideration when trying to form an opinion. In my discussion class a person brought up the point that many Americans go to OTHER countries and expect them to speak English. When he said that I complete understood how ridiculous America was being. Why is it that people have to come over to America and speak English but us Americans go to other countries and don’t speak anything but English? I believe in my heart that any person in this country should be able to do whatever job they want. I also believe that there are other solutions to the language boundaries then firing someone. I hardly ever dig for information after I read or hear it in the news. Most of the time I take the news as it is. Fortunately from taking SOC 1 and SOC 119 I am learning to do otherwise. My question is when are people going to start asking questions? It is so upsetting that a country with so many bright people cannot see the media as a threat. Media as one of those factors and forces that inhibit our actions that is outside of our control. But there is another sad truth; I do not know how to go about turning this problem with the media around. I have no idea what to do in the situation we are in. does everyone stop watching the News and start acting like hermits? Or do we just accept the news with a grain of salt and move on. Who knows what to do in this situation us Americans are in?
This is very shocking to hear. It is even more shocking because this story was aired on Fox News. It is absolutely sad how people can make such assumptions and that they would not do their complete research before they display such a story on national television. This is just a single example of what happens all the time. Most people probably simply saw this story on television and believed all of it and probably did not even bother to do their independent research to verify the true facts. Then again, it is not the general public’s fault. It is the media and all who were involved in making this story and not doing the necessary research whom should be at fault. It is messed up either way, whether they intended to do this on purpose (which is probably not the case), or committed a major mistake without any realization. It is simply wrong if it was done on purpose and if a major mistake was committed then this is simply the height of carelessness. How can so many people overlook the truth or not even try to figure out and verify the facts, especially considering how controversial this story can be? This is absolutely ridiculous and it makes the United States of America look extremely bad. This is embarrassing not only for the general public, but the United States of America as a whole. This is even a bigger deal since the United States of America has come so far, and is so advanced and modern. The media of the United States of America cannot afford to make such a large and stupid mistake. It is common sense that one would research the facts thoroughly before making such assertions and blaming people who are not even the people who are to be blamed. It is then that the accused but innocent group of people are the one that get the fingers pointed on; however, the people who are guilty are the ones who are walking without any scars or fingers pointed at them. How is this in any way or terms fair? It is not. We cannot afford to repeat these mistakes anymore since it can not only ruin the name of these people and degrade them for something they did not do, but also make the United States of America look horrible. We need to take steps forward to make sure we make our country, the United States of America remains in a good light and especially make sure to not let its respect go down because of future false and unresearched news stories. These reporters or whoever all was involved in showing this story on national television need to learn their lesson and they need to understand the importance and consequences of their actions. This story is very disrespectful towards Mexican people, and I know for sure that if I were Mexican I would have been pissed off after seeing this incomplete and false report on national television.
It’s a very irksome thing to see people make up stories about illegal immigrants. Mainly because there is enough wrong with them that there’s no need for things to be made up at all. They take away jobs from legal US citizens because they are willing to do the same jobs for a lot less money, they don’t have to pay taxes, and they can still get our healthcare when they’re injured with tax payer dollars before they get deported. I’ve heard these complaints countless times from countless people and it’s kind of getting old… so the last thing this country (and the media) need to be doing is making up more stories to get the hot headed people with these opinions even more fired up than they already are.
Unlike most people with drastic opinions on this subject, I have experience in dealing with illegal immigrants who are trying their damndest to become US citizens. I brought this up in our small group discussion, but I have a friend named Jozef so is a citizen of Slovakia. He came to the United States just before 9/11, and he has been here ever since. He works as a dishwasher/prep cook at the restaurant where I work when I’m at home. I’ve seen countless Americans go through that position half-assing their way through it to make their minimum wage. Jozef is the hardest working human being I have ever laid eyes on (and I come from a blue collar family). Since coming to the US not speaking a lick of English, he now speaks it fluently because he taught himself our language. He loves our country more than most US citizens that I know, and once he even told me that I’m LUCKY to pay taxes. He wishes he could pay them because he wants to give money to a system he so full heartedly believes in. He’s applied for a citizenship multiple times now and has been denied each time. If he gets caught, he will be deported without notice, and someone who my family has come to know as family won’t even get to say goodbye.
Granted, not all illegal immigrants have such a heart warming story as Jozef (who we now call JoJo), but as a whole, I feel like people are quick to judge when they hear stories about illegal immigrants. This country was built on people coming here wanting to better their lives. People who want to leave their small villages, escape poverty or religious prosecution. I feel as though US citizens have a sense of entitlement when it comes to what goes on in this country that keeps them from seeing the bigger picture. The newscast from Fox merely proves my point.
This is RIDICULOUS. It actually made me laugh. This story is completely unbelievable. Not only that but vague and short…not sure why this was news actually since the report was only 30 seconds and did not give much information at all. The reporter said that there are a large number of Hispanic firefighters coming in as new recruits. I’m pretty sure you need to be a citizen to be a firefighter and on top of that how did people get Mexican? Can you say trivialization of identity? If you need to be a citizen to be a firefighter…because it would be a real government affiliated job then what’s the problem. These firefighters, Spanish speaking or not, are here to save lives. We should be treating them like the heroes that they are. And why would they hire Spanish speaking firefighters if they had no way of communicating with them? That doesn’t make much sense and I’m half way surprised the people who commented on youtube didn’t pick that up. I’m pretty sure they would have thought of that first, before they actually hired them, and if there was a language barrier, would opt to hire someone else. If the supervisor would hire people he could communicate with then maybe he/she doesn’t deserve his/her job. And what exactly was politically correct about the report? I guess they were referring to letting the firefighters who were non English speaking keep their job while letting the English supervisors go. Even if the fact that supervisor had to speak Spanish was true, like woe is me, take a fucking course. The requirements of jobs change all the time, what makes the supervisor more worthy of having a job than anyone else. I don’t watch the news but I’m sure the rate of inaccuracy is sky high. Just look at the Daily Collegian, I find huge mistakes more often than you would think and it’s only a campus paper. Because I don’t watch the news I am often out of the loop but I think its better than being misinformed and mislead by purposeful propaganda. I’m glad Sam did take the time to look this matter up because honestly, I would not have. If I even opened the email AND watched it, I probably would have shaken my head and the foolishness and went about my day doing nothing to correct it yet also not encouraging or spreading it. Not good at all. Stay still and doing nothing is not what brings about change, agency is what brings about change. This goes to show that although, I may be a conscious and active participate is some movements, I could do even more to end oppression by simply helping to stop rumors like this.
This is RIDICULOUS. It actually made me laugh. This story is completely unbelievable. Not only that but vague and short…not sure why this was news actually since the report was only 30 seconds and did not give much information at all. The reporter said that there are a large number of Hispanic firefighters coming in as new recruits. I’m pretty sure you need to be a citizen to be a firefighter and on top of that how did people get Mexican? Can you say trivialization of identity? If you need to be a citizen to be a firefighter…because it would be a real government affiliated job then what’s the problem. These firefighters, Spanish speaking or not, are here to save lives. We should be treating them like the heroes that they are. And why would they hire Spanish speaking firefighters if they had no way of communicating with them? That doesn’t make much sense and I’m half way surprised the people who commented on youtube didn’t pick that up. I’m pretty sure they would have thought of that first, before they actually hired them, and if there was a language barrier, would opt to hire someone else. If the supervisor would hire people he could communicate with then maybe he/she doesn’t deserve his/her job. And what exactly was politically correct about the report? I guess they were referring to letting the firefighters who were non English speaking keep their job while letting the English supervisors go. Even if the fact that supervisor had to speak Spanish was true, like woe is me, take a fucking course. The requirements of jobs change all the time, what makes the supervisor more worthy of having a job than anyone else. I don’t watch the news but I’m sure the rate of inaccuracy is sky high. Just look at the Daily Collegian, I find huge mistakes more often than you would think and it’s only a campus paper. Because I don’t watch the news I am often out of the loop but I think its better than being misinformed and mislead by purposeful propaganda. I’m glad Sam did take the time to look this matter up because honestly, I would not have. If I even opened the email AND watched it, I probably would have shaken my head and the foolishness and went about my day doing nothing to correct it yet also not encouraging or spreading it. Not good at all. Stay still and doing nothing is not what brings about change, agency is what brings about change. This goes to show that although, I may be a conscious and active participate is some movements, I could do even more to end oppression by simply helping to stop rumors like this.
It stands to reason that in this line of work, people that are in charge of other people’s safety should be required to speak the same language of everybody on their crew. That is, if they are in a position where coordinated effort, responsibility, and teamwork are of the essence, it just makes good sense that everybody be on the same “page”, language-wise. However, what doesn’t make sense to me, and what sickens me, is the anti-Mexican fever that seems to be significant, if not quite rampant, in the hearts of many Americans.
It seems that many people have a misguided sense that foreigners have no place or rights in the United States, or at the very least, have less rights than citizens currently here. Of course, the ironic thing here being who of us really “belongs” here in the United States? The only reason any of us are enjoying residency here in this country is because hundreds of thousands of Native Americans were slaughtered in order to pave the roads, so to speak, for us and our posterity.
And another interesting thing that struck me as incredibly ironic about this video and article is the indignity people feel when English –speaking people are supposedly violated. It is funny in a sickening kind of way that the same people that enjoy benefits that no other race often enjoy (more housing opportunities, job opportunities, etc.) would get all prickly when someone flips the script on them (even if only in their minds). When black people are denied occupancy, or turned down for a job because they got beat out by a white person, you don’t see white people marching down to the offending place and demanding the injustice be resolved. They seem content, for the most part, to let people fight their own battles. As soon as it affects them directly, however, and only if it affects them directly, will they choose to get involved and to begin caring all of a sudden.
I know this probably seems a little jaded and negative, and maybe it is. I’m sure not all white people are the cold, heartless bastards I’m painting the picture of in this blog entry. However, it just seems to me like people usually care mostly when it concerns and involves them directly. Because they benefit from their whiteness (even without their realizing it, in most cases), they won’t even think twice about the way other ethnicities are treated unfairly. It’s only when a news story that comes out about English-speaking people being turned down for jobs (completely incorrect, as it turns out), that their ears will prick, their hairs will raise, and they’ll find motivation to get involved somehow.
I picked the blog “Those damn Mexicans are at it again” because we had a long discussion in our smaller group about illegal immigration after Sam’s lecture that included a video showing a road sign that supposedly depicted illegal Mexicans crossing the border. I think the discussion was difficult because it is hard to talk about things when not all the facts are known. I myself no little about immigration practices, laws, and maybe more importantly costs. I always would wonder why immigrants do not just go through immigration but it probably is just too costly at times.
Now I want to comment first before I continue reading the blog and the article and say that this video contains a very odd issue concerning language. I understand the importance that the supervisors need to be able to communicate with the firefighters but it is not their fault if the firefighters do not speak English. However, I do not think the Mexican firefighters should be held back from the job because of their language difference either. The video mentioned that the fire fighters were needed for urgent fires and not necessarily a full time position. Maybe they could each learn a few necessary words to be able to work together? Sam posted that he wanted to look for some more information on the subject and I think it is terrible that some people (a patriot) wanted the firefighters, who happened to be Mexican, to be sent home. Obviously it appears that not many Americans were stepping up to fight the fires so why do people care what race is helping with the disaster? I really do not understand why this would bother someone.
On a side note I just want to say that I believed Sam’s story about his painting days and how a fellow painter of color received less jobs because of his skin color. However, I am white and come from a primarily white neighborhood and my family had Mexican man paint in our house and then several of our neighbors also asked him if he was available for painting their house. In addition my dad works for a roofing business and the men that do the construction are all from Costa Rica, and some of their families are back home still. All I am trying to say is that I do not have an issue with other races and with foreigners taking jobs in America. We got our roof fixed recently and I met some of the Costa Rican workers and they did not speak a lot of English, however their foreman did and was able to help with translations. Maybe this is all the firefighters needed; one firefighter who could speak some English and communicate with the firefighters and the supervisor.
I then read the article that stated some facts about the Oregon fire department and found it funny how the facts differed from the rumors in the video and how things can get out of hand so easily.
The FOX News story by Bret Baier that claims Oregon is firing fire crew bosses over their inability to speak Spanish first ran in 2007. The story is based on information contained in an erroneous news story that ran originally on a Portland, Oregon TV station back in 2006.
Here are the facts about the firefighting crews:
The Oregon Dept. of Forestry (ODF) and its partner federal and state agencies in Oregon and Washington contract with private companies to supply fire crews, including crew bosses, for frontline firefighting work. These crews work under the guidance of incident management teams provided by ODF and other state and federal land management agencies.
Because English is the language of firefighting in the U.S., we must have the ability to communicate with all crews. Accordingly, the interagency contract requires that the leaders of contract crews speak English. This requirement covers the crew boss and the three squad bosses on a typical 20-person crew.
ODF has no requirement that its employees speak Spanish, and does not demote or fire anyone because of their inability to speak Spanish. And to our knowledge, no crew boss on the private contract fire crews that we use has ever been fired on account of not being able to speak Spanish.
The crew companies are private businesses, so they may choose whom they hire for their crews. But if a company elects to hire employees who do not speak English, then our contract requires that the supervisors of that crew, in addition to being fluent in English, must also be able to speak the language of any crew members who do not speak English. This is a matter of good communication, safety and effectiveness for the agencies that hire crews under the contract.
If a crew consists entirely of firefighters that speak English, then the crew leaders need only speak English. Again, whom the companies hire is a choice that they as private businesses make.
Many people have written to ODF suggesting that we should require all contract crew members be able to speak English. But if we made that requirement, we would not have enough crews to fight fire. Over the past decade or so, the available labor pool has shifted heavily to Latinos, many of whom do not speak English.
Like other employers, the contract crew companies are bound by federal law to verify that their employees have the legal right to work in the U.S. Whenever we discover a discrepancy in their records, we work closely with the federal immigration authorities to investigate it.
In case you're interested, here is some background on the erroneous media report about the firefighting crews and how it got started. The reporter with the Portland TV station that aired the original story had interviewed a disgruntled private contract firefighter. In the course of the interview, the firefighter made a number of incorrect statements to the reporter, among them the claim that he had been demoted from his fire crew boss position because he couldn't speak Spanish. A review of his training records by our fire managers revealed that he did not have the required qualifications for the position. That fact led to his demotion from fire crew boss. The action had nothing whatsoever to do with his inability to speak Spanish.
In preparing the story for broadcast, the reporter invited Oregon Department of Forestry to respond to the firefighter's claims, and our fire managers set the record straight. But the story that eventually aired in spring 2006 did not accurately present the information they had provided.
After it aired, the erroneous news story was picked up by the Denver News Channel, FOX News, Paul Harvey News, and several other broadcast and print news outlets. FOX's Neil Cavuto even did a lengthy on-air interview with the firefighter. Later when the Bret Baier piece aired in 2007, bloggers began circulating the video clip widely on the Internet. Interest gradually died down, but then someone began circulating the video clip again recently.
Rod Nichols
Oregon Dept. of Forestry
In respond to the Those Damn Mexicans Are at It Again blog, I have to say that this is really good….I actually bought it for a second there. Now that I thought about it, I wonder if Fox News had suffered any consequences after airing this. I think that this is ridiculous and very surprise that the station actually did something like this. I really think that our nation is abusing about all of the freedoms that we have. This may sound too communistic, but I think that sometimes, the government needs to filter out ridiculous things like these. How it that people is still supporting stations that provide incorrect and bias news? There should definitely rules and regulations for the news channels to only provide accurate and un-bias information. I know that it is almost impossible to be un-bias….but this is by far crossing the line. The only thing that surprises me more than the news is the people’s reaction to it. It cracks me up when people do not use common sense and actually believe in everything that they hear. I think people are letting the media impacting them more they think. The media can play a trick on our mind if we are not careful. I think we can deny it all we want, but it’s really controlling our lives and we are giving it permission to by supporting it and its content.
I’m not a big fan of illegal aliens myself, but I am strongly oppose of stereotyping and having prejudice against a whole group when only some are guilty. My parents are first generation immigrants so I understand the hardship that they have to go through to make it here. I think that all of us deserves the exact same chances to pursuit a better lives because we are all technically immigrants (except for Native Americans). I really do not understand the hypocrisy that’s going on in this nation about this issue. I do not support illegal aliens and I don’t think that all Mexicans are illegal aliens so why fired at them like this?
Back to the story about the Mexican firefighters; even though the story is tremendously twisted, I think that when my house is on fire I would appreciate as much help as possible regardless of where it is coming from. The video clearly stated that the area was lacking firefighters…so I think I would prefer someone who can’t speak English compared to no one at all. I do understand that communication is one of the most important aspects of the job; however, it doesn’t make sense to me that someone could be a firefighter without proper training (i.e. serious academic and physical tests).
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