ENOUGH ALREADY

I’m Sick of Your Dirty Job

 

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From "Dirty Jobs" to "Deadliest Catch," "Ax Men" to "Ice Road Truckers," the airwaves are overrun by TV shows about people—er, men—with dangerous, physical, soot-collar jobs. If people want to come home from a hard day's work and watch other people put in a hard day's work, more power to them—these shows attract tons of viewers. What's annoying is how they suggest there's a fascinating character study happening beneath the surface. What makes someone do this for a living? They seem to ask. We've got a theory: money, and lots of it. Want to see a really dangerous job? How about a woman working for minimum wage at a big-box retail store who can't afford health insurance? Marvel as she scans groceries, aggravating the carpal tunnel for which she can't go to a doctor. It might not be as visually compelling a show, but it would certainly be more relevant.

© 2008

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Member Comments

  • Posted By: KellyMac @ 08/21/2008 1:10:30 AM

    Joshua Alston, King of the Whiners. First let's complain that women don't make as much money. Then let's complain that men get all the hard jobs. Whatever.

  • Posted By: nmbrldy69 @ 08/01/2008 4:40:21 PM

    We all make our choices. Lots of people work at lower paying jobs with scanty insurance benefits because it's what they prefer. Not real hard, not a lot of responsbility, just mind-numbing activity for a salary. If people truly didn't want to do it, they wouldn't. If you do what you want, as do a lot of the "reality shows" like you mentioned, you take any money that comes your way. Don't like it? Do something else. Not real hard, there.

  • Posted By: Rexnews @ 07/28/2008 1:15:20 PM

    Relevant? Relevant to whom? You would really watch such a show? I see those young women and men every day and I see how they act in school.
    Your comment, Joshua, is pure politically correct venom. It is resentment against the masculine. There is no factual basis for saying, "overrun", either.

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