The idea of the spectacle referred to in Leo Chavez’ “The Latino Threat” is discussed in correlation to concerns over the immigration of Latinos into the United States and the discourses they create. One spectacle in the Latino Threat Narrative are the controversial cases of organ transplants for immigrants, such as that of Jesica Satillan, the recipient of a “bungled transplant,” that became widespread through the large volume of media attention and public opinion they generated. These cases raised issues of biopolitics, discipline, and neoliberalism including the transformation of the lives of immigrants into virtual lives, the meaning of citizenship and the privileges that come with it, and the structural violence inflicted on undocumented immigrants as a result of the regulation of health care.
How people imagine themselves and are imagined by the larger society in relation to the nation is mediated through the representations of immigrants’ lives in the media. Media spectacles transform immigrants’ lives into virtual lives, which are typically devoid of nuances and subtleties of real lived lives. It is in this case that the media spectacle transforms a “worldview,” or a taken-for-granted understanding of the world, into an objective idea taken as “truth.” In their coverage of immigration events, the media give voice to commentators and spectators who often invoke one or more of the many truths in the Latino threat narrative to support arguments and justify actions. In this way, media spectacles objectify and dehumanize Latinos, thus making it empathize for them and easier to pass policies and laws to limit their social integration and obstruct their economic mobility. Through its coverage of events, the media help constr...
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...l. For example, US immigration reform attempts to optimize the lives of the entire US citizen population as a whole by enforcing stricter immigrant regulations, increased border patrol, etc. Latino immigrants do not count in the population of US citizens, and thus, must be removed in order to allow the US citizen population to flourish. Similarly, Nazi Germany’s view of the Jewish population as a threat led to the belief that they must be terminated in order for the Aryan population to flourish.
Biopolitical administration plays a role in the organ transplant discourse when illegal immigrants are represented as unworthy of organ transplants because of their illegal status.
Thus, organ transplants are embedded in biopower’s strategies for the governing of life. The struggles over who to help and who to let die are set in discourses of citizenship and belonging.
Gonzalez, Juan. Harvest of Empire a History of Latinos in America. New York: Penguin Putnam Inc, 2000.
John Harris visualises a world where transplant operations are faultless and that anyone who needs a transplant can have the operation successfully providing that there are the suitable organs accessible, if not the doctor would have to let them die. Y and Z refuse to accept this inevitable death and argue on utilitarian grounds that it is better if one human dies and donates his organ...
What if a person thought of a way to save a life by using someone else? Luckily, a scientist thought of a way to do just that, through organ transplant. In the year of 1954, two surgeons performed the first successful liver transplant. This process taught the world that an organ can be transplanted to a living person from a deceased person. In the essay, “Stripped for Parts”, by the author Jennifer Kahn, the author gives a “behind-the-scenes” look at the process of organ transplant. Kahn uses Rhetorical Context, a process writing style, and a multimodal element to capture the attention of her audience.
In today’s medical field there is a profuse amount of room for ethical questioning concerning any procedure performed by a medical professional. According to the book Law & Ethics for Medical Careers, by Karen Judson and Carlene Harrison, ethics is defined as the standards of behavior, developed as a result of one’s concept of right and wrong (Judson, & Harrison, 2010). With that in mind, organ transplants for inmates has become a subject in which many people are asking questions as to whether it is morally right or wrong.
Latinos have struggled to discover their place inside of a white America for too many years. Past stereotypes and across racism they have fought to belong. Still America is unwilling to open her arms to them. Instead she demands assimilation. With her pot full of stew she asks, "What flavor will you add to this brew?" Some question, some rebel, and others climb in. I argue that it is not the Latino who willingly agreed to partake in this stew. It is America who forced her ideals upon them through mass media and stale history. However her effort has failed, for they have refused to melt.
I chose this dilemma for reflection because of the true dichotomous nature of organ transplantation. Someone must die in order for someone else to live. Additionally, with the current demand outweighing the supply of organs available, another ethical “layer” is formed. In
As long as civilizations have been around, there has always been a group of oppressed people; today the crucial problem facing America happens to be the discrimination and oppression of Mexican immigrants. “Mexican Americans constitute the oldest Hispanic-origin population in the United States.”(57 Falcon) Today the population of Mexican’s in the United States is said to be about 10.9%, that’s about 34 million people according to the US Census Bureau in 2012. With this many people in the United States being of Mexican descent or origin, one would think that discrimination wouldn’t be a problem, however though the issue of Mexican immigrant oppression and discrimination has never been a more prevalent problem in the United States before now. As the need for resolve grows stronger with each movement and march, the examination of why these people are being discriminated against and oppressed becomes more crucial and important. Oppression and Anti-discrimination organizations such as the Freedom Socialist Organization believe that the problem of discrimination began when America conquered Mexican l...
Throughout history physicians have faced numerous ethical dilemmas and as medical knowledge and technology have increased so has the number of these dilemmas. Organ transplants are a subject that many individuals do not think about until they or a family member face the possibility of requiring one. Within clinical ethics the subject of organ transplants and the extent to which an individual should go to obtain one remains highly contentious. Should individuals be allowed to advertise or pay for organs? Society today allows those who can afford to pay for services the ability to obtain whatever they need or want while those who cannot afford to pay do without. By allowing individuals to shop for organs the medical profession’s ethical belief in equal medical care for every individual regardless of their ability to pay for the service is severely violated (Caplan, 2004).
Justin, a South Carolina college student, died at the age of 23 while on the waiting list for a lung transplant. When Justin was three months old he was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, a disease which affects the lungs. Throughout his childhood he coped with his illness but at the age of 20 his health took a turn for the worst. Justin was on the waiting list for two years but no lungs came available in time. Organ allocation in the United States of America has become a heavily debated subject in the medical field as well as the political and ethical fields. There is no doubt that there is a shortage of organs in the United States. In order to increase organ supply the American Department of Health should integrate the effective allocation policies of some European countries such as Spain and Austria. These policies include: who receives organs, an opt-out program, and de-regionalized donations.
Imagine the largest stadium in the world filled up with fans; more than that many people are on the national organ transplant waiting list. The transplant waiting list is growing constantly, unlike the donation transplant list. Joseph S. Roth’s wrote an inspiring essay titled “Encourage the Golden Rule of Organ Donations, Transplant Coverage,” that provides crucial information on the significance of organ donation. In the essay, Roth incorporates a proposal, the Golden Rule, which permits health insurers to limit transplant coverage for patients who refuse to be organ donors. This legislation would require insurance companies to provide information at each policy renewal about how policy holders can register to become organ donors. This essay
Living near the United States and Mexico border has given me a unique perspective to the region’s mixture of peace and chaos. The U.S-Mexico border is a place where violence, drugs and poverty meet a prosperous military state. The region around the U.S-Mexico border is home to a unique vibrant culture that is masked by negative stereotypes painted by biased news coverage. Tanya Barrientos’ “Se Habla Espanol” and Leslie Marmon Silko’s “The Border Patrol State” highlight the everyday difficulties of combating American prejudice and bigotry as a Latin American living in the Southwestern United States.
The episode, “Who Is ‘Us’, Anyway?”, of NPR’s Code Switch explores the question, “Shouldn’t you help out your own community first?”. It portrays the powers of the internet, under the influence of celebrity figures, in accentuating issues of race and equality. In this particular case, Latino immigrant, José Garcia, was deported after 30 years of living in the United States. He was a husband, father, and law upholding non-citizen, and so he was unfailingly granted a stay of deportation until one day, he was unawarely detained and forced to buy a one-way ticket to Mexico. His departure was recorded on Facebook live, and picked up nationally via major news stations including CNN and the Washington Post. This gained the attention of American rapper, Hakeem Seriki, better known as Chamillionaire. And in response to the backlash his involvement generated, he made his case on the matter.
The portray of Latinos in the media has had negative effects on the Latino community. Historically they have not only been portrayed negatively through stereotypes but also been largely ignored and excluded from most American media. When Latinos are actually present in different forms of media a very consistent type of Latino is portrayed. Usually it is a person who has darker features, tanner skin, and an accent. The quest for a heterogeneous type of Latino completely overlooks the diversity that is included under the umbrella term. The lack of range in how Latinos are presented phenotypically also helps to polarize the community by showing usually either rich Latinos or poor Latinos. This phenomenon is reminiscent of the movie A Day Without
Wouk, Henry. Organ Transplants. Ed. Megan Comerford, Joyce Stanton, and Christine Florie. New York: Cavendish Square, n.d. Print.
Kaserman Ph.D, D. L. (2007). Fifty Years of Organ Transplant: The Successes and The Failures. Issues in the Law and Medicine, 23(1), 45-69. Retrieved may 30, 2014