Thom Hartmann - Is NBC TV's new Fall show Outsourced...funny or offensive?

[thomhartmann]

Run time: 08:07 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PlCO-mADfs   Posted on YouTube: August 27, 2010 By YouTube Member: thomhartmann Views on YouTube: 5   Posted on DU: August 27, 2010 By DU Member: thomhartmann Views on DU: 1030

 
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[Drunken Irishman]

1. Knowing NBC, it probably isn't funny.

But it doesn't look all that offensive.

[Donnachaidh]

2. it's frigging tasteless, and I hope NBC suffers backlash from this POS

And whoever came up with this shit as a concept should have four flats on their luxury car, and a head to toe skin rash from whatever drug they use on a regular basis.

That being said -- you need not look much farther than this POS to see the HUGE disconnect between Elites and the American public.

[Mojambo]

3. "Funny" and "offensive" are rarely mutually exclusive. n/t

[KellyW]

4. not too “insensitive”

“Outsourced” as a TV show was developed from “Outsourced” the 2006 movie. The film is generally considered to be a gem of the Romantic-Comedian genre that went unnoticed when it was released in theaters. I’ve seen it and it is a cute little film. I am an American living in south Asia and did find some of the culture clash comedic situations insightful.

Spoiler alert

At the end of the movie the call center in India is closed and moved to china where labor is even cheaper.

The story arc of a movie seldom translates well into episodic television. Most of the attempts to create TV shows from movies have been miserable failure-but there was M*A*S*H, and the networks keep trying.

If a comedy about a hospital in the Korean War is not too “insensitive” for American TV “Outsourced surly isn’t.

[GTurck]

6. M.A.S.H. had...

the intelligence of Alan Alda to take it from its original premise to something more sustainable; namely a diatribe about the waste and futility of war and the human spirit surviving. We watched the TV show and I have seem the movie with Donald Sutherland and I can't even remember who played Hawkeye Pierce. That film was bitter and mean while the series had heart and warmth.
Whatever you thought of the movie "Outsourced" I don't see how the premise can be anything but a riff on the cold-bloodedness of current global corporations.

[TheFarseer]

10. it might poke some fun at corporations

but this show's job is to humanize the Indians that are taking our jobs. Just let us all know that they're just regular Joes like us. Well it's not about Indians and how "regular" they are. It wouldn't be about Tanzanians or Mexicans or Germans if the jobs were relocating there instead. It's about corporations irreparably destroying our economy for a quick buck and it's not funny and it's not acceptable and I don't understand why everyone's not mad as hell about it.

[zeemike]

5. The medias job it to make the unacceptable acceptable.

Just look at shows like 24 which justifies torture and other crimes against humanity.
Good work as always Tom

[LongTomH]

7. It's offensive! Take it from a former IT professional!

I lost a job so did hundreds of my former co-workers at WorldSpan. Our jobs were outsourced or just 'engineered' out of existence to increase profits for our Indian-born CEO: Rakesh Gangwal and his cronies. Google on his name; Rakesh Gangwal left a trail of destruction behind him with any company he headed up.

I lost my job in 2005, after 15 years with the company. I got a chance to go back for a year in 2008 as a contractor, with no paid vacation time, no paid holidays or paid sick days. Among the things I noticed when I 'returned' in 2008 was this: When I was there before, I saw young American people working. When I came back in 2008, almost all of the young people were Indians or other foreigners.

Yeah, I find a series that makes a comedy out of outsourcing jobs offensive. So will a lot of Americans; but, I don't think that will make any difference to NBC. Just as Glenn Beck doesn't care about people protesting his racism, as long as his hate-mongering serves the interests of Murdoch and his fellow shareholders in Faux News; this series will serve the purposes of the billionaires - both 'American' and Indian that profit from outsourcing.

Edited to add: Has anybody yet pointed out the link between our deficit and outsourcing? When an IT-professional goes from $60K a year to a call center job at $10 hr, think how much less he's paying in income and FICA taxes. That's the REAL threat to Social Security; people who are unemployed / underemployed are paying less into the system. With increases in productivity, we should be better off; but, workers are seeing less and less of the wealth from productivity.

[txlibdem]

8. Taking a big picture view

The show, IMO, is meant to be offensive to all Americans. It exposes the outsourcing industry that makes huge profits off the pain of ordinary Americans who lose those jobs.

In 1990 I was talking to a college educated man from India, an American citizen born in India, who told me about a company that was outsourcing their computer programming to India. He said he was saving money so he can go back to India and start up his own outsourcing company. This is how millions of American jobs have been lost. It has been a coordinated attack on the middle class and it didn't just start in the past couple of years.

The rich have been waging a class war against us for at least 30 years, ever since Ronny Raygun got his first corporate check to start his campaign.

[TheFarseer]

9. This is tastless and offensive

I don't get offended by much, but to make a joke out of of destroying my country and impoverishing it's citizens is NOT funny. I hope this gets canceled after 2 episodes like that caveman show.