Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: A look at farmworkers
This is the sort of subject that we were hoping the show would tackle for a rather long time, and for a number of different reasons. For starters, this is firmly within the show’s wheelhouse of topics that don’t get anywhere near enough press. Also, there are multiple things in here that cannot be ignored. Take, for starters, the conditions that a lot of farmworkers are forced to endure. We are talking here about really long hours, difficult conditions, and for many, racism and prejudice. There is a long history that was documented and a lot of material that honestly, we weren’t quite aware of.
Is there still a lot more work to be done here? Absolutely, and that was the main point of this. Many farmworkers, naturally, live or work in rural areas. They don’t have the cameras on them that you see within big cities and by virtue of that, their plight is often not heard. There are also issues such as potential legal loopholes, collective bargaining, and other under-the-radar stories brought up here.
Of course, one of the things that we were waiting to see was whether or not the show was going to create some sort of big, viral moment at the end of the episode. After all, we are coming off of a pretty big episode that technically gave us TWO main segments, including a Chuck E. Cheese piece that you could take a look at online.
In the end, though, this episode didn’t quite have anything on that level — though technically, it’s a little unfair to expect something on that level week in and week out. We should just be happy that this subject was broached at all. (The closest thing we got was that point-system / video-game themed bit in the final seconds.)
What did you think about this Last Week Tonight with John Oliver segment?
Be sure to let us know in the comments! Once you do just that, remember to keep coming back for some other updates.
(Photo: HBO.)