Is Anyone Really Stealing Our Lives?
In his article “Someone is stealing your life”, Michael Ventura asserts that most American people are completely dissatisfied with their jobs. The crucial reason for that feeling is related to the fact that the management and the owners of the companies do not give enough power to the workers. They decide all the issues and obtain all the profits and benefits. Consequently, the author argues that the employees should have more opportunities to make decisions, more power, more vacation time, and more benefits (including bonus and higher wages). As a result, Ventura concludes that the owners of the companies are practically robbing his life. Three relevant points that I would like to debate are: the strong generalization presented by the author, the real effectiveness of this kind of article, and the possible change of attitude if the article was written in the present day.
Generalizations are present throughout the entire article. The author assumes that all the workers are frustrated and disappointed with their jobs and, consequently, with their lives. Thinking about this complex issue, I strongly believe that some people are really satisfied with their jobs. Each person is different and some simply do not want to embrace more responsibility and power in the professional life. Besides that, one company needs all kinds of roles and functions. If everybody had the same level of power, probably it would be the chaos. Another generalization made by the author is related to vacation time. According to him, all employees have just two weeks paid vacation per year. However, a lot of professionals, such as teachers and consultants, have more vacation time.
The author’s purpose is to complain about the situation at the companies. In addition, he clearly tries to persuade the workers to protest against the employees. For this, he shows his arguments using some sarcastic terms and words, which express anger and outrage, such as “drone”, “own little house”, “own quirky
Generalizations are present throughout the entire article. The author assumes that all the workers are frustrated and disappointed with their jobs and, consequently, with their lives. Thinking about this complex issue, I strongly believe that some people are really satisfied with their jobs. Each person is different and some simply do not want to embrace more responsibility and power in the professional life. Besides that, one company needs all kinds of roles and functions. If everybody had the same level of power, probably it would be the chaos. Another generalization made by the author is related to vacation time. According to him, all employees have just two weeks paid vacation per year. However, a lot of professionals, such as teachers and consultants, have more vacation time.
The author’s purpose is to complain about the situation at the companies. In addition, he clearly tries to persuade the workers to protest against the employees. For this, he shows his arguments using some sarcastic terms and words, which express anger and outrage, such as “drone”, “own little house”, “own quirky
Cited: Rivara, Greg. “Unemployment Drops; State Adds 52,600 Jobs in 2011”. Illinois Department of Employment Security. 20 Jan. 2012. Web. 30 Jan. 2012.