Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) - Meatpacking

[Rhiannon12866]

The pandemic has thrown into high relief some of the longstanding issues surrounding working conditions in meatpacking facilities. John Oliver explains why greater oversight is needed, and how we can go about getting it.

[TexasTowelie]

1. That is disgusting.

After being heavily involved with tort reform in Texas and also knowing someone who recently worked in a meatpacking plant it is no wonder that I developed a cynical nature.

[Rhiannon12866]

2. I agree, this was definitely one of his rougher episodes, I had trouble watching

We need to know about these abuses, it's tough to believe that workers are subjected to these conditions and reform is desperately needed, but it is very tough to watch.

[brer cat]

3. It was a struggle between the need to know

and the horror of watching. How much progress have we made since Upton Sinclair's The Jungle in 1906?

[Rhiannon12866]

4. I felt the same way.

And that's a very apt comparison. From what we saw, it doesn't look like we made much.

[Initech]

5. Hey conservatives, still think living in a world with no regulations or unions is a good idea?

Watch this and I would like to think you will change your opinion, but probably not.

[Rhiannon12866]

6. This is obviously a serious crisis, yet another one that has been ignored for the last 4 years

And it deserves national attention - Kudos to John Oliver for addressing it.

[Initech]

7. As someone who has been watching every episode of Last Week Tonight since day one...

I would say a good 95% of his segments can be tied to conservative anti-regulatory and/or anti-union policies. They are all underlying symptoms of a far greater problem. It's 40 years of Reagan / Limbaugh polarization gone amok.

[Rhiannon12866]

8. Oh, I couldn't agree more and I've watched since the beginning, too

All his offerings have been extremely well researched and he couldn't present them more clearly - and you're absolutely right about where his issues are coming from, John Oliver appears to be "one of us." I know that a lot hoped he'd take over The Daily Show when Jon Stewart retired, but he's said he doesn't like talking about Trump all the time and he does a much greater service presenting these in depth issues that we need to know more about.