Posted 4 years, 3 months ago in the early afternoon by oso
There is a new Southern California Spanish language gameshow that’s been getting a lot of media attention in the local papers.
“Gana la Verde” (”Win the Green”) has attracted big audiences and hundreds of contestants willing to eat burritos crammed with live worms, jump off high-speed trucks or wash skyscraper windows in exchange for a year’s legal help in speeding up their visa or green card cases.1
In San Diego the show is on Liberman owned cable channel 29. I have yet to see it, but some friends of mine - illegal immigrants themselves - never miss it and say it’s the funniest Spanish language show out right now. I’m not surprised about the show’s popularity - Mexican and Hispanic game shows don’t exactly have a history of political correctness; plus in reality television, survival is a matter of sinking to the lowest moral denominator. But their are aspects of Gana La Verde that really concern me. Here’s Lenard Liberman on how the show came to be:
The show, run five times a week on small Spanish-language television channels in Los Angeles, San Diego, Houston and Dallas, was the brainchild of Lenard Liberman, executive vice president of the independent TV and radio company Liberman Broadcasting.
“When you are in the Hispanic market, you realize that immigration and legal status is the number one issue … They want to be able to earn a living and not have the pressure of wondering if they are able to stay or not,” Liberman said on Thursday.
“We could do a show and give the winner a cash prize, or a toaster oven. But I thought, what would be the ultimate prize for someone living in the United States as an immigrant? … To have a prestigious law firm handle their case would be something invaluable,” he said.
Most of the blog and forum posts I’ve read about the show center on one question: is Liberman a Gringo or Latino. As Yazmine writes in the Terra forum, Hispanos en EEUU:
El es el hijo de Jose Liberman, tambien dueño de la empresa. Con ese nombre, me atreveria a pensar que es hispano, pero no pude hallar informacion que lo compruebe. Ademas, su hijo se llama Lenard…no me suena hispano.
Translation: He is the son of Jose Liberman, also part owner of the company. With this name I certainly wouldn’t think that he’s Hispanic, but I couldn’t find any information to verify it. Furthermore, his son names Lenard … doesn’t sound Hispanic to me.
I have a feeling that, like many successful Los Angeles Hispanic businessmen and women, that the Libermans are in fact Jewish-Mexican-Americans. But, to me, that’s besides the point. Liberman could be from Madagascar and yet he’s still making a profit exploiting the illegal status and subordination America’s hardest working class. This isn’t a matter of racism - this is class status and grotesquely so. This is a wealthy media corporation making its dollar by mocking the already marginalized.
Counterpoint
“So don’t watch it.” Of course. I mean, the show’s popularity and the revenue that it brings in is from mostly immigrants themselves who find the show entertaining and probably feel comforted seeing others in their same situation who are willing to go to great lengths to get out of it.
But my main problem isn’t with the show itself, it’s with how it is presented. First of all “Win the Green” is a misleading title because as Virginia Kice, spokeswoman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says,
You’re getting people to submit to unpleasant things, holding out hope that you’ll be able to change their legal status in this country, when some people are just not able to adjust their status because this is all dependent on laws. It sounds very much like exploitation.
Furthermore - and this is my biggest problem - the show demands that contestants use their real names. As former INS prosecutor Carl Shusterman says,
“It’s a bad idea, bad, bad idea to go on a show like this and tell the world about it,” Shusterman said. “There’s no way Channel 62 could guarantee that the immigration service isn’t going to go after some of these people. What control do they have? And to put it mildly, eating live scorpions might not be a good idea in my view either, but who am I to judge?”
When I was serious about the Virtual Village to Village project my first concern was anonymity. That there would be no way whatsoever the INS could access any sort of database to gain information about illegal immigrants living here. Gana La Verde should have the same policy.
And they should do more to help all immigrants living illegally here in the United States. At least a mandatory public service announcement about immigrants’ rights or about the application process for a green card.
“Legal help should not just go out to the winners of reality shows,” said London, directing attorney of the immigrants rights project at Los Angeles-based Public Counsel. “Why not expand it and find some pro bono representation for everyone involved? There are agencies who provide free legal advice. We encourage people who are out of status to tell their stories because the leaders of this country need to know how many talented people are here and, through no fault of their own, are not able to achieve status, like the plight of high school students who we are in the process of trying to legalize so they can pursue higher education.”
Links:
- Crossing the Line for a Chance at Legal Status - americas.org (from LA Times)
- En el programa ‘Gana la verde’, los hispanos concursan por su residencia en Estados Unidos - El Tiempo (Spanish)
- Green Card Is Ultimate Prize on Hispanic TV Show - Yahoo News
- Who Wants to be a Legal Immigrant? - celebritycafe.com
yup, i saw that on someone else’s blog. it’s wrong on so many levels. and especially for the fact that no one needs a game show to prove that mexicans and other latin american immigrants will risk their lives to get into this country. that shit is horrible.
Me parece con una broma grande. Pienso que la gente que crea los programas es un poco inmadura y no puedo compredner algo. Le dan un servicio, la ayuda legal a las ganadores pero todas las ganadores no tienen problemas con inmigracion no? Dios mio. I like saying dios mio.
If I am not mistaken Lieberman’s channel 29 is also broadcasted in Dallas, and I have watched it a couple of times. I particurly noticed the fake ‘Judge Judy’ type of shows, and the ‘Jose Luis’ something, something talk show which GLAAD recently sent out an complaint about because it incited members of its audience to physically abuse the gay panelists. I am not saying Univision and Telemundo are angels, but this channel is the lowest of them all.
How on earth can TV exploit people? It’s not like they are forcing people to do any of these things. If you are so desperate that you are willing to subject yourself to public humiliation… then well, that’s how desperate can be defined. I’m not applauding anyone involved in this - I find it all equally repulsive and the prize a little sketchy since I’m not sure how they guarantee the quality of legal aid.
But I can’t possibly see how the ‘contestants’ are in any way shape or form being victimized. Don’t people eat worms on Fear Factor for prizes that are far less meaningful?
Xeres,
I agree with you except that the program should be more responsible about informing its contestants and viewers that there is no guarantee of a green card and that appearing on the show could actually get them deported or worse. A friend brought up a good point: these contestants shouldn’t be as wary of the INS as wack job skinheads and neo-nazis that want nothing more out of life than to beat up those who pick their produce.
There is also a lot more historical baggage riding on this show than anything that could possibly show up on fear factor. You have to remember that its being filmed in a city that just 155 years ago was a part of Mexico.
I’d feel kinda confident that somewhere in the consent
language for the show exists language stating no
guarantee of a green card. I’m less clear on the risk
of deportation… but the folks on the show are here
illegally, so they risk being deported anyway, right?
So maybe the risk is higher, but it isn’t like the
show suddenly moves them from legal activity to
illegal activity - it just publicizes the latter.
I don’t understand your comment about historical
baggage… Should the show be filmed in Billings,
Montana instead?
Hope I’m not being too argumentative… you very
rarely comment on television so I got all excited…
Xeres,
I think this is a classic liberal versus conservative argument. If I understand you right, you’re saying that, assuming the proper legalise is provided by the show, the contestants should be held responsible for all involvement and participation.
Now, I’m all for self-reliance. In fact, in terms of spiritual/emotional maturity, I think that realizing only you are responsible for yourself is the most important step. (which is why I love Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged so much)
But trying to enforce that self reliance, self responsibility, on a global scale presents a lot of problems. First of all - given you are for equality - one has to assume that we all stem from a level playing field with equal opportunities. That, unfortunately, is nowhere near the case. You and I grew up in one of the wealthiest regions on the planet, blanketed with financial security, and enrolled in a private (and costly) “preparatory academy.” Because of our parents’ support (if not unhealthy pressure) we did not have to work and could focus our energy on studying and entering the best (also costly) universities.
This is quite a different reality from that of a working class, uneducated Mexican or Central American migrant worker living illegaly in a foreign country with a foreign language which subsidizes its own farmers while discouraging poorer countries from doing the same.
Some of these people are going on to this show because they have a misinformed, false hope that it’s an easy ticket to US citizenship. Equating that to a bunch of bored Malubu residents wanting their 15 minutes of fame is not only flawed, but belittling.
I’m sure you’ve come across, in your prrofession, poorer patients who are less informed than their wealthier counterparts. In fact, indirectly, we talked about just that a couple weeks ago. Which is why, while policy should still encourage innovation and self-reliance, it needs to be accompanied by outreach and welfare programs to reach the underpriveledged … meaning just that, those who do not receive the same priviledges (like health and justice) that money buys.
I know I’ve turned this into a much broader discussion than you meant it to be, but I’m trying to explain why Gana La Verde should be forced to be more responsible in its programming than a show like Fear Factor.
I’m all for plugs about Atlas Shrugged. And I completely agree with your point about self-reliance and self-knowledge only working if everyone starts from the same place. However, knowledge isn’t always positively correlated with education or income level.
For example, despite my education, I have no clue how to avoid the INS, or the FBI, or HomeSec (HomSec?) or most other government agencies because I’ve never had to. If I had to, I’d bet I’d learn really quickly. So my point is that illegal immigrants are aware of the fact that they are here illegally… otherwise why would they go on the show? Does the show provide false hope? Of course. The U.S. Constitution provides false hope. Is that a crime? I don’t think so. Is there even such thing as false hope? You either hope or you don’t.
Should more be done to aid illegal immigrants? Absolutely. But that’s not television’s responsibility. So I can’t fault the producers. It’s not like they’re going around outing illegal immigrants - that I would definitely have a problem with. If it’s your choice to go on the show, and you are aware of your illegal status… the exploitation is all in your hands.
Good points Xeres.
I just saw the show for the first time and I laughed my ass off. The stunts, if you want to call them that, were simply ridiculous. My 80 year old grandpa as well as my 5 year old neice could win everytime. Nobody looks like they want to win. I see no hustle, no trash talking, simply, I see no desire at all from the contestants. Where can I submit ideas for the stunts. Chasing around pigs with flags is a County Fair event. These people need to get some ideas from Fear Factor. Those are REAL STUNTS…………