No Job? GET LOST! (upfront article)

           The Upfront article "No Job? GET LOST!" by Andrew Higgins revolves around a conflict of unemployment in a part of Norway. In Norway, the governor states that, unemployment is illegal. As quiet as Norway's "law-abiding" society is, there were no reports of serious crimes. Moreover, the article is revolved around Norway's quiet northernmost territory, Svalbard, and the law against unemployment.

          The author, Andrew Higgins, uses loaded words like infractions, unusual, and permanent to show that unemployment is intolerable at Svalbard. In fact, retirees (those who have retired) have to prove that they are eligible to support themselves in order to continue living in the society. He also used the perspective the governor who was a former police officer who thinks highly of Svalbard . The author also used the more opposing perspective of a crime reporter who thinks of Svalbard as a very dull and unenjoyable place/job. "If you don't have a job, you can't live here," Governor Odd Olsen Ingero stated. In fact, unemployment is so intolerable that many crimes are rallied on reckless driving on snow mobiles and shop lifting! Although, many polar bear attacks also make front page of news papers. Too add on, Governor Ingero seems rather proud of the outcomes of Svalbard's society. "The demographics here are rather unique," he states.

         

      Something that struck a cord in me was the fact that unemployment is illegal and homelessness is banned in Svalbard, Norway. This is because in the U.S. 3.5 million people experience homelessness each year. I realized that if homelessness and unemployment were both banned in our country as well, many people could be supposedly saved from the sufferings of hunger or having no shelter.Furthermore, although Mark Sabbatini, the editor of Icepeople, states that if someone were wanting to live in Svalbard, there would have to be something slightly warped about that person, I believe that the law against unemployment and homelessness really helped the Norway become a less crime involved region.