I saw the first episode of the controversial new Mohammad episodes and find the joking that the creators are trying to do as funny and childish. the idea that they would make fun of everything they could is the heart of the show and anyone that takes it too seriously is what they're looking for. the Muslim people that find it disrespectful should be angry it is they're religion that is being ridiculed in public for the amusement of the masses. but to send hate mail and even death threats is beyond ridiculous. write a letter start a protest or just stop watching the show, it's not about being serious but about being outrageous and getting attention. the show is not to be taken seriously and I think that the creators would respect the religious canon of the Muslim's so I don't think they would ever show Mohammad on T.V. for real. I strongly believe in the right to do and say what you want and to be censured by no one but your peers not legally or by intimidation so I would never support the idea that South Park should be stopped from portraying all the people they portray as long as they do it to all peoples and all groups equally. I support full freedom of speech and that is why I say what I say in this post.

I see what your saying however the issue we need to consider now is that we did grow too strong. we are now complacent in our status as a world power and so we think we need to run every aspect of our world. we forget that this has always been a problem since the days we came here as pilgrims or legal immigrants. the problem is that we want to control the number of people who come here that we forget just how important it is to make life the best it can be. the fact that we are so ingrained with the idea that we are the best country that we forget that immigration made us so great. so we need to find a way to stop the illegal immigration and make legal immigration a more acceptable way in to the country. the people who have ever tried to get in to this country from the beginning were looking for a better life so if we summarily kick people out to keep our country as is then we lose the greatness and become the military state we all hate.

For me the whole problem seems to big and to serious to handle. I know that seems like I don't care but I just can't fathom the vast loss of life or how that would affect my life if that happened here. I remember 9/11 and that was 3,000 people but we rose in a united outrage yes it was an attack but still we should have the same horrified reaction to the loss whether it's natural or man made. I just can't wrap my mind around the number and feel like it has an impact on my day, I feel sorry and sad for the people who lost loved ones and the dead but I think if I truly felt anything outside of pity it would be at least it wasn't here or anyone I know. that may sound like I'm cold hearted and evil but I really don't think that I'm really all that different from anyone else I hate the idea of death and destruction man made or not but I can't feel like the worlds problems are all mine to deal with. so if I could I would go and help with the worlds problems but I can't even help with donations right now. I think we could all take a few days to give back but for now I don't see any way the deaths of so many could affect me on a personal level, if that makes me a bad person then I'm sorry.

I think that while thinking you could change the world better than someone from a developing country, isn't a bad thing as long as you remember the fact that your a single person doing things for the betterment of the world not to be better yourself. people need to remember that being better capable to affect the world is not being better or superior to other people. we as Americans are in a great position to aid the rest of the world through technology and education but we need to respect the people we help they have a different outlook on life and progress. I think that if we respect the people we help and the cultures we look to help then thinking were better or worth more will be hard to do because we'll be thinking about our contribution and not about being superior. you could argue that Nazi Germany saw it's self as a world changer for the better at first but they quickly grew into monsters, I'm not saying that they were doing any good, for them it was about getting revenge but trying to help people and taking over for them to make it easier would be a simple mater in order to make fixing the problems we see easier to fix.

I can understand that people forget that Muslim is a faith and all faiths have strong believers that do good for their faith and ones that do evil in the name of the faith simply so they can get followers Osama is a man who manipulates people into believing that they are doing god/Allah's work and we all know that is not the way of the Muslim people as a whole. we are seen around the world as fat lazy Americans because of our T.V. shows and yet we know that's not true. the idea that Osama is the archetype of his faith is a massive disservice to the Muslim faith. if you are Christian would you want the world to look at Hitler as an archetype of Christian faith for his hatred of the Jewish faith. I think not.

I think that we could coexist but first we need to realize the Muslim world is different and we know too little of their culture. we need to remember that our policies have been heavily geared toward getting the oil and not in garnering good relations. after world war 2 the British divided up the middle east according to the oil surveys they had conducted before and during the war. that is how Israel and other countries were formed. this is the way our country has dealt with that region of the world for decades and people see us as bad for changing the culture and the priorities of the people there. I think we could coexist if we just decided to find alternate methods of fuel as this would make the middle east an area that doesn't matter to us as a resource but as another region of the world we deal with as equals.

I think it's sad that the people of Palestine have been left out in the cold for years now by the world anti Israel groups use them as examples of the evil the Israeli and U.S. have caused to the Muslim world. I wrote a history paper about the Gaza strip, but I still can't see how the issue is so polarizing on all fronts. I understand Israel wants stability and security but at the cost of people who are being used as marters is not the way in my opinion. I think that if we are too be seen as a fair country we need to support our allies fairly and that includes the laws of the world. If the Gaza strip is the excuse for hostility against the Israeli people then giving it back could be the solution. I don't think spoils of war is a valid excuse anymore for any civilized countries.

I have always thought about how the actions of the U.S. could be perceived by the peoples of the middle east. and to see this article I see that we all have misconceptions about this war. I agreed when we went in to Afghanistan to track down Osama but now I don't see the point in staying there as an invading force we should aid in the creation of a stable government and security for the people ,then we should withdraw . this article made me think about how much good we have done there and how much of our security has cost the Afghan people , especially those that could have become suicide bombers. I think we need to rethink the reasons and rules we of engagement we follow there, as we need to strike a peace that can give those who lost peace and make us seem less like the christian invaders. someone here asked who was the real terrorists and they felt that we all could be seen as the bad guys for the actions taken by a few, I think we should truly find a hearts and minds balance so when a mistake happens as war is apt to cause that we could avoid retribution killings like we have seen.

This guy is what I think of when I hear the stupid American joke in movies, he thinks that by militarizing the border we will be safe yet we will be closing off the freedom to live the way we want. if he thinks this is the greatest country in the world why not share it with the world? fixing the immigration system is necessary but his view is "suicide by cop" in other words we will not grow worldly but shrink as a nation to fearful children hiding behind our military borders. as to what he thinks of a president who can't or won't salute the flag is ridiculous, the flag is a symbol like the eagle or the star if you want to make a statement you use a symbol that is all people that put down flag burners forget that the flag represents freedom and freedom that forbids burning of the flag in protest is limited freedom. better to not salute the flag than lie about your reverence to a symbol. his comment on 911 is disturbing to me I was an adult during that very incident and had considered military service before hand afterword I nearly ran to the recruiters had it not been for medical reasons I would have been serving in Afghanistan immediately following the attacks and been proud to put an end to the tyranny. we should not go to war lightly but to say that we should never have left on a campaign for justice is to say that criminality outside the U.S. is not our concern. I don't care about your feelings on why we went to Iraq Afghanistan to me was justified and has been showing a success and commitment to our ideals.

I don't know if my opinion has been drastically changed but I feel that I have learned and really thought about what is said. that is why I took this course to hear other peoples opinions and see if mine are different, and if so how and why they differ. for me my opinion has been questioned and even expanded by Sam's class and I think that it could in the long term change my opinion. for me I try to keep an elastic opinion, one that could be changed by the valid arguments of others but also trying to keep it wholly my own. I think that the reason I became interested in Journalism was because I want to know peoples stories, mine i write everyday but others are written away from me and there fore hidden that is what i like about this class I get to hear differing opinions and being changed by them. for me that is the greatest idea about college and the world.