I think there are two ways to answer this question. First of all, yes it is a tragedy when so many people in the world get killed, and yes they may be far away, but I do not agree with the idea that there is nothing we can do. I think the outlook that people have that there is nothing that we can do is the problem and main reason as to why many people do not do anything. We all know from history that whether good or bad, one person can make a huge difference, Hitler is a great example for that.
Personally, in a situation like this, specifically for our class I believe that the best way to help is to do whatever we can, meaning given the opportunity to donate money to a trustworthy person, we should do it. If you really do care, when Sam offers you the opportunity to help out by donating money, you should take it. In another sense, you can use your expertise or even just volunteer. When the tsunami hit, my sister, a dentist went over to one of the tragedy sites and helped to identify bodies using teeth records. My father, who works in wholesale, went to dedicate his time and effort into just cleaning up the area and helping to distribute aid. I do not believe that people are unable to help out if they are not experts in medical fields. Every hand makes a difference.
Now the other side of this clearly is, what can you do if you're so far away? If a tragedy struck in Indonesia, would people from England be of any use if they travelled there? Would they be able to even afford it? In situations like this I believe that one person can start to make a difference but must gather an entire group to actually carry out anything worthwhile. If that one person chose to gather a group of volunteer medical staff I am sure that he or she would have no trouble getting a group of 4-5 willing people. All he or she would have to do is organize the trip and maybe fundraise for the trip, and honestly that is already making a difference.
Overall, I just believe that to make the world a better place, a positive outlook is the first thing we each all need to have.

I think guys and girls have just as much pressure as each other to conform to society, especially in terms of their physical appearance. I do not want to speak for every guy out there but I feel that most guys do not go to work out everyday for their health as much as they do to tone their body. Yes, of course, a part of it is to do with health issues, but most of it is because it is what girls like and what other guys envy. I believe that girls mostly do dress for other girls, but they change their body for other guys, while guys dress for girls and work out their body for both girls and other guys. I believe that much of this comes from the elementary school playground. Like the old saying, the stronger will survive, it was always the bigger boys that bullied the smaller ones. I believe that this is the reason why many guys want to tone up for other guys as well. To show that they are tough. Society has made us believe that. On a whole different note, society has also made many men believe that bodily and facial hair is for the weak. Society associates it with cavemen, weaker men, less civilized men and I think this is the reason why many young men do not like to keep their facial or bodily hair. This makes it very difficult for young sikh men. I know many teenage sikh boys who struggle with conforming to society every day. Their religion prohibits them from cutting their hair but so many of them do because other people judge them and make fun of them. They feel peer pressured into looking like all other guys their age, and many of them make the change, even though it is against their religion.
To be honest in terms of conforming to society, I do not think there is much difference between girls and guys at all. I think the reason that girls get so much more attention about conforming to society is because they are so much more open about it. They talk to their peers about the things that they do not like about themselves and talk about how it affects them and how they would like to change it. Where as on the other hand, very few guys would do the same with their peers. So it does not mean that they do not go through it, I feel that people simply just are not as aware of it. So in answer to the question posted, I think that girls and guys go through the same pressures to conform to society, just about different things.

I would say that the second step is obvious, to act on the feeling. Yes, he did kind of stop at just feeling something for the slaves, but at the same time he also offered ways to act on the feeling. For example, he showed that there are fair trade goods available on the market to purchase. Goods that you know did not involve that kind of slavery. Yes, it may be harder to find, and yes in some cases (although not all as Sam said) it will be more expensive, but if you care, it is definitely worth the effort. In addition to this, thinking back about the story of the woman who Sam made an oath to, one of the best ways to act on this tragedy is to educate others about it. I am certain that most people in the class were unaware, like myself, about the slavery situation in our world. Sam is doing his very best to make sure that it changes, but he can only teach so many students in his lifetime. As his students who care, our responsibility and the second step is to educate our friends and families about the situation. This way, we can get them to care about the situation, to feel something as Sam has made us feel something. That way, it is more likely that they too will take the second step, it is more likely that they will begin to purchase fair trade goods and then educate others around them about the situation too. The more that people are aware of it, the more effort those involved will put in not to be caught, but maybe some of them will be so threatened that they will stop. Also if somehow most of the world began to buy fair trade goods, perhaps the people involved in the slavery business will no longer be able to afford to run their business. It is the ripple effect that we should look for. Like the movie, Pay it Forward. If every single student in Sam's class is able to tell three other people in their life about what is going on and those three people tell three different people about it, eventually, word will spread enough that slavery has a chance of being stopped. So my answer is, first of all feel something like Sam said, then second of all, act on it. Begin buying only fair trade goods, and then educate people about what he has taught you.

As mentioned in the video response for this blog, I do believe that many minorities are put in the same category in terms of behavior as well as physical features. However, I think that “Asian” is a very interesting category. I feel like when people from the west think of “Asian” people, they think of the following physical features; small slits for eyes, no eyelids, yellow skin, small bones and body frame, flat nose, jet black hair, straight hair, no bodily or facial hair, and short. However, after saying so it is also interesting then to point out that east Indians are likely to be one of the hairiest racial groups, they have darker skin, thick hair which is often curly, strong features including full lips and relatively sharp/big noses, big eyes, long eyelashes and they are just as Asian as chinese people. Then there are those that all between the two categories, Russians some of who look more like caucasians, and Filipinos who look a lot like chinese people but are generally bigger with bigger eyes. On another note, when people think of “Asians” in terms of personality, I feel like they think of people who work in nail salons, who are unable to drive, who feel that academia is their ultimate goal in life, and only hang out with people who are similar to them. But again, there are plenty of caucasians and blacks who are bad drivers, who care greatly about their academics, and who like hanging out with other people of the same race. Also on a similar note as mentioned before, I have yet to see a Russian or east Indian person who works in a nail salon.
As a person who is an East Indian, it does not anger me that I am not considered “Asian” by other people, but in a way it makes me feel like I do not belong. I am Asian and I want to be classified as so. If you want to make stereotypes about Chinese people, say Chinese, do not use the word Asian. If you want to make stereotypes about Asian people are include East Indians, Filipinos, Russians and all other Asians that use the word Asian. I just have a problem with not fitting in anywhere. I just want to put out there the difference between yellow Asians and brown Asians because I am faced with the confusion every day.

In response to this video, I would like to say that though it is horrifying to see, I can understand why the kids would feel that way. Obviously most if not all of them are unaware of the past with people of black skin and people of white skin. However, it is very clear that they would experience it all the time. What I mean by this is all the media, television shows, cartoons, especially disney all give out certain messages about color. They show that white is clean, black is dirty. White is pure, black is impure. All of the bad things in life are associated with darkness, at night that is when the evil ghosts come out to haunt kids. All villains are associated with darkness. Bad cartoon characters are made with darker skin than good cartoon characters. There is no surprise that these kids see the world through the good white and bad black lense. On top of all of this, parents are not likely to tell children about the difference between white and black skinned people perhaps because they feel that the kids will not understand or may do things that they do not mean perhaps to other kids in school who have a different skin color than them. Also, how does disney and makers of other media expect parents to teach kids that not all dark or black people are bad when it is basically all they show. It's the same reason as to why kids want to be beautiful in terms of the media, because being ugly means that you're bad. The wicked witch in all cartoon shows are ugly and dark or wearing dark clothes. That's another thing too, that even people with white skin, if the media wanted to show that these people were bad, they would do that by putting dark clothes on them. The world just teaches kids that everything dark is associated with being bad and mean while everything white is associated with being kind and pure, so how can we be so surprised that most kids think that way too? I do not feel like there is any way that we can change this because it is so embedded in our media and classic cartoons. I feel like there is no good solution to this problem and therefore I feel like kids will continue to think this way for a very long time.

My response to the blog, “Does this rudeness thing cut both ways?” is that I do agree with what was said and also I witnessed the difference in reactions from rudeness put out by white people versus that put out by colored people. What I have to say about this is that I believe that because of the history between white and black people it will be near impossible for equal rights ever to occur. What I mean by this is that when white people say something offensive about black people, they are traced back to believing what people in the past believed, that whites were superior to blacks. On the other hand, when a black person says something about a white person I feel that it more so shows that now they have more rights than they used to before and they can freely say whatever they want to say. I believe that a white person would not be as offended by a rude comment from a black person because I believe that their feeling would be it's okay, we once were able to express our opinions about them, now they are able to express their opinions about us. Also, overall black people simply have a reason to have animosity toward white people, and unfortunately nothing can change that. This is not to say that I believe black people are allowed to say things that white people are not, but I am saying that due to the history between the two races, it is simply more accepted. It's almost as if the black people know that they are more empowered now than they were before and want to do things to prove that they are. I believe this is also the reason for a great increase in reverse racism today. Much like rude comments, even rude gestures are taken extremely differently by each race as Sam mentioned in class. If there happened to be a black only night down in one of the clubs at Penn State, nobody would give a second thought to it. However, if there was a white only night then it would be all over national news. I do not think that this is fair, I simply think that this is what our world has come to. Perhaps in the future we will all be more or less over what has happened in the past to our ancestors. However for now, nobody can change this.

I feel like the reason that black people are more likely to be convicted of a crime or put into a jail system that is harsher (such as younger black than white kids being put into adult systems) than white people is due to a combination of both money and some level of racism. Although they may not openly admit that they are racist, I find it very difficult to believe that all people today do not have at least some stereotypes that have carried through from the past about people of color, especially black people. What I mean by this is that, either because it is what is rooted into their genetics or because of the rough past that they have had to face, black people are in general more violent than white people are. I do not believe they are at fault for it, I believe that it is either something that they were born with or perhaps it is a personality trait that they were taught in some respects for safety reasons due to the happenings of their past. For this reason, I do understand why a judge (of either black or white race) would be more inclined to convict a black person versus a white person for the same exact crime, or why they would more likely put a black minor into the adult system as opposed to a white minor for the exact same crime. On another note, in terms of wealth being a deciding factor for all of this as well, I believe that it definitely does play a part. Money may not be able to buy you happiness but I truly believe that it can definitely buy you the resources to allow you to lead a happier life. In terms of the issue at hand, what I mean to say is that although money may not incline the judge's decision in any way, it is very likely to be able to buy you a better lawyer who can do so. In addition to that, if you have money and can afford it, you are much more likely to be able to get out on bail. Do I think the system is fair? Of course not. Should bail be based on your wealth? No way. As mentioned by this video, I do believe the system has many glitches but I also believe that money and race are both a big reason as to why there are more black than white people in jail. It is unfair and it is unfortunate but a person can never truly be unbiased, therefore I think that there is little that can be done to make the system any better than it is now.

The way that I perceive it is that, this land that we are all currently living on once belonged to the Native Americans, and years and years ago, this land was unfairly taken away from them by force, by violence, by order. Now the people that took this land away, I think everybody would agree, are at fault for the current situation of Native American's today. For many of us, these wrong-doers are our ancestors so we are connected to them because they are our relatives, but for many of us they are not. The way that those of us who are not connected to them by ancestry are related to them in this situation is that somehow we bought the land that we are currently living on from the people who clearly mistreated the Native American's. Therefore, in a way buying this land from them is kind of like saying that we support what they did. They got this land for free, and are now selling it and are making profit from what was never theirs to begin with. For that reason I believe that we are wrong. On the other hand, technically we did not have a choice either way. What I mean by this is that we did not choose nor can we change the actions of our ancestors. So it is unfortunate that we should feel blame for it but I think it is only natural that we do. Also it is unfortunate that people who immigrated here in later years should feel badly about it because it is true that neither they nor their ancestors played a part in the genocide. But in a way they are doing exactly what immigrants who came years and years ago, did. They are taking or buying land from those who can no longer afford to or have the resources to keep it or in other words, who are less fortunate than them, in the same ways that the Native Americans were less fortunate back then. When a I asked a local american if it was really true that their school system did not teach them about the genocide, they told me that they were definitely educated about it at some point because they knew what had happened and the time period it had happened, however they said it was true that they were not taught about it. So I asked why do you think not? Their response was that because later in history, considering the two world wars that occurred, the genocide simply was not as important to learn about. This made me very uncomfortable but I did not have the heart to tell them that actually I was told that it was the largest genocide that has occurred in the history of our world.

After having watched the story of this family, and having the class with Sam Richards, I now realize that I know very little about the problems that the people in the LGBT community face on a daily basis. I always thought that the worst thing that happened to them was that they were discriminated against. I did not know that they had less rights. Honestly, this just shocks me. As I see it, we are all just people, and we should all be entitled to the same rights. Just as white and black people now (for the most part) have equal rights, because they are all simply people, I believe that straight and LGBT people should all have the same rights too, as they too are all simply PEOPLE like the rest of us. I truly am shocked by the fact that there ever was any rule against it at all.
I feel so strongly for the family whose lives were shown on this video, and as the child said at the end of it, his mother did not deserve that kind of treatment. I have a friend whose parents are lesbian, and I know that they are all amazing human beings. I cannot imagine them being treated the same way that that woman in the video was treated. Nobody should ever have to face that kind of treatment, especially for something that they cannot control. I truly believe that it is not a choice that people make, to be gay. Why would they purposely choose to lead a harder life? It is something they are born with, something that they cannot change, so how can they possibly be punished for it?
I almost feel like the government is making these rules to ensure that the LGBT community does not exist in the future. By giving them less rights and allowing them to be discriminated against freely, it is like saying it is okay to make them feel unwanted and uncomfortable. After being treated that way I do not see why anyone would ever come out. So eventually, even if they were experiencing feelings that showed that they were not straight, they would not let anybody know, and basically live a lie all their lives.
If the rest of us are free to love whoever we want to, why shouldn't they be? If things were the other way around and all straight people were forced to be gay, speaking for myself and I am sure many other straight people as well, I would be extremely uncomfortable with that. The same way that I would assume the LGBT people feel about society forcing them to be straight. It is simply unfair.

I am not very sure if I agree to Laurey Mulvey's posting. This could be due to the fact that I did not grow up in the United States or the fact that I did not have very many white or black people around me in my community or perhaps both. But either way, ever since I have been at Penn State, I still do not really agree with this.

I feel that every race has a negative stereotype associated with them, whether it be that chinese are bad drivers, indians have bad accents, black people are violent and aggressive or that white people are ignorant; and I feel that these stereotypes have come about because they are so often mentioned.

However, on the other hand I do understand why many would feel that the most prominent discussion of race always leads to black and white people. I could be wrong but I believe that the reason for this is that the United States is predominantly white, and I feel that when it comes to racism it almost always is White people VS. Other people; and the biggest component of 'others people' just happens to be black people. Therefore, the conversation ultimately turns into one that is White people VS. Black people.

In addition to this, I do believe that if the conversation truly were just about white people and black people, it is due to the fact that there is so much history in this country between the two races.

On another note, I feel like when people talk about the fact that there is racism between white people and black people, I feel like they automatically assume that the racism is directed toward the black people. I find this to be extremely untrue. The reason for this is that I feel that there is almost just as much reverse racism as there is racism.

Why can there be black societies, organizations and even bars/clubs that are only for black or latino people while there cannot be such groups and areas for white people? Yes, it is true that black people (and all other races for that matter) are a minority, and I do believe that sometimes they should be given a place to go to where they know that they will not be treated as a minority but I also feel like it is completely hypocritical. People who are not white insist to be treated the same as white people, yet they are purposely creating situations to make them be treated unequally.

When it comes down to it, I almost feel like the reason racism is still so prominent is because people who are not white like to distinguish themselves and proudly show that they are not. If equality is what you are asking for, I just feel like maybe you should take more action to show that. I am not white, I am colored, and sometimes I truly feel like my people are hypocrites.