Wow… I must say, I am shocked at this man and how he is talking about prison. Not only that, but I am amazed at the compassion that is shown by some people in prison, even people who are lifers. I am thankful for this man’s letter to our class, for it helped me be able to look at people in a different way. Just because someone did something horrible in the past doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be forgiven in the future. As I read this, I realized that I often hold grudges against people for little things, but then there are people in prison for committing murder who forgive each other and comfort each other all the time.

Another quote I found interesting was the one about Iraq being to Americans like a toy store is to children. Wow. Great quote right there. It seems to me as if some Americans really need to watch what they say. Looking at it from a Muslim’s point of view, this quote would’ve made me angry just like the one by Bush did. The quote makes it seem as if the only reason that the Americans invaded is because they want what is ours. They want what is on our land. How can they live with themselves for stealing what is ours?
At the beginning of class, Sam told us that he would be telling us a tale of patriotic defenders against invaders and thieves and killers. I didn’t think that he would have us look at the situation how he did. In my opinion, it was shocking. At the end of class, I will admit that I raised my hand. If I were in the Muslim’s place, I would fight against the American soldiers.

One thing that shocked me was Bush’s quote about this war being a crusade. Could he have picked a worse word? I will say something for the man though, since I am not a fan of his. Perhaps he just didn’t think clearly about what he was saying beforehand. In my opinion, however, that was a huge mistake. When dealing with war, especially one that I believe he jumped into prematurely, maybe he should’ve taken a look in a dictionary before he went and opened his mouth. Since we were supposed to be taking in this whole lecture as if we were Muslims, I thought about it. If the leader of another country said this when launching a war against my country, I would be really angry. Why would I be angry, you may ask? Well maybe because this Christian thinks he is better than us. Maybe he wants to convert us. Or maybe, just maybe, he might want all of our resources. Our oil.

Personally, I think that this is the best lecture I have attended at Penn State so far. I mean, I am only a freshman, but I don’t think many lectures I will sit through in the future will compare to this one either. Sam really challenged us to imagine what the other side was feeling, and I think that his approach was brilliant. Looking at it from a Muslim’s perspective was completely mind blowing. Then the videos he had us watch were pretty interesting. How about the one of the US soldiers running over a civilian’s car? Or the one where the US soldiers ran a civilian off the road for no reason? In these cases, I would say that the soldiers were completely unprovoked. In these cases, I would agree that the soldiers are indeed Christian Invaders.

I think that this is a very good question, and it really made me think. Although coexisting peacefully would be great, and actually ideal, I don’t think that we as humans could pull it off at this point. There are so many different cultures, religions, and races that live side by side on continents and even within countries. As long as there are different races, religions, and cultures, I don’t feel as if we could all get along. There will always be some small argument going on between different groups of people. I wish it wasn’t this way, but for the time being, I don’t think we can truly coexist.

In my opinion, these games are even worse than games like grand theft auto. In grand theft auto, you basically just steal cars and beat people up. I mean yeah, both are horrible things, but I don’t consider them to be nearly as horrible as raping women. It is just as if men are looking for yet another way to elevate themselves over the women around them .It is just a matter of dominance, which in my opinion, is pathetic. If a video game where the main goal is raping a woman who fires you is something you want to play, then perhaps you just have a problem with women having authority over you, and raping the video game character is just your way of putting yourself back on top, no matter how pathetic that is. Overall though, I must say I am just disappointed in any person who would choose to play this game.

I just find myself wondering, will men get pleasure out of video games in which they rape women just as much as they get pleasure from watching porn? And if so, will they then just associate rape with an activity that brings pleasure? If so, then this type of video games could actually make rape more prominent, which is definitely a bad thing. I think that the Japanese government needs to take this into consideration, then make regulations for video games. They shouldn’t just wait and hope that video game companies do something, because then they’d be waiting forever. Instead, they should just put a stop to the insanity as soon as possible.

Wow. I must say, I am kind of in shock after watching this video. It is disturbing that some people really think that these types of video games are ok. It isn’t right to rape women in real life, so what makes it acceptable in a video game? I think that the only men who would play these games would be men who are too pathetic to get a girl in real life. I mean seriously, why the hell would you play a game where the main objective is to rape a woman? A bit pathetic, don’t you think? Also, it is just sickening that men would even think to make these games. How can they not be ashamed of themselves for creating pornographic video games? Although I am disturbed by these video games, I can’t say I’m really surprised that they exist. Actually, I’m surprised that they have not come to the surface any sooner. I mean, men watch porn all the time. Also, rape isn’t that uncommon, unfortunately. I mean, in an ideal world it wouldn’t happen, but humans obviously aren’t perfect. Video games would of course be one of the next places where pornographic ideas arise.

Personally, I don’t think many of my opinions have changed as a result of the things that Sam talks about in class. However, a lot of the topics we discuss make me think about people more than I have before. So, no, the class has not made me change my opinions. But the class has made a difference to me. It has made me look deeper inside of myself in an attempt to find the answers to questions brought up in class that bother me. For example, I have really thought a lot about the baby doll experiment, because the results if it bothered me.

Actually, it was not very difficult for me to eat the second piece of chocolate. Sure, I was upset after seeing what people had to go through in order to produce the chocolate, but that isn’t going to stop me from eating it all together. Plus, Sam told us to eat the second piece. He said that the only excuse we had for not eating the second piece would be if we were going to completely give up chocolate. Even though I am not a real big chocolate fanatic, I still see no reason to give it up for the rest of my life. I mean yeah, I feel bad for the people who helped produce it, nut I really don’t think I could do anything to help them.