I thought it was cool that this was posted because in itself it has nothing to do with race. But, I think the topic of "lifers" is a very interesting one that people fail to think about very often. Its such a tough thing to try and relate to these people because although they seem so normal in writing or maybe even in person, they have committed the worst of sins. I myself know I have committed several sins already by the ripe age of 22, and I definitely feel guilty about some of them. But imagine what some of the men in prison have to deal with EVERY DAY. I am by no means condoning their actions but i mean I know for a fact Ive gotten in trouble before and the toughest part if the shame you feel and the inability to really do anything about it. Imagine now that times 1000 for these men. It is such a shame that an act they all wish they probably could have taken back will cause them to live the rest of their lives out behind bars but i guess its a heavy price to pay for such an evil action. I guess when you are at the point you are at as a lifer, you have to try and find something to keep you going in life or otherwise life is meaningless. I hope the lifers who regret their actions can find that something, even if it is in prison.

I think its really though when something like this hits such an already-poor country. Its like if conditions weren’t crappy enough now they have to deal with one of the worst natural disasters of all time that has devastated Haiti’s infrastructure, economy, and many other facets. I really enjoyed last class when Ian came in and talked about his personal experience there. The fact that stuck with me well after class was over was that the United States gives the most money but as a percentage of our GDP it is among the least amount given. Personally, I think this is really quite a travesty and another misstep on the part of the US government. And, yes, I know we’ve been going through a recession recently and God knows I’m no business or finance major, but are you telling me the United States can’t give as much of our GDP as Portugal? Really? Sure the recession sucks, but some people without jobs is a little better than people dying without shelter, food and water, and an even close to stable economy. And I don’t feel like anytime a country screws up their economy or something and they need more money we should just go in and pick them up. But Haiti was in a sense a pedestrian that got run over and now they need help with the hospital bills. Being in a country that is so plentiful we can go to the grocery store and choose from 17 different pasta sauces and 100 cereals, I really hope that our government isn’t being as cheap as they seem. I was also thinking a lot about what Sam said the other night about his philosophy that those who have more should help the people with less. I totally agree with this, and I feel my opinion wouldn’t change whether I was rich or poor. The fact of the matter is that money may not be able to buy “happiness” in the sense of making your life instantly more satisfying (when it sucked before), but it sure can do a lot for a nation full of poverty. And even at a lower level, I always feel athletes and celebrities should be giving a large portion of their salaries to charities. They are already ridiculously overpaid (Big Ben making $102 mil over 8 years=WTF), and it is part of their obligation as professionals and role models to give to charities, and I sense that overall, not that many athletes do and that is a shame. In a sense this is what Sam has been hinting at the whole year with the King of the Hill stuff. The people with the money are at the top of the hill and they make the decisions. If they want, they could give some of their enormous wealth to help some others get up the hill or they can just use it themselves to push themselves further and further up the summit....

This is a great comment. The fact of the matter is that if not oil, than something else. As humans we strive to be better people but in the end we are always subject to our own worst qualities. We are selfish and money-driven, and as long as their is some "oil" in a place where we feel like we can have it we will continue to kill and plunder until we get what we want. It is sad and depressing but I mean if you look back at history it has always been that way. The only difference is we know have such a shift in power/money in some countries that technology is available to literally destroy or invade any country at our discretion. And as long as we continue to live in our own countries, sheltered from the realities that face most other nations, it will always be this way...

I don't know if this question has one single answer because the end goal for everyone is going to be different. Some people will have gone into this class close-minded and leave the same exact way. They will try to brush off the facts when they are presented or make excuses for reasons why these issues don't matter. For others, they will have learned about a few harsh realities that many minorities face in our country and it will move them to at the very least THINK about these issues. I think some of the info and data has been so moving to some that they are already actively trying to find ways to combat the racism. I know personally I feel a sense of guilt and shame when I hear some of the wrongdoings, as well as when I realize how lucky I am every single day to even be going to a college like PSU and have an apartment to live in. So, if nothing else, even if someone may not take any actual steps themselves to try to fix the injustice we hear about every SOC 119 class, I think just feeling different or weird about something after this class is a good step for many people as it will show itself eventually. What I mean is that, whether unconsciously or not, just thinking about these issues might cause us to speak out against racism in the future or vote politically for policies that will help minorities. Or maybe we will unknowingly bring up these race issues when talking with others which helps to spread the information to the masses. Who knows. The point is that Sam has been giving us gold (as he likes to say) and it is up to us individually to decide whether we want to act to make a different end goal than what it might have been before.

I agree with you midge4690 but wanted to expand the idea. To begin with, I don't believe in God and would never pretend to. Each of my parents is of a different religion, and I was actually raised Jewish but as soon as I really had a mind of my own I realized how ridiculous religion really is. I know I am probably in a very small minority of people in Soc 119 that thinks this way, but it is something I feel strongly about. It's funny though because sometimes I want to put my ideas out there and enforce them on others in the same way that all of the religious speakers on campus do (or the annoying people handing out bibles, which is also bullshit b/c i bet if I stood outside the HUB handing out atheist material I would probably get in trouble). But either way, back to the original comment, I think its funny when people say things happen because God has a plan. You might as well say things happen because the homeless guy down the street has a plan. I mean what is the basis behind that statement? So God has a plan to make the people of Ivory Coast be tortured so they can harvest the cocoa beans that go into the candy bars that we can buy at the store for less than a dollar? Really? What kind of idiotic plan is that? I mean if you take a step back and think about it- if God is all-knowing and fair, why would he/she have a plan that is so mindless and damaging? I mean if God is really all-knowing he/she would come up with a genius plan that would give everyone who was born, regardless of race/ethnicity, an equal opportunity among EVERYONE to make something of themselves. Obviously, most of the people born in the Ivory Coast do not have that choice. I think it is disrespectful to claim that these poor people suffer because of the plan of a higher being that no one has any evidence exists. And the funny thing is that I'm pretty sure I remember some of the Ivory coast workers in the video talking about God. Okay, like Sam says- I'm rambling now but I mean really how is that they of all people can believe in God still? Well, I think the reason is that if you were in such a horrible, horrible position, where you had to work all day in terrible conditions and get no pay or reimbursement, you would HAVE TO think up some sort of omnipotent, spiritual figure to look towards. Because, God knows (pun intended) no human beings seem to be able to save them at this point...

Video games have only been getting more and more violent and racy through the years, and I think the real question is when do you cross the line. You can run people over in the road and beat old ladies with bats in GTA, you can walk into an airport and gun down HUNDREDS of innocent people, and now you can rape Japanese women and their families. At some point, video games are going to become so lifelike and real it will be basically Virtual Reality like you see in the old sci-fi movies. Can you even imagine what it will be like in 10-20 years? Okay so take a game filled with gunning down people, violent rape, and running families over on the sidewalk and add to it an advanced Wii-type of control where you do all the motions yourself and you have yourself young kids that can do some really messed up things, anytime they choose to play. This is obviously completely insane and there is going to have to be a push for some sort of restriction on content in the near future or society is going to be a really, really F'd up place....

This guy is allowed to have his opinion but that doesn’t mean anyone has to agree with it. I mean sure there are some issues with illegal immigration, and I understand that if you let it go completely rampant it can cause some trouble, but I mean some of his points are plain silly. You want to bring back all of our troops just to have 24/7 military patrols all across our border? That would not only be ridiculously costly but also a waste of time. As an overall thought, I think it’s a little ironic that as Americans we came here through oppression and fought for our freedom and yet when other people are oppressed and are looking for a better life we try our best to keep them out.

I am neither offended by or against what the kid in this video is asking, and I don’t see why anyone else would. Sam told us from the get-go that he wasn’t trying to change anyone’s mind about anything but instead try and make us look at issues differently and question why they are a certain way today regarding race relations. I would certainly agree with some of the people that have noticed how the last few weeks of class have dragged on for seemingly an eternity, and I would hope Sam would recognize that the whole 6 stages stuff is getting a little repetitive. I think some of the most thoughtful and interesting classes have been ones more extreme and free-flowing (rather than just reading off PowerPoint’s for an hour). The LGBT class was sick, the class about racism in the drug/jail system, and even the infamous “bleeding” classes were the most important in my mind. Why? They caused the most uproar/discussion/anger, etc. Otherwise, the class seems like a normal sociology class complete with note-taking and memorization. Either way, there have been a lot of information statistically that has stuck with me this year, and I find myself thinking a lot at the very least about the numbers. I still cant get over the study that showed a white guy with a felony is more likely to get a job over a black guy with no criminal record even though they both have IDENTIAL credentials. Also, the Native American stuff is really mind-blowing. We don’t even stop to think about how much these people have lost.
As for the guy that asked this question, why does anyone care what he thinks? And I’m not even saying he’s wrong or anything. It’s just that this class is structured so that people can get whatever they want out of it. You can come to class, play on your phone, sign in, and leave early- and that’s fine. Or you can choose to actually think about some of the issues and open your mind a little bit. Both are still optional though. There are some classes I have thought about a lot and others that went through one ear and out the other before I even left class. However, there is certainly good stuff to get out of it, and I think Sam has given us some important information to use at our desire. I guess the only one thing that aggravates me about the class is that we learn about so much disparity, racism, and financial inequality that still go on, and yet, I feel I have NO IDEA how anything will ever get solved. Or maybe there is no way to solve any of the issues. But if this was the case than why even bring them up? It’s all really troubling and no one has the answers, even Sam. But maybe he’s just putting out the information because he knows eventually with enough knowledge of how things really are, some day in the future, stuff might change for the better.

I agree with what a lot of people are posting about how where you grow up makes a huge difference as to how you view people of color as a young adult (and eventually through your adult years). I didn't necessarily grow up in a city but my town was fairly diverse and my high school had plenty of black and brown people. Through middle school and high school my best friend was black and I had other black friends that I hung out with a lot, although looking back I can honestly say a large part of that had to do with me being on the sports team and being able to have that exposure. I think its important that black and brown people really consider the fact that as young whites growing up in this generation, things have changed substantially since our white parents were around, and I think overall the racial thought process is not nearly as offensive as it used to be. I think unfortunately black and brown people try to assume while growing up that white people just innately arent going to like them or want to hang out with them as much and thats simply NOT the case. The kids in our high school that were racist were not only not popular but disliked by not just black/brown people but most of the other white population as well.

I am not responding directly to the video’s question so I know this is a bit off-topic, but I was thinking today about the guy in the red jersey who said in class yesterday that he didn’t understand why anyone should feel bad about the nepotism issue. At first I, like many people in the class, sort of just shook my head and thought “wow how can this kid not realize what’s wrong here”. However, although I still don’t agree with the principle by itself, I have a few issues with everyone being completely against it. First, if you get a job at a bank over more qualified people (for example because your father is a CEO) that is clearly not really fair for the other people vying for the job. But you really need to think from the perspective as the one with the CEO father instead of the other applicants. To start with, the son didn’t choose for his dad to be a big-shot CEO and his father being in a position to help him out has now enabled him to make his own choice. While for other applicants its up to people at the bank hiring, for this kid it becomes his choice whether to take the position. So, if he takes the position he clearly had an unfair advantage, but he now has a great job with great benefits and is set for life. Or, he can simply choose not to take the job (even though he is more or less eligible for it even if he isn’t the strongest applicant). If he chooses the latter than he subsequently settles for a second-rate job with fewer benefits, less pay, and less prestige. How many people in our 700-person class are honestly going to choose NOT to take the nepotism-fueled position because it’s “not fair”. I wouldn’t dare try to say I wouldn’t because I think if the situation arose and I could have a better job to provide more for my family it’s an easy choice. The only real downside is knowing that someone I have never met (not necessarily of a different color/ethnicity) doesn’t get the position even though they might have deserved it more than me. Call me an ass but I’m sorry I am going to take the position. As long as I’m not doing anything that is obviously and forcefully illegal, to the point where I could actually go to jail for accepting it (unlikely since my father would be the CEO of the bank and he can pretty much do whatever the hell he wants), I don’t see how I CANT take the job. It just seems too difficult a choice to make for someone that I don’t know and for all I know could be some pompous adulterer. I guess my overall point is that its easy to sit back and complain about nepotism when you are not on the receiving end but that same person is likely going to accept any benefits they can get when the opportunity comes calling. And that goes for people of all colors...