First I'll address the top video and then the one on the bottom, and afterwards I guess I'll give my two cents on kindness, giving, and love. I've worked at Whole Foods in my hometown for about 3 years now. I can safely say that the clientele there, though some may think are holistic and happy people, are some of the most miserable and rotten people on earth. The market is located in a fairly well to do area, and at least 40 percent of the people who shop there give off a vibe that they are above the workers in all ways. At the registers, I especially try to be as pleasant as possible, but when nearly half the time you have a customer that could give two shits about you, it's kind of difficult. But then there are the other 60%. And I suppose this is where the man in the CNN video would fall; a kind person, who actually makes your 8 hour shift a little bit better by conversing and actually respecting you. The story is great, that a man could be so compassionate to a worker that he hardly knows and help her in the most desperate of times. As for the little boy's story about loving the girl, it was pretty cool. Even at a young age he was nervous that she didn't like him as much as he liked her. Kids represent pure innocence, before they are polluted and corrupted by the worst of society’s ideals and beliefs on how things should really be. As these kids get older though, even if they still love each other they will feel the boiling eyes of their respective cultures bearing down on them. The Malaysian will learn of the repression that her people felt from the Chinese. She may realize that the boy she loves is different, but she still will probably feel pain that it was his people who repressed her people. A lot of times I feel like I have a slightly pessimistic view of people, and don't always see that there is good out there in all of us. Stories like these help to reaffirm that we can co-exist on the planet together, and we can truly be better people. Growing up in a household that taught me tolerance at a young age has helped me grow, and if all of us can teach our children the mistakes we've made, and just have them become a little bit better of a person than we are ourselves, the world will continue to grow. However, there are people who pass down traditions of hate to their children, which can ultimately undermine the goal of everyone opening their hearts to the 'other'.

Well the moral answer that a lot of people are responding with is that yes, they should also be afforded healthcare. If you purely are looking at it from a human perspective, then sure everyone who is physically in the borders of this country should be afforded the same benefits of this new healthcare bill. But, the world (however unfortunate this is) doesn't really govern itself based purely on moral issues. My question is, if an illegal immigrant was in this country, wouldn't getting healthcare kind of put them at risk of getting caught as an illegal? Obviously I'm inadequately knowledgeable about the ins and outs of it, but in general I think if our government said they would give healthcare to illegal immigrants, there would be a huge uprising within the country.

This piece and this man is a clear example that perhaps prisons do work and aid in rehabilitation of the mind, soul, and body. A sincere thanks to this lifer for sharing insight into a day in the life at jail, which many, including myself at times, think is a cold, dark place with no human element. I would imagine being in jail for life takes a severe toll on a person unless they can finally learn to embrace it and try to make themselves and the world around them a bit better while they are here on earth. The fact that two men who are known to hate each other can share in such a profoundly deep moment should give us all hope that the human spirit, and compassion especially, can help us rise above petty or important grievances we have with one another.

South Park, in my opinion is one of the best satirical shows on all of television. First of all, it is ingeniously written, and second it is even funnier because a bunch of 8 year olds are saying things that make you go 'I can't believe they said that'. South Park has already been in some trouble before regarding the depiction of the Muslim prophet Muhammad, but this time they basically received death threats from this Muslim group, which is actually located in New York. South Park makes fun of pretty much any type of person or thing you can possibly think of. Jews, Atheists, Gingers, Celebrities, the Government, and the list goes on. When you have a league of 'Super Best Friends' consisting of a halo weilding Jesus Christ, Budha who is shown ripping lines of coke, and every other religious figure you can think of, I don't really quite understand the Muhammad uproar. Any other religion can be made fun of, but Islam can't be touched? I'm not sure if it was Trey Parker and Matt Stone's original idea to end up having Muhammad censored, but it ended up being just as funny as if they actually had Muhammad on the screen. I had read actually that before 9/11 occurred, South Park originally had a depiction of Muhammad on the show with the rest of the 'Super Best Friends'. Now however, it cannot be done or else death will ensue, which is absolutely ridiculous in my opinion. If you don't agree with something on the TV, that's what you have a remote for. It isn't like any Muslims were being forced to watch this episode of South Park. Additionally, it's not like South Park was singling out Muhammad to be made fun of. The episode brought back pretty much every single person that the show has ever ripped on, and absolutely no one else was complaining. When I really think this through, and try to view it from a Muslim perspective, I can understand that they may feel a certain 'what the fuck' kind of feeling when they heard that South Park may actually show Muhammad. I realize that technically he is not supposed to be depicted in any way in drawings, TV, or the like. But death threats to the creators of the show is a huge leap from what I think I would feel if I were in their place. Hell, the death threats and riots that ensued from the Danish cartoons of Mohammad in 2005 were too much. In the democratic world, free speech is imperative and no one is really free from ridicule or mockery. It is a part of life that people deal with, and if you get offended well you can write an editorial back or something like that. Violence in response to free speech is ridiculous. In my opinion, no group or person should be above poking a little fun at.

I studied in London last year, and the educational system over there indeed was in stark contrast to what we have here. Essays rather than multiple choice are the norm, which actually makes you learn the subject matter a lot more in depth. You also are sent off (as this poster notes) to do a ton of work by yourself, and class time is actually devoted to more of a discussion rather than shooting out facts. As I've gotten older, I've actually seen myself agreeing with more analyses of education like Noam Chomsky's. It is really up to the student to make the most out of their education, because I feel the educational system as a whole is very sub-par.

I don't think it's just Americans who are self centered, but people in general. If something doesn't affect you directly, lots of people including probably you and me don't really let it weigh on our shoulders too much. The volcano is getting so much press because it is affecting commerce and transportation. And, while the earthquake in China killed around 2,000 people, in a nation of billions (and it's horrible to say this) it's really just a blip on the screen which is probably why it didn't get much press. It's difficult to keep up with world events, and normally our media pushes ones that have the most relevance to America.

I think that this lecture was one of the more interesting ones throughout the whole semester, for me at least. I was able to sit back and kind of just enjoy it because I am neither Christian nor Muslim, and so it was cool to just be able to truly try and grasp both sides of the argument and situation. A lot of times people say that America is run by Jews, but that does not show in government whatsoever. Our government's agenda is one created by Christians. And we are in the Middle East for oil, there is no denying that. The world, at this current juncture in time, is run by money and oil. Basically what I beleive happened is that George W. Bush wanted to continue his dad's legacy, but also create one of his own, and September 11th, though horrific, was a perfect way to do just that. So now we are still stationed there, and have had a presence there for so many odd years. I can definitely understand why fundamentalists would want to attack us. There's no denying that America tries to police the world, and in many instances I feel that we are just the big bully on the block. As for the Christian Invasion, it was really astonishing to see the radicalism coming from high ranking government officials, including our ex-president. It's just annoying to me that people have to project their beliefs onto other people so often. It also shows how close minded an individual is when they say something like 'my god is better than your god', as the army general did. These people will never understand what makes the Muslims tick, and the Muslims will never see a true and good representation of what America is. Instead, both sides see the radical rather than the average. I've had classes in the past that have attempted to make me walk in a Muslim's shoes. I've learned about the things we did during the Iraq/Iran war and many more instances that would definitely lead to a real feeling of hate and animosity towards the United States. I don't think that our relationship with the Middle East will ever be a good one, and violence will be a constant reminder of how strained our relationship really is. I will still feel upset and angry every time I hear of a soldier being killed by an IED, or anytime I hear of a suicide bombing trying to thwart our troops effort. However, I will probably at least pause now when I hear about it, because I really think I may be doing the same thing if I was a Muslim living there. One last thing I want to say is that our military is given orders, and carries them out. Though I completely disagree with the war in Iraq, I still support our troops 100%.

Good for this kid for at least having the guts to ask a question which a lot of people may have been thinking, but never truly wanted to say. To begin with, I don't really think the point of this class or that in any way this class intended to change your beliefs or opinions. At times it may seem as if Sam is really hammering a point into us, but his passion for teaching isn't to have us change our minds about the subject. All in all, we are basically just becoming more informed about the world around us- a world where race and gender issues play a large part of everyday life. By giving us the facts and opening our eyes to some things that we may not have thought about, or putting a twist on something that makes us reflect on it is all that Sam is doing in this class. Truthfully, a lot of what he says is in a way common sense. He is digging a bit deeper, but nothing he's said in class has really made me say 'wow, never once have I ever thought of something this way before.' And I think he'd be the first to tell us that what he's teaching isn't really all that mind blowing. It is simply important to learn and know so that we can better deal with issues that may come up in our lives. The thing that I have actually taken to heart the most and starting learning about on my own is the idea of conservatism vs. liberalism. Obviously this isn't a major factor in the course, but I'm definitely more aware of these notions than I was before. I think a lot of kids who feel that they are really open minded decide to say that they are really liberal. On Facebook I see it all the time, and what they don't realize is that you can still be a free loving person and open minded to issues about gay marriage or legalization of marijuana without branding yourself as a huge liberal. All in all, Sam gives it to you straightforward, which I think is a highly respectable characteristic for a person to have. He isn't saying his way is the right way, he's just putting it all out on the table for us to decide what we actually believe. My opinions of these issues haven't really changed from what they were prior to the class. I think that if a kid's whole position changed just based off of what Sam has said in class, he wouldn't really have a backbone and would just be aimlessly following the principles and ideals of our teacher.

I don't know how taboo rape is in Japanese culture, but I know it is one of the worst possible things that a man can do to a female in this country. Video game developers are clearly just trying to push the envelope as much as they can, and I guess it goes with the saying 'any press is good press'. However, in terms of my stance on the morality of it, I believe it is out of line. The argument that highly violent video games can act as a cathartic experience for the user, and may deter them from committing real crimes in the real world is outlandish in my opinion. I can see a bunch of tools buying this game and drinking beers playing it, but any guy with decent morals would have to realize that this just isn't right.

The video just pretty much made me feel sad. All of the struggles with race and just trying to cope and deal with the issues that are ever present in society are lumped into this one video. These kids are so young, and already it is somehow ingrained in their minds that black is bad and white is good. It's just extremely hard, I would think, to be able to reverse something like this when they are 'learning' it at such a young age. It must be such a weird feeling for people of color to watch this video. As a white person, I could try and empathize with them, but I really have no shot because I don't think I can truly understand how they feel or are thinking. I can understand it to a certain point, and then it just becomes foreign territory because it is something that I will probably never experience in my lifetime. I remember about 3 years ago my little cousin got a picture with Santa Claus at his school during the holiday season. He and his mom live in the Port Richmond area, which is in North East Philadelphia, not too great of an area if anyone knows about it. And so we all looked at the picture and it was a black Santa Claus. It seemed strange at first just looking at it, because to white people, Santa Claus is white. But it was cool when I thought about it that they had a black Santa because thats what the predominant color of the kids at school are. This kind of reminded me of that story in that the school (I think) was maybe trying to help the kids embrace being who they are. I would imagine it is hard enough growing up and realizing that you are different than the majority of people around you, and so it has to be beneficial in some way to show kids at a young age that it's okay to be who they are. The point of the video in the end, is to show how young these kids are and already are somehow conditioned to want to play with the white dolls. I guess maybe they pick the white one because that's what they are used to seeing, and so they want to play with that kind of doll to fit in. At such a young age, they pretty much learning from the environment around them, which is their parents, the kids they go to school with, and their teachers. I'm not going to argue the merits of whether this test was done correctly or not, but it is clear that there is something going on here that should be examined to find out some root cause.