It was really funny talking about this in class today because me and my friends were actually having this conversation a few weeks ago. We were talking about some of the stereotypes about black people that we had overheard from different people’s racial groups. I was so surprised because I had actually thought I heard them all, but apparently there must have been a second volume of black jokes out there that just got published. I had heard so many new “facts” about black people that white people had just made up apparently because it was outrageous. Apparently the whole “you get so much respect for being black” thing has taken on a mind of its own and now it has people thinking that a lot of the qualities that are associated with some ghetto people and lowlifes have gone on to define the entire race. I don’t think its something too threatening, because I mean come on…who doesn’t want to be told “I bet you must get all the white hoes!” once in a while? But at the same time, it’s still propagating those stereotypes that only a small percentage of the race is known for. I also was able to learn a lot about the racial stereotypes that Koreans tell about other Koreans as I was talking to my friends. He jokes to me a lot about how I was in a Japanese class here and he told me that I couldn’t be his friend since I “sided with the Japs”. I feel like this is just some of those things explained in the book about how everybody is so proud of their race or social category because they want to support themselves and in doing so make themselves and their entire culture part of the winning team. In the end I feel that these types of racial jabs and jokes are not meant in bad harm or in bad taste at some points because they are told with the underlying concept that this is only a joke, so much so that the person telling it doesn’t even believe what they are saying. They just are looking for a laugh sometimes though. Just like everybody else, bonding over humor may be one of the ways to unite people who do not normally feel able to talk about racial issues or to people of different races. Knowing that their ignorance can be taken as just a joke and then be corrected doesn’t seem that wrong. But then again, what do I know, race isn’t playing as big of a factor these days as it was say 40 years ago. The great socioeconomic war will be the next dividing concept that will split the world.

I had heard this in class and as soon as I heard this, I was instantly in agreement with what the guy in the video had said. As someone who believes in a higher being, I have always been sort of questionable about the way that people hypocritically want to use religion to prove their points. In politics, this move is used countless times to win votes, regardless of the need to do such. I feel that people who are highly religious fail to put these two pieces of information together to realize that their body, the temple that God has created, was intended to remain that way and not because altering it is a sin, but because if he wanted you to look differently, you would look differently. There is no real saving grace in picking which parts of God’s word you would like to follow because at the end of the day, its all the same to him. I had to share this point to all of my friends because I really thought that it was important for them to see this hypocrisy, but none of them really seemed to respond to it the same way I did. Probably like how I haven’t taken to organized religion like they did either.
The other thing about the youtube video Sam posted I wanted to say was about the innate features that we have now which have guaranteed survival throughout the years. I think that this was actually pretty interesting and it piqued my interest into discovering the origins of a lot of other minority groups features. What actually causes a lot of latinos in central and some Asian people to look similar to each other? I have always also been interested in why white people’s hair comes in such different textures if they are all from similar regions of Europe? Also why is Judaism have both culturally defined features as well as physically defined features that are drastically different from those in the same neighborhoods? I’m sure I could find out these answers with a little research, but I just don’t understand the actual USE of any of these defining features. Maybe these were all the cause of some sort of population thinning where there would only be progeny from a certain culture was selected for and in the end just became the norm. I have heard a rumor about the explanation about Asians, specifically Chinese and Mongolian descendents that had to live in the deserts and cold of the area throughout the years and because they would always have to wear parkas and hoods, their faces through the years would flatten so that the wind and cold would not affect their faces as much. I was never told if this was a fact or not, but it seemed interesting to bring up during this discussion.

I will come clean. I am the dude dancing in the background. Might I just say, Trent, that that worked out beyond perfectly and I thank you for being my patsy so that I could distract everybody from your deep ass intellectual question. But I’ll answer the question because I’ve always wondered this as well. Why was it such a big deal for people to have to validate their beliefs to other people, let alone people who obviously have their own problems when it came down to it? I didn’t think that this was as prevalent but it was interesting that the human psyche sometimes needs to be supplemented with validation of their actions. We’re taught from birth that actions deserved reactions. It is this notion that make us need to ask others or see from other’s reactions if our actions are in fact warranted for that time and that we’re not bad people (or in this case, not misinterpreting the sacred text). In any case, this is kind of contradictory of the purpose of religion. It’s a belief system that you have that you can rely on without a shadow of a doubt. I feel that its interactions with some corrupted people that switch and change up peoples beliefs without really allowing them to come from themselves. To wrap your mind around a concept and say that you agree and can support this idea personally is when (to me at least) you truly believe in a religion. To be able to make sense personally of your religion is a point that some religions stress to the utmost degree and enlightenment of this is life changing many times. In general, I feel like religion is not an entity on itself, its made from the people that are part of it, and to do so, there really is no real way that someone “Should” practice a religion because as long as they believe and follow all of the things their Lord says, the culture that goes along with the religion is non-existent and shouldn’t be an influence on how you practice your religion. There’s nothing left to be said because in the end it’s your life and you will have to pay for what you personally do and to endear that responsibility on the opinions and validations of people who are already skewed in their visions of reality is a dangerous game to play, especially around rapture time.

I agree with the statement because I feel that this tends to happen a lot (A LOT) with people who just like to choose a cause and fight for it. I may be stereotyping women when I say this, but it is mostly women at times that take these jokes beyond what they are meant to be – jokes. I feel that if there is something that you know is not true about a racial issue, then that’s not usually a successful joke and there should be no reason to feel offended. For example, on a south park episode, they joked around with the character Token, the only black kid in town, that his family owned a bass guitar in their basement because all black people play the bass (and even more so, when he played it for the first time, he was able to play it perfectly without any lesson or experience.) this is one of those jokes that is funny because its not true or that is based on absolutely nothing. However, if there was a topic that would personally target a specific trait or characteristic that is true or that almost every individual of that race has, this is where the gray areas come into play. People begin to realize that they’re being picked on for something they do themselves (such as, and this IS a blanket stereotype used to prove a point, that Mexicans eat tacos and burritos.) now you cant say they don’t, its one of their main contributions to the diversity of the world as a culture. Unfortunately, when you try to make these types of jokes, you tend to alienate a majority of the race, and because of that, it perpetuates the joke to the other races that do not know if it is true or not.
Now this is where I can see Empathy coming into play. While it’s the goal to put yourself into other peoples shoes, there is an extent to which the empathy should be felt. You can never truly know how an entire race can feel about a subject because blanket statements are called blanket statements for a reason, it groups them all into a group. But each person is an individual and should be treated as an individual. While there might be black guys who are cool with you calling them “my N*gga”, there are many who do not prefer it. To get offended by these blanket statements that doesn’t apply to you, your race, or someone you know personally, is saying that ALL people in that race feels the same way…and you know what your doing? Youre judging an entire race on one thing…so whose the real racist now? (haha, no but seriously, everyone just relax and please stay in your lanes. As a wise man once told me “dude, they’re jokes, not dicks. Don’t take it so hard”)

Now in the case of minorities being “reverse racist” in this society, there is a high frequency of this in black and latino communities for sure. We are intentionally short or disrespectful to white people because of the color of their skin, not their actions. It is much more public than white prejudice is in the media, but this is for good reason. White people in the past have screwed black people for so long that it has become the consensus feeling and root of black culture here. There is actually an expectation that these feeling should be shared and that hatred should never die to remind us what they’ve done to black people for hundreds of years here in America. This is probably why it would be socially normal to expect a black person to not adopt a white child or have white surrogates.
Honestly, I feel that there shouldn’t be any of this because where we were back then is not what we are right now. I feel that even though the scales are not completely balanced, blacks and whites have just about the same respect in the country. For it to be okay for one person to be racist and not the other is counterintuitive of what was fought for this entire time. There should be an equal respect for each race in the fact that while things weren’t fair then, it shouldn’t still be now. Unfortunately, this is only the dream that was envisioned back during the civil rights movement in the 60’s. For us to ever dream this is possible in a totally genuine and honest fashion, there would have to be a lot of leveling of the playing field. The world I feel will never be like that outside of larger populated cities.
I feel that this statement is very true in that whites are more susceptible to being criticized for being honest in what they say. I feel that a lot of that has to do with the fact that this country’s history is still very intertwined in racial and cultural prejudice that has been reinforced by the government and other stipulations. With that, there are just some things that are still taboo that cannot be said without a strange face being made from the crowd. The overly Politically correctness of our society shows how slow our progress of racial and social equality has been developing in this country. We are still only 200 removed from having half of America’s population be made up of slaves. There is still way too much tension for reckless statements to be shared by the whites for the fact that they will be taken as automatically racist.

I feel like with a lot of instant gratification technology available lately, I feel that it has become way much more easier to A) do research on a topic as relevant as the war on terrorism, and B) filter through the biased reports from the media in order to gain a wider more well rounded understanding of a contraverial topic such as the war. With communication methods such as twitter, facebook, satellite television, and even youtube, I feel that in order to get the full grasp of a subject is only just a key stroke away. With that being said, I feel like the main problem is the sources from the media that end up getting the most attention. I feel as though the media still uses a “which story will have the best story to get ratings” mentality in their presentations, and because of that, they end up losing out in the honesty games because they tend to pull the most controversial headline and exploit the topic to no end. This doesn’t help anybody when it comes to keeping everyone abreast of these dire situations and because of that it seems to warrant the unwanted hate that ignorant people tend to throw at these types of passionate issues. war and anything America for that much, is the entire fuse that can blow up a lot of these causes. Just because of a facebook video, people have raised awareness of a child abuser in Africa that has been killing and kidnapping children for over 20 years. (honestly, the reasoning behind the video is shaded in ulterior motives and to genuinely assume that the only reason that American special forces are in Africa strictly to “capture and imprison Kony” is beyond naïve. Its harder to believe that the united states will genuinely solve an ethical problem because “it’s the right thing to do” than to believe that Peyton Manning WANTED to get released from the Colts.) But the point of the argument is that with this new technology, the world of the media has changed. Everyone is able to tell the news now. Because of this, there is so much more opinions that you can gather from twitter and facebook, and even Wikipedia that will give you a side of a situation. With enough sides of a situation, I still feel as though the outcomes still get skewed, but because of the internet, the thoughts of getting your news only from a newscaster or Anderson Cooper is a day of the past. Interconnectivity of the world is proving to be the world of today and the future. To think that after all of the uncovered cover ups and lies that the government has pulled over our eyes over the last century that they would still believe us to trust them, is hilarious at best.

It was really funny talking about this in class today because me and my friends were actually having this conversation a few weeks ago. We were talking about some of the stereotypes about black people that we had overheard from different people’s racial groups. I was so surprised because I had actually thought I heard them all, but apparently there must have been a second volume of black jokes out there that just got published. I had heard so many new “facts” about black people that white people had just made up apparently because it was outrageous. Apparently the whole “you get so much respect for being black” thing has taken on a mind of its own and now it has people thinking that a lot of the qualities that are associated with some ghetto people and lowlifes have gone on to define the entire race. I don’t think its something too threatening, because I mean come on…who doesn’t want to be told “I bet you must get all the white hoes!” once in a while? But at the same time, it’s still propagating those stereotypes that only a small percentage of the race is known for. I also was able to learn a lot about the racial stereotypes that Koreans tell about other Koreans as I was talking to my friends. He jokes to me a lot about how I was in a Japanese class here and he told me that I couldn’t be his friend since I “sided with the Japs”. I feel like this is just some of those things explained in the book about how everybody is so proud of their race or social category because they want to support themselves and in doing so make themselves and their entire culture part of the winning team. In the end I feel that these types of racial jabs and jokes are not meant in bad harm or in bad taste at some points because they are told with the underlying concept that this is only a joke, so much so that the person telling it doesn’t even believe what they are saying. They just are looking for a laugh sometimes though. Just like everybody else, bonding over humor may be one of the ways to unite people who do not normally feel able to talk about racial issues or to people of different races. Knowing that their ignorance can be taken as just a joke and then be corrected doesn’t seem that wrong. But then again, what do I know, race isn’t playing as big of a factor these days as it was say 40 years ago. The great socioeconomic war will be the next dividing concept that will split the world.

I totally agree with the fact that people tend to shy away from making the social class and racial comparison because a lot of people try to turn it into a “that’s just the way it is” type issue. But its not supposed to be that way, just like how immigration is not supposed to be that way and people fight for it to either be supported or denied. If you think about it, at this point in the world, this has been probably the most racially balanced and maybe as “equal opportunity” as the world has been in the while. Its 2012. People still using the excuse of “the MAN keeping them down” has been beyond irrelevant. If anything, minorities are starting to become “The Man” and where we really are being critical of ourselves is in class, not race anymore. Just as there are poor whites, there are rich blacks, well off Hispanics, and hard working Asians in this country and the world. The true dividing line is the income that people are bringing in and the opportunities that they have available.
This is where politics come into play. There are some places that are more equipped to support people to continue their education past high school (where college is a given, not an option) and still there are others that would rather have an entire community of migrant workers because that is what is needed to survive. The key to this is the money allocation from the local governments that allow people to flourish or not. To say that a kid from the inner city cannot have a better chance to get into college than someone from a rural farming community in the middle of nowhere is absolutely valid and in most times true. But that has nothing to do with race and everything to do with the amount of support each of them have around them. The resources to guarantee these successful are usually dedicated to these inner city schools in attempts to solve the growing problem of troubled youth running the streets getting into trouble. There isn’t really a social program to encourage the high schoolers in these rural out in the middle of nowhere places to go further in their education, and thus, keeps them in the same socioeconomic level that they are. Im not saying all of the people in these areas are this, but there is a high percentage of them that feel that this is true.
In the end, the allocations and of a community is what really comes down to the advantages that they seem to have. I feel that this age is no longer the time when race matters. If the occupy movements have taught us anything, its that this class warfare will be the next great test of this country, and unless things decide to adapt to accommodate this, we could be looking at the biggest divide in our country since the civil war.

I had heard this in class and as soon as I heard this, I was instantly in agreement with what Sam had said. As someone who believes in a higher being, I have always been sort of questionable about the way that people hypocritically want to use religion to prove their points. In politics, this move is used countless times to win votes, regardless of the need to do such. I feel that people who are highly religious fail to put these two pieces of information together to realize that their body, the temple that God has created, was intended to remain that way and not because altering it is a sin, but because if he wanted you to look differently, you would look differently. There is no real saving grace in picking which parts of God’s word you would like to follow because at the end of the day, its all the same to him. I had to share this point to all of my friends because I really thought that it was important for them to see this hypocrisy, but none of them really seemed to respond to it the same way I did. Probably like how I haven’t taken to organized religion like they did either.
The other thing about the youtube video Sam posted I wanted to say was about the innate features that we have now which have guaranteed survival throughout the years. I think that this was actually pretty interesting and it piqued my interest into discovering the origins of a lot of other minority groups features. What actually causes a lot of latinos in central and some Asian people to look similar to each other? I have always also been interested in why white people’s hair comes in such different textures if they are all from similar regions of Europe? Also why is Judaism have both culturally defined features as well as physically defined features that are drastically different from those in the same neighborhoods? I’m sure I could find out these answers with a little research, but I just don’t understand the actual USE of any of these defining features. Maybe these were all the cause of some sort of population thinning where there would only be progeny from a certain culture was selected for and in the end just became the norm. I have heard a rumor about the explanation about Asians, specifically Chinese and Mongolian descendents that had to live in the deserts and cold of the area throughout the years and because they would always have to wear parkas and hoods, their faces through the years would flatten so that the wind and cold would not affect their faces as much. I was never told if this was a fact or not, but it seemed interesting to bring up during this discussion.

I feel that this statement is very true in that whites are more susceptible to being criticized for being honest in what they say. I feel that a lot of that has to do with the fact that this country’s history is still very intertwined in racial and cultural prejudice that has been reinforced by the government and other stipulations. With that, there are just some things that are still taboo that cannot be said without a strange face being made from the crowd. The overly Politically correctness of our society shows how slow our progress of racial and social equality has been developing in this country. We are still only 200 removed from having half of America’s population be made up of slaves. There is still way too much tension for reckless statements to be shared by the whites for the fact that they will be taken as automatically racist.
Now in the case of minorities being “reverse racist” in this society, there is a high frequency of this in black and latino communities for sure. We are intentionally short or disrespectful to white people because of the color of their skin, not their actions. It is much more public than white prejudice is in the media, but this is for good reason. White people in the past have screwed black people for so long that it has become the consensus feeling and root of black culture here. There is actually an expectation that these feeling should be shared and that hatred should never die to remind us what they’ve done to black people for hundreds of years here in America. This is probably why it would be socially normal to expect a black person to not adopt a white child or have white surrogates.
Honestly, I feel that there shouldn’t be any of this because where we were back then is not what we are right now. I feel that even though the scales are not completely balanced, blacks and whites have just about the same respect in the country. For it to be okay for one person to be racist and not the other is counterintuitive of what was fought for this entire time. There should be an equal respect for each race in the fact that while things weren’t fair then, it shouldn’t still be now. Unfortunately, this is only the dream that was envisioned back during the civil rights movement in the 60’s. For us to ever dream this is possible in a totally genuine and honest fashion, there would have to be a lot of leveling of the playing field. The world I feel will never be like that outside of larger populated cities.