en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/2452599 Comments by DeziEzi http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/29/voices-from-the-classroom-82/#IDComment231980548 I don’t think it’s right that we invade other countries or attempt to police them. First of all, if we truly believe in freedom then why are other countries not free to choose their own path? Why does America feel that Democracy should be forced upon the world? (Especially considering our own form of democracy isn’t a true democracy, at least not anymore, to begin with.) What gives us the right to go in and say we have the answers to other people’s problems? There are people starving in the United States. There are homeless people in this country. There are orphans in this country. Yet instead of helping the people here, we spend a shit ton of money “helping” people in other countries. What has our help done anyway? We destroy the economies of the countries we ship corn and rice to. Corn and rice that could be fed to those in need in our own country, instead of sold at a bargain price to countries that would be able to feed themselves if we hadn’t intervened. With the war going on right now, and the complete knowledge that this war is about oil, you can’t tell me you believe we are HELPING the people in those countries. Those people are not barbarians, I’m sure that though different than ours, their government was running along just fine before we stuck our nose into their business. What did it get us anyway? 9-11. That's what it got us, and having a shit ton of countries hate our guts. We go into these other countries for our own gain, and our own gain only. Yet the media will of course portray it as something else, and if you don't stand behind the media you are suddenly unpatriotic. It just doesn't make sense to me that we call ourselves a democracy and say we fight for freedom when we are basically attempting to take over all of these countries by policing them the way we are. Why else would our military be the most powerful in the world? It has to be so that we can continue be in charge of land we don't rightly own. So that we can continue to take what we want without any real recourse, because no one can really fight back against us. That's the way we like it of course. The dumbest country in the world with the most powerful military. The government loves to forget the people struggling here at home. Sat, 3 Dec 2011 04:47:03 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/29/voices-from-the-classroom-82/#IDComment231980548 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/15/voices-from-the-classroom-75/#IDComment227453000 After learning just how prevalent sexual abuse of children and child rape is, I am of course worried. Though, I am no more worried than I was to begin with. Rape and unwanted, non-consensual sexual relations are in my opinion worse than any other crime that is committed (even murder) in my opinion. It is a sad and disgusting crime that absolutely tears it's victims apart and tests their strength and will to survive. I will always have some fear in the back of my mind that someone in my family has been a victim of a sexual crime. If I decide to have children, I will be terrified to have a daughter. I know I will fear probably for most of her life that someone would force themselves upon her or take advantage of her in some way. If I had a son, I know I would probably simply assume that such things would never happen to him, but if it did I would be distraught. How could I possibly understand what a victim of sexual assault/rape is feeling? What they are going through? How can I possibly help to heal the wounds that this kind of horrible crime would leave behind? Even after having family, and people who are family even thought they aren't related by blood, admit to being victims of sexual assault as children -I still don't know how to help. I can see that even after 15 or more years it still affects these people in a way I will never understand. In some ways I was not surprised that it is so prevalent. Unfortunately there is a handful of (all men) people in my family who have been convicted of sexual assault crimes against children. What scares me most is that these people walk free, though they have been to jail. My own grandfather (a man I was disgusted by and feared of even as a child, it seems with good reason even though I didn't know at the time) has been convicted of such crimes, yet there are people in my family that choose to ignore his crimes and believe he didn't do anything or was convicted wrongly. Then when they ask him to babysit for them they wonder why their daughter starts to do strange things... Things I won't even mention. This is scary. I am fortunate enough to have a mother who would die for me. She had never let my grandfather be alone with me, and kept me away from him as much as possible when I was little. I of course now choose not to have any sort of contact with him dispute the other people in my family who excuse his actions to have a relationship with him. This is what scares me the most I think, the fact that just because someone is family it is somehow excusable that they sexually assault/rape children. I don't know about you but that is fucking absurd to me. Sat, 26 Nov 2011 03:26:15 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/15/voices-from-the-classroom-75/#IDComment227453000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/03/voices-from-the-classroom-65/#IDComment216999850 Why do I think that people focus more on the costs of illegal immigration and not on the benefits? Well the first thing that comes to my mind is that illegal immigrants are very easy targets. They can’t speak out or they will be arrested. They have no real rights in this country, so it’s not like they can affect any sort of change or vote. This makes them very easy targets to blame for a nice portion of our problems doesn’t it? “Illegal immigrants take jobs away from the American people!” But wait, who’s hiring these illegal immigrants? Oh, that’s right. AMERICAN CORPORATIONS AND BUSINESSES. Is there some sort of law that requires corporations to hire illegal immigrants as cheap laborers? No. Could these corporations actually check documents and regulate the hiring of their employees, to ensure they only hire legal citizens? Yes. Do they? Clearly not. Yet I don’t see people attacking these corporations and businesses for GIVING these jobs away to illegal immigrants instead of American citizens. They would rather blame the people that don’t get a say, the people that can’t fight back. Because it’s easy, it’s easy to blame people who can’t speak out. It’s easy to put the blame on anyone other than yourself, because admitting that our own people are in effect screwing us by using illegal immigrants as a source of cheap labor is to admit that we are stupid enough to allow it. People don’t want to focus on the benefits of illegal immigrants, because they’re too busy using them as a source of blame for problems that they didn’t cause. Illegal immigrants did not take the jobs away, WE SENT THE JOBS OVER SEAS. The heads of businesses and corporations CONTINUE to send the jobs over seas every day. The only jobs they can’t send over seas, they ship the Illegal immigrants in to do, because these people will work for less than minimum wage. Because, just like Sam said, they are hungry –hungrier than American citizens. Of course no one will admit these things, no one will bring them to light. The big businesses make too much money using cheap labor to change their ways, and they keep us in the dark so they can keep stuffing their pockets. This is the way they like it. Keep the lowly American people calm and stupid. I don’t believe that illegal immigrants should be in this country. I think they should have to get their papers like any of the legal immigrants have had to do. But the thing is that arresting them all and sending them back is not going to work. If we want to “get rid of” the illegal immigrants we have to stop giving them a reason to be here. If people would stop giving them jobs and they had no way to make money in this country they wouldn’t come here, and those of them that are here would leave. The blame is not on the illegal immigrants for being here, it is on American corporations and businesses for keeping them here. Fri, 4 Nov 2011 22:06:33 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/03/voices-from-the-classroom-65/#IDComment216999850 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/27/voices-from-the-classroom-58/#IDComment213660370 How do I feel about the fact the white people will be the minority in the future? I am ridiculously scared out of my skin. Just. Kidding. I honestly feel that (hopefully) it will be a good thing. I don't believe it should really even be a big deal. I would hope that white people no longer being the majority would simply mean that we are all becoming more mixed. I would love for the future to be a society where everyone is so mixed that prejudice of race literally becomes obliterated. I also hope that this would cause many or our racial injustices to decrease or disappear. Of course that all sounds too good to be true, but at least I can hope that good things would come out of becoming a wholly more diverse society. I am a little fearful of course. I have to question what will this mean for the future? What will it drive some more radical people to? Will this cause white people to be put down? Or, will this just level the playing field like I hope and make everyone more equal? While I do have some fears, they're not all encompassing. Overall I'm really not worried about being a part of a future minority. Especially considering even though I consider myself white, I'm a mutt. I'm parts: Sicilian, Austrian, Puerto Rican, Irish and Dutch. I wouldn't mind at all being a part of the minority. In a way, being a mutt, I already am part of a minority. How many people out there have the same exact mix of heritage as I do? My kids I'm sure will be even more of a mix than I am. I would just like to believe that this will not have any negative impact on society. I do sincerely hope that it will in fact be a good thing. Maybe the new majority of people will be a perfect tan skin tone. That would certainly be interesting. I wonder if white people are the minority, who will be the majority? Will there be a majority, or just a greater amount of diversity? If there will be a majority, it will definitely be interesting to see how that changes our culture and society. Would it be the same only with a different race taking the place of white people in how our culture works today? Will it completely change the culture to be more accepting and diverse? I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Really it's hard to know what will happen. I have some fears only because I know it will mean change, but otherwise I don't see any reason to fear what I simply don't know. Sat, 29 Oct 2011 00:28:01 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/27/voices-from-the-classroom-58/#IDComment213660370 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/20/voices-from-the-classroom-51/#IDComment210603744 I don’t think a person who hangs out with people that are primarily of a different race makes them a poser. I think that to believe that this person is a poser is a way of stereotyping. Who’s to say that someone who hangs out with people of a different race doesn’t do so simply because that’s just how it worked out? What I mean is, think of the slide Chenj put up with the picture of that one old white man who liked to play drums amongst all black people. I’m sure that guy wasn’t thinking, “oh I want to hang out with black people”, no he was thinking, “oh I want to hang out with these people who are good on the drums”. It just happened to be that the group of people he was associating with was primarily black. I don’t think this made him some kind of poser. I don’t think people hang out with people of other races in order to somehow make a claim on being a part of that other race despite their skin color. Growing up, I live in a small town in NJ and that majority of my friends were black and Hispanic. I remember some of my black female friends saying, “oh Dezi is black on the inside”. I never took any kind of offense to this, in fact I took pride in it because I was glad my friends who were “different” than me still accepted me basically as one of their own. But, now I question why my friends felt this way at all? Why did my friends have to perhaps justify my hanging out with them by saying I was “black on the inside”? I don’t think I was a poser when I hung out with my black, Hispanic, or Asian friends. I think that hanging out with people that are primarily of another race can be mostly due to circumstance. I grew up in a town that was very diverse and so I happened to have a very diverse group of friends. I also believe that it’s something people do because they want to be more diverse. I like having a diverse group of friends, not just racially but also, a group of friends with different interests. It just makes life more interesting. When you hang out with people of other races, you get to see the world from other perspectives. I would hope that any person who hangs out with people of another race isn’t doing so just to “pose” as anything. On top of that I don’t think it would be beneficial to do so. I don’t think it’s really possible to “pose” as being non-racist or diverse. Fri, 21 Oct 2011 18:08:30 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/20/voices-from-the-classroom-51/#IDComment210603744 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/06/voices-from-the-classroom-36/#IDComment204603171 After reading a few of the comments, I’m going to take this in a different direction with my opinion. It seems like a bunch of people feel that women are told by society to dress in a certain way that portrays them as sex objects. To this, I agree. Women are taught from a young age that they are here to be looked at by men, and to please men. (Yes, even in today’s world. Deny it if you’d like.) People also seem to think that a girl that wears a short skirt and heels is “slutty, skanky, promiscuous” and wants to be treated as such. To this, I question why in the world you would think that? First off, the notion of being slutty is defined by culture, not by the individual woman. Don’t assume that just because a woman dresses by your definition of a “slut” that she is one, or that wearing a short skirt (no matter what time of year it is) means she’s just looking for sex or male attention. I don’t think it has anything to do with “dressing one way and wanting to be treated in another”. The way society has been cultured to think that a girl that “dresses promiscuously” must be a “skank” is f***ing bullshit. How many woman on this campus do you know that don’t want to be treated with respect? Do you think that these women just change their mind about wanting to be treated with respect just because they’re wearing a different outfit? Seriously, take a moment to think about that. When I go out on a Friday night in a short skirt and high heels, I still expect to be treated with respect. Granted I know that society is cultured to have their notions about skimpy outfits being equal to “slutty girls”, but it’s an entire notion that I think is bullshit. If women are expected to respect men no matter what they are wearing, then men should have the courtesy to do the same. Women should not be put down, or treated with contempt simply because they do what culture has told them to do. I dress in my short skirt, my low cut shirt, and my cute black heels because I enjoy the way that outfit looks when I see myself in the mirror. I know culture has had a huge influence on what I wear and why I think it looks good on me. When I go out in that outfit I understand that there will be men and women that sneer at me for it. Personally, I feel that those people that would judge me, or make assumptions based on the way I’m dressed aren’t, and never will be, worth my time. I still feel that this notion that men seem to feel that women dress provocatively specifically for them, and specifically to signify that they want sex, is bullshit. It’s also just another way that our culture is defined through the male view. We see women in skirts as sluts, because that’s how men see women in skirts. Sat, 8 Oct 2011 02:02:22 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/06/voices-from-the-classroom-36/#IDComment204603171 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/27/voices-from-the-classroom-26/#IDComment201160102 Well the first stereotype that comes to my mind is the stereotype about black men being aggressive, abusive, "thuggish", all in gangs, and subsequently robbers and whatnot. This is bullshit. Anyone has the capacity to be any of these things, and certainly it has nothing to do with your skin color. I have had many black friends none of whom expressly bore any of these qualities. Although many of my male friends would front being in gangs, none of them actually were in any gangs (thankfully), and none of them were people I would be afraid to walk by in a dark alley. I wonder a lot about how these stereotypes started and why they still exist when the majority of them have been disproven. An uncle of mine was mugged in Elizabeth NJ by someone he identified as black, and every since he is convinced that black men are dangerous. Just don't get how you can take the actions of one person and then assume that everyone of that race is the same way. Truly it boggles me. I know that people have the capacity to do cruel things and to me that has absolutely nothing to do with your race. People have the capacity to do basically anything they set their minds to and weather it's good or bad, the chances are it really has nothing to do with their race. I also don't buy into the stereotype about all asians being good at math. One of my best friends was Vietnamese and she never liked or did necessarily any better at math than I did. Neither did our Korean friend. On top of this... I know plenty of people who are exceptional at math and they are of a mix of different races. I won't pretend to actually know anything about this, but maybe this stereotype came about because some asian cultures value education very highly. So people assumed because of those particular cultures where Asians may have been better at math simply because they tried harder at school, that all Asians are good at math. I just can't buy into this kind of logic, assuming based on someone's race that they are better at math? I'm sure there's also a lot of stereotypes I still don't even know about because I just don't pay close attention to those things. I took Philosophy of Love and Sex last semester and during one of the discussions our professor was talking about the "common" stereotype that black women are hypersexual. A lot of people in the class didn't seem to be too surprised by this but, I was totally confused. I had never even heard this before. I don't think I would have bought into it even if I had heard it. Stereotypes are just a way for people to label others without ever coming into real contact with them. Fri, 30 Sep 2011 03:58:47 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/27/voices-from-the-classroom-26/#IDComment201160102 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/15/voices-from-the-classroom-13/#IDComment194228711 Honestly... Personally, if Sam were of a different race it would make no difference to me. He would still be as mind blowing and mind bending as he is now. The color of his skin would not change that for me. I do believe that his perspective would change though. Clearly he could no longer talk about being a privileged white man. In fact if he were of another race and could still say the things he does and see people as equal despite growing up in this country as a minority, I think I would not be able to help but have even more respect for him. But, maybe I can say that because I’m a white woman that grew up in a small diverse town where the whites didn’t actually outnumber the minorities, and most of my friends growing up were everything other than white. So this is my unique perspective. Although I think it’s easier for him as a privileged white man to see the unfairness bestowed upon other races (and the other sex?) from a perspective that isn’t racist (prejudiced), because he’s never had to deal with what minorities (women) have had to deal with and never grew up feeling the resentment that some underprivileged minorities (women) might feel. Yeah, the fact that same is a white man allows him to say what he says and talk about all of the things he talks about, without the backlash that might ensue if he were of another race. Sam often makes racial jokes during class. He’s non-discriminative with jokes, and makes fun of white people (himself) just as often as he makes the other jokes. I wonder though if he was Asian, Black, Hispanic/Latino and he made fun of his own race in a classroom setting with lots of students of all races, would that be considered ok? Or would people criticize him for putting his own race down? Really this question is basically null for me. Because, if Sam wasn’t white the chances are that, even if he were to be teaching this class, he would not be teaching it the way that he does; because he would be teaching it from a different perspective. That is the basis of determinism. Sam wouldn’t even be who he is if he wasn’t white. Though my opinion still stands. I would have the utmost respect for Sam no matter what race he was, especially if despite being a minority he still had the view that he does now. Fri, 16 Sep 2011 21:20:45 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/15/voices-from-the-classroom-13/#IDComment194228711 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/01/why-do-you-follow-any-religion-at-all/#IDComment190901612 I don’t follow any religion. Religion bothers me because often religions put people down, like the way some religions consider gay marriage a sin and others treat women like cum sacks that are only good for worshiping men. I could never understand this. If God is so forgiving and wonderful then why does he/she put people down? Religion as an institution is too controlling for my taste. I believe that a huge part of life is learning from your experiences and the experiences of the people around you and then choosing what to believe in and what to leave behind. Religion doesn’t allow you to do this, it forces people to believe right and wrong according to the rules of that religion and is unbending. I realize that many people follow religions and simply ignore certain aspects, but why? Why do you have to follow a religion to believe in God or another form of Divinity? I can understand believing in God, despite the fact that I don’t believe in God, because people take comfort in having something greater than themselves to believe in. I don’t think religion is necessary to believe in God though. Religion is just a form of control, in my opinion. Let me mention that I have respect for all people an their beliefs, and I’m truly sorry if this is offensive to anyone who may be reading it. I just don’t feel that religion as an institution is necessary, though I do understand it. I assume a lot of people choose to believe in a religion because it is ingrained in them by their parents, most parents don’t exactly give their children a choice in what God or Divinity to believe in. This is just another way to force people to conform, parents choose for their children and raise them to bend to the beliefs of whatever religion they believed in. (the invisible strings) Personally I don’t follow religion because of it’s controlling and prejudiced nature. I believe in divine power, but not in one all-powerful God. I think people can discern right from wrong without religion and also have perfectly respectable morals. A lot of religions make things too black and white like believe you’ll either end up in heaven or hell, and there’s no in between. Yet, there is also no true definition about what makes someone perfectly good or perfectly bad. (Unless you are LGBT, then in most western religions you are most certainly bad.) I choose to believe that it’s possible people are reborn, there is power in nature, and people hold more power than they will allow themselves to use or believe in. Sometimes I question whether I would be happier if I believed in a religion and followed that religion religiously (see what I did there?), but I’m too free-spirited to allow religion to control my thoughts. Thu, 8 Sep 2011 02:25:04 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/01/why-do-you-follow-any-religion-at-all/#IDComment190901612 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/06/hello-twitter/#IDComment190889724 THIS IS NOT MY POST FOR THIS WEEK, but I'm curious... What twitter account? Did I miss something? Thu, 8 Sep 2011 01:45:41 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/06/hello-twitter/#IDComment190889724 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/08/30/personal-preference/#IDComment188542180 It can be very confusing to determine the difference between personal preference and prejudice when is comes to race (in my opinion). If a person is prejudiced against a person of a particular race or skin tone they will have negative preconceived notions about those people, and would not even consider approaching them. To me, racial prejudice is when a person has a negative image of all people of a certain race, or skin tone, and automatically looks down upon them and chooses not to socialize with them in any way. It's racial prejudice to say something like, "I don't date white guys because they're all nerdy" or "I don't date black guys because they're all thugs". I think preference is different because, even if a person only dated other people of the same race or skin tone, they would still have a preference for the way that person looked. For example, a guy might prefer blonde hair as opposed to brown hair or someone who is very short instead of tall. I don't think it's prejudiced to prefer someone with a particular skin tone, because beauty is truly subjective. I don’t think that having a preference makes someone racist. I do believe though that a person who is unprejudiced, despite any preference they may have, will be open to dating someone that is outside of their preferential skin tone perhaps because they posses other qualities that that person prefers. Also a person that is not prejudiced wouldn’t turn someone down just because of his or her skin tone. I personally choose not to see color when it comes to guys. I’ve dated guys of different skin tones, but I do still have preferences. I like tall guys, I wouldn’t care what race a guy was, but if he’s short I probably won’t date him. I guess this is why I believe there’s a difference between prejudice and preference. I don’t consider myself prejudiced and I try very hard never to buy into stereotypes. I do still have preferences about the way guys look (that I date) though. I think preference could really easily be misconstrued for prejudice. If one of your Asian friends only dated Asian women/men you might think he or she was prejudiced, even though he or she may just think that particular features of Asian men or women are more appealing. I don’t think that preference is equal to prejudice and vice versa. I also believe that our social surroundings have a huge effect on preference, prejudice, and simply our options. If most of your friends are Hispanic and you’re hanging around tan Hispanic people all the time you’re probably going to date a Hispanic person. That’s just circumstance, it doesn’t mean you’re racist, and most of you’re preferences may have come from the influence of your friend’s preferences. Wed, 31 Aug 2011 22:48:46 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/08/30/personal-preference/#IDComment188542180 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/19/what-americans-fear/#IDComment144668147 I agree that things like this video, the news, and misinformation can make people extremely fearful. If this is all you knew, then wouldn't you be? What I think the issue is with this is that people choose not to delve deeper and question what's really going on. When we think of the Jihad and Islam we lump them together and assume that all the people from that region act and feel the same way. maybe this is just easier for people, to fear an entire group rather than risk, or put work into finding the people of that group that don't feel that way. To me the Jihad is like that one loud person in class. You tend to almost forget that everyone else is there because this one person is so loud and outspoken, and then you may even assume that the way this one radical person feels must be the way everyone else feels. The fact is that it is not all of Islam or all Muslims that have anything against the United States , it's only a small sect. But, they are all we see because they are so radical and have such a big voice. it's unfortunate that people in our society categorize and stereotype so easily. I thin educated people who don't believe only what they see on the surface have an easier time feeling empathy, and seeing that this is not all people but only a small group. Thu, 21 Apr 2011 00:47:20 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/19/what-americans-fear/#IDComment144668147 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/11/transgendered-complications/#IDComment142617047 I feel that this article, Mr. Devoureau’s case, is a perfect example of why we as a society need to change our ideas of sex and gender roles. If people weren’t so completely set in stone about being female and male then transgendered people, or even people who simply identify with a sex other than the one they were born as, would not be scrutinized, and discriminated against the way that they are. In this case where Mr. Devoureau was born as a female, even if he had never taken any hormones or gone through any surgery if he is represented legally as a male on his birth certificate, his license, and by the social security administration, then why should any employer feel that he has to go around with a sign on his forehead saying that he was born a woman? If he is legally a man then why should there be any reason that he should be discriminated against and made to reveal personal information about going through a sex change? I feel that if we didn’t hold such cut in stone feelings about sex (physical sex, not the act of) then this wouldn’t even be an issue. How would it feel to you if you were born into a certain sex but never identified with that sex, and wanted to change it, you change all the papers, you have a sex change and still people can’t see you as the sex you identify with, but only see you as the sex you were born as? If people are free to be whoever they want to be, then why is a transgendered person so odd to most people? What does make a person a man? Why do we so closely relate sex to gender? (and trust me they are not the same) If more people could open their minds and through out our current ideas of sex and gender I think it would be so much easier on transgendered people. I also feel that this would end most of our discriminations against homosexual people as well, and encourage people to change their definition of sex (the act of). Wed, 13 Apr 2011 23:33:59 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/11/transgendered-complications/#IDComment142617047 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/03/what-a-man-is/#IDComment141046536 There is little that is more true. I think every woman deserves a man that posses the qualities he mentioned, though sadly few will hold out for man that is like this and will instead most likely settle (over and over again) for some womanizing jerk. Not that this is always the case but unfortunately I see it happen to my friends more often than not and wonder, why? I watch it happen to myself and after it is all over I wonder, why? Why can't more men realize that these qualities would be greatly appreciated? Why don't more men understand that these are the things women want? Why and what things about society teach men to be ruthlessly dominating towards women? When exactly did society decide that all women want is sex and money, and how can we fix this? It's comforting to know that a man feels this way, feels that a woman deserves the world in a man. It's also sad to learn that he only figured this out after being in prison. After having been in lots of relationships where the guys I was going out with acted like if they didn’t have money and I wasn't having sex with them that the relationship wasn't good enough, I now look for men that poses more of the qualities mentioned in this letter. I have also learned from experience that it is extremely important to tell a guy when he is being a jerk and to tell him what you like and expect of him. I think most guys are just ill informed about women and that is why they act the way they do, because all of their knowledge about women comes from men, and we can see how well that has been working out. I think there is a good number of guys that would be willing to change and to be the kind of guy described above, assuming of course that women would be willing to posses many of these qualities as well. I think the ways of thinking by men about women as sexual objects that don’t care about anything but money can be changed if women actually express what they want rather than assuming that a man should know. Fri, 8 Apr 2011 17:31:40 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/03/what-a-man-is/#IDComment141046536 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/14/kids-getting-life-how-is-this-serving-us-really/#IDComment137135938 Well this essay (is this considered an essay?) was rather interesting and intense. While I do feel for juveniles who are detained, especially considering they are able to be detained for life despite the fact that they are not able to legally drink, drive a car, or go to war, I have to disagree with many of the main arguments of this paper. Rather than focusing on how many juvenile lifers there are in Pennsylvania as opposed to other countries we should be focusing on WHY those juveniles got LWOP in the first place. What were the factors (invisible strings) that caused these young people to go out and do what they did, or not think about what they were doing before becoming accomplices to these actions? I think to say that a 13-16 year old cannot be held accountable for their actions is a bit farfetched. Where are the parents and guardians of these children? What is our society teaching in schools? I don’t think the issue is juveniles that are in prison with LWOP, I think the issue is the parents. If people who have no means or intention of raising their children to be competent, honest adults that actually have a sense of integrity then of course these young people are going to break the law. Their parents are sitting at home while their children are running around like mad people with gangs and on street corners buying drugs. What the hell do we expect? We should take the money we are spending to keep these juveniles in jail for life and do something to make sure they have a sound foundation, so that juveniles will not have a reason (any reason AT ALL) to be put in jail in the first place. Perhaps parents should be required to take a class on parenting, so that their children will not grow up looking to gang members for a sense of family or guidance. We as a society need to look back at how families were raising their children in the 40’s and 50’s, because I can almost guarantee you that we did not have this many juveniles even in jail at those times. I don’t think it would be beneficial to look at our justice system. I think the heart of the problem lies at home. Thu, 24 Mar 2011 01:25:37 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/14/kids-getting-life-how-is-this-serving-us-really/#IDComment137135938 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/13/the-other-side/#IDComment128973852 I can't imagine what would bring someone to take another person's life at the age of fifteen. While reading this, I couldn't help but wonder what things in this man's life played a role in what he did. Now that he is in prison for life and has already suffered his punishment for 36 years, I question what kind of life that must have been. What must it be like to grow up in confinement? What must it be like not to finish high school like a normal person or not have the option to go to college? Is this punishment just? I have always had this thought in my head, that if you kill someone than you yourself deserve to die. But, after reading this and taking some time to really think about it I'm not so sure. It must take an immense amount of pain to go through to really be able to live with yourself again after coming to terms with murdering someone. This person is obviously not a psychopath, he felt remorse for what he did. He was only 15... After 36 years, can we really still consider him a murderer? If you murder someone, or even just injure someone unjustly, I feel that you should have to pay for your actions. I wonder though, if our society was different and more people got second chances how that would change the way we feel about people behind bars. This was definitely interesting to read and makes me think about the other side of the coin. The man obviously regrets what he did, he's come to terms with it and even wanted to meet with the family of the person he killed. I wonder what that felt like to the family. Sat, 19 Feb 2011 01:01:37 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/13/the-other-side/#IDComment128973852 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/04/the-not-so-invisible-structure-that-shapes-us/#IDComment127456572 I thought this article was interesting and brought up a point that I don’t think of very often. I feel that even I have fallen victim so some of these reason for not traveling, not that I have the money to travel, but when I think of traveling I rarely think about traveling outside of the United States. Because America is so big it makes it easy to stay within the country, but still get away from home. I also agree that society as a majority has this kind of fear of traveling outside the United States. American people have this fear that other countries are more primitive and dangerous, as if we are the only country with any kind of laws or regulations. I also agree that with this statement, "We're not a travel culture," he said. "Countries are travel cultures when they put more of an emphasis on leisure time, and Americans tend to choose money over leisure time." In our culture it’s just not encouraged to travel, at least not outside the United States. In fact I see commercials all the time about travelling to California, but I rarely see commercials for traveling to other countries. Also people in America don’t have the time to take long trips, and traveling outside of the country would require a longer trip otherwise the trip would be pointless. A lot of people don’t even have vacation time. It is also almost astronomical in price to travel outside of the country these days. Most people don’t have money to spare as it is ao why waste it travelling? The people that do have enough money to travel are I’m sure the ones who already have passports and travel frequently. This article really brings to light the invisible strings that keep us from being truly free. There are all these things holding people back from traveling outside the country, whether it be money, fear, or time restraints. Sat, 12 Feb 2011 02:22:20 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/04/the-not-so-invisible-structure-that-shapes-us/#IDComment127456572 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/27/i-too-am-free/#IDComment124467459 I feel that people do take "freedom", what little of it we really do have for granted. It's easy to do, because we assume that simple things like choosing to press the snooze button on our alarms are just things we are entitled to. Yet, our freedoms can be easily taken away. Not to mention that our freedom are truly limited if you actually think about it. I feel that this is exemplified in the book "Into The Wild", written about a man named Christopher McCandless. Christopher decided he was to give up his worldly possessions and live off the land, he gave up his car, his money, and only kept what he could carry with him. On his trek he wanted to kayak to one his destinations, he came to find that there was a waiting list to be able to kayak down the river he meant to use.(I can't remember the name of said river) He thought this to be ridiculous. Isn't it? Are we so controlled that we can't even decide to take a walk down a park or kayak down a river without having express permission to do so? Maybe that seems silly to you but to me it just feels like, out of all the things to control why that? Why a waiting list to go down a river? As for being in prison, I have never been but I imagine it makes you see life and freedom so much more clearly. You don't know what you have until it's gone. I agree with the inmate that the only freedom that we will always have is our freedom of choice within the mind. We can freely think and no one can take that away from us. It's scary though, to think about how many freedoms are taken away from us all the time. We allow it to happen because we don't even realize it IS happening. Such as school, it is illegal not to have some sort of schooling, this is a choice that is taken from us and we just let it happen because we think it's normal. Sat, 29 Jan 2011 03:43:46 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/27/i-too-am-free/#IDComment124467459 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/19/rise-in-national-guard-and-reserve-suicides-whats-it-all-about-soc-001-blog/#IDComment122770441 I have to agree with the post above by Valiantd that a soldier that would say they get a high from killing people probably has some psychological issues. I think though that in order to put yourself on the line and put yourself intentionally in harms way, you have t be this kind of person. You have to be a certain kind of person to join the military expecting that at any moment that you are in the field you could die. I can't imagine what war feels like, or what it feel like to be in combat. I do believe it must take it's toll on our soldiers though, like it did on the soldier who stated that he didn't want to sleep at night for fear of nightmares of battle. It must take it's toll physically and mentally, and it must be brutal to go through and to deal with. I wonder though if the reason that the suicide rates are rising among soldiers is because of our changing society. People today are more involved with their laptops, iPhones, and video games than they are with each other. Some soldiers come home to no one because they have been abandoned by the family they had. I have a friend in the marines and I talk to him as often as I can, he lives on base with a large group of other marines, and is very close nit with a few of them. Could you imagine the level of closeness you must come to when living with someone for so long, travelling with them, and spending almost every moment with people? Now, imagine you come home and they aren't there anymore, you've split ways and may never see them again. Your family can't really comprehend what you've been through and the only people that did understand, aren't around. I could be wrong, but I would think that this sociological factor would have a big impact on a soldier's decision to commit suicide. That is, if they commit suicide AFTER coming home. Fri, 21 Jan 2011 14:23:53 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/19/rise-in-national-guard-and-reserve-suicides-whats-it-all-about-soc-001-blog/#IDComment122770441 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/10/last-name-%e2%80%9cs%e2%80%9d-%e2%80%93-intense-debate/#IDComment122762810 Soc 001 Fri, 21 Jan 2011 13:53:25 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/10/last-name-%e2%80%9cs%e2%80%9d-%e2%80%93-intense-debate/#IDComment122762810