en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/3539377 Comments by Dorito83 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/29/voices-from-the-classroom-83/#IDComment231974982 He asked if my view about war has changed. No, it hasn’t. This class has only validated my beliefs about it. I believe firmly that no positive repercussions can come about from the killing of civilians from the constant bombing and invasions of one country by another country. Let’s start with what is fundamentally established when one country declares war on another. The consensus is that EVERYTHING about the country is evil to the country that declares war. So if the Mexico were to declare war on Canada, all of the citizens of the Mexico are to say that Canadians are evil. When in fact, it is the squabble between the abstractions, that we call governments. Sadly, it is predominately the poor people of those countries who are sent out to settle this squabble. Now besides incorrectly typecasting the entire population of a country or region, we explore casualties. With the advent of new weaponry, that makes killing massive amounts of people easier and easier and much more less of an intimate experience, we see a serious moral dilemma. Or lack of a moral dilemma actually. Unlike the case with weapons like the sword and pistol, the greater distances that you can kill someone with modern weapons takes away a certain element to the carnage that is taking place at that actually place. For example, the new weapon of mass destruction that is used everyday by the USA, the drone strikers. The planes that are remote controlled planes that were used for recon missions at their conception but now are mainlined as always a possible option, have effectively taken out the human element to killing large amounts of people. For the operators of those controls, all they see are dots and radar feedback. Next what do we see with these giant new weapons that take away the human element of the carnage of war. We see an unprecedented amount of civilian death. Now this is justified because we are at war with the country and the general consensus of population of the warring country believes that the civilians there support their country’s government actions. When just like it is in our country, there is so much division and discord about wars and politics, to say that it is the different for another population is insulting and reeks of ignorance. Although we probably see end to warring between countries, which will further abuse the poor populations of the respective populations and decimate the civilian population is the cities where the new weapon of choice, the bomb is overused, we can change the stigma about the people who are represented by those governments. We could realize that people in those countries most likely in fact, just like you. A normal guy or girl just trying to live life without too much struggle. Sat, 3 Dec 2011 04:28:07 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/29/voices-from-the-classroom-83/#IDComment231974982 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/09/voices-from-the-classroom-70/#IDComment227468156 I did eat the second piece of chocolate. I ate it right after the video was over before Sam even told us we should. In my opinion it was awful to find out how most of the chocolate that we all eat actually comes from slaves farms. But the way I saw it at that time I felt like there was nothing I could do about the chocolate that I was given. It would be stupid to just throw it away. It was not like I bought it knowing this. So I ate it. What ells you going to do, unless you were going to give up chocolate forever. If not your just delaying the enviable. However this video did catch me of guard because I could not believe that country so against slavery. And proud to break away from slaver. Literally turns their back when they buy goods from other countries knowing that they were harvested by slaves. All for the better price so that they in turn could make a better profit. It opened my eyes to see how our country can be so hypocritical sometimes. How can we decide what we can have view as what is more wrong then others? Relating to the incident here at Penn state, Joe Paturno was “publically executed” for not speaking up for something horribly wrong that he knew about. However we do not “publicly execute” our president or companies for knowing this goes on and not doing any this about it. Even though these slaves life expectancy is only five years. In my opinion we base it all on if the majority benefits from it. For instance the majority of the people if America benefits from this by the lower prices and the company’s benefits from the bigger profits. So keep it hushed up and let us benefit. While in the incident at Penn State not a lot of people would benefit so it got exploited. I also thought to myself could slavery ever be abolished. I personally do not think I can because we as human beings will constantly keep redefining it. For example if all societies in the world stop what we view as slavery today. I believe we would redefine it to a group of people getting paid very little money to survive. Over all I kind of new that this was happening before I even attended this lecture. However before I never really felt like I needed to do anything because I really even eat chocolate. So in a since I thought I was doing my part by not buying chocolate goods. On the other hand now I found out because of this class that there are companies that make sure that they did not receive the chocolate from these slave farms. So if I do end up buying chocolate I could buy it from one of these companies and try to make an even bigger impact. Though my actions are small if there are enough people that do the same thing as I described above; maybe we could slow it down. Sat, 26 Nov 2011 04:17:33 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/09/voices-from-the-classroom-70/#IDComment227468156 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/03/voices-from-the-classroom-66/#IDComment217066554 I think the answer to this question is simple. In short I would say Americans are lazy. We lost the basic understanding of success and how to get there. In my opinion we have been grown up in such a easy and luxurious life style that was never around with our parents. Their generation was taught to work hard and you can get what you want. While are life style was to beg and whine and you can get what you want. For example if cell phones were around when our parents were growing up. They would have had to work hard and prove to their parents that they disserved one. While now a days we just ask and ask and ask until we get it. In short we just have our hands open expecting something, without any effort. I'm not trying to say that this is regarding all Americans, but I do believe it effects the majority. I lean strongly towards the idea of "you have to work hard to get what you want". I think that this and the idea of college that most Americans view it as, have to do with this question. Most students think by getting a college degree they do not have to start from the bottom, that they are better than that and disserve to start higher. Yes this should be true however more and more Americans are getting degrees meaning this mentality must change. For example if you’re a business management major after college you want and believe you deserve a respectable job. When maybe you have to start at a Wal-Mart then work your way up. This record high unemployment in America is not America's fault, its partially because of us. There are plenty of jobs however we don't want to do them because we are "better" than that. For this now we are getting mad about the illegals. The illegals are necessary at this time. Until we can suck up our pride and work for jobs that are painstaking. We have absolutely no right to talk bad about illegals. If we can change our idea of success back to working hard to achieve success I believe we still have a chance. The previous explained in my opinion why we don't work hard as illegals. The reason illegals work as hard as they do is simple. The ones that take the chance to come to America want to achieve success. The idea of leaving everything you have to take a risk and work hard no matter the circumstances in hopes of succeeding are the real role models. They don't know the word "quit". This does not only describe the people we see as immigrants and as illegals today. But can be traced to at least one person in each of our families. The reason for this is because we're are all immigrants and at some point our ancestors did the same thing as the immigrants today are doing. In the end if you are against the immigrants working hard to provide for their family and do not want to do the jobs they are doing you should just keep your mouth shut. Sat, 5 Nov 2011 00:39:10 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/03/voices-from-the-classroom-66/#IDComment217066554 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/27/voices-from-the-classroom-57/#IDComment213644654 This is a very touchy subject, because you do not want to look like a jerk. However is it right to give it back? I would have to say from a good moral standard we would lean more towards the "yes would should give it back". But you also have to look at what we did with the land, we created one of the greatest countries in the world. Also would it even make since to give it back now after over two centuries of control and prosperity. I would also have to argue the fact that we cannot look at ourselves any different than other countries. It is human nature and can be seen in history that we are a concurring species. Take a look at other countries they same thing happened to all of them at one point in history. I'm not trying to say that it was right what we did at all but it comes hand and hand with humans. You need to a just and make actions or suffer the consequences. It’s a kill or be killed world we live in and does not always be taken literally. basically its Darwinism for humans. You can look at our country for example the British control us at one point and we revolted to gain freedom. Should we just go and give it back to them because it was not right to take the land they controlled? This is why I do not depict the native Americans as being bad when they were attacking us when we invaded their land. They were just trying to keep what was theirs but do to the lack in advancement they failed. Who knows maybe sometime in the far future they might band together and try and take back what was theirs and succeed. We could be angry about it but you would have to just realize that history repeats itself in all civilizations. For example group of people come in and take the land from current people living there. The rule and control for a while then a revolution happens, the country changes. After a while the rule gets to unstable it is often concurred back by the original people who lived there originally. We can see this in the roman Empire. Even though it may seem unlikely that this would ever happen, you should think to yourselves that did the other nations or empires ever think that they would be taken down and controlled back by the original people. No, they did not otherwise they would never try and conquered other territories. Again I am not trying to sound mean but that’s just how it is today. Maybe someday in the far, far future everyone would put aside their differences and all come together. To stop this kill or be killed mentality that is inside of all us, some far more than others. It is wrong what we did however you can't change the past, and to me at this time being so far in the past it would not make since to give it back now. However we should definitely help them out because it's not right what is happing in some of these reservation. Fri, 28 Oct 2011 23:41:17 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/27/voices-from-the-classroom-57/#IDComment213644654 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/20/voices-from-the-classroom-50/#IDComment210686959 I would believe one of the reasons for the difference in sages between us and our parents is the different time period we grew up in. Most of our parents grew up during the 70's where civil right was just put in recognized in America. However America was still living in the past and could not just switch over night. Thus our parents were growing up with this new idea will still seeing our community still having raciest view. By our generation America already went through two decades of this idea of everyone is treated equal. Society changed the idea that one race is better than the other was fading away. We were taught that it was wrong to think that people were different because of their race. Also schools were now far more diverse then they ever were before. Where I grew up my school was very diverse every since I started school. For this I learned that everyone was the same it was there personality that separated us all apart. My class rooms were far more diverse back home then they are here. In ninth grade my parents gave me the option of going to a privet school or stay at the public one. One reason for this was because of the bad reputation our public high school was receiving. For example we had security gates in front of our entrance and had to be checked before we could enter. Most people who lived in other towns near mine would make comments like "all the minorities that go to that school are part of gangs" or "that school has a drug problem". But what was ironic about the statement about the drug problem is that we had the least drug problem for any school in our area. For this reason that is why I believe the area you grew up in establishes the "stage" our in. Most of the people that gave these negative comments came from a community that was about 99% white. If only they were brought up in the same area as I did they would not be so naïve. They would understand that it is not only the minorities who were in gangs but also white people. This is also why I believe our parents are in different stages then us because they were not immersed by different races as we are today. Even if they were I have the feeling that the races kept to themselves. For example all the whites had white friends, all the blacks had black friends, and browns had brown friends. Mind you there probably were a few acceptations, but I believe it was nothing like how it is today. Where you can almost guaranty a minority or person from a different race is associated in every group. Fri, 21 Oct 2011 22:09:03 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/20/voices-from-the-classroom-50/#IDComment210686959 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/13/voices-from-the-classroom-44/#IDComment207682615 I really cannot fully say what white guilt is. I think everyone has their own opinions and feelings about what it is. Whether it be that uneasy feeling you get in your stomach. Maybe when your too scared to talk because you do not want to offend anyone. Like we all saw in class with the stage four. He was up in many uncomfortable situations that I even was happy I was not in his place. Four example when he was asked to describe the African American student with the scarf over her head. He did not want to respond because he did not know much about her culture and did not want to offend it. I know if I was in his spot when Sam asked him that question "describe her" I would probably just say a women. Unless I truly new that person and their culture. I mean if you think about it in side most of us if not all have the same gut turning feeling when you take to a different race that you do not normal interact with. If you denied that you ever had this feeling I would have to believe you were lying or brought up in a very diverse community. I believe I was privileged to be brought up in diverse school district. It allowed me to get the many sometimes uneasy feelings about what was ok to say at a younger age. To tell you the truth I never really viewed or placed anyone in any race till I was in middle school. I never really knew it existed. For this I think to myself that maybe race is something taught by society and not something that everyone is somewhat believing in. Or even associating with. Another aspect that helped me get through this "stage two" of whites is my participation in football. It is a great sport to bring people together, we all try sticking up and supporting one another. Thus we all had to get to know one another and our background. Soon enough I never really looked at my teammates being black, white, or brown. I saw them as individuals. Keep in mind there were still racial jokes toasted around but it never affected anyone because we were like a family and knew it was a joke. Given these two scenario I think I was brought up able to see everyone mostly as individuals and not by racial groups. I knew that not everyone acted the same in every group, look at white people. We sure do not act all the same so what makes us think that other groups or races aren't like that too. With this to answer this question yes I used to feel this guilt. However now I don't believe I feel this way anymore because I already submersed myself in so many races that I feel comfortable with everyone. On the other hand there are still some conversations or questions that no matter what I say I will always have some kind of guilt. Whether it be deep, deep inside it is still there. Sat, 15 Oct 2011 02:50:24 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/13/voices-from-the-classroom-44/#IDComment207682615 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/27/voices-from-the-classroom-18/#IDComment201569087 In society today I believe that is how the general public would react in a place where that test took place. The place that this test was done on seemed like an upper middle class area. Thus I would have expected the people walking through the park would say something to the “gangster” person robbing the bike rather than the more urbanely dressed. The reason for this is because when a people see a person dressed as a gang member you would automatically assume he’s up to no good. I do not believe that the only reason he received so much attention is because of his race. I would believe that even if the person was white and he was dressed like the African American was dressed people would say something. Yes however I do believe that because he was not white he received more attention. If he was dressed like the white person was dressed however I think people would not worry about him. But probably more people would approach the black person even when he is dressed more urban like the white person. For this reason I do not believe that this video gave honest situation of what would happen. Both robbers in my opinion should have been dressed the same. Then in my opinion, the “experiment” would be relative. If this was done I believe as stated above people would still pay more attention and assume that the black male was stealing. However unlike the original test I do not believe it would be such a difference. Another argument I would have to bring up would be the environment they were doing this experiment in. They did this test in what looked to be an upper middle class area. Thus when they saw someone that did not fit in the area, like the gangster dressed person they automatically assume something. Rather this is right or wrong I think it is totally out of our control and is completely on instinct. When we see something or someone that stands out we pay more attention to them. If this was done in the “hood” I believe that no one would really say anything. I’m not saying that this is for sure, but I think this is how it would be. To answer this question I would have to say that even though I would want to say something. And my morals would tell me to say something, I would probably keep walking. Unless I knew who’s bike it was, then I would do something. However I hate to say it, but I would probably help out the girl who was steeling the bike. For the sole purpose of possibly getting her number. I would not ask if she was steeling it though so at least I could lie to myself and say she was not stealing it. But that she lost her key and she needed help getting her bike free. Sat, 1 Oct 2011 02:26:26 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/27/voices-from-the-classroom-18/#IDComment201569087 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/20/everyone-respond-to-this/#IDComment197246511 I would like to start with how shacked I was about the condition of Haiti. I never really realized the conditions there. I knew it was a poor country but not like how it was described. To also think that an earthquake hit this country on top of this is so sad and unbearable to think. In my opinion I think this event increased the number of sweet shops. People are so desperate for money in Haiti right now they are more or less willing to work in these hazardous conditions. Not because they want to but because that may be the only jobs left after this catastrophic event. In one of the videos Professor Richards was in a workshop where handbags were being made. The working environment looked like a bunch of people were crammed in a room and expected to nit as many handbags as they possibly can. I understand that Haiti is very poor but maybe from the profit they make, the business could create a better working condition. Richards stated that it was so hot in that room that he would expect people to faint if it was not for the fan. Besides this being a big issue, in the video it looked like 14 year old girls were also working. Something that here in America would never be aloud. It would be considered unjust and illegal. However it is ok for us to buy items from countries that do this. It is sad to see these younger kids having to work rather then receiving an education. Overall I believe in small businesses and I’m looking forward to this project to help them out. Some of the entrepreneurs on the website had some really cool concepts. For example Clorene Blaise is a clothing manufacturer but they also make handbags. What’s really cool about these handbags is the fact the handbags are mad from used jeans. This could be huge for this business because the world wants to go green and reusing is a big part of this. If they stress this idea of the use of the recycled jeans I would believe that their sales would increase. This project will diffidently be very different than any other that I have done. The idea of working with people and getting real information from these countries will be different. Usually one would do research about another country or business and would only have that to work with. This project would allow us to see other countries conditions and hardships that are said one way here in America. But could have a very different view from the actual people form the country in research. Overall I have so many ideas for these entrepreneurs and for this project, it will be interesting to hear the other ideas in my group. Fri, 23 Sep 2011 06:15:12 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/20/everyone-respond-to-this/#IDComment197246511 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/15/voices-from-the-classroom-11/#IDComment194263761 People come to Penn State for many different reasons. The aspect that first interests me about Penn State was its respectable engineering program. I want to graduate from a college with a good engineering program and this school would definitely be able to do this. I can clearly see it now in the classes I am taking for my major, why it is so respectable. However after I applied to the schools I was interested in. I went for a visit to see what school I wanted to pursue my education in. On my visit I found that Penn State had more to offer then just an outstanding engineering program. They had every club that one could think of which excited me because I could be able to join clubs that I had an interest in that my high school did not have. For example the ISS where I could be able to share the Italian culture I grew up with and relate them to others in the society. I was also impressed by the diversity the college was able to bring me. I went to a very diverse high school in which I would think it would be uncomfortable to go to a college that was not the same. Currently my apartment is very divers Middle Eastern, Native American and White influence. I believe I would not be able to find such diverse friends that shared the same interests as me then here at Penn State. Although Penn State may not be as diverse as my high school it was more diverse then some other schools I visited. However it was weird last year when I only had one or two people from different races other than white in my class. Compared to the schools I grew up in where it was pretty much split fifty, fifty. Other aspects I enjoyed about Penn State are how all the races came together without any conflicts. It was as if race did not excised here, in my experience at least. Another reason was the football team obviously. I never had been to a sports event so electrifying. To imagine being in a crowd with over a hundred thousand people wearing white and chanting for the same team makes all the hard work I go through in my classes worth it. Also tail gates before the games make the football game even more exciting. The alumni association also impressed me here at Penn State. It seemed like the alumni’s helped their own, if you are a Penn State graduate they could help you get into a business. Penn State is ranked high in the jobs after college aspect. This is very important especially now in our tough economic times. Fri, 16 Sep 2011 23:13:34 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/15/voices-from-the-classroom-11/#IDComment194263761 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/08/voices-from-the-classroom-6/#IDComment191726708 I would classify Barack Obama as a multiracial American citizen. His appearance however would be classified as a black male in modern day United States. Even though it is known that he is half white or close to half white with a little Native American. This being known, American culture classifies him as being black. The incentive is that if you have a drop of black in you, you are black. I disagree with this because in my opinion they are multiracial. However, I don’t know what race I would call Obama if I needed to classify him as one. The fact that his race needs to be or is question is absurd. The American people should be more worried about what he’s going to do with our country. Rather than the race he is; as if that would have any effect on how they would be able to lead our country. In the 2008 election this however played a huge role both for him and against him. His running triggered the African American community to support him. A portion of the community was all for him for because of his race regardless of Obama’s views. Studies were done to confirm this. People would read to the African American community McCain’s views on how he would run the country and said it was Obama; they were in full support for Obama, even though the views were clearly against his. It concluded that his race has a huge role. He would be the first African American to be president. This is a huge stature for the blacks in America. But I guess I don’t really consider him the first black president because he is also half white. I guess one could say that he is the first multiracial president. However, with this support he also received a lot of criticism for it. One example of this criticism is the idea of him not being born in America. It took a long form birth certificate to prove his citizenship, because the American people were that unconvinced that he was American. This would have certainly not of been the case if he was a white American. All this being said I believe this election coming up will not be determined by anyone’s race. But finally be selected by one’s political views. To conclude, his race does not have any effect on my views of rather or not he is “able” to be president. I may not agree with president Obama’s view; however I do believe it is a horrible situation that he was going through as a president. I could only image what he could have done for the country if he did not have to face all these challenges. Sat, 10 Sep 2011 01:12:35 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/08/voices-from-the-classroom-6/#IDComment191726708 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/08/30/double-helix-and-god/#IDComment189211282 I believe that no one really knows what god really looks like. For all we know God could be a double helix. But this does not affect my beliefs in anyway. I am a believer in the Roman Catholic faith. I attend church ever week and follow my faith. I do not believe that they ever fully described what “he” looked like. Besides the fact that god has a man and not a women. However many people describe god as a bright light. Personally that is how I would describe god; I cannot put a face on him, her or thing. No matter how hard I try I really can’t picture it. I do strongly believe however that there is a God. I do not need an image of “him” to prove that there is in fact a God. I know God exists through my faith and my life experiences and that’s all I really need. I do not believe anyone could make me think otherwise. This question did pop up in my mine sometimes, not about the double helix. But what God would look like. To me I do not believe this question will ever be answered for me until I see god in person. In my belief I know that we also believe in the “Holly Sprit”. Maybe this is the double helix that ancients see when they think they see god. The Holy Spirit is to Catholics anyway, the mysteries sprit that gives us meaning and answers to life. In the lecture that the question came up in the professor told the class about the shaman. That when the shaman was in his spiritual state he was able to draw what gave him the answer to his question he proposed. Which ended up being a double helix. In some since this could be the Holy Spirit that he was seeing and not God. But maybe he did in fact see God and that’s real what God is. Regardless it will always be debated for what God really looks like and even if “he” excited. Which this question tries to be answered in other religions. These religions’s entirely gives humans reason to fight against one another. Also it these beliefs tend to divide groups of people up and eventually race gets involved in these beliefs. For example people generally associate middle easterners as all being Muslim. When in fact we learned in Arabia most are catholic. Maybe if we do find out what God really looks like racism could be diminished. Religions would then be narrowed down to one idea, and we would not argue with one another. In my opinion to answer this question, it did not affect my faith at all. Sat, 3 Sep 2011 02:31:51 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/08/30/double-helix-and-god/#IDComment189211282