en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/1124523 Comments by Easygoing96 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-8-lesson-14-affirmative-action__trashed/#IDComment85009739 7/7 About what you said regarding recruiters for students to go to a particular university. I understand that's its not really a bad thing because, yes like you said, most of those students would never really have though about that particular school or even college as an option for them. But what about the other students in the school? They are also the victims of their less than qualified school and resources. They are also being subjected to a crappy education and being lost "in the system" but because they aren't seen as good enough to succeed they won't get recruited either. I once heard that there may very well have been people as smart as einstein before and after him, but its all about the timing. He came at a time when technology was no really taped into and became the genius that he is. There are people as smart as him today but you don't hear about it as much because our amount of knowledge is so extensive now, that progress is moving at a slower rate. To my point, these other high school students who are not being recruited, may very well have the potential to be someone great also, but they are being overlooked, so how will we ever know? Mon, 5 Jul 2010 20:10:16 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-8-lesson-14-affirmative-action__trashed/#IDComment85009739 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-8-lesson-14-affirmative-action__trashed/#IDComment85006574 7/7In some ways I have always understood how blessed I was in many parts of my life. I a house to live in and food to eat everyday, I know I ‘m luckier than more than half of the world. But I didn’t begin to see the extent to which “nepotism” was in my life. My grandparents always talk about all the hard work they had to do to come to this country and establish themselves, and I don’t doubt that they “earned” a lot of what they now have. But I see how that “hard-earned” privilege has become diluted, first through my parents and now to my brother and me. I believe that people have the freedom to make certain choices, but that those choices are more often than not, determined by factors and forces outside of our control. So I had the choice to attend college after high school and be the first generation in my family to do that, but I see how I, unlike the rest of my family before me, didn’t have that choice. My parents have raised me with the idea of hard-work and responsibility of self, but they also are aware and make sure I am aware of the fact that knowing the right people, can a lot of the times, do more for you than anything else. Not to downplay hard-work, because I also think that people tend to appreciate more of what they have if they had to work for it on some level, but if there was an “easy pass” offered to us at some point to maybe skip a few of those hardships, most of us would take it. I partially agree with the way Barack Obama wants to approach affirmative action. I see how focusing on race alone isn’t the way to attempt to attain social equality and that social class is important too. But it also goes closely with whole idea that we hear of before of “white privilege”. It would probably be easier for a poor white man than a poor person of color to get through certain obstacles and come out on top. (assuming both have the equal will to want to succeed) So how do you decide who gets the benefits of Affirmative Action. This white man in a sense was not responsible for the past of his people (with slavery and discrimination), so should he still be held accountable? Education is the key to improving our society, in my opinion. Sam is always talking about how he just wants us to know some facts, so that we can make up our own opinions on an intellectual basis and not just be ranting like an idiot with misguided information. It’s easier said than done, I know, but if we invested more resources in educating our people, than in other things, we might have a chance at solving a lot of problems. And now the question is who wants to pay up, for this education plan to take effect? That one I still haven’t figured out, at least not to an extent that people will be happy with. Mon, 5 Jul 2010 19:56:40 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-8-lesson-14-affirmative-action__trashed/#IDComment85006574 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-7-lesson-13-immigration__trashed/#IDComment84821870 7/4 I agree with your idea of how people tend to just regurgitate a lot of information they hear and form their opinions on often time, misguided facts. I'm not trying to excuse them, but it is sometimes hard to get all the facts, when you have so many sources of information (especially with the internet nowadays) that can all be wrong. Like Sam I don't think that we can just open our borders to everyone all the time, things just wouldn't work if we did that, but I definitely see the emphasis on immigration from Latin and Central American countries than from anywhere else. And yes, immigrants are what this country was composed of and its interesting how we are now making laws to keep out other immigrants. I do agree that there is a lot of discrimination in immigration laws and a lot of these laws tend to stem from fear of the "other. As soon as something starts going wrong, American's need a scapegoat, and immigrants are the easiest target to turn against. Because its easy to forget all the contributions they have made to this country and easier to see them as the problem. Mon, 5 Jul 2010 03:37:23 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-7-lesson-13-immigration__trashed/#IDComment84821870 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-7-lesson-13-immigration__trashed/#IDComment84820457 7/4 I knew we were a country of immigrants and I know some of the history of immigration laws but definitely not to the extent in this lesson. It was really interesting to go through all the laws and amendments throughout the birth-place of this place we now call the United States. I thought it was crazy how all the discrimination was so obvious in the laws and how that was that was the only way people “felt safe”. The laws even went as far as being called “Operation Wetback”. That is pretty offensive and it was the actual political name used for this campaign. In the articles (Shadowboxing with Race) there was a really good point made: “Each period of anti-immigration sentiment has coincided with a loss of confidence in the cohesion and resilience of the American nation.” (Shadowboxing 109) People do some really crazy things when they feel threatened and they always need a scapegoat, so of course it’s natural for them to choose “them”. When you don’t understand someone or the culture they come from, you can feel threatened by them, of course this depends on where you are in terms of stages of race. What really got to me in the reading was the amount of racial profiling that occurred during the duration of a lot of the immigration laws. For example, they would just take people who looked Mexican and deport them, and many of them were U.S. citizens, but their rights were taken away because the “security and progress” of the nation was at stake, so naturally we had no time to give rights to these people, even though the country was founded on this idea of freedom and democracy. I liked what Sam was saying about how business and large landowners have shaped our immigration policy. I guess I never really paid attention, but its true that border patrol security tightens and loosens depending on how our economy is doing and whether or not we need cheap labor. Article 14: Phantom Menace was really interesting, talking about this hysteria on people’s fears when it comes to illegal aliens. “...there are many places where there are relatively few illegal immigrants, but where Americans are nevertheless apoplectic about illegal immigration” (Shadowboxing 106) I never really understood why people in certain areas of the U.S. were so upset about the immigration problem, when they didn’t really have illegal immigrants in that area. But again it comes around to the whole idea of people needing a scapegoat when things are going wrong. Even if that scapegoat is no where near the problem. I feel like, even though we have made a lot of progress as a country, this whole issue on immigration will never really find a solution. There will always be a reason for someone to be unhappy and to continue to blame problems on immigrants. Mon, 5 Jul 2010 03:24:26 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-7-lesson-13-immigration__trashed/#IDComment84820457 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-7-lesson-12-multiculturalism-lgbt__trashed/#IDComment83541793 6/30 I really liked your story about your mom, it was great because my parents and grandparents do the same thing. I come from a Mexican family and about 7 years ago when my aunt joined the army she meant a man and they got married. He is a wonderful man who loves her very much and he happens to be black. Needless to say, as accepting as my grandparents had said they were, they were not too happy when she told them this. Partly because she just called one day and said oh btw I'm married and partly because he was not Mexican. This opened my eyes to my grandparents racism. Of course they have adjusted and are more accepting now, but I understand what you mean about some people just having bad days and getting into this mindset about "us" and "them". Wed, 30 Jun 2010 21:02:14 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-7-lesson-12-multiculturalism-lgbt__trashed/#IDComment83541793 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-7-lesson-12-multiculturalism-lgbt__trashed/#IDComment83538330 6/30 I was waiting for this topic to come up all semester, and it was definitely worth the wait. The whole LGBT issue, is something I think about often, just because of the many friends I have that are apart of that community. I agree with Sam when he said that we have come a long way in just 15 years, but we still got a ways to go. Personally, as far fetched as some of the things Sam was saying throughout the class (with his idea of everyone being bi-sexual to some extent) I agree with it. I didn’t always and it’s been a journey for me too, to get to where I am today, but nonetheless I have learned a lot about the LGBT community and really gained some new perspectives from my friends and this class. I enjoyed the reaction he received from the black fraternity members in the front rows, when he mentioned the homosexual tendencies that go on in frat life. Especially because I know a couple of those people that made a rumble at his comment and know that their uncomfortable-ness with that comment was for a reason. The whole issue of LGB couples adopting children and whether or not that is acceptable, is a touchy subject with some of my friends. I believe, they should be allowed to adopt children and again agree with Sam when he says that when you really think about it, these children aren’t accidents, they are carefully thought out and highly-valued children in their families because it was so hard for their gay parents to adopt them. Not to say that children mean any less to a heterosexual couple, but what’s the problem with children being in a home where they are loved and will be looked after? And since I believe that people are born gay and its not a choice they just make one day, being raised by gay parents won’t make a child gay. But I do think it will make them more accepting of not just other gay people, but just differences in individual’s period. Being a women of color I see the hypocrisy in other people of color denying rights to the LGBT community and I try to understand it, but it just makes no sense to me. I’m also a Christian, a faithful follower of God and I believe he made all people the way they are, and we have no right to judge anyone, but ourselves. Overall this whole discussion on Multiculturalism and the LGBT community was very informative. It was nice to hear some of the stats for the Multiculturalism discussion, because it restores hope in me that we are moving in the right direction, even if the process is slow. I especially liked the statistic that said that about 50% of the U.S will be Multicultural by 2050. Wed, 30 Jun 2010 20:49:05 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-7-lesson-12-multiculturalism-lgbt__trashed/#IDComment83538330 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-6-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-people-of-color-stages-1-4__trashed/#IDComment81842833 6/23 I agree with you about the doll experiment, that made me upset too and it really made me think about how that is the way things are. I grew up with the same type of ideas, even though I didn't know it, but now looking back on it, I see that I also choose the "good" (white) doll. About the child being called dirty, it is sad that he had to go through that at such a young age, but I don't get mad at the other child who called him dirty. He doesn't know any better, he most likely said it out of innocence and he too is trying to understand this race issue he was born into. I'm not trying to excuse such actions in all people, because a lot of the time ignorance really isn't any excuse, but in this case, it's hard to really take one side over the other. At least in my opinion. And I completely agree about the way Asian's are portrayed in movies, they never are in a leading role and the ones that come close are usually only half Asian. But this is also true about a lot of other cultures as well. Thu, 24 Jun 2010 03:27:21 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-6-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-people-of-color-stages-1-4__trashed/#IDComment81842833 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-6-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-people-of-color-stages-1-4__trashed/#IDComment81842040 6/23 The most interesting thing that stood out to me during one of the lectures was the experiment that the high school girl recreated with the black and white doll. The last little girl especially was interesting because she was asked to point out the “bad” doll and the “good” doll and then she was asked to point out the one she was like. She started reaching for the white doll, maybe wishing she was like the “good” doll but then she caught herself and pointed out the “bad” (black) doll. It just really gets to me that even at this young age, she is already seeing herself and her people in the negative light; unconsciously too. It’s like she doesn’t see it happening, nor does anyone bluntly tell her (well in some cases parents do) that she will be the “them” in any “us” and “them” discussion. So this little girl doesn’t know the reasons why, but she knows that she is like the “bad” doll and she needs to try to be as close to the “good” doll as she can so that people will accept her. This made me think back to my childhood and the types of dolls I played with. Being a Latina women, I didn’t really have a choice of my Latina looking dolls...there was white and there was black. I never remember my mom telling me to pick the white doll over the black or vice versa, she just let me choose. But she would always buy me the white dolls for my birthday, Christmas, etc. I don’t think she did it on purpose, it was just something that resulted from her childhood as well. She was just doing what was “normal” to her. So I got the white dolls and I remember the only doll I had that wasn’t white, or at least not completely was Jasmine (Disney). I remember that became my absolute favorite doll and I would play with her more than the rest. Not that, that really helped my perception on beauty or skin color. Like I said, she was from Disney, she still had lighter skin then mine, but her hair was just like mine and that’s what I held onto the most. I guess what I’m getting at is that without ever really knowing it, I was just like that little girl in the experiment, just like Sam said. I would have chosen the white doll. I know more now then I did before and think about race and culture and the challenges we all face today, but that is still a hard question. Which doll is better? Everything around me still tells me the same answer, but will I be able to shut it out and decide for myself? Thu, 24 Jun 2010 03:20:56 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-6-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-people-of-color-stages-1-4__trashed/#IDComment81842040 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-5-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-identity-white-people-stages-3-4__trashed/#IDComment81156866 6/20 I agree with your comment on the twins. But I personally find the video unnerving and a little bit scary. I don't pretend that racism doesn't exist anymore, but it is still hard for me to understand how a person can be brought up to hate someone or a group of people they never meet and really now nothing about. I guess what I'm really getting at, is that people are so easily influence by upbringing and kind of easily brainwashed into thinking a certain way, its scary. On another note, I agree with you to a point on people getting easily offended by others and taking things that weren't meant to be hurtful as a personal attack. But it's definitely not a simple task to just have all people just stop getting offended so easily. And then to what point is it ok for one person to be blunt with another? Because there are times when someone says something to be intentionally hurtful or because they are truly ignorant to another person's culture and race. For the latter, the person to which the comment was directed shouldn't get offended and should understand the other person's ignorance and educate them in a way as to not be condescending. But for the former, it's not ok for someone to disrespect another person's culture and would it be ok for that person to get offended and respond? Or should they just ignore it and let the commentator continue with their offensive opinions? Mon, 21 Jun 2010 00:57:34 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-5-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-identity-white-people-stages-3-4__trashed/#IDComment81156866 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-5-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-identity-white-people-stages-3-4__trashed/#IDComment81154906 6/20 “But at least we have something in common - an impossible task. And that is the bridge - because we all have to face the biases of our upbringing, the blindness of our ignorance, and the fallacies of our world views in order to make the crossing.” (Making Peace 67) I really enjoyed this quote from Laurie’s book, because I felt like it summarized a lot what she was talking about when it came to the “boxes” and traps we have put ourselves in. I definitely see these “color traps” that she is talking about. I myself have fallen into them a couple of times, and only until recently have I made any type of intentional change in thought to try and prevent this. It’s hard not to judge people from a glance. First impressions take all of 30 seconds to make, and we tend to make them about everyone that passes in and out of our lives. I used to sit at the HUB (PSU University Park) during its busiest time of day and watch people coming and going. Interacting with each other and not; and I tried to pretend what they were thinking about and what their lives were like. I noticed that a lot of the things I would come up with, in some way or another correlated to their race. I didn’t mean to do this, nor did I do it in a patronizing way; but I realize how wrong it was of me to pretend I knew anything about these people from just a glance. There have been times that people have done that to me, and I don’t enjoy it. I have had friends tell me their first impressions of me and how I turned out to be completely different from what they originally thought I would be. Like I said before, I have done this to people, I see only what on the surface sometimes. I personally don’t like saying “I don’t see colors”, because I do. But in the way that I love the differences in our cultures. I think that is what makes the world so interesting, but I don’t believe people are all that different. Humans tend to be the same in certain aspects; we all feel pain and sorrow, happiness and anger. It’s interesting how a person of color can say “I don’t see colors” and this would be taken as an invitation for a white person to feel comfortable around that person. As opposed to a white person saying that and that person being considered as ignoring or avoiding the issue of color altogether. There are all these different “rules” that only seem to divide us more. These “traps” correlate directly with the idea of “boxes” that Laurie talks about in her book. She suggests that we are born into these specific boxes, depending on our race and social class, etc; and that depending on the shape and size of our boxes we are limited in our views. Some of us can only see the sky and not the ground we sit on, while others of us can only see the other boxes that surround us and ground but not the sky. As hard as it is for us to believe it, and as much as we like to pretend, the fact is that “None of us sees the entirety” (Making Peace 72) Mon, 21 Jun 2010 00:41:07 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-5-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-identity-white-people-stages-3-4__trashed/#IDComment81154906 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-5-lesson-7-race-and-ethnic-inequality__trashed/#IDComment80518951 6/16 I agree with you that this class was different, and it is interesting, because I too haven't really ever thought about this idea of "being white" and what it really means. I think the point that Sam was trying to make, was that as "people of color" we tend to think about race a little more and even explore the differences in race. We express ourselves a little more liberally than a white person would. You said that you think white is "normal" which is interesting, because you aren't white, so does that make you not normal? I think as "people of color" its hard to understand white as a race also, and sometimes we generalize white people as having no opinion on race and as being just perfectly content with their skin color. It is harder for them to see their "whiteness" because most of the time, they are surrounded by it, and until they are the only ones, they never really come that realization of "I am white", as opposed to us, who deal with it every day. But reading Laurie's book, and the reaction she gets from those "people of color" who are so quick to judge her because of her white skin, is really interesting and has really made me think about what it really means to be white in today's world of political correctness. Thu, 17 Jun 2010 02:51:36 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-5-lesson-7-race-and-ethnic-inequality__trashed/#IDComment80518951 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-5-lesson-7-race-and-ethnic-inequality__trashed/#IDComment80518262 6/16 I really enjoyed this lesson. It was definitely something new and thought provoking. It took me a couple of pages in the book to understand how to read it in way that makes since. But it was pretty interesting, when I put myself as “the person of color” she was speaking too, getting an inside view of her thoughts. I completely agree with her idea of white people having to “qualify” themselves every time they begin discussions on race and culture. It’s like they have to justify themselves and make sure that the people they are talking too, understand that they are not racist. I like the story she told about Sam in the discussion groups they went to together. People only saw his white skin and thought they knew everything about him. They knew the way he thought, the morals he had, and they didn’t need to hear anymore from him. He said one thing, that in wasn’t even offensive, but because it was misconstrued, he was labeled the racist white man in the group. For the rest of the time he was in the circle, his opinion didn’t matter. I actually found myself getting upset at the people in the circle with Laurie and Sam. I’ve seen this happen so many times in my life between my white friends and my “friends of color”. The white people always have to tip-toe around issues of race and can you really blame them for going down the avoidance path when they get to the awakening stage? It would be so much easier to just be politically correct and avoid the topic altogether, then to delve into this issue of race in our society. My favorite quote in this book so far is: “You said that you are afraid too - afraid of being misunderstood (like I am), afraid of having your words twisted and your true intentions wrung out of them (like I am), and afraid of having one of your too-honest comments misused by “the other side” to excuse them from dealing with their own prejudices (just like I am!). How odd....of all the ways in which we are different, we are actually united in our fears of breaking the silence with one another.” (Mulvey 31) The last part of this quote, is just really good. White people may be a little more afraid, just because of historical events to say anything that might mark them as racist, but “people of color” are also afraid of being misunderstood as angry all the time at all white people. Laurie also talks about what making peace means to her and the way she thinks this could be accomplished. I like what she said about making peace between individuals. It’s true that our governments can try to make peace with one another, but one “car bomb” (as she put it) can undo the whole process and there we are right back to a war. But if we focus on the individuals, of making peace with one another, of turning an “enemy” into a “friend” and understanding that they aren’t the representative of their group, but an individual with thoughts and feelings and a personality all their own, we can make progress towards peace. People need to change, and if people change, then so can our governments. Thu, 17 Jun 2010 02:43:25 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-5-lesson-7-race-and-ethnic-inequality__trashed/#IDComment80518262 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality__trashed/#IDComment79356830 6/10 I like how you brought up the idea of "would it be any different if black people where on top of the mountain?" Because I have thought about this too, I think it is part of our human nature to first off divide each other into groups and secondly to want our group to be the one in power. Power is really what screws us all up. I think it would the same just reversed if black people where the ones that colonized the world and had white slaves. I also found that statistic interesting about the more education makes people agree less with the idea of hard work and success. I think when you become more educated, you begin to realize that because of racism and discrimination hard work isn't enough. In a lot of businesses it is who you know, not what you know. Wed, 9 Jun 2010 21:00:51 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality__trashed/#IDComment79356830 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality__trashed/#IDComment79354967 This lecture was pretty interesting with its statistics. I agree with that girl that spoke at the end of the second lesson lecture, when she said that most black and brown people are aware of this problem. But to see the numbers and the percentages was a lot more than I thought of. It’s interesting because most of the movies that have to do with prison and someone being accused wrongfully or an inspirational film of how their life changed in jail, portrays a white male. So it doesn’t help our idea on what a prison looks like or what kind of people are in there. I understand what Sam is saying when he says that this is racism. From the previous lesson we talked about Freedom vs Determinism. I believe that everyone is responsible for their own actions, but that there are forces and factors in our lives that are out of our control and put us in circumstances that we didn’t choose. With this in mind, I’m not saying that these brown and black people in jail don’t deserve to be there, if they broke the law then they should have to pay for that and serve their punishment. But when a white person doing the same crime with the same circumstances, then I see how it is racist for a brown or black person who has committed the same crime with the same rap sheet gets a higher sentence and/or jail time. I also agree when Sam says that some black and brown people tend to reinforce the image of the thug/criminal. I know my mom and dad are very aware of that image and don’t want my brother to every dress or act in a way to portray that. They make sure he never bags his pants, or have every other word be slang or a swear word. It’s important that we become aware of this problem with the prison system in our country, but I feel it is up to us as minorities to change our image because that is something that is in our control. Wed, 9 Jun 2010 20:46:40 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality__trashed/#IDComment79354967 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/week-3-lesson-5-social-inequality__trashed/#IDComment78855962 6/6 I definitely agree with your blog. When I first came to Penn State I got involved in a lot of multicultural programs and through that I meet a lot of international students from Latin America and Africa. They don't really flaunt it, but after hanging out with them for a while and getting to know more about what there parents do and just seeing pictures of them back home, I noticed how wealthy their families were. It's just interesting that because I saw them as black people and knowing a little bit about the low incomes of most black American families, I just jumped to that assumption that they too were in that bracket. Same thing with the Latino/a students. I also agree with the whole sports part of your blog. Children catch on to the differences in sports based on race, its all they have ever really known and its hard to change their mindset. I have a younger brother who has never taken interest in "white" people sports, because he thinks he won't be good at them and its really hard to convince him to even try them out. Mon, 7 Jun 2010 02:34:38 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/week-3-lesson-5-social-inequality__trashed/#IDComment78855962 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/week-3-lesson-5-social-inequality__trashed/#IDComment78855237 “We see the world not as it IS. but as WE are.” (Shadowboxing 63) This is a very interesting and hard to grasp concept. I’m definitely guilty of seeing certain situations in a way that benefits me and “my group”, without really knowing I’m doing it; because at the time I can’t see that, which I feel is true for most people. A lot of us have bias that we don’t really know about, or that only emerge in certain situations. Some of them are free choices we have made in the past, through our experiences and some may be from the environment we grew up in. Either way these ideas all contribute to how we see the world and others in it. In Article 11: Whose “Fault” is It?; the topic of a homeless person was brought up. This is a very common debate among my circle of friends and family. Some of them say it’s his fault, he is there and that he made choices that put him there. They start coming up with the scenario of what his life went like, pretending that they know him and the things he did. The other half begin bringing up the ideas that Sam talked about in class, with family income and their correlation to graduation from high school; which ultimately leads into them not being able to secure a job because of past and present discrimination. It is hard to maintain that middle ground in those types of arguments. Depending on the topic, I find can find myself on either side of the discussion. The topic I always get stuck on is the idea of people who commit crimes; i.e. psycho-paths, murderers, and just overall violent individuals. Many of the people who end up violent grew up in a home where they were exposed to it their whole lives. But like Sam says, “everyone ultimately has a choice”. But where is the line drawn for freewill and determinism. If a little boy grows up in a household where domestic abuse occurs everyday. His father beats his mom and him when he tries to interfere; that little boy grew up thinking that was the way the world worked, because that was the way his world worked. He can choose to not be like his father, but when that is all you know, is it really a choice anymore? I think it is, but then at the same time, I never had to grow through anything like that, where I had to make a choice that was completely against everything that I grew up learning. I understand that if we say a person is violent because of determinism, it would be really hard to convict anyone of a crime, because it really wouldn’t be there fault. I just see how it can be near impossible for someone to not be like there father (in the scenario I gave above). Mon, 7 Jun 2010 02:24:35 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/week-3-lesson-5-social-inequality__trashed/#IDComment78855237 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism__trashed/#IDComment78244565 6/2 It's hard for me to agree with your statement "whatever you were raised to believe or not believe is what you are always going to stand behind no matter what". Two of the greatest minds for and against Christianity ended up doing exactly what they were raised to be against. C.S. Lewis, who is considered one the best and most intelligent Christian writers of our time was an Atheist for the first 25-30 years of his life. His world view was even more cynical than Freud's in his later years. Sigmund Freud, the most advocated Atheist of our time was born and raised Catholic (about 20-25 years of his life). Both of these people changed, to the complete opposite extreme of what they had previously believed. I've seen many people become Christians and many people get out of the religion and faith they grew up with. There are a lot of people who will think they way they were raised for probably all their lives, but definitely not everyone. Wed, 2 Jun 2010 18:50:28 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism__trashed/#IDComment78244565 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism__trashed/#IDComment78241432 What really got into my head this lesson was the video lesson on Christian Invaders. I found it particularly interesting after reading Article 10: Who Will Speak for Islam, and gaining a different perspective on the Muslim people. It’s hard hearing and really grasping all of that information, being Christian myself, but most of what was said are things that I have thought about myself. I’ve meet some radical Christians in my life and understand how other people in the world can hate and fear them; mostly because I feel the same way sometimes. It irks me to hear people killing in the name of God, no matter what religion or God they are speaking for. I like how Sam made us come to the understanding we did through our role play. It was made more real, but “putting ourselves in their shoes”, so to say. I’ve been lucky enough to meet some people from Iraq at Penn State and have been even more lucky that they have helped answer many of my questions on their country and people. I think it’s sometimes hard for people in one part of the world to think that people from a completely different part of the world can be so similar to them. We may different opinions on certain topics and may eat different foods and wear different clothes, but most humans have the same needs: to eat, to sleep, to be sheltered, and most important to be loved. I liked the pictures in class that Sam showed of everyday life in Iraq before the bombings began, because those are things that we never see. Whenever I watch the news and the give stories on what’s going on overseas in the Middle East, it makes me angry all the propaganda that is used. But I think what really gets to me, is that a majority of the people in the U.S. actually take it for accurate information. It goes along with the whole idea of people are always going to put their people and country above the rest. We can’t show negative images of our soldiers in the media, no one wants to see that, we all want to see ourselves as the good guys. The ones who carry wounded children to safety, who can mourn with our “enemy” and show them compassion. Just like the Muslims are seeing all the negative images of the U.S. and not their people and country. On a side note, that video that Sam showed that the man who called him one of the 101 most dangerous professors in the U.S. sent him (I forgot his name), was ridiculous! I can’t believe he is calling Sam a danger to our society, when he is only perpetuating the cycle of ignorance and misinformation that Americans have on Muslims and Islam. Wed, 2 Jun 2010 18:37:08 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism__trashed/#IDComment78241432 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/week-two-lesson-2-intro-to-race__trashed/#IDComment77211269 I also found it interesting about the groups that Carolus Linneaus created and then the descriptions he gave of each of them, that was entertaining. I think people chose to classify other people by what they look like, because for the most part, people can't change that. So they would never have to worry about a slave becoming white (at least not before the days of skin lightening creme). I had recently heard about skin lightening creme being the the leading cosmetic. There are a lot of ideas and theories as to why, but the most common one is because "white" is beautiful, and you're right when you say "white" is power. The whole tanning thing: Still in Mexico today, there are light skinned, blue eyed, blond haired Mexicans who consider the darker skinned Mexicans to be inferior because the dark skin signifies them as labor workers who work in the sun; which was and is true in other countries. Having dark skin meant you had to work outside for a living, which meant you were uneducated and so on. Now people associate tanning with being rich. They have time to sit out in the sun and relax, as oppose to working all day. And only a certain shade of tan is acceptable, too dark is not desirable, because then they look like "them" whoever them is. Wed, 26 May 2010 16:43:24 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/week-two-lesson-2-intro-to-race__trashed/#IDComment77211269 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/week-two-lesson-2-intro-to-race__trashed/#IDComment77209612 I was born and raised in San Diego, CA into a Mexican family (Aztec and Spanish blood). Being in San Diego, my “race” never got questioned, I wasn’t a minority there; but once I came to Penn State, people were always confusing me for being Indian or Sri Lankan or any other race but Mexican. “You just don’t look Latina!”; whatever a “Latina” is supposed to look like. I would notice how people would talk to me first before asking where I was from, to see if they can tell from my accent or voice. Unfortunately for them I have no real noticeable accent in my English, in fact my accent is in my Spanish. Sometimes they see pictures of my family before trying to guess what I am. My grandmother, a Mexican women, looks European; which is completely opposite my grandfather, her husband, who looks like a Native American. So finally when they would just ask me where I was from and I would tell them. They would always respond with “You don’t look Mexican”, so then I ask them what a “Mexican” is supposed to look like and they have no real response for me. It’s interesting how we (and I say we because I know I have them too) have these ideas of what a certain race looks like. And it’s true that we try to categorize people into these subgroups of race in an attempt to understand them. I think its a human being thing; our mind understands by categorizing everything. But if this is true, then will we ever be able to stop creating these racial groups? I completely agree that racial groups are a human invention, and the reasons Sam talks about why they were created, from the “one drop rule” to the inferiority idea, make sense. In Article 2 Sam says “So how is it that the people who have been most oppressed by the use of racial categories and signifiers tend to be the most vocal proponents of their use?” (Shadowboxing 17) This is so true! I’ve meant a lot of people from South America and they will be the first to tell you they aren’t “white” but Colombian or Argentinean. Most of everyone that I meant from those countries are, in fact, light skinned. But they get so offended when you call them “white” or anything other than what they are. It’s in almost every hip hop song you here sung by a black man; the song is littered with racial references and signifiers. I also agree with the idea that minorities use these racial words in an attempt to lessen the negative connotations that used to come with them; case in point, the “N” word. In my opinion, as long as we all look different, people are always going to create these racial groups. What can change is the connotations they give those groups. This is a slow process, but ultimately not an impossible one. Wed, 26 May 2010 16:26:49 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/week-two-lesson-2-intro-to-race__trashed/#IDComment77209612