en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/2428186 Comments by Geisfour http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/21/were-you-surprised-by-any-of-basums-responses-or-his-appearance-and-why-119-blog/#IDComment145266879 The last lecture with Basum was a very important one to me for many reasons. Knowing what this lecture was on going into it and a great idea on the subject matter of the Iraqi people I had little to look forward to in terms of his appearance and responses. What I did have more interest in looking forward to was the responses and reactions of the students during and after watching and listening to the Iraqi Basum speak. I came into class this way because I, more than I’m sure ninety-nine percent of the class if not all of the class have actually lived with, communicated, fought, laughed and overall experienced the country of Iraq and the Iraqi people. I have spent over two years in and around Iraq living, working, helping and fighting with the various people and groups that reside in Iraq. Haven’t said that it was quite obvious what Basum’s appearance was going to be and even the most normal American outfit or the most unusual Iraqi outfit wouldn’t have surprised me either. Seeing Basum was like seeing a list of Iraqi people I have either helped, fought or lived with. So with that being said his appearance was of no surprise or question to me, but I do think it was good that my classmates were able to see him The responses of course were questionable for me because Iraq is a country ruled by fear and survival and although many of the Iraqi people share the same thoughts and perspectives, many of them also have very different opinions on world matters, especially that in relating to the United States. His answers though such as his responses to the 9/11 attacks were right on the money with typical reactions of many of the Iraqis I had conversations with while living there. Also what really interested me was his response to the needs of the people in Iraq such as electricity. These same needs were many of the same necessities and resources that I fought to protect and help provide to the people while I was there. So it was no surprise to me that electricity was such a big issue to them and it was good that my other classmates heard that to help them better understand the type of poverty and the level of poor and technology that parts of Iraq and it’s people are living in. In similar fashion this sort of information is important to the farther development of the minds of the United States on what they believe Iraq is like and what the reasons were in the past and more importantly what the reason are now for what we are doing there and why we are there. Sat, 23 Apr 2011 01:49:55 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/21/were-you-surprised-by-any-of-basums-responses-or-his-appearance-and-why-119-blog/#IDComment145266879 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/12/do-you-think-you-would-actively-try-to-not-benefit-from-nepotism-if-the-situation-presented-itself-119-blog/#IDComment142899796 When looking at nepotism there are many different ways to look at it, some good and some bad. When you are friends with someone in a position of power and influence some could look at it as you’re just a person who made the right friends growing up and put yourself in the right social circle. Some people could also look at it as luck that you became friends with someone unknowingly of the fact that someday they would and could be in a position of power and influence and therefore allowing you to have a nice thing such as a job. When looking at it this way we could go back to earlier in the semester when Sam and the class were talking about determinism and free will. This whole luck part to benefiting from nepotism could be something you were born into. It could be a predetermined social circle that you were bound to hang out with and grow up in. And therefore this same social circle could come from families who all are well established in positions of power and influence. Or determinism could farther allow you to benefit from nepotism by simply being born into a successful and powerful family business. Then after a while you could become the one who is exercising nepotism for your family friends and thus the chain reaction occurs. When I look at nepotism I think about how a person could benefit from it and then I think about how determinism could go hand in hand with nepotism. A lot of the behavior and actions surrounding nepotism would simply stem from a lot of determined factors, factors that the person was born into. Also when looking at the free will perspective we could go back to the aspect that if someone knowingly placed themselves in a social circle or even married into one or a family that they could benefit from by nepotism. Where I think nepotism could really become a problem is when the friend or family member hires the individual for that very reason over someone else for the family and friend connection and only for the connection. Yes, maybe the hired friend would work together better with his friend who did the hiring or the family member as well would have the whole bloodline thing to establish trust between the two newly bonded co-workers, but there is one simple, possible and obvious problem with this. What if the friend or family member hired over the other guy or girl is not as qualified as the other individual or not as skilled or even not as punctual? This is where it becomes unfair and just straight up bad business on the hiring side of the job. Thu, 14 Apr 2011 20:02:54 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/12/do-you-think-you-would-actively-try-to-not-benefit-from-nepotism-if-the-situation-presented-itself-119-blog/#IDComment142899796 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/05/did-putting-yourself-in-the-shoes-of-the-middle-easterners-change-your-views-on-the-war-in-iraq-119-blog/#IDComment141118880 In class we were asked to put ourselves in the shoes of middle easterners in Iraq. The class then continued the discussion of various aspects and perspectives of what happened in Iraq and to the Iraqi people in relation to them and the rest of the world. It was interesting for me to hear these perspectives and outcomes of what happened summarized and said back to me and made me remember of the horrible and not so horrible things that had happened between the United States and Iraq as well as other countries in the world. With all this being said when asked the question, Did putting yourself in the shoes of the Middle Easterners change your views on the War in Iraq? my answer is still no. Fri, 8 Apr 2011 23:51:47 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/05/did-putting-yourself-in-the-shoes-of-the-middle-easterners-change-your-views-on-the-war-in-iraq-119-blog/#IDComment141118880 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/05/did-putting-yourself-in-the-shoes-of-the-middle-easterners-change-your-views-on-the-war-in-iraq-119-blog/#IDComment141104417 In class we were asked to put ourselves in the shoes of middle easterners in Iraq. The class then continued the discussion of various aspects and perspectives of what happened in Iraq and to the Iraqi people in relation to them and the rest of the world. It was interesting for me to hear these perspectives and outcomes of what happened summarized and said back to me and made me remember of the horrible and not so horrible things that had happened between the United States and Iraq as well as other countries in the world. With all this being said when asked the question, “Did putting yourself in the shoes of the Middle Easterners change your views on the War in Iraq?” my answer is still no. Unlike I’m sure most of my classmates and most of the people that go to Penn State I actually have had first hand experiences and perspectives with the country, what is going on there, the people, the problems, the outcomes and everything else in between. I served four years in the United States Marine Corps and two of those years were with a combat unit in Iraq where I can’t say exactly where I was at in Iraq, but can say though that I saw a vast amount of the country and lived in various Iraqi cities. Through my time there and experiences I learned about the culture, the people and the countries history further verified though first hand accounts from the actual people, not some news media source that most people in the United States are prone to watching. Through interaction with the Iraqi people it brought me much closer to what it is like to be an Iraqi and again this is from actually learning from and having experiences in dealing with them and watching them and not just from what we might think it is like to be an Iraqi in the middle east that we would get from hearing people speak and watching the news in the comfort of our homes. So, in essence I already have been in the shoes of a middle easterner during the Iraq War years ago before this discussion in class. And due to this I have already known my views on the Iraq War better then most and they still have not changed. My views stem from actually being there and living with the people during a time of much hardship, a time of war. I was glad though to attend the discussion given by Sam and hope that it changed some of the viewpoints of the students and got them thinking and questioning certain things for the better. We can’t forget about the certain and more prominent events of our world’s past. Fri, 8 Apr 2011 22:29:22 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/05/did-putting-yourself-in-the-shoes-of-the-middle-easterners-change-your-views-on-the-war-in-iraq-119-blog/#IDComment141104417 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/05/did-putting-yourself-in-the-shoes-of-the-middle-easterners-change-your-views-on-the-war-in-iraq-119-blog/#IDComment141104036 In class we were asked to put ourselves in the shoes of middle easterners in Iraq. The class then continued the discussion of various aspects and perspectives of what happened in Iraq and to the Iraqi people in relation to them and the rest of the world. It was interesting for me to hear these perspectives and outcomes of what happened summarized and said back to me and made me remember of the horrible and not so horrible things that had happened between the United States and Iraq as well as other countries in the world. With all this being said when asked the question, Did putting yourself in the shoes of the Middle Easterners change your views on the War in Iraq? my answer is still no. Fri, 8 Apr 2011 22:27:08 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/05/did-putting-yourself-in-the-shoes-of-the-middle-easterners-change-your-views-on-the-war-in-iraq-119-blog/#IDComment141104036 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/05/did-putting-yourself-in-the-shoes-of-the-middle-easterners-change-your-views-on-the-war-in-iraq-119-blog/#IDComment141030183 In class we were asked to put ourselves in the shoes of middle easterners in Iraq. The class then continued the discussion of various aspects and perspectives of what happened in Iraq and to the Iraqi people in relation to them and the rest of the world. It was interesting for me to hear these perspectives and outcomes of what happened summarized and said back to me and made me remember of the horrible and not so horrible things that had happened between the United States and Iraq as well as other countries in the world. With all this being said when asked the question, “Did putting yourself in the shoes of the Middle Easterners change your views on the War in Iraq?” my answer is still no. Unlike I’m sure most of my classmates and most of the people that go to Penn State I actually have had first hand experiences and perspectives with the country, what is going on there, the people, the problems, the outcomes and everything else in between. I served four years in the United States Marine Corps and two of those years were with a combat unit in Iraq where I can’t say exactly where I was at in Iraq, but can say though that I saw a vast amount of the country and lived in various Iraqi cities. Through my time there and experiences I learned about the culture, the people and the countries history further verified though first hand accounts from the actual people, not some news media source that most people in the United States are prone to watching. Through interaction with the Iraqi people it brought me much closer to what it is like to be an Iraqi and again this is from actually learning from and having experiences in dealing with them and watching them and not just from what we might think it is like to be an Iraqi in the middle east that we would get from hearing people speak and watching the news in the comfort of our homes. So, in essence I already have been in the shoes of a middle easterner during the Iraq War years ago before this discussion in class. And due to this I have already known my views on the Iraq War better then most and they still have not changed. My views stem from actually being there and living with the people during a time of much hardship, a time of war. I was glad though to attend the discussion given by Sam and hope that it changed some of the viewpoints of the students and got them thinking and questioning certain things for the better. We can’t forget about the certain and more prominent events of our world’s past. Fri, 8 Apr 2011 16:07:26 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/05/did-putting-yourself-in-the-shoes-of-the-middle-easterners-change-your-views-on-the-war-in-iraq-119-blog/#IDComment141030183 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/29/do-you-ever-feel-uncomfortable-around-two-or-more-people-speaking-another-language-119-blog/#IDComment138917412 The first time I was really around two or more people speaking a different language that I couldn’t understand was when I went into the military. Within my first year into the military I found myself on a tour to Iraq for seven to eight months. Immediately upon getting there I was dealing with and surrounded by men and women who spoke Arabic. At first I was uncomfortable with this, but then I immediately wasn’t for several reasons. First, I was already expecting to having to deal with a language that I didn’t understand since I would be in a foreign country. I also knew that the Arabic people probably were aware that the American military coming into their country would not be able to speak their language. The other reason I started to feel more comfortable is because nearly every other American person with me from the United States didn’t understand the language either. It wasn’t like hearing or learning the Spanish language common to the United States, Arabic is a much harder language to hear and understand. On top of that, knowing this, the military had provided us with paid Arabic interpreters who can speak both their language and the Arabic language. This helped much with this language barrier. But, never the less this was my job and mission to be in a foreign speaking country for most of the year and possibly for time and time again. Knowing this, I took it upon myself to learn at most some basic Arabic words or what I like to call, “the survival level.” It wasn’t easy at first, but I started to practice and use basic Arabic words every day. This helped with my job in the military in a foreign country very much. The Iraqi people could see that I was making and effort and became friendlier towards me and gave me more support. Doing this also made the interpreters job a lot easier knowing that I knew a little bit of Arabic and they did not now have to translate things to me as much. This also gave me more confidence and raised my comfort in the whole situation there. I felt and became more and more a part of the their culture through their language and customs. When relating and thinking about this with any other job in the United States it make me think that any job, no matter what it entails, it is good to know a different language for the job and especially one that may be in common usage at or around your workplace. Lets be real here, if your hiring boss is Spanish and you speak Spanish, you have a lot better chance at getting the job. Thu, 31 Mar 2011 19:59:26 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/29/do-you-ever-feel-uncomfortable-around-two-or-more-people-speaking-another-language-119-blog/#IDComment138917412 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/22/what-do-you-think-about-interracial-relationships-119-blog/#IDComment137566012 It is important to talk about before my time in the military briefly followed by my time in the military and after the military to help you understand my thoughts and feelings on interracial relationships. Before the military I didn’t think too much about the interracial relationships because it simply wasn’t around me and I can’t recall seeing any interracial couples at all. This may be in part due to the fact that there weren’t too many black people around me to being with. It wasn’t until I got into the military that I met my first interracial friend. After talking with him a few times I learned that he was interracial and had a black father and a white mother. This didn’t bother me at all and after thinking about it even more critically I realized that even if I saw other interracial couples walking around it wouldn’t bother me at all. I also quickly learned from my interracial friend that he remembers as a child always thinking that he is different. He claimed even without realizing the issue of race he knew he was different because his parents were both different colors. “My mom was pale to me and my dad was dark,” he would say. He claimed he would then look at other peoples parents and see that they are the same color, but his parents were different colors therefore he was different. When he came to realization about his race he said growing up that whenever he went out, whether it be to the mall, grocery store or even an amusement park that he would at least catch a few people giving his parents or even him dirty looks or overhear them talking about his “mud color.” My friend also talked about how people would always ask him which race he should choose. In other words whether he is embracing or trying to be his black side or whether he is embracing or trying to be his white side. He would say people would judge him on this based on the way he dressed or the music he listened to or even the food he sometimes ate. He claimed he would fight these stereotypes though by simply stating that he is just being himself and is interracial and that is that. He doesn’t need to pick a side and he simply is who he is. This sort of talk from my friend made me inspire to be as racially conscious and simple as he is. He has embraced his racial and ethnic roots and the fact that his parents are both black and white and learned to hope that some people will change their negative thoughts eventually about interracial couples. I have embraced this thought process as well. Fri, 25 Mar 2011 20:35:13 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/22/what-do-you-think-about-interracial-relationships-119-blog/#IDComment137566012 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/15/have-you-ever-felt-guilt-from-being-of-a-certain-race-119-blog/#IDComment135701916 I have never felt really any guilt of being a certain race until just recently in this class when Sam has continuously talked about white privilege. As I was growing up I was in a mostly white community and the black people that were in my community were just as well off and as economically equal as I was. It mostly seemed that they were just as privileged as I was. My parents never really expressed to me or even emphasize to me how we may be white privileged as Sam calls it so I never really thought about it too much growing up. In fact, one of my closer friends growing up in a mostly white area was black and the idea of race and whites being more privileged never came up between us. Later, I joined the military where I then experienced an even more equal level of privilege in race. There is no race or ethnicity more privileged then the other in the military and the better and worse treatment of individuals simply comes from who is a higher rank then the other person and who is in the higher position of authority. So again I wasn’t really introduced to anything similar to what I considered to be a white privilege over many of the other races. I mean, I had an idea that white people may have it better in certain aspects of jobs and social relations in present day due experiences and information I gathered from the media and others, but never to the extent I thought it would be until attending this class and learning about white privilege. So after learning about this aspect of our society and coming to this realization I do find myself feeling a little bit of guilt for being white privileged. This guilt though is not prominent or even the slightest bit significant enough to make me change in anyway. I was born this way and am who I am and although only feeling a little guilt I would not want to be the one who would flaunt my white privilege in front of others. It’s hard to even want to look at it that way, but I guess in some ways you have to. I do feel though that another race or ethnicity would not want you to feel sympathetic to them in anyway for that simply would bring up the that fact that you may feel that you are more privileged then they are therefore making you come off as thinking you are better then them or even a racist. So although feeling a little bit a guilt it is much easier to just accept things how they are right now and do you best to help eliminate this white privilege that has been engraved into our society. Thu, 17 Mar 2011 23:24:10 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/15/have-you-ever-felt-guilt-from-being-of-a-certain-race-119-blog/#IDComment135701916 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/02/do-people-feel-guilt-about-their-current-positions-when-knowing-about-the-disadvantages-of-the-freed-slaves-119-blog/#IDComment133028895 Since it was so long ago I wouldn’t say what I feel now is guilt and when looking at current minorities today it is hard to think about the disadvantages of the freed slaves in current society. Racism is still very real today and it still does take place in job places and elsewhere across the world, but not to the extent in which it did a few decades ago and certainly not to the extent it did pre and post civil war. I would feel more guilt if I was directly responsible for or in support of slavery around that time when it was still prominent in the United States. In fact, even if I was white around this time and had nothing to do with or associated with slavery I would feel a lot of guilt. I would most definitely feel obligated to show the freed slaves around the time that not all white people are like their former owners whether they were treated nicely or not. I would also not want them to think that all white people think that the ownership of slaves, whether the slaves were treated fair or not was okay to do. I could even feel myself if knowing that my ancestors were the ones that owned slaves and knowing that a black friend of mine knew this information much guilt and embarrassment. I wouldn’t want them, whether I knew it or not, to associate me with someone who took part in slavery back then. It is hard to feel significant guilt when looking at the disadvantages freed slaves had nowadays because of the time difference of now and then, but there is something there when being reminded it happened. Knowing that it happened and the disadvantages the freed slaves had it brings a sadness to my heart, but also feelings of comfort to see how far the ancestors of the freed slaves have come and a lot of those disadvantages that are in the past are now advantages of the present and are no more prominent in present day society. With that being said I do feel that some people still feel some extreme guilt, but most people, especially those of the younger age groups don’t necessarily feel guilt, but are more just sorry that it happened and would hope to make every effort they can to prevent similar issues such as slavery and ethnic disadvantages from ever happening again. We owe it to the societies of the past, present and future to try our best to make advantages equal across the board. Slavery is something not to be forgotten and it should have a special place in the history of the mistakes by the people of the United States. Mon, 7 Mar 2011 04:15:45 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/02/do-people-feel-guilt-about-their-current-positions-when-knowing-about-the-disadvantages-of-the-freed-slaves-119-blog/#IDComment133028895 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/23/why-do-we-think-of-people-from-other-countries-as-so-different-from-us-119-blog/#IDComment130157782 There are many reasons why we think people from different countries are different, some of which are obvious and some of which are not. Sometimes we as United States born citizens grow up in different cultural settings where we are exposed to sometimes more or less of different cultures then other people are. This is the same for the various cultures and countries that make up the world and how different from us they really are. First though I would like to talk about my experience growing with or without in my case the different countries and cultures we are exposed to and what I learned and didn’t learn on the way. I was born and raised in an area that was not very culturally diverse of people from different countries. Some of the people around me whose back round was of a different culture or country were still born here and have become too Americanized to be looked at like they were different and from a different country. Even the parents of these individuals in my community seemed somewhat americanized and not different by any means in terms of appearance and cultural practices. There was a very small group of people in my area though that were obviously from different countries and had different cultural practices but they were such a small group (probably less then 1%) that I never got the chance to get to know them and experience just how different or not different they really are. It wasn’t until the Marine Corps where I served in various countries that I got to experience how different and how not different some of the other countries really are. Some countries are very westernized much like the United States and enjoy various forms of entertainment like we do such as, video games, sports and nightlife while others are not. Other countries such as Iraq our simply deprived of these things do to civil strife in their countries and religious reasons. Overall though, where the people in this country are not different is in their personalities. All the countries I have visited all had widely varied personalities much as we do in the United States. When meeting groups of individuals from the varied countries they always had a guy who was the comedian of the group, a guy who was the leader, and a guy who was considered the quieter one. Once you get to know the individuals from the different countries you think and look at them through their personalities like they are your friends from home, no difference at all. So with that being said I think the difference we look at when viewing someone from another country shouldn’t be the person as a whole, but maybe just some of their cultural practices because their personalities are very much similar to ours. Wed, 23 Feb 2011 20:14:23 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/23/why-do-we-think-of-people-from-other-countries-as-so-different-from-us-119-blog/#IDComment130157782 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/16/do-arrests-of-different-races-occur-more-due-to-racism-or-more-police-in-urban-areas-119-blog/#IDComment128653708 I believe that racism and more police in urban areas both have a lot to do with the arrests of different races. As Sam says it is always good to be somewhere in the middle and I think it would be wrong and very hard to prove if u wanted to choose just one side or the other. When siding with one side whether more police in urban areas or that there is racism it would be too hard to say that either of the sides apply to all urban areas let alone even one area. The most logical choice is to try to explain both of them together over a broad spectrum to try give somewhat of an accurate explanation. These two both go hand in hand so I will try my best to explain this outcome. Racism is all around us and it is going to be a long time if at ever before there is no racism at all. I believe that every police force in the world is going to have someone who at least has a little bit of racism in them whether we want to believe this or not. When looking at racism of police in urban areas there are several ways to look at it. Urban areas are statistically known for having a wide array of different races. So when looking at the statistics of the amount of each race in the area it is hard to say that a lot of the arrests were due to racism when there are five blacks, three Hispanics and one white guy all busted together. Statistically the odds are on the blacks to be the ones to get arrested. But, this bring up the question of are the police just focusing on the blacks as the ones who are committing the crimes or are they focusing on the other races as well. It’s hard to say, but in urban areas the chips are stacked against minorities. If past cops were racist towards minorities therefore making the statistics state that minorities are the ones committing the crimes then I feel It must be hard for a police officer to block out of his head to not focus more of his attention on the minority (Despite the fact that there are more minorities in the area anyway). That’s where some of the racism can stem from. These same statistics may also lead to the hiring of more cops for urban areas, which of course, if they are doing their jobs, will lead to more arrests. With more police on the job less people are going to get away with the crimes they are committing. So, with these sort of possibly racist statistics, a wide array of minorities in urban areas and the hiring of more cops in urban areas, it will ultimately lead to more arrest in the long run. Thu, 17 Feb 2011 20:57:46 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/16/do-arrests-of-different-races-occur-more-due-to-racism-or-more-police-in-urban-areas-119-blog/#IDComment128653708 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/08/how-have-the-choices-youve-made-and-determinism-affected-your-life-119-blog/#IDComment127375762 When talking about determinism and free will in regards to where I am today it definitely is a varied mix between the two perspectives. There were many thing that were already pre-determined for me and set in stone as I was growing up to get me to Penn State University, but at the same time a lot of the reasons I am here have to do with much of my free will. First I’ll touch on the determinism aspect. Much of the determinism in my life stems directly and indirectly related to my parents. My parents were both hard workers and when they gave birth to me they started to work even harder to get promoted and excel at their occupations to help provide me with the best life possible. Through their efforts it aloud me to live in a nicer area as well as go to a better and well funded school compared to the areas and schools many others grow up in. My parents also provided me with a nice working environment and home to complete my school assignments. With that being said my initial use of free will both hurt and helped me in life My first clear use of free will when making major life decisions was that of my focus on school work while in high school. Instead of choosing to study hard and complete all of my take home assignments, I instead decided to go hang out with my friends more and play video games despite my parents tedious amount of effort. This choice of free will got me little chance of going to a good school. But then as chance had I made a very important free will choice, one that determined the rest of my life up to this present day point. I decide to enlist in the United States Marine Corps. After four years of successful and lucky to be alive time in the military I applied to school at Penn State. Another major free will decision. A decision that I wouldn’t even have thought of doing prior to my military service due to my poor grades and attitude obtained in high school. Seeing my hard work and dedication to become a student again after military service I was accepted to Penn State University Park. My free will decisions got me into school and at the same time saved my parents a ton of money since the military pays both for my tuition and living expenses as well as my books. I now in my third year at Penn State an am exercising my free will to succeed by continuing to get good grades throughout my time here. Much, much better grades then those of the ones I received throughout my high school years. Fri, 11 Feb 2011 18:09:57 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/08/how-have-the-choices-youve-made-and-determinism-affected-your-life-119-blog/#IDComment127375762 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/03/why-dont-we-live-like-the-monkeys-119-blog/#IDComment125941347 This video was very interesting to me to watch and listen to. It refers to the video at the end of class, which is a video that I found very interesting and in fact interesting enough that I had to show it to my roommates when I got home. “We are all monkeys,” seemed to be the overall theme of the video and this can be considered very true. Monkeys all look the same just as we do. You might look at our external features and think that we look much different, but as mentioned in class our DNA is 99.9% alike to the person sitting next to you and the other people that you see in your everyday life. The external features of our bodies have simply adapted to the climate and environment that our ancestors came from. When compared to the monkeys on whether we should just live like them or whether we should remain the type of monkeys we are today, that is, the thinking monkeys, it brings up several points. Monkeys have and act out similar habits and have similar patterns of survival as we do. Monkeys mate, they fight for territory, they eat, they sleep, they play, they urinate and they scratch their butts much as we humans or monkeys do on a daily basis. In other words they just live, much as we do, but without the intense thinking aspect of it. Thinking and developing and acting is what makes us who we are. It is what defines us. To take that away would be to take away the very ideas of evolution. I mean, in a couple more thousand years who is to say that someone will not be asking the questions about us if, “Should we just live like the humans do or go on being the only special type of species that we are?” Monkeys live like we do, but in a much less of a broad way and to put it lightly, in a more childish way. Their disputes in personally territory are more of that of a human child’s battle over a playground. We should be proud that we evolved in such a way that allows us to think enough to be able to have bigger issues at hand. Bigger issues that although may suffer to more severe consequences then that of the monkeys are issues that surround great accomplishments and pleasures in our lives. To live like the monkeys would be to say lets just start over again with the whole evolution thing. So when asked the question of whether we should just live like monkeys or not the answer is most definitely no. We should remain to be the thinking monkeys that we are and continue in the evolution of our species. Fri, 4 Feb 2011 16:24:57 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/03/why-dont-we-live-like-the-monkeys-119-blog/#IDComment125941347 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/23/could-g-d-be-a-she-119-blog/#IDComment124345513 It was really shocking for me to hear god referred to as a she by Sam in lecture the other day. When I heard him say it my eyes immediately widened and I felt a confused look go over my face. I then turned to the left and right to scan the class to see if other people were shocked at what he said and maybe even as confused as I am. Although I don’t participate too much in the catholic faith nowadays I was born and raised a catholic until the time I left my parents household to go out on my own. I remember when I was little through children’s bible pictures and children’s religious books that god was always portrayed as a man. More so as I was growing up and especially in catholic religion classes that I attended every Monday where we watched various movies where he was portrayed as a man and listened to various tapes where even his voice was that of a deep-voiced man. My parents, my priest and even my teachers always referred to god in sentences by using “he” and not “she.” The past few years I have slowly lost my faith upon furthering my education and learning more about the rise and factual evidence of evolution. When God is mentioned in my life I immediately think of him as he, but after Sams valid points and the little faith left I do have in Catholicism upon hearing and learning about evolution, it seems clear to me that god could very well have been a she. Hell, he even could have simply been some sort of spirit form for what little we actually do know. We all seem to think these days that god is a he and some of this can be credited to not just what we may have learned and been taught when we were little, but what we see in everyday television, movies and images. For example, god is played by Morgan Freeman in Bruce Almighty and gods voice is a deep manly voice in shows such as The Simpsons and Family Guy. We may even see images of God on billboards when driving on the highway where he is always portrayed as a man or spoken about in terms of what would be a man. So, before Sam’s lecture having not taken the time to think about it I would just have stuck with what I was learned and taught growing up that god is simply a he. But now with all that being said and after hearing and processing what I learned in Sam’s lecture I most clearly can determine that I actually don’t know the gender of god for it could be both a “he” or a “she.” If someone came up to me today and referred to God as a she I would simply not think anything of it and continue the conversation as if the person spoke correctly when calling god a she. Fri, 28 Jan 2011 15:01:18 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/23/could-g-d-be-a-she-119-blog/#IDComment124345513 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2010/04/19/how-am-i-not-a-racist/#IDComment122373347 This question was very intriguing to me and really made me think about my personal experiences in developing countries. I served in the United States Marine Corps and had the opportunity to witness different cultures and to interact with people in countries such as Iraq, Kuwait, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Many of these countries are very poor and developing countries and are also going through much civil strife. The way I tended to look at it when I was over there is simply that you are born into what you are born into. I was born in the United States and others may have been born into Iraq. What I do with my life from here on out covers a broad spectrum of things such as the family I was born in to, my religion, my health and my personal actions to name a few. Being over in for this example Iraq, I witnessed what simply can be classified as lack of opportunity and awareness of what one can achieve with one’s life. Most of the people I interacted with were not born into a house that runs on electricity, a house with running water, a town with a good education system or a city with a good hospital. Those are just the cut and dry facts. Without some of these things that someone born in the United States takes for granted, one can only determine that the chance of having an impact on the world would be much less for someone born in Iraq then that of someone born in the United States. When thinking about having an impact on the world you may think that you want to be the person to find a cure for cancer or aids. Someone without the proper education system or the proper means of obtaining the education needed for curing viruses or diseases do to things such as money, transportation and civil conflict have a much less chance of achieving this accomplishment compared to someone born in to an opportunistic environment like that of the United States. So when looking at someone born into a country like Iraq you shouldn’t look at the person thinking you are better then them, but more so that you were born into and given more opportunity to achieve things that are much further out of their reach. Again we look at opportunity. An Iraqi born individual has much less opportunity of affecting the world in a positive way then that of an American born individual. When looking at the opportunity two people born in the United States have and then thinking that one person has more of an opportunity to achieve something then the other in this world is when you start asking why that is. Is it simply because this man or women was able to achieve a better education then me and has better credentials or is it something to do with my skin color? Because we were all brought up with similar opportunities to achieve? That is where you draw the line. Wed, 19 Jan 2011 22:14:32 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2010/04/19/how-am-i-not-a-racist/#IDComment122373347 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/10/last-name-%e2%80%9cg%e2%80%9d-%e2%80%93-intense-debate/#IDComment122105882 Soc119 Tue, 18 Jan 2011 16:39:17 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/10/last-name-%e2%80%9cg%e2%80%9d-%e2%80%93-intense-debate/#IDComment122105882