So I kind of figured when I saw this picture in the news we were going to talk about it. First off, part of me does feel bad for these girls in a way. Many of us have been to theme parties like this. We don’t really think anything of it at the time. However, I think that this whole thing was just bad timing. Right now Penn State University is like a bug under a microscope. Everyone is waiting for us to do something else and mess up. I’m sure that these girls were not doing this to purposely offend anyone. To them it was a joke. I think that this is how comedians get away with their jokes. People understand that it is comedy; it is going to be funny. It is understood that there may be some sketchy jokes thrown in there. But it is okay because it’s comedy. Whenever I watch a comedian who makes racial jokes, it strikes me funny at first but then I just disregard it for the most part. These people are able to laugh at themselves and we laugh with them, that is just how it works. Plus in this type of setting you can related to the comedian, in this picture not so much.
I did not see a problem with these girls’ party theme. The signs are what pushed it over the edge and set people off. A picture like this is a form of communication. And since those signs there, they clearly stated the message they wanted to get across, even though it meant nothing. I think that people are being pretty rough on this sorority. However, you have to be careful about what you put on the internet anymore. Still this is really no excuse. We are Penn State. Students need to realize that they do have to be careful about some things right now due to all the other circumstances.
In my discussion group we talked a little bit about hate crimes. I didn’t realize how common these types of things are and how they happen all the time. I felt like I must live in a bubble or something because I had thought that stuff was over and done with. One girl said how she had heard of a kid that was beaten and had his mouth stapled shut for being Jewish. This was fairly recent. I have not heard one thing about this, but this whole sorority thing made national news. I see a bit of a problem here. It just doesn’t make sense how people can be so ignorant to that. I think we need to raise awareness to hate crimes and make people see how common they really are and how they affect people.

This lecture was definitely the most interesting and entertaining lecture all year. Although I was not at all surprised by the facts that Sam showed, it was interesting to hear the sociologic side of it. I think that this lecture definitely empowered me to talk to the guy during sex. I was in a relationship for about three years and during that time we would talk about what to do to make it better. I think that when you’re actually in a relationship it becomes more important and something that the guy actually wants to do. Compared to just a random hook up then the guy doesn’t really seem to care if he gets the girl off. This goes back to it being sex in a male’s world. Everything, well mostly everything, is based off of him during sex. Because of this, most guys, like Sam said, are somewhat unfamiliar with the female orgasm and everything that goes in to it. They are only worried about themselves most of the times. However, in one random hook up I’ve had, I did tell the guy what to do, and he liked that I did. It made him aware of what he needed to do and how, so that it would be better for both of us. There are many obstacles that girls face to do this though. It was kind of weird telling him how to do it, but it worked. I think that many girls are nervous to tell them, or they don’t want to upset them. I think telling the guy is like constructive criticism…it can only help. Also, I think it depends how familiar you are with the guy. If you hooked up before, if you are friends, or if you just met that night, all can affect it differently. Each has its own comfort zone as well. Depending on your relationship with the guy, it will affect the sex. If there is more emotion then in my opinion I think that there is more effort to please both people.
I liked how Sam and his wife made us think about flipping it around and have a female dominated world. It would be much different and random hook ups would be more centered on the girl I think. Now it’s all about the guy, if it was vise versa, like his wife said sex would be much different. I think it would be interesting, if it were like this, to see if the guy would talk to the girl during it. It would also be interesting to see how the girl would react after she reached an orgasm if the male did not. However, I think that again it depends on the two peoples relationship with each other.

This lecture on Tuesday was really interesting. I never really knew that people of color went through stages like that. I wondered if everyone goes through it in some kind of way. I think white people go through stages of racial understanding. I think when white people are younger they are not as aware or as understanding of race and racial identity. However, they do quickly begin to pick up on it. As for certain stages being better or worse than each other, they are mostly really equal. I thought that state one was very important. Seeing that in this step, a person of color doesn’t think they’re different at all, their skin color doesn’t make a bit of difference equality wise. They see themselves as “white” in some cases. But still they are questioning, that is the downfall to this stage. It begins it get better when they enter stage two when they begin to realize their ancestry. Then later in stage three, white people are irrelevant to them. People of color begin to identify with others like them. In stage four, racism links are made. Then stage five while race is still a central idea; relationships are made with people of any race. I think that this is the most important stage. However, stage four is also close in importance. During this time, people of color learn about themselves and people like them. They learn about their culture and beliefs. It is important to get past the third stage and into this one so that people become well rounded. If they get stuck in stage three, they will begin to look at white people in an increasingly negative way. That is why it’s important to round the corner to stage four. Then onto five, being the most important people of color can truly expand. Stage five is when people of color begin to accept who they are and really believe in themselves. They become empowered and learn to look past racial barriers. I think that is extremely important to the future. In hopes to one day completely end racism, this is key. It will open doors for them and give them many more opportunities to pursue. Then if it is really possible for people of color to make it to the sixth stage, then that is great. This is when they start to realize their thinking and actions are for the betterment of all people. Race and ethnicity is not central to them. The only downfall I see to this stage is that I believe people of any race should have some roots in their ethnicity. They should not lose sight of who they are, in my opinion. Everything else about this stage though is important too. I think that all people should strive to reach this point.

First off, I thought that this class was really interesting. It really made me think about things in a whole new way. Then our discussion group conversation was really eye opening as well. I think that a homosexual person who thinks that their orientation is a choice rather than something they’re born with is an acceptability issue. I think that people are born with the genes determining what they’re attracted to. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen some kind of research done on it. Then you do have the people that it really is a choice because they want to be different or try something new. If someone was gay then they are born with that, and at first I think that they do not want to face that fact. They are probably worried about being made fun of and fitting in and all that. Eventually once they come out I think that by saying it was a choice is more acceptable to them in a way. It just makes more sense. To some people being gay is wrong. Homosexuals are aware that not everyone agrees with it and that some consider it a sin. Therefore, they would not want to face the fact that they were “born” with this sin. They would rather say it was a choice for them. A choice is something that they have control over. Your genetic make up is out of your control. So then it is like your DNA is a sin. That just sounds terrible, it is easier to blame it on a choice than who you are. I don’t think anyone would want to think of him or herself as something horrible like a sin. Even then, I think it is definitely very difficult for someone to acknowledge the fact that they are gay. I have a lot of respect for those people. Just knowing how many Christians are out there, and how many of them disagree with it is crazy. They have to have a lot of courage and confidence.
Plus, I have heard many people say how they can tell someone is gay when they are very young. I believe the one guy in class said he was four. I have family members who think that one of my younger cousins is gay. I guess just by little things he does and certain things he likes. However, I feel as though that is horribly stereotypical. It just doesn’t seem right that at his age, he is 5, that they can be assuming he will turn out to be gay. But if he does, then he was born with it, it wasn’t a choice. When he grows up though, it will be a choice for him to come out or not.

I feel as though one person can make a difference, even though it is a very small one. However if one person like this makes a difference it could potentially cause more and more people to change. However, the sad truth is that it most likely will not. Lots of people want smart phones and the latest technology and what not. I remember learning about how Americans only think about themselves, which is our culture. Anywhere else it’s about the good of the group…not each individual person. People that are selfish like this aren’t going to worry about how the phone was made; just the fact that they get the phone is all that matters. The fact that there is still slavery going on in the world is mind blowing. I think that it is something that people like to keep covered up. Here and there you’ll hear about people trying to raise awareness for it, but that’s it. I think it could be possible to put an end to slave labor by raising awareness, but it would be extremely difficult. It’s just like anything else, if you get enough people who are passionate about making a change, and then it can be done. It reminds me of people who try to get everyone to not buy gas on a certain day so that prices drop. Basically it’s near impossible to get every single person to do that, but the more the better. Any little bit can make a difference. Therefore, I think that just by this one guy not buying a phone made by slaves does make a difference. Who knows, eventually many more people will have the same mind set as well and slave labor will end.
I still have a flip phone as well, but just for the simple reason that I can’t afford the extra money each month for a smart phone. Even if I could afford it, I would definitely think twice about buying an iPhone. On many products you see “Made in China” or the United States or Taiwan or wherever. Nowhere do you see, “Made by Slaves.” I think it is complete ignorance by producers and consumers. As for the global market place, I don’t think they care how technology is made. They are only concerned about one thing and that is profit. It’s actually pretty disgusting to think about. The fact that the people in charge know what is going on behind the scenes, but they hide it just to make money is horrendous. I do think if more people knew slave labor went into the making of their phone they wouldn’t buy it. But then again, like I said earlier many people are just concerned about themselves. They only focus on their wants and needs.

I am not surprised that our beliefs are based on misinformation and not on fact. It reminds me of that saying about how if you believe in something long enough, it eventually becomes true. I think there is so much truth to this statement. But at the same time it really makes you question many different things the more you think about it, well for me at least. In my case it doesn’t help that I’m extremely gullible. I’ve probably believed tons of lies. But another topic that came to mind was religion. Many people identify themselves with a religion that they “believe” in. Personally I think that everyone needs something to believe in, religious or not. Anyhow, I know in my faith I was taught never to question it, just believe in it. When I was younger I was okay with that. The more I’m around other people and other religions, the more I start to wonder. Whenever the thought of questioning my “beliefs” comes into mind I immediately think I need to not think about it, and concentrate on something else or something. But I will admit I have questioned it, like how do we know for sure that this or that happened because it was so long ago. There is no way to know the truth, therefore you just believe in it. Believe in what? For all we know it could be just some random person that made everything up. I mean I doubt that, but the thought has crossed my mind a few times.
Another idea that ran through my mind when I started responding to this question was the telephone game. Or even the exercise Sam did in class not too long ago with someone repeating a story to someone else. There was so much “wrong information” that got changed from the truth. I think that is part of human nature to kind of change things or only talk about certain things.
Then the misinformation of child abduction blew my mind. I had always been taught not to talk to strangers, always have a buddy, and so on. Then to find out that actual strangers abduct very few children each year was eye opening. I understand how family members are more likely to abduct a child, but I had thought there were many more abductions by strangers. Granted shows like NCIS, Law and Order SVU, Criminal Minds, and many more do not really help. It’s interesting that there are so many criminal shows like that on television. It’s crazy to think what the media and society can get you to believe. Like the whole religion thing, it makes you wonder what else are we being “misinformed” about.

When Sam first began the exercise with the clicker question many things were running through my mind. I thought originally that only the child should have rights instead of many other generations. Only because they would have been most familiar with the circumstances that had take place. Then I immediately thought of the Native Americans and realized that my original thought could not be right. These people have been living on land passed down generation after generation. However, they are on reservations…. not the original land their ancestors fought for. Then when Sam showed the video, I realized it even more. That video was heart breaking. Those people fought for their land and they just get pushed around. It’s like the government controls them and does whatever they please. They want to keep these people in poverty. I do not think that is right at all. This made me realize that in a case like this, grandchildren and beyond definitely have a right to that land. As long as they are not trying to take advantage of anything, it is okay to claim something that belongs to you. Like say there was a car handed down after many generations, then one generation kept it at a friends house or something, and then something happened to that person. His or her descendent technically should have rights to the car, but the friend had it and kind of gained the right to it. If the car was very valuable then of course the friend would want to keep it, but so would the descendent. In that case, to me it is a toss up and much legality could get involved. Something makes the Native American’s case different. I don’t know exactly what it is, but something should be done for them in any case.
This class was really eye opening for me, and having the guest speaker was definitely an added bonus. Hearing him speak was almost chilling to me. Having someone right in front of us telling us what life is like and how he feels about things is very saddening. It just made the whole experience more surreal for me. The whole situation just really bothered me. How could our government have done something like this to these people? And now that we are past the fighting, shouldn’t we be helping them? I think so, instead of pushing them deeper and deeper into poverty. Then the whole thing about children committing suicide is just terrible. That needs to be brought to attention; it is just as bad as our soldiers killing themselves. But no, our government chooses to just ignore it, which is completely disgusting and embarrassing to me.

“Support Our Troops.” That is a phrase we hear all the time. But what does that really mean? In my opinion most people think it means exactly what it says. Just supporting them with our pride and donations of course. However, Sam brought up a good point in a round a bout way. Even though we say we are supporting them, what exactly are we doing for those men and women? Well, my answer to this is not enough. The statistic that Sam said about suicide among soldiers blew my mind.
I think that we need to do a lot more for our soldiers. I know they appreciate us showing them support morale wise, but I don’t think we’re doing enough to really help them. Thinking about that statistic, sure maybe we do enough while the troops are fighting for us, but after their time is up, that’s that. We do have Veterans Day and discounts and stuff like that, but is that really helping them? No. Many of the soldiers that come back from war suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder. I believe that this could be one of the main causes for suicide. I don’t know exactly what could be done about this, whether it’s some sort of mandatory therapy, rehab, or something like that, something needs to be done to help them.
I feel as though this statistic is kind of thrown under the rug. I was in shock when I heard it, and I’m sure many people were as well. I knew that suicide among soldiers was common, but I didn’t know it was that common. It almost feels as though our country just ignores it. To me, that is embarrassing. I think that we need to raise awareness about the issue and get these brave people help. Those men and women work so hard and put everything on the line. They are expected to be tough physically and mentally during training and actual fieldwork. Then, also afterwards it seems as though they are expected to maintain that mentality. However, going from a war zone where you miss your family, for example, to your home and finally being with them is an overwhelmingly different atmosphere. We should be supporting them in their return home and adjusting to a regular life. I think that is the least we could do for them. They need help with things like finding jobs and catching up financially, and that is something out government needs to help them with. That is how we can really “support” them. It would be nice if our president would voice some concern about this statistic and a plan of action to help with it.

So on Thursday and even a few times previously in class, we discussed income of different races. We talked a lot about the rich and the poor. Whenever Sam asked for someone who was “rich” to speak, no one would speak up. Then whenever he asked for someone who is “poor” a few people would shyly raise their hands. If some of the richer people had the guts to raise their hands they would probably do it somewhat shyly as well. I thought it was amazing that not a single person rose their hand claiming they were rich…I was very surprised. Personally, I just don’t think it is programmed in our culture to admit that you’re rich. I think that people just don’t like to admit their financial status. This could be true for many reasons. Poorer people probably would not want to admit that they are struggling and may not want any pity. Then some are very eager to show you that they are poor and try to get money. Anyhow, rich people are just the same, well most of them are. It almost seems as though they are ashamed of being rich? Maybe they even feel guilty about it since they know they are better off than others. I know two families that are extremely rich. One family flaunts it in anyway possible, and the other you would never guess they were rich. Also I think that if someone admitted they were rich, they may worry about being envied or hated by others. Since the economy in todays society is not the greatest, many people are more conscious about their wealth or how much money they have. I think it’s obvious that most people would rather be well off and not have to worry about money issues. Rich people know that, and I think maybe that is why they worry about being envied.
Being rich may also be embarrassing to some people, especially if it’s about how they got the money. It is also a possibility that they do not want to feel as though they are above anyone. I would probably feel that way, just because I feel as though money does not, or should not, put anyone above anyone else. I would say my family is about middle class, we aren’t poor, but we do struggle at times. My parents are always saying they wish we had more money, but we don’t. I have friends who are much, much richer but I don’t look at them any different, and they don’t look at me any different because of it. Money shouldn’t have an impact on a person’s perception of someone else anyhow. It just goes to show that money is not the most important thing in life, which is why people choose not to talk about it.

So today’s exercise in class really opened my eyes. To me, yes they all looked somewhat “Asian.” However just about each person had a different background. I thought it was very interesting how the first guy to try and guess where they were from did not do too badly. But then when the girl who was white tried to guess, she did not do as well, even though she had a 4.0. I think that this goes to show just because someone is well educated does not mean they completely understand everything. I know if I was in her shoes I would have been lucky to get one right. Also, I would have been kind of hesitant to guess where someone was from. Being white, I would feel weird trying to guess where someone was from, no clue why, but I felt that way just watching her trying to guess. Maybe it’s because I wouldn’t want to offend them, I don’t know. I thought that it was a very interesting and eye opening exercise. It showed me, and I’m sure many others, that you cannot really judge a book by it’s cover. Just because you think someone looks like they are from a certain area, does not mean they are. I think that it is harder for whites to recognize where people are from.
I tried to identify the countries the students were from myself as I was sitting there, and I could not do it. This proves to me that I am not very well educated when it comes to identifying characteristics of people that are from a certain area. It reminded me of the facial recognition survey we did. I had a rough time with that because it was really hard for me to even begin to decipher between male and female. I’m sure I only got maybe one or two somewhat right. Eventually all those different faces with different characteristics just began to look the same to me. I did look at the eyes and nose to try and figure it out, but that became challenging.
However, I find it interesting how Sam used the map of people migrating to show that we all mostly have ancestry somehow connected to Africa. Just getting my mind wrapped around the fact that all my genes have been passed down generation after generation is amazing. I have always thought my mother’s side to be French and my father’s Croatian. But that is only as far back as great grandparents. It is crazy to imagine how much farther back our family goes. The racial background compared to the ethnic background is also very interesting. For example my one friend is Chinese but she is from Canada. However, I think it’s neat to hear where people are from and their background.