en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/3088208 Comments by Jacey0916 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/30/week-8-%e2%80%93-lesson-14-affirmative-action/#IDComment170485413 I also thought it was interesting how much people really do consider themselves as generally “better” than other people. Seeing those statistics and how 60 percent of males considered themselves to be in the top 10 percent of physically in shape males in their college was laughable to me. It made me want to rethink how I see myself! I was thinking, am I really in the top whatever percent of my class or one of the top employees at my job? It was definitely a wake-up call to see what people are really thinking and that they think so highly of themselves. Thu, 7 Jul 2011 01:24:19 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/30/week-8-%e2%80%93-lesson-14-affirmative-action/#IDComment170485413 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/30/week-8-%e2%80%93-lesson-14-affirmative-action/#IDComment170484125 I had never really thought much about affirmative action before this lecture. I had heard of it but presumed that it didn’t really affect me so I didn’t give it much thought. The way that other people have such strong opinions on affirmative action really surprised me when I learned that only 10 percent of jobs, promotions, or admissions are actually connected in any way to affirmative action programs. When I see things like the Trading Schools Experiment that Oprah did and learn about the inequities of education and life in general for poor and minority people, I think that affirmative action could only be a good thing. I guess when looking at the definition of affirmative action, I can see that it is an inherently unfair thing, but I also think that it has good intentions. I really do think that it is necessary in some form to balance out the discrimination that goes on unintentionally behind the scenes. Like Obama, I agree that affirmative action should be based upon social class and economic circumstances of people, not just race or disability. Like Richards pointed out, some black or brown people are much better off than poor white people. Something that I found interesting when contemplating my feelings on the issues we discussed in class was that I am more angered by nepotism than by affirmative action, although they are basically the same exact thing. I think the reason why I feel this way is because usually nepotism benefits people that have inherited all these connections, therefore making their lives much easier and affirmative action attempts to benefit the people who actually need it. (whether or not it actually does, I am not entirely sure, but that is the point behind it.) Throughout my life I have seen people that may not be deserving of them get things because they “knew someone” and it really frustrates me. I can say that although I am a white woman, every single job I’ve ever had (5) I’ve gotten on my own. Thus far, my parents nor other relatives nor friends have gotten me something that I don’t deserve. I think that’s why I get frustrated when I see it happen for other people. I understand that it is a natural human instinct to want your family to prosper, but I think that the families who tend to have the most connections also have the most money and I get a little upset when I see rich people reaping all of these benefits when there are people jumping over so many obstacles and working so hard to get to where these people are and much of the time, they deserve it more. Thu, 7 Jul 2011 01:18:50 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/30/week-8-%e2%80%93-lesson-14-affirmative-action/#IDComment170484125 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-13-immigration/#IDComment169467198 I definitely thought that part of the lecture was interesting also. I always loved my history classes and I am studying to be a history teacher currently. To think that everything I’ve learning up to this point has completely left out this side of the story that the first Europeans to come to America took this land from the Native Americans, and brutally, totally weirds me out. I get it that people of a certain group want to shed good light on themselves, but I honestly think that children would be better off in the long run learning the whole story! I mean why not? I really sat here and envisioned myself teaching a history class, teaching my students the side of the story we learned from Richards and backing it up with a real meaningful lessons on tolerance and humility. I think that would be pretty cool. Mon, 4 Jul 2011 01:17:03 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-13-immigration/#IDComment169467198 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-13-immigration/#IDComment169466228 When we began the conversation on immigration I was confused that Richards was telling us the real reason why illegal immigrants are allowed in the United States is because of business. That made sense to me, but I was confused because it seemed that Richards was approving of the situation. It made me a little annoyed as well because I thought that was a little shady on the part of businesses that they are hiring illegal immigrants for these jobs rather than the many Americans who cannot find work. Originally, I started trying to come up with a solution. I was thinking that if the United States really needs people to work for lower wages, they should look within the American people who are living off of the welfare programs. I was thinking something along the lines of New Deal programs like the CCC, providing Americans who cannot find jobs with lodging in places that need these workers. Basically, the reason why I was attempting to get Americans in those jobs instead of illegal aliens is because I didn’t really understand why people who are here illegally should be able to get the benefits of living in America while not paying taxes and so forth. Richards mentioned that many illegal immigrants do pay taxes though so that wiped that reasoning away. Towards the end of the second lecture, after watching the video of Jorge Munoz, I was inspired and began to feel for these people. Richards talked about the fact that he knew many people from Latin America that wanted nothing more to come to the United States to work and hopefully become citizens. I realized that a lot of these people are really ambitious and really trying to make better lives for themselves and their families. I thought back to my “solutions” and thought about the Americans I had suggested take these jobs that are usually held by illegal immigrants. Some of these Americans are homeless or poor because they choose to be, whether they are addicted to alcohol or drugs, or just don’t want to work. Still others live off of the welfare programs and don’t even attempt to work because they are making more money from welfare than getting a low paying job. I started to think that maybe these ambitious workers from Mexico and other Latin American countries deserve a chance to live and work in the US more than some Americans do! I can say that I now understand more of the issues surrounding immigration. I was interested to know that the costs and benefits of illegal immigrants working in America generally even out. I definitely think what Richards says rings true, this situation is not going anywhere with people screaming and arguing about, it is something that needs to be looked at from a different perspective. Mon, 4 Jul 2011 01:11:30 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-13-immigration/#IDComment169466228 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-12-multiculturalism-lgbt/#IDComment168062401 I definitely agree with you on the grocery store survey question. I was also in the group that would feel comfortable and be intrigued enough to ask questions and attempt to learn something from the person of another culture. I’ve had experiences similar to this when I studied abroad in Spain, although I knew a tiny bit of Spanish, and I almost always jumped at the chance to learn more in these types of situations. I can see how this practice, if more people caught on and did the same thing, would help the multicultural situation in the US. I think immigrants and native-born Americans should all the same be interested in one another’s cultures and learn about them, because that really is what our “melting pot” in America is all about. Wed, 29 Jun 2011 20:12:23 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-12-multiculturalism-lgbt/#IDComment168062401 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-12-multiculturalism-lgbt/#IDComment168061023 The LGBT lecture was really very interesting for me. As much discrimination and struggle people of this group must go through, this lecture actually made me very hopefully for their future. I identify myself as a straight woman, but I think the idea of a continuum of sexuality rings very true. How many of us, after hearing this laid out in the way Richards did, can really say “I am 100% straight!” or “100% gay!”? I really do think that we are all human beings and our bodies, ideologies, and attractions are all different and they are not just black and white. I’m willing to bet that most of our sexualities are shades of gray. This gives me hope because if we can all realize how we can relate to one another, it will only promote equality. I also love the fact that Richards showed the verse from Corinthians that pointed out many of the sins that are all equally bad in God’s eyes. I hear many people use religion as their excuse for not agreeing with homosexuality and then see them at the bar later that night hammered. It is really quite hypocritical and I wish that those people could see that. Anyway, as I said this lecture made me feel good and made me hopeful that soon people of the LGBT community will be seen as equal and sexuality will be a non-issue. Richard’s lecture showed that businesses, adoption agencies, and others are all getting on board with equal rights for the LGBT community, even in the past decade. With the recent passing of New York’s bill that grants gays and lesbians the right to marry, I think this is even further proof of the changing times. And by this I mean changing for the better! To touch on the lecture on multiculturalism, the main thing that stuck out to me was once again the hypocrisy. Many people express their wants for immigrants to assimilate into “American culture”, but yet want nothing to do with immigrants in their neighborhoods, schools, and jobs. That doesn’t really make a lot of sense to me. I also think that “American culture” is really made up of many, many immigrant cultures! This goes along with what Richards said is “amalgamation” and the coming together of 2 or more cultures to make a new one. That is really what our country is about. Another important thing is that it is really becoming less and less important what country your loyalty lies in because of globalization. In the age of the internet, we are all working together across the globe, and I think we should all realize that we are in this together and difference really don’t matter. Wed, 29 Jun 2011 20:07:30 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-12-multiculturalism-lgbt/#IDComment168061023 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/22/week-6-%e2%80%93-lesson-10-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-people-of-color-stages-1-4/#IDComment165905066 I was definitely interested in the adoption topic also. I never really knew many people who were adopted, but I guess I’ve contemplated adoption for myself before and adopting a child of a different race, so this intrigued me. I think I’ve always wondered about how different the process of raising an adopted child can be from raising a child you’ve given birth to and I wondered what the best strategies could be. It made sense to me that if a child was adopted into another culture other than his or her own, they would benefit most from having been taught about both cultures. I think that denying any aspect of the child’s birth culture or family could only hurt them, so it made sense to me to hear that this was indeed statiscally correct. Thu, 23 Jun 2011 19:36:43 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/22/week-6-%e2%80%93-lesson-10-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-people-of-color-stages-1-4/#IDComment165905066 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/22/week-6-%e2%80%93-lesson-10-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-people-of-color-stages-1-4/#IDComment165903878 The lectures this week helped me to see things from another perspective beyond my own. I have to say, I enjoyed it just as much as the White version in which I was able to reflect upon myself. This time, I had to try to see things from the perspective of someone in minority groups. The fact that pre-awakening usually happens much earlier for people of color than it does for white people made a lot of sense to me. For people of color, at least in America, they are growing up in a white majority world and a world that gives advantages to the minority. This is the complete opposite for those of us who are white because since our world is “made for” us we don’t notice as many obstacles as people of minorities would. Although I understand this concept, I was pretty surprised to see that some minority children not only realize their difference, but also look at themselves as part of a negative group. This came from the experiment in which black children were asked if they preferred a white or black doll. When I heard that fifteen out of the twenty one children picked the white doll I wasn’t immediately shocked, but when the facilitator asked “Which doll is bad?” and the child showed the black doll, I felt very bad. Right after she answered that question, the facilitator asked “Which doll looks like you?” and she picked the same one, I felt horrible for the child. I can’t imagine being a child in elementary school and looking at myself as “the bad one” and that is how this child felt. And that was because that is how she was taught to feel! I guess I had never realized to what extent this awakening really had an effect on minorities and how young it could take place. I think that helped me to understand the way that minorities sometimes act when they are in the Immersion stage. Before this, I would often get frustrated if a black or brown person asked “You’re white, why do you care?” (like the example of the women from the Jena 6 rally.) I would think to myself, because I’m a human being and I don’t appreciate discrimination no matter what the race is, but I would also be pretty annoyed with the person who questioned me. Now, I can think about the fact that a person who says something like this is probably just going through the process of Racial Identity and it is normal for them to feel bitterness towards me. I understand the fact that it is just a natural part of the process. Thu, 23 Jun 2011 19:32:31 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/22/week-6-%e2%80%93-lesson-10-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-people-of-color-stages-1-4/#IDComment165903878 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-3-4/#IDComment164402595 I share some of the same concerns as you for the “Prussian Blue” girls. I honestly could not believe what I was seeing when Richards showed that video. I have a tendency to be worried for children who seem to be forced into something by their parents (ie. Child beauty pageant contestants, child athletes), but this took it to a whole new level. We see all the time children exemplifying the wants and beliefs of their parents, but when it comes to discriminatory beliefs it is really disheartening. I also feel that there is probably no coming back from where these girls are at now and it really makes me upset. I wish they could have had a chance to hear other viewpoints before being pushed so far in the direction of white nationalism. Sun, 19 Jun 2011 23:12:44 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-3-4/#IDComment164402595 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-3-4/#IDComment164401494 I really enjoyed carrying on this discussion about the stages white people go through concerning race. I feel like these past couple lectures have really helped me to reflect on where I am in the world of race relations. These lessons have definitely been more of a reflection on myself than the first half of the class and I actually feel like my process of going through the racial identity stages is moving along at pace with the class. For instance, I didn’t give much though to my “whiteness” before this class. I wouldn’t say I was completely unaware, but I didn’t think of “Pre-Awakening” as an important stage to go through before taking part in race relations discussions. After learning about why I never thought about my whiteness, I began to realize it and understand more. Then, as we moved on throughout the class and learned about ethnocentrism and inequalities, I felt more informed. That’s when I realized I was fully in the Awakening phase of my journey. I could relate to the characteristics of being in that stage. For example, I could see how some people might want to avoid any further race discussion because of their fear of being politically incorrect. I also realized, that for me, knowing all of the information that Richard’s gave us and thinking about experiences I’ve had interacting with people of other races, there was no way that I could go on ignoring racial discussions. I feel that I took the third path and decided to really dig in and learn more about racial issue and race relations. Well, once we reached the third stage of Revisioning and talked about feeling guilty and feeling anger towards white people who are racist, I could relate to that stage as well. I took some time contemplating where I was at with all of this, and realized that I do reach out to people of color to learn more and just to discuss. I feel that I am at the point where I am revising my previous visions and getting out there to discover more. The thing that really makes me nervous about this whole process is the stage that we discussed at the end of the last lecture, Reversal. I don’t think I have had enough time in the Revisioning stage to have hit the reversal feelings yet. But, I do think that Reversal will probably come with more experience in race relations. I have already had some instance where I have been shut down or called out because of my questions or comments about race, but I haven’t had a real moment where I’ve given up on it. Basically, I’m just really not looking forward to taking a step back after I’ve come this far. It is a journey so I guess I’ll have to see where it takes me. Sun, 19 Jun 2011 23:07:23 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-3-4/#IDComment164401494 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-1-2/#IDComment162972659 I can definitely relate to what you are saying about being a white female. I never thought of myself as having a color either, and I like the way you put it as “having an absence of color” because I think that really describes how a lot of white people feel, including me up until starting this course. I also really “got it” when Richards talked about the “big moment” or the “light bulb” when someone realizes that they are of color, or gay. I realized that the reason I never thought much about my “whiteness” was because I was in the minority and I thought it was just “normal.” I finally realized that my being does really shape who I am and how my life goes. I thought this was all really eye-opening. Wed, 15 Jun 2011 21:07:33 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-1-2/#IDComment162972659 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-1-2/#IDComment162971601 I think that this was a great introduction to the topic we are finally reaching, Race Relations. I have to say, I initially thought we were learning about race relations the entire first half of the class, but now I realize that we were discussing race, but not so much how different races interact with each other. I think talking about racial identity and its stages really helped me, as a white woman, to actually come to terms with my “whiteness.” The examples Richards gave for the Pre-Awakening stage made a lot of sense to me. If you are part of a majority, (ie. Average height, right handed, able bodied) you never really think about that aspect as shaping your life. I can definitely relate in all of those examples that I rarely think about the fact that I am 5’6, right handed, able to walk, and white. It also makes sense to me that if you are part of a minority or an extreme, those aspects of you are things that you probably realize early on and think about on a daily or more regular basis. I definitely have never thought of race in this way before. I can say that I am pretty aware of my whiteness, especially from this class, but I think it’s true that I didn’t realize from an early on the impact that being white had on my every day life. I am actually thankful that I can now say I have contemplated and understand these things. When we started getting into the second stage of Awakening, I was interested to see that there were three paths a person could take once they’ve reached the phase. I feel that in my own experience, I have taken the last path, to learn about and deal with race. I never thought I had any other option. I was actually quite surprised to think that some people discover the “us” and “them” concept and decide to avoid it. That just doesn’t make sense in my book, but I like to learn, so maybe that’s why. I also find it pretty disturbing that people would choose to grasp on to their “whiteness” and take it to the “white supremacy” level. I think that discrimination, especially when you realize you are discriminating, is just wrong and it disheartens me that there are people out there who make the conscious decision of discrimination and racism. I feel comfortable in the path that I have chosen (attempting to understand more about race), even though it has the potential to be uncomfortable at times, and I wish that everyone else would move on in that way also. I don’t think ignoring other races or racial issues is an effective path at all in the world of race relations. Wed, 15 Jun 2011 21:02:57 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-1-2/#IDComment162971601 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/02/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality/#IDComment160691902 This lecture put into perspective the real inequalities of race for me. I couldn’t agree more that freedom and determinism both play parts in why things and people are the way they are and this lecture was able to show some examples of that, which I really appreciated. For instance, the “King of the Mountain” game helped show me why whites are generally at the top of society and how they have maintained that status over the years. It was mostly chance (Richards say 90%) how whites got there in the first place, but the advantages that come with having the power guarantee that whites stayed there. I was able to see how the people on top can make rules to keep themselves up there and make it harder for others to get there. I realized that nowadays governments (I’m talking democracies like the US) really can’t make laws that discriminate that blatantly. But, as we saw with the criminal justice statistics, the same basic idea is still there in some people’s minds. The numbers of black and brown incarcerations compared to the number of drug users was completely disproportionate when whites were considered under the same circumstances. It is clear that even though there are not laws out there stating things like “Black people get an extra year in jail for selling drugs than white people do,” the idea of protecting your own people is still in effect. I thought it was interesting to hear about the Post World War II GI Bill that gave 67,000 low-interest mortgage loans out to veterans. I was shocked that only 100 loans were given to black people and if it were to be proportionate, 7,000 should have been given to them. It was also interesting to think about what it would have been like if blacks and browns had received the loans that they should have in proportion to whites back in the 1940’s. Richards brought up the fact that 6,900 more households of black people would have been given an equal chance at middle class society as whites. That would affect the socioeconomic status of today even. 6,900 more black families would have been given a more equal starting line to play from in the competition that is American society. It makes me sad to think that they were purposely discriminated against even 100 years after the end of slavery. I did know that newly freed slaves had an incredibly difficult time trying to find any work or land after the Civil War, but I was unaware that so many years later, these types of things were still going down. I understand why people claim that “the man” is trying to hold them down now. The white man on top of the mountain really is trying to maintain his spot and push down anyone else who is trying to compete. Wed, 8 Jun 2011 17:49:27 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/02/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality/#IDComment160691902 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-5-social-inequality/#IDComment159751117 I also thought it was interesting that genetics only play some part of a role in determining if someone is going to be a good athlete. For instance, West Africans are better at sprinting because their bodies are just better built for it. Then, for more complex sports like basketball and hockey, it is hard to pick just one type of body build that is going to be the best at the entire sport. I have to say, I always thought that black people were better at basketball because they have a tendency to be taller and can jump higher, but now I realize that that is not the whole case at all. A lot of it has to do with the environment that these people came from. It makes sense that a more well off person would get into hockey and a poorer person would play basketball because it is free. I think it is interesting to look at the social structures that can determine athletics. Sun, 5 Jun 2011 23:38:11 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-5-social-inequality/#IDComment159751117 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-5-social-inequality/#IDComment159739300 The Social Inequalities lecture was so interesting to me. I have always thought that people are responsible for their own actions, but that their environment also plays a part in their development as well. This lecture put definitions to my thoughts with the “Free Will Position” and the “Social Determinism Position”. I think I may have previously aligned myself with the more liberal side of Determinism, mainly because I felt that I needed to defend that position with people (usually rich) that claim everyone is responsible for their own actions no matter what they come from, but after Richards’ lecture I do think it is smart to believe it’s 50/50. The example of the two different Penn State students, one skating through college as a four year party and one having to overcome financial and family obstacles throughout the way, really helped me to understand that life is really a lot harder for some people and they deserve the credit. One of the major things that struck me during these lectures was the comparison of the two schools from Oprah. First of all you gotta love Oprah, and second of all, that was completely shocking to me. I am an education major and I feel I am somewhat knowledgeable on topics such as school funding and standardized testing, but I have never before heard the statement that the number one determinant of SAT scores is family income. It makes perfect sense to me though. If a family has the money to send a child to a better school, why would they not want to do that? I’m sure that everyone wants the best for their children educationally. The real problem here is that local funding for schools is inherently unequal. When the girl asked the question at the end of the second lecture about why we don’t fix the inequalities between schools in such close proximity and Richard’s responded with “If you were a parent, you want the best for you children, so why would you want to spend you money on other people’s children?” I was a bit disheartened. I try to put myself in the position of a parent who wants the best for their child, but I just can’t get past the fact that other children are so much worse off. Maybe its because I’m actually not a parent, but that just doesn’t sit right with me. Maybe because I will be a teacher in the next year (pending that I land a job) I want what is best for all students, and that is a more equal education. I really wish that more people thought this way and realized that an appropriate education should be guaranteed for all children, not just the ones who can afford it. Sun, 5 Jun 2011 23:00:27 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-5-social-inequality/#IDComment159739300 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism/#IDComment158361804 I also didn’t have much experience, if any, with Arabs or Muslims growing up. At first when Richards said “Pretend that you are an Arab/Muslim and look at what I’m going to say from their perspective,” I was doubting myself. I kept thinking that I didn’t know much at all about their culture. And as you said, all I could come up with were negative images that were left in my mind from 9/11 and the War with Iraq. The sad thing is, that is not the whole picture. I finally realized this when Richards showed us the Arab perspective of an average college student. I was shocked that these were the videos and news reports that college students in Baghdad were seeing. They see one perspective and we see another. I understand that this is something that we all need to work on, seeing situations from both cultures’ sides. Thu, 2 Jun 2011 00:18:57 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism/#IDComment158361804 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism/#IDComment158014958 After watching this week’s lesson on ethnocentrism, my mind was pretty much blown. I have heard the definition of this term a handful of times before and thought I had a pretty thorough grasp of what it meant. But, this thought experiment helped me understand ethnocentrism in a completely new way. I truly can understand now that if you only see things through the perspective of your culture, you are not getting the entire picture. To think that the average Arab/Muslim college student in Baghdad has to form an opinion on the war going on based on the videos and quotes we saw in class was so disheartening for me. They are only seeing one perspective of the conflict. As we saw, those videos made some say that they were angry enough to actually stand up and join the insurgency. When thinking about this, I realized that ethnocentrism really does have blinding powers. On another note, this led me to think back to my semester abroad and living in the Spanish culture. My perogative was to try to learn the culture of the people in Spain and experience things through their perspective. I learned that assimilating was much harder than I thought with only the basic knowledge of the Spanish language. I have to say that it was much harder to separate myself from my “American” perspective than I had originally thought it would be. Of course there were some American students in my program who would complain about the Spanish customs and mock the differences they found, but for me, I just had a hard time trying to see things from a Spanish point of view because I didn’t understand the entire culture. So all of this led me to think about ethnocentrism in two ways. I had always thought of ethnocentrism as a sort of ignorance to other cultures. I would have also considered ethnocentrism to include looking down on another cultural practice because it is different than one’s own. But after today, I started thinking about ethnocentrism as sort of a natural process that one would go through when experiencing another culture at first. As we saw today, Arab/Muslims see these videos and news reports and form their opinions, but I think it would be pretty difficult for an Arab to come across American or International perspectives on this same war unless they really dug for it. For an average Arab/Muslim, this is, for the most part, what they are seeing and hearing. I don’t think that this is “ethnocentric” in the way that they form bad opinions about Americans knowingly. I wonder what other opinion they could possibly form with the information that they’d been given. I guess what I am trying to figure out is whether or not it is really “ethnocentrism” if it is nearly impossible to see a culture through that culture’s perspective when you are not a part of it. This is based on the fact that after five months in Spain, I can not say that I fully understand their cultural practices; I don’t look at them in a bad way, but I don’t understand them. But I can also say, that I tried really hard to learn the culture and participate in it. So is that ethnocentrism? Is it ethnocentric to not see things through another’s culture when you have tried but it is very difficult to do so with the time and information you have at hand? Wed, 1 Jun 2011 01:01:03 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism/#IDComment158014958 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/22/week-two-lesson-2-intro-to-race/#IDComment156166791 I definitely agree that the idea of Jesus being more similar to Middle Eastern people and definitely not white as porcelain was interesting. I also would be curious to see the results of a survey titled something like “Would you worship a man who was a completely different race than you?” I think that when Richards made the comment “Look, America dethroned Jesus!...” he was talking about Saddam Hussein. Remember he showed the picture of the hypothetical Jesus and it looked really similar to Hussein? I think that he was just making a joke about America or white people at that point. But nonetheless, he is a great teacher for saying whatever he thinks to get his point across, it makes the class that much more provocative. Thu, 26 May 2011 00:25:40 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/22/week-two-lesson-2-intro-to-race/#IDComment156166791 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/22/week-two-lesson-2-intro-to-race/#IDComment156164696 These lectures, once again, opened my eyes more than I had expected. I had never thought to question where the idea of “race” had come from before this week. I was always taught that race was physical and ethnicity was cultural, but “race” is more complex than that. Color of skin is physical; race is just a concept that a certain people (most likely Europeans) came up with to categorize everyone else in the world. When I think about it, it makes sense that this idea of race was created by one person to justify that another was not as good because it was an aspect of themselves that they could not change. Then, I wonder about what could have been if someone had never come up with this concept. I mean, it really is completely unnecessary. It is perfectly possible to describe someone in reference to their skin color without categorizing it hierarchically. Why is that that we have to group people together as “black”, “white”, and “brown”? And further more, how can anyone say that having one color of skin makes someone superior or inferior to another? As Professor Richards said multiple times during these lectures, it is impossible to define a group of people in some way based on their skin tone. Something else I found interesting was the reasoning for different facial features. I guess I have always attributed certain features to certain skin colors, but I never thought to question why this might be. When Professor Richards gave the examples of narrow or wide set noses, eye folds, and kinky or straight hair, I began to realize that all of these characteristics came about due to adaptation to climate. I also understand why these differences are less distinct now because of new technologies. These physical differences between people are all starting to come together in my head now. I admit my favorite part of the lecture that brought this all home for me was when the 4.0 student was asked to put fifteen other students in groups by race. I would have to say that I probably would have grouped the students pretty similarly. I was honestly shocked by some of the areas some of the students came form. For instance, a guy I was expecting to be white and have ancestors from England or Germany or something was from the Middle East! A few others threw me off too, and I would be completely surprised if anyone would have been able to group them “correctly”. The best part about this was the fact that it is impossible to actually “group people” because there are so many combinations of places that people come from. This exercise definitely made me recognize that race is just a human construct that really doesn’t define people at all. Thu, 26 May 2011 00:19:34 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/22/week-two-lesson-2-intro-to-race/#IDComment156164696 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/14/intense-debate-registration-id/#IDComment156156702 Hello Wed, 25 May 2011 23:56:21 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/14/intense-debate-registration-id/#IDComment156156702