Sam, Soc 119 is the second class of yours I’ve taken. Honestly, your classes have really opened my eyes up to reality. There are so many things in the world that we don’t understand because we choose not to see the truth. There’s so much we don’t know. I really feel that your class has completely changed my perception of the world and the people who live in it. We’re all in this together but what makes no sense is how we don’t work together to make it a beautiful world for everyone. I think that being intelligent beings is a blessing but also an enormous curse. Because we create and innovate so much we try and make claims to our accomplishments to benefit ourselves. But we don’t see the value in sharing those innovations with others. This is based on our global structure as a society. We create borders, elect leaders and dictate laws for everyone to be governed by. But are these qualities benefiting or inhibiting people? I think we’re restricted by fear. Fear of others, fear of change, new experiences and different people, cultures and beliefs. But we should be embracing those differences. That’s what makes humanity beautiful; The fact that we can be different and all equally contribute in different ways. Since taking soc 119 I definitely look at race differently. I see the value in everyone and everything. Sometimes defferences cause us to have negative opinions about people because we don’t understand them. But from our conversations I’ve really gotten to learn how people of different races and cultures think. Who they are and what they view as important. Ive learned that everyone has different beliefs and opinions and that can’t always be changed. But whats important is understanding how they’re beliefs are important to them and that your beliefs are no better or worse than anyone elses. I think moving forward with my life I’m always going to remember the life lessons I learned from soc 119. My new motto in life is we’re all going to die. I’ve adopted it. And it really is the truth. In life we’re all going to die and remembering that helps stay grounded and pursue the things I really want to do. I think I just view people differently now. Diversity is a good thing, and we should embrace it.

I’m definitely way more conscious of my thinking since this class. But I also feel that I think way more now. I don’t know if that’s good or bad but sometimes it can be stressful because I notice and understand so much more than I did before. I’ve always thought not enough people think, but this class is definitely making an impact on that phenomenon.

Great question. I wonder the same thing all the time. I’ve never understood the point of religion. I personally don’t believe in god but that’s not to say that I’m not spiritual. I think it’s kind of crazy to so narrowly define what you believe in based on the writings and perspectives of others. When you create beliefs that are true to you and what you already understand based on your own ideals you develop a much stronger knowledge about yourself and the world around you.

This is especially true when talking about the creation and development of churches. Most churches act to try and bring in members. They’re recruiting because they want to make money, gain power or try to spread their beliefs onto everyone because they are so close minded from being brain washed for their entire life. Religion is sales. They try to take advantage of people to propel their own religious agenda. I’m convinced that religions don’t truly care about the people that are a part of them. They’re there to fuel their own mission. That’s it.

I actually just had a personal experience with this sort of thing yesterday. One of my friends sent me a letter asking for donations to help his Christian group go on mission in Walt Disney World to try and spread the word of god. I threw the letter away. First of all why are you trying to preach about god at a place people go to ride roller coasters and grope mickey mouse all day. Secondly, why are people in religions so insecure about what they believe in that they feel the need to convert the whole fucking world. Get the fuck out of my life. I’ll believe what I want to believe and I don’t care if you think you’re right and that I’m going to burn in hell or something. Honestly I like warm weather more anyways and it’s gotta get pretty breezy up in heaven. God damn that would give any Christian a heart attack.

Personally I believe in the tangible. There’s a greater power out there beyond our control. We are microscopic organisms in a universe so big we can’t even comprehend its scale. For people to think that we are the center of it all, created from a magical being is ridiculously ignorant. Hasn’t the religious community seen when Horton hears a who? It’s a metaphor, get it?! I think the whole concept of religious organizations is a waste of peoples time and money. Discovering what you believe in comes from within, not from without. Don’t let a book define what your reality is. When you can reach a level of understanding about yourself then you are truly enlightened. By accepting everything that is told to you about the world you are closing yourself off from figuring out what the world means to you and broadening your horizons through thought.

First of all, Willie you’re my boy. I really think there is a huge cultural difference in America because of the white and black social context. The white guy was criticized for thinking it was funny because there is a common stereotype in this country that white people are inherently racist. This is based on preconceived notions of white culture but also the expectations about race that’s created by the white population of the US. The majority of the people who criticized the white kid in class were also white. This completely reinforces the white notion that they have to avoid racially related discussions and interaction because they feel they are still in debt for slavery. But I guarantee that the majority of minority citizens really don’t care too much. White people take race extremely seriously because they feel in debt to minorities and are ashamed. Although many whites wont admit this or say otherwise, it exists on an unconscious level. Part of white assimilation in to mainstream culture is dealing with race issues. But our issue is not deflecting being the target of race issues but mitigating the white actions and appearance of racially related activity.

The reason the Asian guy thought it was funny was because he was able to laugh at his own people and culture. This happens all the time with race. We make light of racial issues with humor. While it doesn’t really solve any race related problems, it helps us manage the complicated playing field of race. Also, it’s important to take into account that the majority of students in our class are white. So, while these students feel easily capable and allowed to appose the white students opinion of the funny video, they cant do the same with the Asian students. Its like they view him as a credible source to talk about race. The white students feel comfortable judging the white student because they understand the white context of race. They have no understanding about the Asian context and therefore don’t feel comfortable to criticize it because of their lack of understanding.

I will admit, I thought the video was absolutely hilarious. But that’s because I saw the video as having an entire different meaning. Southern California and USC have an enormous Asian population. But more so, they have an enormous amount of Asian immigrants. Football is not a sport in their country and therefore they don’t understand it and just don’t really care. I saw the video as just showing how all these foreign students don’t really give a shit about football. I guarantee that If we did the same thing on the psu campus we’d get the same exact results. Its not an Asian thing. Its just that football is central to our culture and not for theirs.

When it comes to our involvement in the Middle East I do not trust the media at all. It’s a façade. A ploy to capture public opinion and focus it in a positive manner to increase American pride, which in turn, increases support for the war. It’s mainly propaganda. But the news also serves a very different, important element to help the networks bring in viewers, increase ratings and turn those numbers into advertising dollars: entertainment. We’re supposed to trust our news sources (although I really don’t think anyone trusts Fox News haha), but how can we? Everything is reported in this mentality of American pride and they use American symbols to try and influence national pride. But it’s all fake, and very little of what we see on the news is the truth. I’m not saying they’re straight up lying to our faces, but they’re not reporting the entire story, just the story that the American people WANT to hear. You never see stories about the massive amount of civilians who are killed everyday in the middle east because of our actions, bombs or overall involvement. And why should those things be reported? That would be too depressing. How am I supposed to enjoy my hot latte on my back porch while watching a beautiful sunrise on a Spring morning when my mind is clouded with the sad thoughts of small Iraqi children being blown to pieces by American soldiers. It would not be enjoyable.

But that’s the issue! We aren’t told things because we don’t want to hear them. We’ve turned off a portion of our mind that allows us to empathize with people we are at war with. But both sides hate each other equally, just for different reasons. But nevertheless is for the same purpose. Our Media blinds us from reality. It’s halfway to fiction. They are the creative artist of deception and the TV screen, Internet, or newspapers are their canvas. You’d think they have an obligation to report all the facts, but they don’t. However, you can’t totally blame them. It’s all the American citizens’ fault. We don’t want to hear these things. We force to media to limit our knowledge about controversial issues because we as American citizens avoid controversy to all extent. We’re afraid of it. We don’t want to believe the US can do anything wrong. We’ve put ourselves on a glorified pedestal because we are always told by our corrupt political leaders that we have the greatest country in the world. But by what standards? Having the most money? Yes. Owning the greatest military force? Definitely yes. But doing good for the world and creating and influencing peace? Hell no. We are misguided about our nation because we are only shown, and choose to believe that which fits into our perception of what the United States means to us and represents within our own borders.

First of all, that’s pretty shocking! Going through the job application process has to be extremely nerve racking, and I’m sure it places a lot of stress on people who are less attractive. Also, that hiring ideology probably fuels public perception about beauty standards. I can understand the concept of that hiring practice; Companies want to appeal to clients in as many ways as possible, and in a country where everyone is basically the exact same ethnicity and racial orientation, there is not a lot of waver in the markets and target audiences. In America there are companies who will offer their products or services to specific groups: African American, Hispanic, Asian, White, etc. But that’s because of the diversity of the US. There are many different markets, thus allowing for more people from different backgrounds to find jobs in fields that may be more specific to their culture, race or ethnicity, thus creating different standards.

Although it’s easy to say that job applicants should only be judged by their skill level and experience, but that’s never the case because that’s not what business is about. The core of business is being able to sell your company, product or service to your market. And when it comes to sales, more is dependent on the person selling rather than their ability to execute. It’s simple, if you develop a connection to a person, whether it be physical, based on personality or character, or ideological, you’re more likely to buy from them than someone you have no connection to. The term sex sells, while cliché, is a true statement. Attractive people are viewed as more credible than less attractive people. They are seen as strong individuals and trustworthy, two characteristics that are vital for business. So in a country where 99.9% of the population is relatively the same they need to find a way to make decisions about who to hire and who not to hire.

South Korea does exactly what the US does when it comes to discriminating job applicants. Applicants in the US are discriminated based on race in the US. Because that is not really an option in South Korea because of their lack of racial diversity, they discriminate by attractiveness. It’s essentially the same exact concept as in America just with a different twist. In the US, employers may think people of color are inadequate to work for them. This is based on stereotypes as well as fear from a lack of understanding about other racial groups. The same happens in South Korea, except instead of focusing on race, it’s whether or not your ears are proportional, have strong facial features and probably are tall. I bet height has a lot to do with it. But either way it still seems kind of messed up.

What is the driving life force? The golden question. Why are we here? What purpose do we serve? What is this world we live in? Religion has been created to answer these questions. But is it really explaining our purpose? Religion only looks at our existence in the perspective of the human experience. We have an extremely limited knowledge about the world – that includes the entire depths of the universe – we live in. With billions of other galaxies out there how can we say so ignorantly, with the most confidence, that we are the only other intellectual beings in the universe? The odds are against us. If life exists elsewhere then is there any profound importance to our specific existence? I’d say no. We are tiny. A mere spec in a world so large we cannot possibly fathom its size. It’s like the old Dr. Suess book Horton Hears a Who. Except I think a lot of people would not appreciate referring to gad as a hippo played by Jim Carey.

But still, if we know that we are irrelevant in the grand spectrum then what’s the point of our lives? How do we go on everyday not realizing how little we are? To get past those thoughts we develop meaning around our existence, hence religion. But for atheists, such as myself, it takes a different motivation. First you realize the sheer vastness of our world, and then succumb to it. By doing so you can free your mind to see the way things are versus what we wish for them to be. By doing so, you develop a deep spiritual connection to the world around. The earth is a beautiful miracle. And by appreciating its beauty in the context, not of science, but of the unknown it’s more captivating. Face it, just saying god created everything is not that cool. I imagine a guy sitting in a room with a sketch pad having breakthroughs about what rocks should finally look like. Isn’t it way cooler to think all the beauty on our planet, all the wonder of the universe, and all the questions about our purpose is the true beauty.

Life is a gift. By chance we somehow were blessed to have the opportunity to live. Why we are alive, I don’t know. But maybe the purpose for our existence simply hasn’t been showed to us yet. By our universes standards our planet is still young. Humans haven’t even matured into a seasoned race. Once we mature and learn how to solve our differences we will then be able to use our intellect and knowledge to do beautiful things. Abolish racism, hatred, country borders, greed, and focus our efforts of hatred towards doing positive things, maybe even save our planet from early extinction due to our carelessness. We have the opportunity. We just need to take it. Maybe it will answer all our questions.

Race and religion are two entities that are simply separate from one another. I love the point you make about if god is intended to be perfect, and all he creates is perfect with a specific intention then how can race exist. In class i've been getting very frustrated by the ignorance of many of the other students. I'll sit there trying to listen to you talk and I hear kids saying "fuck this guy" or "he's insane". The fact is they're blind to the the truth because they choose not to accept a different mode of thinking. They're basically taking the easy way out. I think a lot of people misjudge your lectures for preaching when really they're intended to challenge our intellect and expand our thinking process past our previous conceptions, whatever those may be. It's easy to say, oh screw that this is bullshit, but to say hey maybe there's some truth in there, I may not agree or want to believe it but it may exist; now that's hard.

For people with racial hatred, especially whites, they are blind to reality. Our racial characteristics are based on survival. And that's it. My hair is straight and my skin is white because i'm designed to survive in cooler climates, where as a black person with nappy hair is designed to exist in much warmer climates. That's the extent of it.

A lot of people got really upset when you were discussing religion with race, and that really makes me angry. Again, it's all these close minded people. They're focusing on the religious element of what you're saying, when all you're doing is disproving race by using god, and our perceptions of god, as a method to get you're point across. But it's true. So many people who are extremely religious are also racist. Talk about an oxymoron (emphasis on moron). It just doesn't make sense to me. Ignorance is swirling around us, and we create stereotypes to fuel that ignorance.

Humans can be quite misguided by their beliefs and social doctrines that govern our way of thinking. But if each individual takes a look in the mirror and asks why am I the way I am, they'll see that it's for reasons that extend no further than getting through each day alive and well.

This story entirely reflects the discriminatory nature of the people in power. They view themselves as superior because they hold an esteemed position in society. But their success is more a product of sociological factors than their earned merit. Because they’re lucky enough to have opportunities in their life allowing them to achieve powerful positions in society, they feel that others are inferior, and attribute their failure with visible factors such as race, ethnicity, culture, and SES. It’s a skewed perspective that coincides with my previous post about the elitist perception of power and how that reflects on minorities. Mayor Maturo is a culprit of our elitist society. His off comment statement about supporting the Latino community in East Haven by purchasing tacos clearly shows the perspective of powerful whites. Because all they’ve known, for the most part, has been success, they create explanations for their failures. IT’s quite ridiculous how racially inconsiderate many people in this country and around the world for that matter are. Because of language barriers and SES differences we seclude ourselves to our groups and develop hatred for others due to their differences. I think in a lot of ways that speaks to human nature. Maybe we just won’t ever be able to get along. We’ve fabricated so many stereotypes for different races and ethnicities it’s quite embarrassing. Like the taco comment. I wonder how many whites make living selling tacos. I’m sure whites profit more from the taco industry than Latinos due. And why should they? I mean after all the American way is to take what isn’t yours and spin it as your own. Pizza for example, stolen from the Italians. Whenever a mew group comes to the US we terrorize them, diminish their worth and take their culture away from them and try and frame it as American consumerism. More like bullshit.
I’m also not sure if Maturo’s apology was genuine. Did he really mean it, or was he just doing damage control? For a city with a reputation of police brutality and mistreatment against the Latino community his words definitely fall short. There’s also not a single Latino on the police force. Ironic or just commonplace? There’s connections here, and it’s a common theme around the country. Immigrants are attacked for being different from the major power holders. All they want to do is create a better life for themselves, but are portrayed as taking away from other Americans, which is a ridiculous statement seeing how basically everyone in the US is an immigrant of some sort. My mother is an immigrant from France. But because she was white she never had an issue being accepted into society. I guess her SES had something to do with it too. In this day and age immigration discrimination is not about country of origin like in the early 1900’s, but about race.

I think there’s a very clear cut way to understand race issues like this one. Although there is enormous racism all across the globe, American racism is rooted in elitism. We’re an elitist society and have a culture revolving around the concept of being the best; whatever that may be. Our elitist nature comes from many different areas. Consumerism, politics, military force, economic strength (although not recently), size, and wealth. We perceive the US as the supreme nation, better than the rest. But we are flawed in our perception, something that we have been culturally assimilated to believe as true. What makes this the best nation? Everyone will have their own opinion. A soldier might say military power, an immigrant freedom and economic opportunity, a middle class white man corporate America. Everyone will have different opinions and reasons. This also reflects the race issue. We all want to be the best, so we racially or ethnically create reasons and explanations about why our individual race is better than all the others. Maybe you’re skinner is lighter, make more money than other races, or have a richer cultural heritage than another.
When I watched this video I felt the elitism pouring through the screen out of the mouth of that republican white male. He presented the story in a way that devalued Hispanics. If you have a crew of Hispanics that are putting out forest fire’s who only speak Spanish, then they obviously need to be led by a Spanish speaker. People’s lives are at stake here! Who gives a shit if a few white guys lose their jobs, as long as people are safe. That’s what’s ridiculous. Priorities become skewed when strong racial views become involved. All of a sudden it’s not an issue of safety and efficiency, but of race. Something that’s constructed by people about people. I doubt Hispanics are less capable than whites of putting out forest fires. People are blinded by their ignorance. They see a language barrier as a reflection of intelligence. They believe that because they can’t understand someone, what their saying isn’t worth anything. They immediately discount their intelligence because they feel their language is superior. It’s another factor behind racial hatred. We take differences and use them as excuses to support elitist mentalities.
I can’t believe that this is what the media presents to the public. There’s no newsworthy element to this story, just the opinions of some racists in power who have their priorities messed. Videos like this fuel the hatred that drives racial tensions and elitism. It doesn’t make any sense. The only way we can overcome beliefs like these is to step back and really analyze ourselves and how we fit in to the context of humanity. By looking through an outside lens we can gain a better understanding that racism is really a waste of one’s mental capacity and time.

Every American media source will pick up stories about a suicide bombing or attack on a nation in the name of Jihad. Because of this, those images of radical Muslim’s is the only one Americans have and therefore attribute all Muslim’s to be like that. That communal opinion by the majority of Americans has shaped the American perspective on the entire Islam religion. As a society we have a fabricated perspective about Middle Eastern religions because of the image presented to us by the media. But Americans need to have more media literacy and understand that the horrific atrocities that are shown to us on TV are just a small minority of Muslims, and is not a representative sample of the entire religion. But this is not an unknown practice. Every religion has radicals. Take Terry Jones, the preacher who burned to Qaran, or the preacher on campus who yells at everyone and tells them they’re going to hell. These guys are radicals who have a skewed literal interpretation of their religion and book of worship. Like in anything you’re going to have people who get it and those who don’t, it doesn’t change in religion.