en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/4255923 Comments by Ldc5102 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/04/20/voices-from-the-classroom-156/#IDComment343914361 In response to the video prompt, I have concluded that my parents would not be more open if I were LGBT or in an interracial relationship. Coming from an extremely conservative family, my parents would have none of me dating someone of another race, or being gay. Unfortunately, their close-minded thinking is the result of experiences in their childhood. Both my parents grew up in the Deep South, with ultra conservative parents. My parents met at the University of Alabama and then later their work took them to New York City. Thank goodness for this, as I was able to grow up in a more accepting society, in which I was able to experience more than just the conservative ideas at home. While I am not gay, it is unfortunate to know that if I was my parents would not be accepting of me. Coming out and telling them would not help, as I believe they are set in their ways. However, this is not necessarily their fault, as I attribute it to their isolated experiences growing up. Both my parents grew up in rural Alabama, where there was no one who was openly LGBT, and no one dated those of other races. As a result of this, they were unaccustomed to the diversity of people that lived in New York. My upbringing was vastly different from theirs, thanks to where we lived. Growing up in Manhattan, I naturally was used to seeing those who were LGBT, and thought nothing of different races in relationships. Our hugely different childhoods, left me more cultured and understanding, while my parents were set in their ways. All my childhood I felt saddened, even embarrassed by my parents backwards and old fashioned views on how people should be and act. It was hard for me to understand why they couldn’t move along with the times and accept people for who they were. Due to this, I often shielded my friends and acquaintances from my parents, because of the fear that they may say or do something inappropriate or embarrassing. As a result of all this, I am saddened to say that my parents wouldn’t be more willing to accept LGBT and interracial relationships, if I were to be involved in one. Due to their conservative upbringing, they learned to oppose these lifestyles, and tried to push me down a strict path throughout my childhood. However, thanks to my childhood in Manhattan, I have become accustomed to those that are different from me, and thus do not discriminate against them. Throughout my life, I will continue to work to culture my parents, so that they catch up with the times. In today’s modern world, there is no room for hatred and racism. Sat, 21 Apr 2012 03:37:00 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/04/20/voices-from-the-classroom-156/#IDComment343914361 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/04/12/voices-from-the-classroom-148/#IDComment338259783 When someone tells me a story whether I believe it or not is not the most deciding factor of if I retell it to other people. Unless it is a really crazy story I will usually not follow up and research to see if it is true or not. A lot of the times I will retell the story regardless if I truly believe that the story is true. Sometimes I do not believe the source for any reason and will not retell the story. And other times I believe the source without a doubt and will definitely retell the story. If someone tells me a story and I think it is good enough to retell then sometimes I will look up to see if it is really true if I just can not believe that it is actually possible to be true. If it is true then I will retell it, if I find out while looking it up that it is not true than I will not retell it. However, if I do not go out and look to see it is true then when I tell the story I would probably just end the story with saying “someone told me” or “I heard from someone.” I have a couple friends who when they tell a story or pretty much even say anything we do not believe what they say. I still love them but a lot of what comes out of their mouth is a lie. When they tell a story usually regardless of how strongly they try to convince me it is true in the back of my head I have doubt that it is true. If I believe the story is a good one to retell then when I retell it to friends I will usually at the end just tell them the person who told me the story and a lot of times the person will laugh. If the person I am telling the story to does not know the person who told me the story then I would just tell them it is from an unreliable source. In contrast there are certain people who tell me a story and I believe it without doubt. When these certain people tell me a story I do not feel any need to go out of my way and research to see if it is true I would usually just believe it. I would not end the story with saying someone else told me it or anything like that. There are not many people who I believe unconditionally like this but when I retell a story from one of these people I would retell it with assurance that it is true like it is my own story. Fri, 13 Apr 2012 16:29:02 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/04/12/voices-from-the-classroom-148/#IDComment338259783 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/03/29/voices-from-the-classroom-139/#IDComment327912010 According to the woman in this video, there is a difference in treatment in areas which are highly populated with African Americans as opposed to Caucasians. She claims that the areas which are “troubled” have extensive security measures and the white areas do not have equal security, although they both have crime. The speaker does have a reasonable argument, however, there are reasons for the increased security in the troubled neighborhoods. The speaker claims that her niece can travel through a white neighborhood and point out all of the drug houses that sell drugs in the schools, however there isn’t any extensive security measures in the school. In her school, she has metal detectors, sniffer dogs, and security guards present. Why the difference? In areas with money, drugs are an issue. However, the selling and illegal possession of drug rarely turns violent. When there is little or no violence, this type of activity can easily go under the radar. Drugs are a major issue in white wealthy areas because kids have the capability to purchase drugs- expensive drugs too. In the more ghetto, troubled areas, there is less money. With less money, different types of crimes take place. Instead of drug trade, there is more stealing, fighting, and violence. This type of crime attracts the presence of police officers and security guards because fights need to be broken up and prevented. As opposed to white areas, the police officers wouldn’t have much to do because the kids act good in public but really sell drugs behind the scenes Is it fair that students in ghetto areas are “targeted” more and have a better chance of getting caught? Absolutely not. There is no justification for more security presence in troubled areas. The problem is that security officials do not realize the low key illegal activity that takes place in wealthy white areas. From there perspective, they don’t think anything is going on, however the students in the school know what happens because their friends are the ones who are buying drugs. A black student in a troubled area has a better chance of getting caught doing the same crime that a white student is doing in a wealthy area, which is a problem. Police need to be present in wealthy areas and focus their attention on drugs. They can be successful at catching students who are committing felonies by using sniffer dogs and getting inside knowledge from students and offering rewards for those who give up the drug dealers. Furthermore, crimes are taking place in both wealthy and ghetto areas. The difference is that there is heavy surveillance in the ghetto areas, making it more likely for a black student to get caught as opposed to wealthy white student who is committing a more serious crime. This happens because the type of crimes being committed are different; in ghetto areas there are more fights in violence, and in wealthy areas there are more “white collar” crimes. This is unfair and can be changed by increasing drug task security in wealthy areas. Fri, 30 Mar 2012 16:17:22 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/03/29/voices-from-the-classroom-139/#IDComment327912010 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/03/22/voices-from-the-classroom-132/#IDComment322975801 As a white male growing up in America, I have been considered in the majority—not the minority for most of my life. With the United States comprising of nearly 75% of the population identifying themselves as “white,” I have been labeled the majority for most of my life. However, I encountered my first experience feeling like a minority when applying to college. It sounds funny that I may feel like a minority with this regard, but the town I come from must first be taken into effect. The town where I live does not send many students to four-year colleges, in fact almost no one leaves the town after high school. In my town there is a prominent lumber mill that employs nearly 50% of the towns population. As a result, many students go to work for the mill after high school graduation. The pay is fair and often you cannot fault someone for choosing that over the debt that a four-year college brings. Among those that do choose to attend schooling after high school, most attend the local community college just ten minutes down the road. As a result of these two options, most of my classmates have not left the town that they have grown up in all their lives. Therefore, my decision to come to Happy Valley is extremely unusual with regards to where I am from. When I first began applying to colleges, I had no idea how to do it or what to do. Unlike all of my classmates, I had to research schools, take the SAT, and search out the guidance councilor for necessary advice. While my peers casually finished their junior year and looked forward to summertime, I was madly looking for schools and taking trips to colleges. Due to my unique situation, I felt like a minority within the town I was living. I had made up my mind that I wanted to attend college, and had to deal with the challenges that came my way. After finally choosing Penn State, I experienced more minority feeling once I arrived. When moving into East Halls the fall of my freshmen year, I met many great kids on my floor and in my building. However, I couldn’t help but feel like the odd man out when it came to where everyone was from. Penn State, being the State University of Pennsylvania, obviously has a majority of student from Pennsylvania. However, there are also a great number of students hailing from the Northeast. As a Southerner, there were very few people from my state, and almost no one from my region. As a result, I experienced minority feeling when this occurred. While white males make up the majority in America, I experienced minority feeling with my choice to come to Penn State. Fri, 23 Mar 2012 22:45:00 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/03/22/voices-from-the-classroom-132/#IDComment322975801 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/03/15/voices-from-the-classroom-122/#IDComment317886636 With regards to the video, Lana raises a valid point by explaining that the media does not show us everything that occurs, and therefore dictates what the general public knows and thinks. This point is especially accentuated through some people’s claims that from a political perspective the media is leftward slanted. This claim holds especially strong with Republicans, who criticize the media for showing only leftist influenced news. However, while Republicans harangue the media for strongly slanted news channels like MSNBC, there are also similar rightward leaning news stations. Fox News is the main channel that Democrats complain about holding a conservative viewpoint on everyday news. These news channels’ slanted views upon the everyday happenings of the world make it hard for us normal citizens to get a complete and unbiased view of what it occurring world wide. However, often times citizens don’t realize the bias, or even embrace it. While many Republicans complain about leftist media, and Democrats about the conservative Fox News, ultimately these same Republicans blindly follow Fox News while Democrats accept the leftward bias existing on MSNBC. The problem with trying to make our media more objective is citizens who are polarized refuse to not support the stations that hold their specific views. The citizens are hypocritical in the sense that they complain about bias but support the bias when it favors their side. Therefore, as citizens we cannot rely on one single news source for updates on the world, and the Middle East in particular. In order to gain a good understanding of the news, I try to watch a variety of news stations, read a assortment of newspapers, and read a diverse group of articles from different internet news sites. The more news we consume from an array of sources, we can dig beneath the bias and understand the shreds of truth that exist within each article or news report. While the medias news reports are important, we can never believe too much from one particular story. Each story or news report is slanted to some extent, so no report or article can be taken verbatim as the truth. Instead of believing all of the news I see, I look for the bits of truth in each report and therefore piece together the truth through a multitude of sources. In the future, we must call for a less biased media, in order to better understand the world. However, even when pressuring for a more objective media, we must still explore a variety of sources of news in order to seek a better and more accurate truth. With a greater amount of news from a large array of sources, we can understand the world around us and thus become better global citizens. Fri, 16 Mar 2012 22:39:03 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/03/15/voices-from-the-classroom-122/#IDComment317886636 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/03/02/the-kiss-seen-round-the-web/#IDComment308905778 I understand there are many homophobic people in this world and in this country however I never understood why people have continuously commented on gays in certain professions. Some professions that people believe gays are not capable of doing include sports, labor, and in the military. What irks me most about this is the people who are commenting and complaining about gays in these professions, a lot of them are not in the profession themselves. I hear a lot that gay people do not belong playing football, or baseball, or basketball when the people saying this are not even close to capable of being a professional athlete. Everyone is allowed to have their own opinion on any subject, but it’s not opinion if someone is a great athlete it does not matter whether they are gay or straight. Even worse is when people complain about homosexuals in the military. When someone is willing to sacrifice their lives for their country and the rights of the citizens of that country, who are you to tell them that they should not be allowed to do so. Especially the people who are sitting comfortably on their couches at home while the soldiers are giving life and limb for their country. If you do not believe in gay marriage that is one thing but telling someone they cannot pursue a profession because of theiur sexuality is out of line. The story about the woman who was not allowed to take communion at her mother’s funeral is just disturbing. I know the Catholic Church is against gay marriage and all that, but you would think a man of God, such as a priest would have some compassion for a person who just lost their mother. The fact that the Bishop apologized for the actions of the priest shows that the catholic Church as a whole does not stand for behavior like that and it was an isolated case of a single individual, but you would think that this country would have come farther along by now. What perplexes me is that there have been so many injustices to groups of people based on their race, religion, nationality and such in the history of this country and pretty much all of them have been reversed in the court systems and are now commonly viewed as unjust practices. However, gays and lesbians are going through forms of injustice today and the government has not come out and say this is unconstitutional. It just seems like common sense these days. It is obvious that our country is not done changing and nor it should be. Racism, homosexuality, and all other prejudices are one thing, it is not easy to change belief systems, but basic human rights is not something we should still be fighting over. Mon, 5 Mar 2012 21:51:41 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/03/02/the-kiss-seen-round-the-web/#IDComment308905778 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/02/17/asian-stereotypes-and-the-world-of-sports/#IDComment300122210 The fact that ESPN was even able to publish that is a little ridiculous. If it had been the example Sam gave or a slur about a black player there is no way that would have made it past the person who first thought of that, ESPN would have shut it down right away. I can’t believe that they did not realize that they would have to apologize for this immediately after it got published. I mean this is ESPN we are talking about, the biggest media company in sports. This is a big example of how people are less sensitive towards racism against Asians. If this were about a black or brown person there would have been a huge deal made out of the headline. When racial slurs are pointed towards Asians, for whatever reason no one makes a big deal out of it. For some reason people forget that Asians went through the same discrimination and injustices that other races and cultures endured. When you think of stereotypes of Asians are that they are smart and good at math, they are not the worst stereotypes to have but they are still twisted to make fun of Asians. Jeremy Lin’s rise to fame as the Knicks point guard has more to do with the fact that he is an Asian American than his skills at basketball. A lot of people have made a big deal about this and there is a lot of talk about it. Personally, I do not think it is big deal or bad that most of his fame is because he is an Asian basketball player. It is pretty significant because he is one of the first Asian American basketball players to have success at this level. Any time a player is the first of his race to break through in their sport a big deal is made. Look at Tiger Wood’s and what he did in golf as one of the first African-American golf star. I’m sure when an African-American rises as a big hockey star there will be made a big deal about it. Another reason for Lin’s stardom is that he went to Harvard. Not only is he a good Asian basketball player, he’s smart too. Anytime players come out of the Ivy League in to the pros people make a story out of it. I think that Jeremy Lin’s story is just the big headline right now because he is Asian, but once all the hype calms down and Lin proves that he is a consistently good player, less of a deal will be made about his race and more will be made about his skills at basketball. I’m going to go watch some Linsanity against bitch ass LeBron. Thu, 23 Feb 2012 23:53:49 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/02/17/asian-stereotypes-and-the-world-of-sports/#IDComment300122210 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/02/08/voices-from-the-classroom-99/#IDComment288366187 I do believe that white people shy away from conversations about race, however I believe that everyone shies away from conversations about race. When I am with my friends whether they be white, black, Asian, Spanish, or whatever other race we have no problems talking about race. I believe it is more of a comfort ability thing than anything else. If you are with a complete stranger no matter what race it is likely that you will not talk about a subject that is as touchy as race is in this country. The history of race relations and injustices in America goes as far back as the history of America. No one ever wants to talk about that topic because everyone in this country has a different outlook on it and what you say no matter if it was meant to be hurtful or not can hurt someone. That is why when you get comfortable with someone and get to know their personalities and feelings it is a lot easier to have conversations about touchy subjects whether it be race or anything else. The on going conversation we have been having in class is why white people are scared to talk about race. I think that everyone is uncomfortable about having conversations about race. There have been so many problems started in this country between people because they say something out of line about race even if it is unintended. I think black people, Asian people, Spanish people, Indians, Native Americans and everyone else is just as careful about what they say when it comes to race. The thing is that when anyone thinks of a racist the first thing someone in this country thinks of is a white person, and to be more specific they are probably thinking of a white person from the south. While a lot of white people are more careful when the subject of race gets brought up so is everyone else, it is just that people are probably already looking at the white person because they have in their mind that we are already watching what we say or feel uncomfortable. We have been talking a lot about why race is such a little talked subject and why people get so uncomfortable when speaking about race. However it is not just race that people try not to talk about, it is anything that can bring up a heated argument where people get angry. You always hear people say don’t talk about politics with people because you don’t know people’s thoughts or beliefs. The same is with religion, sexuality; these are all uncomfortable subjects that people do not want to talk about with people they do not know, not just white people. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:35:36 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/02/08/voices-from-the-classroom-99/#IDComment288366187 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/02/02/voices-from-the-classroom-97/#IDComment283324155 First of all, this is a topic of discussion that I find very interesting, and I do believe that minority students apply to colleges expecting an advantage in acceptance. Affirmative action makes it so that If two students are equal in merit than the kid who is a minority will almost always have the advantage. This is a a fact so why would you not expect that. As a white person I expected that if me and a black person had the same grades and the same amount of extra curricular activities that the black person will probably get accepted over me. I don’t personally find anything wrong with it, affirmative action was made for a very good reason, and although it is not the ideal solution to the problem of white supremacy it is the best solution we have right now. My high school was very diverse so this was a very big issue when I was applying to colleges. I had many conversations with people; black, white, Hispanic, Asian and more about this topic. Typically white people found that affirmative action was unfair while most minorities thought that it was very fair. White Supremacy is a real problem and if it was not for affirmative action then they would have a much bigger disadvantage than white students do because of affirmative action. Although I do not believe that affirmative action is a bad thing, to answer the question, it not only is expected from minorities, it should be. Many organizations, such as companies or schools, are obligated to maintain a certain level of diversity, whether it be Hispanic, black, or any other minority. With this in mind, it can be expected that organizations would pick a minority over a white person if the two applicants are equal in merit. Furthermore, the situation and expectations are a two way road. As a white person, I expect a minority applicant with the same qualifications as me to obtain a position before me, because that is the way it is. It is society’s way of dealing with the injustices that were practiced against any types of minorities across the country for hundreds of years. So, I can only assume that a black person would, and should expect to gain a position over an equally qualified white person. I do not feel that the system in place today is either absolutely right or absolutely wrong, but I do know that it is the way these types of situations work nowadays, which is why it should be commonly accepted and expected to happen. Adding on to this, someday in the future this system will become out of date and it will come to the point where everyone will be treated completely equal. Sat, 4 Feb 2012 02:55:14 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/02/02/voices-from-the-classroom-97/#IDComment283324155 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/01/24/voices-from-the-classroom-91/#IDComment276086047 Personally, I do not have enough money to donate to any sexual abuse awareness organizations right now, but when I do make money donating a portion of it is something I would do to help the cause. Right now the best I can do is help raise the awareness of how big a problem it is in our country and our world these days. I think the biggest problem about this epidemic is the lack of awareness about it. People do not know how prevalent it is in our country right now. Even after the Sandusky news broke out people do not know how ramped it is and I believe when this whole scandal dies down people will go back to not worrying or knowing about the problem. The best way to help solve this problem is raising awareness and funding any amount of money that you can to the organizations. The biggest reaction to the Jerry Sandusky and Penn State is anger and hatred towards Sandusky, the school, and anyone involved in the scandal. While these are pretty heinous accusations towards the alleged perpetrators, hatred and anger is not going to solve anything. Wasting your time being angry with people like the late Joe Paterno, who may not have done anything wrong in this case does not help victims of sexual abuse. Boycotting anything and anyone who has something to do with Penn State whether or not they had something to do with the scandal is not going to help the victims. Even staying angry with the alleged child molester, which all clues point to being guilty, Jerry Sandusky will not benefit any past or future victims. The most positive way to contribute to this cause is to help the people who have already been subjected to crimes like this and to try and help preventing these things from happening in the future. Unfortunately sexual abuse is a growing problem and it is more likely that someone who was sexually abused as a child is going to commit sexual abuse when they grow up. It will not be easy to put an end to this problem and it is going to take time, but if people start to realize there is a huge problem and start to collectively make an effort to put an end to it, eventually it will get better. Because it is so common for victims of sexual abuse to turn into predators, I believe the best way to solve the problem is to make sure these victims get help. If they are properly counseled and given proper methods to cope with their experiences then eventually their will be less victims who turn into predators, which will make less victims. Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:49:00 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/01/24/voices-from-the-classroom-91/#IDComment276086047 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/01/19/alabamas-migrant-workers-colberts-perspective/#IDComment269911178 The topic of illegal immigrants in the United States, especially ones from Latin America is a very heated and complicated situation in this country right now. Steven Colbert is a very intelligent and funny man. The Colbert report is a great show and he has some very interesting opinions, however his sarcastic take on the illegal immigration debate that the solution is very clear-cut and obvious is not how it really is. Illegal immigration is a very tricky subject; on one hand the work that these illegal aliens are doing needs to be done, and they seem to be the few people in this country who are willing to do the cheap, intense labor. On the other hand you have to worry about the lack of jobs in this country and whom they are going to. While Steven Colbert may make it look as if there is a quick solution, there definitely is not. Alabama recently passed an immigration bill that harshened the penalties on illegal immigrants and anyone who was harboring them. This caused for all the illegal immigrants to flea from Alabama fearing they might be arrested. Now, everyone in Alabama who was probably for the passing of this bill is starting to realize that this might not be so good for them. The fact is that we need people who are willing to do cheap labor for this country to operate. The people who are willing to do this are mostly the immigrants and nobody seemed to care while the economy was good and there was not a shortage of jobs. However, now that the economy is struggling and there is a shortage of jobs people want the immigrants out to free space for more jobs. That is why Alabama and other states have harshened their laws on immigration. However, the people who were complaining are not willing to do the amount of labor the immigrants were doing and that has caused a shortage in production. One solution is to lift these laws and allow the Mexicans and other immigrants to stay here. This is not a great solution because it will open the doors for more and more immigrants to come here in huge numbers. Another option is to keep these laws, but if this is the case it is up to the people not the government to solve the problem. The problem is that there is not enough production, so if the law is upheld the American people who are unwilling to do the labor will need to roll their sleeves up and start working. I can not offer a clear solution because I do not have one, but I do know that, while funny, Steven Colbert’s take on this is wrong even if he did predict this happening. Fri, 20 Jan 2012 21:39:04 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/01/19/alabamas-migrant-workers-colberts-perspective/#IDComment269911178