More often than not we are told that as long as we work hard the sky is the limit in terms of how far we can progress socioeconomically. Nothing could be more far from the truth then this. We live in a country that would like us to buy into this American dream in order to ensure that we remain on the hamster wheel that continues to pump out money for those that are truly benefiting from the labor that us hamsters are putting out. The American dream is hardly ever more than that; it is just a dream. Or in the case of us hamsters it is more like the carrot that is constantly dangled in front of us as we run exhaustingly on our wheels. It is always within our grasps but never actually able to be obtained. And those on the top of the mountain would like it to remain that way. The most powerful thing that you can give or take from a person is hope. The American dream provides hope for the vast majority of people that will never amass the riches of the select few on the top of the mountain. The paradox of this is that the few of the mountain know this and do whatever they can to not only ensure that they stay on top of the mountain bur also to ensure that these people hold on to the fallacy laden American dream. For if theses hamsters were to ever stop running after that unobtainable carrot, those people at the top would fall of their mountains. The American dream is a fanatical fairy tale that is told to most Americans almost as early as we can understand money and that those who have more can do more. We are told our entire lives from movies, media, our friends, and family members that we can achieve anything that we want so long as we work hard for it. This system of disillusion has reinforced itself for long before any of us were ever even thought about. This system will continue long after we are all gone too. See the thing about the people at the top is that they do an amazing job at securing their positions. But hey I am just a small hamster in a cage waiting for my opportunity to grasp the unobtainable carrot. I feel that as long as these people at the top continue to wield hope in front of our noses without allowing us to obtain it they will continue to be the true profiteers of the American dream.

The struggles that lie ahead are both disturbing and discouraging. I pray every day for not only this generation but for the next one. This may sound a bit cliché but with the advent of social media has come much power and even greater responsibility. Sam and Laurie raised an interesting discussion last class. Just the previous night I had been having the same conversation with my girlfriend. I was a part of the twenty-percent that didn’t feel Joe Paterno had been treated unfairly. I do not consider Joe Paterno to be that much a part of my identity. This may be because I have never attended a single game during my entire collegiate career. Whatever the reason I still felt a great deal stronger for the true victims: the children. I do not believe that this incident in anyway should discredit any of the myriad of accomplishments that Joe Paterno achieved during his tenure at Penn State. However, I do believe that his actions or inactions rather were inexcusable. As a person who has come to be the face of our prestigious university and nothing short of a deity on our campus he bore much more of the burden and responsibility because of the enormous amount of power that we have all entrusted with him. I really believe that to feel that he was in anyway used as a “scapegoat” or that he was treated unfairly is tantamount to insanity. Firstly, he is not the victim in this entire scandal at all. His inaction revealed a flaw in the god that is Paterno. It revealed a chip in the crown of the man that we had come to call “King”. Granted there are many individuals that failed these children by downplaying and downright covering up these accusations, none held more power and pure ability to bring about a resolve than Paterno. The leads I to question an even greater threat to the well being of our children and us moving forward: us. How can we create a hierarchy and value system within our society that places the heroes of sports and competition above the marginalized and helpless? These children and their struggles have become almost a back story to travesty that is the firing of our beloved Joe Pa. I think that we as individuals moving forward should really began to question why we think and act in the way we do. I think Sam was on to something when he was referring to those so called “invisible strings” that affect both our acting and our thinking.

Giving the indigenous people back their stolen land would be the moral and ethical thing to do in a utopian world. Unfortunately, we do not reside on a utopian world. There are no living individuals in the United States for which we could try or prosecute for the horrendous offenses (not limited to land theft) that the European settlers committed. So it isn’t as if we can go after the people responsible for these original crimes. Although the crimes were unjust I believe that it would be just as unjust if we forced the ancestors of the offenders to bear the burden of the crimes. To propose that descendants be responsible for the actions of ancestors is ludicrous. This has often been the same argument that has been used by advocates of reparations for slavery. If we were to say decide to give all Native Americans back the land that we now refer to as the United States, how would we divvy it up? Who would be eligible for the land? Those who have any Native American ancestry? That means a white man with some distant native relative would be eligible to receive these lands. Even if we only limited the reparations to those that were one hundred percent Native American, how would we exactly transfer the land to these people whilst taking it away from millions of people who had nothing to do with the initial injustice? These are just a few of the myriad of irresolvable questions that we would face if we as a people entertained the idea of giving back land to the indigenous peoples. We all know that what was done and what is continued to be done to these people is horrible. But there is no feasible way that we could possibly begin to repair the damage done to these people. Much like there is no feasible way that America can pay back African Americans for the horrors of slavery. Affirmative action makes an attempt but still doesn’t even brush the surface. I believe that the only way that we can really begin to move towards some repair for these crimes is to help to redevelop the current socioeconomic systems that indigenous people currently are suffering from. The video that was showed earlier in class outlined some key issues. The people living on the reservation were unable to find work. Maybe by attempting to bring job opportunities to these people could be a start. I know that this may seem like a small thing but I am sure that the people living in these impoverished conditions would beg to differ.

This is a very interesting question that my classmate has posed. I was actually just speaking with a friend of mine about this. In some ways I agree with this statement but in other ways I do not. I feel that a person’s deciding to express racism is determined by the type of person that they are not the race. Yes there are African Americans who are blatantly racist. Yes there are White people who exhibit latent racism. However, just as there are Africans Americans who are blatantly racist there are white people who are blatantly racist. And just as there are White people who exhibit latent racism there are African Americans who exhibit blatant racism.
I feel that there are some White people who exhibit latent racism. I feel that some White people are more likely to do this because they know the history of racism and in some way understand how sensitive of a subject it can be for black people. However I feel that some white people almost can’t help but be slightly racist because of what they are taught or raised around. I believe that white people are sometimes hesitant to exhibit racism because they are afraid of the consequences of that behavior. No white person with a conscious or heart wants to be labeled as a racist because they know and understand how wrong and hurtful it can be to African American people and people of the races in general.
I feel that African Americans are more likely to be blatantly racist only because at some point it was done to their ancestors. It is almost like they are trying to prove a point and help white people to understand the feeling of being the minority. African Americans are more likely to express their racist beliefs while white people will tiptoe around the feelings of black people.
On the other hand there people who are not African American blatantly racist. Just as well there are White people who are more likely to be blatantly racist. I feel like again it has to do with a person’s background. If a person of a certain race is taught to be racist then they are more than likely to be openly racist.
As an African American man I do not feel that is appropriate for people of any race to be openly racist. African Americans are not entitled to make white people feel inferior or badly about their race regardless of the history of racism. If anything I feel that we as African American should work to not have any person of any race have to deal with inequality as we had to. At the end of the day racism is wrong and we all were created equally. None of us are perfect therefore with every human being having flaws no one is inferior.

Black men are considered to be at the bottom of what it means to be masculine in this male centered world. We are slandered and typecast as lazy, dangerous, volatile, promiscuous, stupid, able to be easily manipulated, or as the “exception”. The “exception” is the black man who manages to somehow not fall into any of these characteristics traits that are apparently inherent in all black men. I will be the first to admit that there are actually black men like this. There are also white men like this; Asian men like this; Indian men like this; Hispanic men like this. I say this to say that being a black man has allowed me to be able to identify all of these ridiculous stereotypes and also develop a great sense of pride in working to prove each and every one of them false. Being black has not only shaped my world view but it is my world view.

This statement may sound remedial but it is highly important to me for several reasons. From a biological standpoint, difference and more specifically variety is encouraged, cherished, and valued. In this regard, being born a white person would have granted me the privilege of being unique to the perceived “normal race”. The peoples of the world (especially white people) are undeniably attracted to black people. Whether that attraction is manifested as utter desire or utmost detest it is still attraction. I for one am very grateful and flattered by these infatuations. Being a black male more specifically has allowed for me to witness firsthand the prejudices that have been fueled by fear and misinformation.

My race has not only shaped the way that I view the world but it has also defined the world that I am able to view. Being a black person in this world is inexplicably difficult. Being born black in a world where the people perceived as your inherent “opposite” are also the perceived as the inherent “dominant race” places an extreme burden on all people of color. Although being black has had its obvious disadvantages, it has also allowed me other intangible privileges. Firstly, being born a marginalized individual allows for me to see the world in a more realistic way. White people often walk around with an invisible veil over their eyes that doesn’t allow for them to see the inherent advantage that they have benefit from. Fortunately, I do not suffer from this horrible case of naivety. Also being black allows me to be different.

I recently had a pretty intense conversation with my girlfriend about this very same issue. I asked her “why do you wear provocative clothing that attracts men if you’re already in a relationship?” Her response was expected but I thought it was a very poor reason. She replied: “I wear sexy clothing because it makes me feel sexy.” For fear of escalating our conversation into an argument I refrained from probing her more as to why she felt what she wore defined how sexy she was. My girlfriend’s response reinforced what I already believed about people and what defined their sexuality. Earlier in the semester we had discussed beliefs about what led to the outcomes of individual’s lives. We distinguished that every individual’s life was influenced by one of two things: free will or determinism. I realized that my girlfriend’s decision to wear what she feels makes her “sexy” is not actually her own. Her decision, like every other individual, was based off a mix of free will and determinism and had been made for her many years before she was born. Clothing that women her age define as sexually appealing is defined by the men who manufacture, produce, develop, and promote this ideal “sexy” look. Men, fortunately, don’t have to bear this burden because we live in a male- centered world. This is the primary reason that men can essentially wear nearly whatever they want to wear and still be able to be considered attractive. This does not mean that men don’t adhere to these same predetermined decisions. Men to an extremely lesser extent can be sometimes forced into these same defined ideals. These situations are probably most prominently expressed when it comes to fashion trends. We all have at least one time or another succumbed to fashion trends. Determinism isn’t necessarily a negative thing. Fashion trends allow for people with differences to identify with one another based off of what they’re wearing. This can allow for people who, under normal circumstances would not have interacted with each other. I personally believe that whatever a woman “chooses” to wear to make herself feel sexy is alright by me so long as it is truly her decision. When it comes down to it, women will continue to adhere to all of the fantasies that the powerful decision making men decide to promote. She’ll probably kill me for saying this but, in the case of my girlfriend, I wanted to tell her that I think that she looks amazing in whatever she has on and equally as amazing in whatever she doesn’t have on.

Where I feel that stereotypes cross the moral line is when they begin to infringe on the rights or opportunities of other people. This is when a stereotype becomes negative. This is the case when stereotypes are negatively activated in the form of lost job opportunities or in more extreme cases blatant discrimination because of preconceived beliefs about an individual. I feel that we as human beings are inherently good beings. Everyone is born with the ability to recognize difference. If we as a species mature to the point where although we notice difference, we fail to assign superficial rankings of better or lesser when it comes to other human beings. This maturation I speak of may only exist in a fantastic utopia. In conclusion, stereotypes provide people with life’s “easy button” in terms of learning about the other individuals in our world.

. I have come to realize that they reason that I adhere to these obviously fallacious beliefs is because they allow me to not have to put much thought into other people. If I don’t interact with any of the many people that I see on a daily basis I can enjoy the comfort of not having to thoroughly investigate their differences or even get to know them for who they are. I can simply mentally write them off as being “just that Asian girl” or “just that white baby” and so on and so forth. It’s like another one of our brain’s autopilot functions. We don’t have to process or put much thought into who this new person actually is. I believe that this thought process (or lack of thought process) is a good thing in the sense that we don’t have to actually get to learn or know something about each individual person in the world to assess if they are a threat or non-hostile.