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		<title>gdp's Comments</title>
		<language>en-us</language>
		<link>https://www.intensedebate.com/users/762987</link>
		<description>Comments by MashedPotato</description>
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<title>Race Relations Project : South Park...off the hook?</title>
<link>https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/south-park-off-the-hook__trashed/#IDComment70879779</link>
<description>I hate everyone, okay I take it back.  But I hate everyone who looks at the media and takes personal offense to anything that is there. on tv, on the radio, in newspapers, n the internet... your all idiots.  I personally think that the people in this class would love this sort of stuff because it says exactly what everyone is afraid to say.  I am a huge southpark fan, even though I am jewish and there is a quota of 2 jewish jokes per episode.  family guy, american dad, all sorts of stupid shows like this are exactly the same, they all make fun of minorities and even the majority just to be funny, get over it people ... but i really really hate everyone who looks at the media and takes personal offense to anything that is there. on tv, on the radio, in newspapers, n the internet... your all idiots.  I personally think that the people in this class would love this sort of stuff because it says exactly what everyone is afraid to say.  i didnt go to class for this... or maybe I did and just wasn&amp;#039;t paying attention, but I think that sam richards couldnt handle this kind of humor.  he is all talk when it comes to these kinds of things.  He is always contradicting himself when it comes to this kind of stuff.  I cant even think of any more words to write here, im just gonna copy and paste what i already said  everyone who looks at the media and takes personal offense to anything that is there. on tv, on the radio, in newspapers, n the internet... your all idiots.  I personally think that the people in this class would love this sort of stuff because it says exactly what everyone is afraid to say.  I am a huge southpark fan, even though I am jewish and there is a quota of 2 jewish jokes per episode.  family guy, american dad, all sorts of stupid shows like this are exactly the same, they all make fun of minorities and even the majority just to be funny, get over it people ... but i really really hate everyone who looks at the media and takes personal offense to anything that is there. on tv, on the radio, in newspapers, n the internet... your all idiots.  I personally think that the people in this class would love this sort of stuff because it says exactly what everyone is afraid to say. but i really really hate everyone who looks at the media and takes personal offense to anything that is there. on tv, on the radio, in newspapers, n the internet... your all idiots.  I personally think that the people in this class would love this sort of stuff because it says exactly what everyone is afraid to say. </description>
<pubDate>Tue, 27 Apr 2010 16:54:58 +0000</pubDate>
<guid>https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/south-park-off-the-hook__trashed/#IDComment70879779</guid>
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<title>Race Relations Project : Christian Invaders - the turnaround</title>
<link>https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/christian-invaders-the-turnaround__trashed/#IDComment68745086</link>
<description>To be completely honest, I do understand exactly where Sam is going and what he is talking about, and I understood what he was saying long before I took this class.  My response to this blog falls pretty much in line with anything I have said in my discussion groups about enthocentlrism, how people feel about popularity, my blogs on movies and other television ratings, is that this problem when it comes down to it is all about the money.  I actually gave my CAS 100 speeches on this exact topic.  When Sam asked the question at the beginning of the class about terrorism or whatever it said on the front of the board, I sent in a text message response that said, &amp;quot;They probably look at us as if we are the terrorists, ETHNOCENTRISM at its finest.&amp;quot;  And it really is, although the media portrays so many other reasons for why we need to be in the middle east fighting wars, it is painfully obvious to anyone who has study any form of economics that we are there for the oil.  We rely so heavily on oil that if they cut off our supply we literally would have no idea what to do.    And thats why this topic comes down to money.  We need the cheapest oil possible to keep our prices down or else our economy, our government, all of our infrastructure, practically our entire way of life would drastically change.  Destroying the middle east and stealing their oil is a lot easier and a lot cheaper than investing billions in research and development to find effective alternative energy.  Although the government probably has had the technology to run cars as efficient with electricity as we currently do with gas, they are notorious for keeping that stuff to themselves for fifteen to twenty years before they share with the rest of us.  Plus, even though we are investing tons of money in alternative energy, it is going to take a long time to make the transition, and we need their oil to get us through until we fully make that transition.  It is going to take hybrid cars in every single garage, and other huge changes for us to be able to make the change.  I am happy for Sam Richards that he understands their point of view, but I do not think that this is the most compelling thing in the world to grip your hands around.  It makes sense from a sociology standpoint, an economics standpoint, a political science standpoint, and probably could be justified in many other areas at well.  Who I am really concerned with are the people who don&amp;#039;t understand this point of view.  We are college students and supposed to be enlightened to these issues.  For the people who have never thought about this before, shame on you. </description>
<pubDate>Sun, 18 Apr 2010 21:19:24 +0000</pubDate>
<guid>https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/christian-invaders-the-turnaround__trashed/#IDComment68745086</guid>
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<title>Race Relations Project : What if we got rid of welfare?</title>
<link>https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/what-if-we-got-rid-of-welfare__trashed/#IDComment65813392</link>
<description>i think that the answer to this question is more than about just welfare... although I do think that poor people would go crazy and have no idea what to do if we got rid of welfare.  I think that the answer to this question is more about change in society.  We are so incredibly reliant on the way things are set up now that to change anything essential in society everyone would lose it.  For example, if they got rid of trash men and collection of trash services, there would just be trash all over the place right? because it would be so hard for us to just bring our own trash to wherever the trash men bring it to? how would we do that? what a crazy idea.  when in reality, if we never had trash men, we wouldnt think that it was a big deal that we had to drive five minutes to drop our trash off at whatever facility the trash men bring it to.  we would just do it and be thankful that we had a place to bring all our trash and they would do something about it.  I think the same principle applies to welfare.  Welfare in itself goes against everything democratic and having a free market in the united states.  If we continue to give people hand outs they will continue to rely on hand outs and never learn how to do anything for themselves.  My belief is that programs that give people a hand... welfare, affirmative action, etc.... are only making those people weaker.  I appreciate the fact that people are born into worse situations than other people but I have seen examples very close to me where people are born without anything and become incredibly wealthy.  My grandfather was born dirt poor.  His father worked odd jobs and they lived in public housing and projects in various cities.  By the time they made it to the Philadelphia area, they would live in apartments for 29 days and on the 30th day of the month they would leave in the middle of the night because they never had the rent money to pay.  He spent most of the first years of high school living in slums, until he dropped out of high school.  Sounds like someone who is going absolutely nowhere in life right?  Exactly, however, he found a camera in a dumpster and fixed it and began going door to door taking photographs for people.  He built up his business until he got a place in the mall, and then partnered with Macy&amp;#039;s one year to set up a santa claus photo booth in the middle of the mall.  He patented his idea, and now he is disgustingly filthy rich.  He has four houses, upwards of ten cars, three boats, owns dozens of buildings, etc.  Point being, he didnt have welfare and he made it, while I have seen people with welfare live on their check and sit on their ass doing nothing to advance their lives because they know they will have enough money to at least feed themselves.  People should stop making excuses to live their life like that, but it isnt easy for them when the government makes it harder for them by labeling them worthless and sending them petty cash to live with.  screw the government </description>
<pubDate>Sat, 3 Apr 2010 21:52:54 +0000</pubDate>
<guid>https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/what-if-we-got-rid-of-welfare__trashed/#IDComment65813392</guid>
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<title>Race Relations Project : What are all of you thinking about Asians?</title>
<link>https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-are-all-of-you-thinking-about-asians__trashed/#IDComment64271165</link>
<description>I have a bunch of Asian friends, I went to a high school with a pretty high percentage of Asians in the school, and I even have Asians in my family, and can say with out a doubt I have absolutely no idea how to tell apart different Asian groups. I am not talking about like Indians and Chinese people, I mean like Chinese, japanese, korean, whatever else there is (as there are probably hundreds of different groups) I really cannot tell them apart at all.  I know that I have friends of different backgrounds that I have mentioned, but I do not know any of the differences between the groups.  I think that the differences are probably pretty huge to them because in my high school I know that the Asians segregated their groups of friends based upon nationality but I still could not tell them apart.  The truth is, I really don&amp;#039;t care what nationality they are, whether they are Chinese, or Thai, or Japanese; It really doesn&amp;#039;t make a difference to me.  That may sound ignorant, but I don&amp;#039;t care in the same way that I don&amp;#039;t care if a European is from Germany, Belguim, or the Netherlands, either way it makes no difference to me.  I couldn&amp;#039;t care if an American is from Texas, California, New Jersey, or Maine, I think way too much attention is put on the differences in races and nationalities.  People are just people and thats all they are ever going to be.  Not that this is related directly to the question, but this is my blog response so I&amp;#039;ll write what I want... While I was traveling Europe one thing I really learned is that people are the same all of the world.  I met kids in my generation from all across the world and they had basically the same views on the world that I did.  It was pretty much at that point that I found myself thinking that all of this race relations crap was pretty meaningless.  In my abroad classes they had sessions on how we had to act according to the culture and all that, but when it came down to it I didn&amp;#039;t act any differently and no one had a problem with that.  I met people from every continent on earth and we interacted just fine.  I think it is a little pathetic that anyone generalizes and stereotypes people when they meet them on an individual level when deep down everyone knows that things arent true.  I also think that this idea comes with education, and I am a little disappointed in my discussion group because I expected my peers to be more educated and more aware to the BS in all of this.  Back on to the Asians, I love Asians, I even dated an Asian girl for a little while.  To be honest, I have no idea where her family is from... I don&amp;#039;t think that it ever came up because it isn&amp;#039;t something that I ever cared about.  Come to think of it, I have asian cousins and I don&amp;#039;t know what kind of Asians they are.  I wonder if they would be insulted or if they wouldn&amp;#039;t care either.  I don&amp;#039;t care that they probably don&amp;#039;t know that I am German. </description>
<pubDate>Fri, 26 Mar 2010 23:54:49 +0000</pubDate>
<guid>https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-are-all-of-you-thinking-about-asians__trashed/#IDComment64271165</guid>
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<title>Race Relations Project : What&#039;s With the Theme Parties?</title>
<link>https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/whats-with-the-theme-parties__trashed/#IDComment63580932</link>
<description>I already commented on this but when I saw it again on the website i just had to say once again... INGORANT </description>
<pubDate>Tue, 23 Mar 2010 02:48:17 +0000</pubDate>
<guid>https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/whats-with-the-theme-parties__trashed/#IDComment63580932</guid>
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<title>Race Relations Project : What&#039;s With the Theme Parties?</title>
<link>https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/whats-with-the-theme-parties__trashed/#IDComment63006133</link>
<description>this is probably the most ignorant comment i have seen on this website </description>
<pubDate>Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:29:39 +0000</pubDate>
<guid>https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/whats-with-the-theme-parties__trashed/#IDComment63006133</guid>
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<title>Race Relations Project : I Reckon She Can Hit</title>
<link>https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/women-and-sports__trashed/#IDComment62797775</link>
<description>When I saw the title to this post and read Sam&amp;#039;s little portion to the blog I really expected to write a few paragraphs tearing up women in football and rejecting anything this woman had to say.  After watching the video I have to admit my opinion is completely one hundred and eighty degrees opposite.  I actually laughed out loud at myself while watching the video because of how wrongfully I stereotyped this woman.  As a a high school athlete, I could never have pictured myself playing for a woman, but this woman does not even think about the fact that she is a woman on the field.  It seems like she doesn&amp;#039;t even know that the male vs. female thing is an issue or that anyone would have a problem with it, she just loves the sport and doesn&amp;#039;t really have any other agendas.  It is so refreshing to see someone without any other agenda just doing something because they love to do it.  I think that is the reason why I originally thought I was going to be annoyed by the video.  I thought she was going to be raving about the fact that she is the first woman football coach in a male dominated sport and loving the publicity she was getting.  She wasn&amp;#039;t trying to promote any gender equality or anything she sort of shrugged those questions off like she had never even thought about that before.  If she had been the opposite I could never play for her, but since she didn&amp;#039;t care about that, why would I?    I also loved the fact that she was so lady like.  She didn&amp;#039;t have a deep manly voice or an aggressive attitude, she was very reserved and polite and soft spoken.  If we did the activity like in the discussion group where you wrote something someone wouldn&amp;#039;t know about you on the back of the paper, she would probably be the last person in the room that I would guess wide receiver or defensive back.  I normally get annoyed and emotionally heated while writing race or gender relations blogs but this one is different because it is completely the opposite type of issue.  The gender issue doesn&amp;#039;t exist here to this woman.  It is still a news story because not everyone else is as comfortable as she is with the situation, but this lady is probably the epitome of what Sam Richards hopes to make every individual in the world.  She doesn&amp;#039;t look at things as male or female, or put restraints of society on how she should view things, she just views them, plain and simple.  For lack of a better word its beautiful.  I want to see her at practice beating the crap out of high school boys until they puke in training camp.  For players with an issue having a woman coach, man that has got to be demoralizing. </description>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Mar 2010 16:48:47 +0000</pubDate>
<guid>https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/women-and-sports__trashed/#IDComment62797775</guid>
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<title>Race Relations Project : Are Whites the Only People Willing to Humiliate Themselves?</title>
<link>https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/are-whites-the-only-people-willing-to-humiliate-themselves__trashed/#IDComment59953529</link>
<description>I&amp;#039;d like to start by saying that I do not think there is an issue here.  The purpose of prime time network TV shows is to get viewers so that sponsors will want to pay high prices for commercials.  However they choose the contestants and for whatever reason is up to them and I do not se it as racist at all.  I don&amp;#039;t understand why people are such fools for the media, who cares about this stuff?  There are all black television shows also, movies with only black people in them, commercials, advertisements, whatever.  You don&amp;#039;t hear any white people complaining that they need to be on BET or in the movie Boyz N the Hood.  Whatever demographics networks and movie producers are directing towards is up to them, and they aren&amp;#039;t doing it because they give a rats ass what you think, they are doing it because they know they can get a certain number of people to tune in.  I wonder if there is anyone out there who really doesn&amp;#039;t think that is true?  After reading through a lot of responses people have been tending to use the phrase that networks only care about &amp;quot;the bottom line.&amp;quot;  I wonder what the girl who asks this question thinks, because to everyone else it seems pretty obvious.  As to sams question, is it only white people who are willing to embarrass themselves.  My answer to you, are you kidding?  Have you ever seen flavor of love? Do you know who Al Sharpton is?  Have you ever watched a football game and seen Chad Ochocinco or Terrell Owens?  Black people are clearly equally as willing to embarrass themselves.  In fact, I find it that black people often think it is cool to embarrass themselves, bragging about how poor they are, how crappy of a place they live in, and how much crime they commit.  I know black people who are more embarrassed to say that they have money or are smart than they are anything else.  Why the hell does anyone think that is cool?  Obviously white people are poor, live in crappy places, and commit crime, but how often do you see a white person bragging about how shitty their life is.  I realize that this is totally unrelated but it doesn&amp;#039;t make any sense to me.  Back on topic.  People as sooooo many questions about the media and race, but when are they going to get it.  The media is about money. Money.  One more time, MONEY.  They dont give a hoot what the opinion is as long as it&amp;#039;s making money.  They don&amp;#039;t put black girls on the bachelor unless they are really hot according to their viewer demographic, which finds white women more attractive, which is why there are white women on the show.  How crazy of a concept is that? Their goal is to make money, so they do things that make them more money.  Wow, gold, right there, just gave you gold.  </description>
<pubDate>Fri, 5 Mar 2010 23:07:50 +0000</pubDate>
<guid>https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/are-whites-the-only-people-willing-to-humiliate-themselves__trashed/#IDComment59953529</guid>
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<title>Race Relations Project : Native Americans: Question Three</title>
<link>https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/native-americans-question-three__trashed/#IDComment59041994</link>
<description>I think that people aren&amp;#039;t as effected by this issue as sam richards is for a few reasons.  First of all, most people in the room really can not relate to what he is talking about even with the pictures and data he shows us.  There is poverty all over the world, and I think maybe it doesn&amp;#039;t really hit home for people unless they experience it first hand.  Also with that being said, there is poverty all over the world.  It definitely sucks for Native Americans that so many of them are poor, but there are a lot of other people living in poverty as well.  In my opinion, the story of the Native Americans being poor doesn&amp;#039;t reach me any more emotionally than hearing about any other homeless or poor person.  Sure, their land was taken from them, but that was a very long time ago, way before black people were slaves, and black people aren&amp;#039;t just living in black colonies complaining about it, they are fighting for rights and making it a priority for things to become more equal.  I also just don&amp;#039;t understand the issue fully, which is another reason that other people probably don&amp;#039;t feel as bad for them also.  In class, we learned that the native americans are poor, but thats about all we learned about them.  Sam does a terrible job of giving specific examples on this topic, probably because either there are none or he just has no idea.  We just know that they are poor, and he equates that in class since there are so many of them that are poor to racism.  Maybe there is racism going on, but how am I supposed to know that.  I&amp;#039;ve never seen or heard anyone say or do anything racist against a Native American.  That doesn&amp;#039;t mean that it doesnt exist, but I would understand better and feel more for their situation if I knew of some more specific examples.  I don&amp;#039;t include the whole red nigger thing because every racial, ethnic, color, anything group are called mean names and that doesn&amp;#039;t hold them back and keep them in poverty.  Another reason why people really dont recognize this as a huge issue is because they don&amp;#039;t know many or any native americans.  I&amp;#039;m not talking about people who have native american blood, im talking about people who live on reservations and only associate with native american and nothing else.  If you dont experience something first hand, its hard to understand well.  Everyone knows a black person who feels as if they are being oppressed and countless other racist examples.  I just have never seen any native american being held down because of their race, if anything, I have seen native americans who were proud of their race.  I dunno, Im gonna die before anyone figures this out so who cares. </description>
<pubDate>Sun, 28 Feb 2010 01:56:28 +0000</pubDate>
<guid>https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/native-americans-question-three__trashed/#IDComment59041994</guid>
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<title>Race Relations Project : LGBT Class: Question Six</title>
<link>https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/lgbt-class-question-six__trashed/#IDComment57385793</link>
<description>This is a good question, but I think that it really can be answered.  That being said, I think that there are a few pretty legitimate reasons why lesbian women are more accepted than gay men.  First of all, women in general, or at least as it is perceived, are more sensitive than men.  They usually have a softer touch and are more caring and understanding so it would seem natural for them to have a relationship with anyone.  Women don&amp;#039;t change their demeanor towards other women if they are lesbians.  As the more sensitive, softer, caring, and understanding gender, they treat other women lovingly even if they aren&amp;#039;t lesbians.  On the other hand, straight men do not treat other men like that.  I am a straight man and I do not hold my friends in my arms as they cry if they are upset or say to my friend, hey your butt looks great in those jeans.  Women do stuff like that whether or not they are gay so people who feel uncomfortable about homosexuality don&amp;#039;t notice it when women do it while they would when a man does it.  If two women are holding each other in bed they could be straight or gay (in accordance with their caring touch and all) but if two men hold each other in bed they are clearly gay.  I think that the innate differences in mens versus women&amp;#039;s natural born personalities have a lot to do with why people judge lesbians different than gays.  Also, when a woman is a lesbian, at least from my experience, I would never be able to tell just by looking at them.  Sure there are a lot of butch lesbians that I would look at and thing, damn that girl is a dyke, but you can&amp;#039;t really tell because there is really nothing that a lesbian can do to dress or prance around like she is a lesbian to show of her lesbian-ness.  On the other hand, gay men (not saying that they all do because they obviously don&amp;#039;t all fit the flaming gay girlish category) are very recognizable.  I do not identify with this opinion, but people don&amp;#039;t like things that are different.  Gay men (the flaming gay kind) act differently than normal men.  This stands out to people and makes them feel uncomfortable.  Even if someone is not uncomfortable about homosexuality, they don&amp;#039;t see it necessary to have it waved in their face.  In my own opinion, I could care less if a man is flaming gay.  In fact I have a flaming gay hair cutter and he is the man.  Another reason, that I can&amp;#039;t really explain to myself is the sexual aspect of the relationship.  I have never seen true lesbians have sex, only porn so I guess my opinion is somewhat skewed, but hot girls going at it is sweet.  Something about dongs in other dudes butts just disgusts me.  In fact I just threw up a little bit in my mouth when I wrote that.  Maybe someone else can explain that better. </description>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Feb 2010 03:33:17 +0000</pubDate>
<guid>https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/lgbt-class-question-six__trashed/#IDComment57385793</guid>
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<title>Race Relations Project : Swinging Past the Other End of the Ideological Spectrum on the Way to the Intellectual Gray</title>
<link>https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/swinging-past-the-other-end-of-the-ideological-spectrum-on-the-way-to-the-intellectual-gray__trashed/#IDComment56566372</link>
<description>Rarely do I find myself feeling like someone is completely full of it, but Professor Richards really grinds my gears.  I want so badly to be able to get something out of this race relations class but the baseless arguments that he presents are so blatantly &amp;quot;un-academic&amp;quot; (for lack of a better vocab word) that I not only does it pain me to pay attention, I despise his arguments.  I have taken mushrooms (the drug), and would confidently be able to say that I could only relate to him if I was on mushrooms.  He sounds to me like he is stuck on an acid trip and is so far down the rabbit hole that he can&amp;#039;t get out.  Sure his lectures are true, but they are common sense on a remedial level.  He makes a habit of contradicting himself left and right and never really says anything meaningful.  He never really answers anyones questions, and hasn&amp;#039;t uncovered ANYTHING.  He puts the things that everyone else knows up onto power points and then makes assumptions (based on his own opinion) and presents them as facts.  I am insulted that he is aloud to teach at Penn State and upset that I am wasting tuition money on his class.  Onto the topic at hand, obviously people are born into different races, classes, and walks of life.  On the other hand, obviously people&amp;#039;s decisions effect what the outcome of their life is.  Sam Richards says that he is &amp;quot;giving us gold&amp;quot; but I don&amp;#039;t understand whatsoever why he thinks he has imparted any knowledge on us.  I wonder if there is anyone in class (well obviously there is) who thinks that this is a breakthrough in the field of sociology.  I wish that I could learn something from this but I just don&amp;#039;t see it.  Every single concept in this class has the same underlying meaning, people are all the same.  If anyone coming into the class didn&amp;#039;t know that, which in itself would be sad for them, if they don&amp;#039;t know by now they shouldn&amp;#039;t even be in college.  I hope that somehow this gets to you Sam Richards because I really think you need to hear this because apparently you think you are making the world such a smarter place.  If this is supposed to be a Race and Gender relations class, teach us some race and gender relations.  Maybe some people who live in a box, under a rock, or buried beneath miles of dirt have revelations from your material but most of us are academic students on a collegiate level.  Teach us something that everyone with any education doesn&amp;#039;t already know, please teach us.  I hope that somehow the semester turns around and I can benefit from this class but for now I am just frustrated. </description>
<pubDate>Fri, 12 Feb 2010 23:39:22 +0000</pubDate>
<guid>https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/swinging-past-the-other-end-of-the-ideological-spectrum-on-the-way-to-the-intellectual-gray__trashed/#IDComment56566372</guid>
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<title>Race Relations Project : Avatar and the White Man&#039;s Burden</title>
<link>https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/avatar-and-the-white-mans-burden__trashed/#IDComment55065645</link>
<description>First of all, and probably least important, I have seen the movie and it was sick, the special effects were unlike any movie ever made before and it was revolutionary in terms of technology and the film industry.  That being said, all these conjectures about the hidden messages in the movie are ridiculous.  Nothing is being implied by the movie, the reason that SO MANY STORIES are written like this is because this is the way that so many things happen, and I am not talking about white people. Just because you David Brooks are white, and you live in America doesn&amp;#039;t mean that these are the only heroes in stories.  In Asia, India, African culture, and other cultures all over the world there are movies that end with a hero of their culture.  White people are the majority in the United States, so that is what people relate to best.  Not only is this opinion of Brooks narrow scoped, he neglects the fact that these are all great movies.  Hmmm David Brooks... I wonder why?  These movies are made to make money.  That is the number one reason, and probably the top ten reasons.  Movies that are made solely to send a message, be it political or white supremacy (or whatever you would call your opinion on the motive for these movies) are incredibly rare and are not productions that take hundreds of millions of dollars to make.  If you (David Brooks or anyone else that agrees with his opinion) thinks that anyone in Hollywood cares more about spreading a message than making money, you are clueless dude!  Avatar is based on the White Messiah, and its a successful movie.  It is ignorant to ignore the money factor here.  It has been done over, and over, and over, and over, and every single movie that he cited were blockbuster hits.  America loves this story, and until America loves another story we will continue to see it in popular media.  They don&amp;#039;t care about whether or not super sensitive people feel this way about it because they are getting rich off of the people who go to see it, which you clearly did you hypocritical bastard.  If they thought it would make them more money to have a black guy as the main character they would have.  Billions of dollars go into market research every year to figure out these kinds of questions so that products that are advertised, or movies, or magazines can make as much money as possible.  Why do you write your articles David Brooks?  If you were unpaid I am pretty sure that you would find another profession.  Grow up, look a little at the world around you, morals and ethics don&amp;#039;t add up in Hollywood, money does you childish fool. </description>
<pubDate>Tue, 2 Feb 2010 19:58:12 +0000</pubDate>
<guid>https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/avatar-and-the-white-mans-burden__trashed/#IDComment55065645</guid>
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<title>Race Relations Project : I Guess It Pays to Learn a Bit About Other People</title>
<link>https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/i-guess-it-pays-to-learn-a-bit-about-other-people__trashed/#IDComment54144074</link>
<description>I have mixed feelings about this article.  On one hand, I feel bad for the kid and his sister because they were probably terrified that they were getting into some sort of trouble.  I have had a gun pointed in my face by a police officer and it definitely freaks you out.  On the other hand, I can&amp;#039;t help it but I find this article hilarious, and in the long run I am sure that the boy will.  How many people will be able to say I was taken into federal custody for practicing teffilin? He is probably the only one for it to ever happen to.  It is nice to read something race related that isn&amp;#039;t so grim and serious.  Sure this is a little ignorant but its more of an odd circumstance than an offensive action.  From a Jewish perspective, (as I am Jewish myself) it is completely understandable that the flight attendant thought that he was doing something shady.  I have used teffilin a few times in my life, but it still even scares me to put it on and I know how odd people look while wearing it.  For someone seeing it for the first time I can understand how they would be confused.  I live in a house with sixty people and about 25 of them are Jewish.  There are no orthodox Jews here but our house advisor is the rabbi for the Chabad house at Penn State.  Our advisor comes by on random Jewish occasions to try to get people to put on teffilin.  As awkward as it is for the Jewish kids who have either never put teffilin on or put it on once for their bar mitzvah, it is ten times more awkward for the non jewish kids who have no idea what the hell is going on.  That being said, it is a very &amp;quot;weird&amp;quot; practice so I do not see why any Jewish people would be offended by it, the Rabbis from the article clearly were not.  From an American perspective, (as I am also an American myself) I feel comfortable with the flight crews decision to land because it lets me know that they take their job seriously and take every precaution if they think there might be an issue.  If I saw someone wrapping leather straps on their arms and a box to their forehead while I was on a plane I would probably assume something sketchy was going on as well.  How can anyone of another religion be expected to know all of the prayers and rituals of the Jewish religion.  If anything I would call this a little bit foolish of the boy for not thinking about what he was doing, usually people have a little more heightened sense of awareness and understanding of their surroundings while they are aboard a plane just because of the tightened security.  I think I&amp;#039;d have to say that he won&amp;#039;t do that again, lesson learned. </description>
<pubDate>Thu, 28 Jan 2010 02:00:33 +0000</pubDate>
<guid>https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/i-guess-it-pays-to-learn-a-bit-about-other-people__trashed/#IDComment54144074</guid>
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<title>Race Relations Project : Last Name begins with &quot;B&quot;</title>
<link>https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/last-name-begins-with-b__trashed/#IDComment53959308</link>
<description>cheese </description>
<pubDate>Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:51:03 +0000</pubDate>
<guid>https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/last-name-begins-with-b__trashed/#IDComment53959308</guid>
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<title>Race Relations Project : Clubbing the &quot;Bejesus&quot; Out of Rationality</title>
<link>https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/clubbing-the-bejesus-out-of-rationality__trashed/#IDComment52698206</link>
<description>Unless I agreed with him, to say how I feel about the comments of Robertson would be a waste of rhetoric. Regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, age, or political views it is hard to not be immediately disgusted, but Keith Olbermann sums it up better than any of us could ourselves so I&amp;#039;ll leave that to him.    What does bother me about this issue is the fact that anyone would actually give this man the time of day. Hadn&amp;#039;t Americans had enough of this guy after he claimed that Katrina was an act of God against the United States for abortion policies? The man is clearly senseless and full of crap. Do people watch this for a form pathetic reality television entertainment or do they actually care at all about what he has to say? He has been around so long that it hurts to face the truth that there are some people out there who would choose the latter. It truly hurts my feelings that I live in a world where this kind of jargon is considered remotely acceptable.    If his relentless ignorance isn&amp;rsquo;t &amp;ldquo;supported&amp;rdquo; by the traditional Christian beliefs then CBN should not keep him around.  Our world is so controlled by money that the most important thing about him to them is the fact that the controversy around him creates television ratings.  At the very least, if they are going to pimp themselves out there for higher ratings then they should not parade around as if they are truly a religious representative for the largest populated religion in the nation.  Although the issue at hand is obviously the fact that Pat Robertson is a heartless waste of life, there is a much bigger issue here.  With all of the high quality education in this country, we deserve better than to listen to undereducated celebrities voice their baseless discouraging arguments.  Another issue I find with this blog is the irresponsibility of claiming that the reason for Robertson speaking out as he does is that he mentally crazy and doesn&amp;#039;t take his medications. It&amp;#039;s one thing to criticize him and talk about how crazy he is, but it becomes harder for me to respect what you are trying to say if you comment on arguments with things that are completely made up.  Sure it makes you angry, but it doesn&amp;rsquo;t really discredit anything that he has done unless you tell the story straight.  In fact it probably makes him seem more acceptable, at least to me, if you claim that he is off of his medication.  I can see the usefulness of the metaphor because he does in fact come off that way but this addition doesn&amp;rsquo;t really add to the argument.  If you think about it, sounds sort of familiar to what Robertson does...?   </description>
<pubDate>Mon, 18 Jan 2010 20:07:05 +0000</pubDate>
<guid>https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/clubbing-the-bejesus-out-of-rationality__trashed/#IDComment52698206</guid>
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