Hands down the video that had the biggest impact on me was the one about “Jihad” done by the American journalist. The video’s sole purpose was to incite anger against Middle Easterners and tell people to prepare for a war. Talking so overtly about the violence that has occurred and “will” occur serves no positive purpose unless you are a psychopathic anti-Muslim Crusader. The repeated use of the word Jihad as well as the violent could do nothing but pray on the lack of intelligence in some people. I hope that the majority of citizens would see the video for what it truly was; pure idiotic hatred and bigotry. The men who made this video wanted to enrage people enough that they may act out against this “impending Jihad”. Although I can wish that most people would see it for the smut that it is, I know the vast uneducated masses can fall prey to videos like that simply because they use violent imagery that was plastered all over the media when those events occurred. I’m sure somewhere someone saw this video that one of their friends sent them and it simply fueled the fire of the hatred that had been burning in their heart since 9/11. I can assume that the makers of this video did not expect it would settle the anger toward Muslims and Middle Easterners.

The only thing I found interesting about the video was when they showed the dates of all terrorist attacks and where they took place in the world. Although I can remember many of the important attacks around the world I was interested to see them laid out in that format. After seeing all the attacks laid out in order with graphic pictures, I can understand how someone couldn’t help but be a little angry about all the death and damaged caused by these extremists.

The largest effect this video had on me was to remind me of the ignorant extremist bigots that exist in our own country. Anyone who could make a smut video like this obviously believes what they are preaching to the masses. The fact that someone could be so biased and single-minded astonishes me. People like the ones who made this video are simply the American equivalents of the people they so fervently rail against. The terrorists who perpetrate the crimes that the video laid out are as closed minded as those who made it. The only major difference between the American extremists who made this video and the Muslim terrorists is that the Americans have the option to outlet their anger on the internet whereas the terrorists feel they can only get their point across through violence. Overall the most this video did was remind me of many attacks and give an example of the close minded bigotry that exists in our country.

A discussion like the class on Thursday was one that I have had numerous times before. Because of this I was not surprised by the statistics of how few people are really having sex. However I was taken off-guard by the topic of the differences between how quickly men and women can become aroused and prepared for sex. As a male I am fully aware of how quickly I am ready to go should the mood or thought or anything else strike me. The information of about how slowly women are ready, coupled with some discussion in my own life made me realize several things. Throughout high school and college I have always taken pride in my sexual ability and taken it upon myself to be different from the stereotypical guy. Traditionally, as said in the lecture, during sex men are all about their own pleasure without much regard for the female they are with. I made it my own personal crusade to focus on the needs and enjoyment of the girl I was with, often at the expense of myself. However the discussion about how girls largely enjoy a different style of sex and like different things served to remind me that there were still things that I could do to better the image of men everywhere.
Another point of interest was what Sam said about the issues that may revolve around men and being told no. The problem that guys can’t simply turn it off like they can turn it on is one that I have warned female friends about for years. Women everywhere, especially in college, are very prone to trust guys that they may have just met. When alcohol is involved it can become even more a tenuous situation. I have been telling my friends to always be on their guard, even with guys they think they know. Sam pointed out that it often happens where a man becomes aroused without even noticing and it may lead women to think that it is so easy to turn it off simply because they may not be in the mood. Many women don’t understand how difficult that is and how dangerous a situation they may be putting themselves in if the guy thinks that something is going to happen then it doesn’t.

I believe the answer to the question of why people are not aware of problems like slavery is part of the larger question of why United States citizens are so woefully unaware or uninterested in the affairs of the rest of the world, good or bad, unless it inconveniences them in some way. Before World War II the United States entered its most extreme period of isolationism, cutting itself off from the world in order to repair the damage done by World War I and the Great Depression. During that time people in the US had little to no knowledge of what was going on across the Atlantic Ocean due to the focus on domestic problems over international ones. The US government sat relatively idly by as Hitler and the Nazi’s came to power in Germany and began their campaign across Europe. Although the United States sent ships and some troops to England to help in the fight, we didn’t become fully involved till December of 1941 after the Japanese attacked us at Pearl Harbor. Although this can be seen as different circumstances, Americans focused on themselves and their country until the conflict came to their front door.

Today’s Americans have, in my opinion, fallen even more into the isolationist viewpoint than before World War II. Although the conflicts may be to a lesser extent than full scale war, they are infinitely more numerous. The Great Depression came to an end because of a concerted effort by millions of citizens around the country working toward the common good, and that meant ignoring the outside world for a few years. During those years Americans may have been focused on their own country solely, but they were focused on the whole country. Today Americans isolate themselves to their own communities, and often to their own households. Issues from around the world like slavery, poverty, war, famine, and death are ignored for worries of whether the TV is big enough or whether Barack Obama is an American. Even the media that calls itself World News focuses almost exclusively on domestic issues like the 2012 elections and what new celebrity scandal recently happened. In order for Americans to become more informed on the woes of the world they have to WANT to become more informed. Until the majority wants to be more informed then people will not be informed and it will not be popular to be someone who is informed.

I found the King of the Mountain exercise very interesting in many different ways. I was amazed with how Sam presented the idea and related it to the current situations in many parts of the world in regards to what race is on top. The fact that what race is King of the Mountain was based largely on luck, position at the time the race begins, and other factors that I had not considered. One thing that stuck out to me that others may not have picked up on was how poignant it was when Sam commented about the start bell going off in his head. I think it is worth considering that although the other people in the circle were thinking about winning, Sam was the only one who knew when it started and hence was given a huge advantage over the other groups. I believe that similar occurrences happened all over the world many years ago that lead to where race is around the world.

After Sam declared himself King of the Mountain it was interesting to me as I watched him select who was going to do what as he pushed some away and put some on the chair behind him. I had never considered the fact that once the race had made it to the top of the mountain they then felt free to ally themselves with any other race or group of people that they wanted. When Sam brought up the idea of free will and asked the class if the other “races” were free. Although I thought that because they were not the King of the Mountain that they were not free, Sam pointed out that they were free, if they wished to band together and attempt to overthrow him from his position as King. The looks on the faces of the students working in the exercise was generally that of surprise as they realized that they likely could have staged a coup if they wished but had not thought about it. The almost immediate acceptance that Sam’s rule couldn’t be questioned surprised me, even after he openly segregated the group based on seemingly minor differences.

The exercise of freedom after King of the Mountain also made me think about what it means to be free. When the students held down the girl and Sam expressed the varying ways that she was, while was not free made me think how frequently people think that they are free when they are not, or think they are not, when they really are. The idea that stuck out to me is that although the mind and the will may be free, they body doesn’t necessarily have the ability to perform the actions that the mind would like it to. Similarly there are times when the body is free to act yet the mind prevents it from being free.

Being from a small town in rural Pennsylvania I grew up around the Confederate flag, and those who identify with it and “redneck” culture. In my high school, Carhart jackets, big trucks, and the Confederate flag was often more of the rule than the exception. Although my friends and I were not the ones who identified with that subculture, it was impossible to miss in my school district that was made up of mostly farm land. In my experience the meaning behind the Confederate flag is nearly always explained in a naïve and likely untruthful way.

To me the Confederate flag means separation, revolution, the South, and racism. Obviously the flag in American culture emanates from the South and southern culture. Many people in my high school and around the country deny that the flag connotes racism. However, the reason the South separated from the North and started the war was almost solely based on the idea of slavery and racism. The South used this flag in battle as their standard and rallying call for all those who held their shared belief and faith in the South and its ideals. People why fly that flag today are exclaiming to everyone that they still hold the beliefs that the South did during the war, ones of dissention, racism, and slavery. Although those individuals who fly this flag openly may not personally hold those beliefs, the flag they choose to fly shows to the public that they do.

Personally I have always been fervently against the flying of that flag because of the true meaning behind it. Even if the ones flying it do not hold the southern beliefs, to say that they have other motives or do not know its real meaning is simple ignorance. The biggest issue I have with this flag is the decision to fly it over the American flag. I understand that some people do fly both, one to honor their country and another to honor their heritage, but those people are the exception and not the rule. People who choose to fly the Confederate flag instead of the American flag are making a further statement of choosing the South over the United States. These people are the ones who are stereotypically screaming “The South Will Rise Again!!”

My senior year of high school any article of clothing bearing the Confederate flag was banned from school because of its blatant connotations. Obviously it was met with quite a bit of resistance, with many students actively protesting by wearing all the Confederate flags they owned, painting them on their trucks, and any other way they could show off their “Southern Pride”. My confusion around that time came from the fact that the vast majority of students who protest and complained attempted to use the excuse that the flag has no negative connotations in their mind, but is just a connection to the “southern heritage”. The issue with that is that very few of them had any southern heritage, with most of their families living in the area for generations. In my opinion this exemplifies the ignorance and naivety that many people claim when it comes to this flag and its meaning.

I do not think that the issue is anything with what he said or the "liberal" media specifically but in the "white" media as a whole. I consider myself able to look at issues without bias, although the realism of that is difficult to prove. In my opinion it is not what these individuals are saying but the fact that the "white" media thinks it has to overcompensate and protect the minorities by railing against others, largely white males. I would be interested to know the actual percent of people who were truly offended by what he said, not just offended because the media said they should be offended. Personally I have several times been annoyed, I wouldn't say offended, just annoyed, by the fact that it appears that the subject of these media lynching is almost always a White Male. I see no benefit in railing against someone when they may have possibly offended a small group that is part of a minority. All I see this causing is a self- perpetuating cycle of making people walk on tiptoes around egg shells while telling the public that they should be offended at anything that could possibly be negative or have anything to do with them. The more we persecute anyone who offends a minority, the more socially acceptable it will be. I just hope this problem can be contained to the media, although the media promoted action against a white person who uses a racial slur is to beat them up, as evidence by countless joke skits, movies, songs, and tv shows, but thats another discussion for another time.

Stereotyping is an issue that, in my opinion, has been misunderstood by many people. Stereotyping is defined as simplified and standardized conception or image invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group. For the past 100 years or so, stereotyping has become vilified, as a negative way to look at people. However stereotyping occurs in nature with every species every day, and keeps animals alive. Animals stereotype other species in order to know who is a threat, who is food, and who is inconsequential. A rabbit sees a hawk and knows to hide or risk personal safety. The rabbit doesn’t look at the hawk and consider what the hawk thinks, feels, or is really like; a rabbit that does quickly becomes food.

Society looks at stereotyping strictly as a negative social interaction between groups of people. Biologists look at stereotyping as an evolutionary necessity, part of the “survival of the fittest” mentality. Human beings are not exempt from the evolutionary tendencies that allowed us to become the “undisputed top race”. Humans stereotype other animals more often than they stereotype each other. Rabbits are seen as “cute and cuddly”, sharks are stereotyped to being “mindless killing machines”. These stereotypes are seen as perfectly acceptable because they do not involve other humans.

We also stereotype each other in more socially acceptable ways, specifically in times of danger like war. When a soldier looks across the battlefield at an enemy soldier, pausing to consider that other soldier’s personality or motives for being there could result in injury or death. In a battle environment, soldiers are required to stereotype the enemy as being a threat to their own safety. Stereotyping is socially acceptable in other situation like armed robbery or other situations where there is the danger of injury or death. When another person points a gun at you, you will not ask them how they are that day, where their ancestors are from, or what is favorite color is.

Stereotyping groups of people, as it is seen negatively today, is simply an extension of the evolutionary and protection mechanism that is socially acceptable in other situations. The reason stereotyping continues is largely because it is easier to guess at how someone is like than to find out for sure. What I believe is the larger issue is the fact that although many people believe stereotypes are wrong, it appears that there is a growing contingency of younger people who perpetuate these stereotypes on purpose. In many, mostly urban, areas it is seen socially helpful to act “more” of your race. Young black men are often seen more positively in their social groups if they act “more black”. This simply perpetuates the stereotypes that are more widely held than many people realize.

soc119