This is an interesting way to spin the whole Idea and I can honestly say I never quite thought about it like that but I have come up with a stance on your view point and or question. I feel that yes you may be better off than people in third world countries developing from near nothing but that isnt to say that you are a better person. I don't want you to take that the wrong way, I don't know you and you could be an awesome guy but what a person has isnt what makes the person. I feel like it is what is on the inside, their values, their beliefs that make the person into who they are. Things can be given to anyone, once a person has these material possessions they are not automatically a better person. They may be viewed differently by others but that goes back to judging a book by its cover. If you have a guy pulling up in a beat 1988 Civic next to a guy in a 2010 Range your idea of self worth may be altered about those two individuals. When in reality the two men would be different even if they were driving the same car. It is all perception and what we have surrounding us often alters others perception of us.

Being raised as a child fortunate enough to have two parents there to provide for and care for him I feel that I was lucky. Open my wallet and you will find a small cross which says "I carry this cross in my pocket to remind me to be thankful for all my blessings day by day." Not really the most religious of people but my grandfather had given it to me and that just makes me remember what type of a man he is. He is thankful for everything he has no matter how large or small it is. He is as thankful for his Cadillac XLR as he is a nice cool breeze on a hot summer day. Coming to America at the age of seven he was in the lower social class in Brooklyn, attending school up into high school and later getting his GED he had to leave school in order to go to work and help the family. He began working at a shoe shop where he would shine shoes for a nickel. He also had a job at a bowling alley as a pin boy setting up the pins for people as they bowled. Granted you do not see these jobs nowadays but I'm sure there are jobs you could find which wouldn't require too much training. All anybody ever needed was the will to want to do something and the drive that will help them succeed. I believe that people have the ability to make it on their own it all depends on their drive and level of responsibility they possess. Money must be saved regardless, I am unaware of the amount of funds required to become a legal citizen of the United States but I'm sure it is not cheap. I know my friend Alejandra is here on a temporary visa from Venezuela and her family is constantly in and out of a lawyers office needing help to get the paperwork done to have them finally be legal citizens. That seems like it could quite possibly be a costly investment but it can be done. You hear the endless from rags to riches stories from everyone you know, hell if you turn on MTV you hear about musical artists who grew up with nothing and now they have so much money they dont know what to do with themselves. They had what it took; they had the drive to go out there and become a somebody. The world is a great place in my eyes, sure there is a bunch of red tape you must go around and some hoops you have to jump through but I believe you can become who you want if you want to be that person bad enough.

What is it to be a woman? That's a rather hard question for me to answer especially being a man. Were going to give it the good old one two try though. Sure media plays a huge part in on what women perceive they should be like but that is all on the surface. It all depends on where you come from, how you were raised, I can tell you just like the old saying goes that its what is on the inside that counts and the all time favorite, true beauty is on the inside. Its up to us as human beings to believe and understand those statements. Whether you are going to be a "shallow" individual and accept a person for who they are and not what they look like is up to you. I used to always hear a rumor about French women not shaving their arm pits, by American standards that is pretty gross but in France that would be considered beautiful. I don't know why some individuals put themselves though the torture of putting on makeup every day before they leave the house. You should be accepted for your true beauty and if you truely are a beautiful person on the inside that will show through. Just like if youre a shitty person no amount of makeup will be able to hide that.

The lecture about Christian Invaders was a shock to me. Of course I have seen politicians on TV look and sound like fools but never back to back to back like that. It was funny to see what TV is like from the Middle East. As much as we flip the script and spin the news how we’d like to see it, they do it just as much. Its because of human nature wanting to hear what they are doing should be justified by other “facts”. Put very well by axg5068, “Flipping the script, we then looked at the media that we, here in the United States, are exposed to which in many cases views the enemy as a whole and frames them in the light of being Muslim Arabs. Of course, we would not know what their life is like and what they go through on a day-to-day basis because we don’t live in their shoes, this is the backbone of ethnocentrism. It was ultimately a really unique experience to see how Americans view Muslim Arabs and how the Muslim Arabs view the “Christian Invaders.” It really comes down to the fact that we view each other in such a negative light, not because of our history with one another or our intricate understanding of each other’s cultures (because that is definitely not the case), but rather because through our own ethnocentric lenses, we misperceive the other people’s culture, ideals, and beliefs. Just like Sam understands what it is like to be in the other person’s shoes, I too now understand. To me, it makes perfect sense that an Arab Muslim living in the Middle East who is only exposed to negative media about “Americans” where George Bush calls the war a crusade, John McCain identifies the war as a means of securing oil, and a high-ranking U.S. Army General saying that “their God is a false God” can come to perceive Americans and the U.S. army as Christian Invaders. Conversely, the reason Americans hold Arab Muslims in such a negative light, is that, in many ways, we don’t see that they are ordinary normal people just like us who want nothing more than happiness and success for themselves and their families and to simply be left alone. Through the media’s influence on our society, Americans have often come to view all of the Muslim Arabs as the bad guys where we view them as insurgents and all of them fighting our American troops abroad. But as Sam so subtly noted, most of them are just like us and have the same goals and aspirations that we do, and look for nothing more than to be left alone.”I agree I had never thought of the whole situation from the shoes of the “enemy”. It is an interesting flip on the ideas that I had originally had about the whole war in the Middle East. People consider this to be frightening but how do you think you would feel about the whole war if you were actually there. Sam stated that it is reasonable for a soldier to kill 29 civilians in order to kill one insurgent. 29 to one? Really? That is a load of horse shit if you ask me. Why even have a rule at that point? So I just want to know still in the mindset I left class with; when are these damn Americans going to be leaving and out of my country?

I'm sorry to say that watching this CNN report wasn't shocking to me. The world is filled with sick and twisted games and videos, not that it makes it right but it is. This video games objective is to follow unsuspecting females around and torment them in a sexual manor, who would find this entertaining? The same question would go out to people who play video games like Grand Theft Auto but that game has so much more substance to it. That is a virtual world where you can do anything and everything. This is a virtual world where you can torment women. Granted you can do that in Grand Theft Auto but that is not the main objective. I honestly don't know where I stand with this game. I feel as though there are endless games and videos out there in the world which have the same meaning and intent as Rape Lay but there is nothing that is being done with them. If you wanted to get really strict with it we'd be down to playing Mario Party and Donkey Kong. Racing games and Sports games often portray women on the sidelines in near nothing shaking what their mamma gave them. Granted that is voluntary but its still them putting their goodies out on display.

I was shocked when CNN did the interview with that one couple over Skype. The female said she didn't see anything wrong with the game and its almost disturbing. I am stuck between a rock and a hard place with this game because it is not reality it is merely a virtual reality and who are we to govern what people can and can't do when its not even reality. That is like telling people what they are and aren't allowed to think. It almost reminds me of the book 1984 by George Orwell which had the thought police in it. They would come lock you up for having negative thoughts about the government. That is exactly what I was talking about, playing the video game and thinking one thing is totally different than acting on your thoughts. Until a person acts on their thoughts it is not a crime therefore I do not see why we are almost punishing them by taking away their vent for their thoughts. Two ways to look at this would be that the video game is a release for some people so they do not act on their "desire" to do that to someone. On the other hand you could say that individuals become more violent and learn that behavior through the video games and that taking the game away will reduce the number of rape cases reported. It all depends on who you talk to I suppose.

I don't feel as though it is a question of whether you are part of the black and brown team or the white team it is a question of which team you decide you would like to be part of. Being an individual of a multiracial background you have the option to switch teams based on where and when you must relate to your true inner self. Depending on the situation you are put into I feel as though you will take and relate to the situation differently. If I was put into a situation being a white male I would have a far different experience than a hispanic or asian background.

This is a great question. I have noticed that Sam often asks us to relate to white people then to black and brown people but never anything else. I couldn't tell you if he just considers black and brown people to be everyone that isn't white or not you would have to ask him but I'd like to get back to your question at the end. Two of my friends actually have international students as roommates one being from Taiwan and the other being from Japan. Speaking to both of them I get a sense that they're not big fans of each other. Note that its not each others specifically but each other as a whole population. Rayne, who is from Taiwan, tried to educate me on picking up key differences in both facial structure, eye shape, and even style decisions. Whether that last one really does work is still yet to be determined but it seems to be right on so far. We will be hanging out and he tests me asking me to tell him where all of his friends are from and I'm usually right on point. I definitely agree with you though, what ever happened to everyone else that isn't black or brown?

I'm disappointed I wasn't able to be in class when Sam shed the light on "bleeding". This is a funny thing to speak about in a soc class that is centered around race relations. I kind of want to know how it even came about that you seemed to get on this topic as a class. So could somebody share the light with me how how we came to discuss such a thing. Coming to class on Thursday and having the first fifteen to twenty minutes of class be about menstruating was a bit mind boggling to me but after seeing all of these posts it must have been a pretty heated topic.

But I agree, why do people make a big deal out of this completely natural occurrence? I do know some females that have no problem announcing it to a room, if they feel shitty they basically say back off.. I'm on my period; then all the guys in the room cringe in disgust and it can get a little on the quiet side. Its nothing more then blood coming from an opening in a body, guys wouldn't get all grossed out if a girl fell down and skinned her knee on the sidewalk, well most guys that is. It goes back to our conditioning as children I suppose, you are taught that it isn't appropriate to be talking about. Why isn't it appropriate though? Just like Sam said on Thursday, people don't talk about their hair growing or their toenails growing, not that I could see a conversation even arising from such a comment. I say wow my beard is getting long you say maybe you should shave and I'll say you know you're right. The End. There really is no rhyme or reason to why we do or don't talk about this phenomenon that is menstruation. I feel like it shouldn't be that big of a deal though, I don't know how it could change though. Guys are not going to go out of their way to ask questions about what they feel is a touchy subject and women are not going to go out of their way to educate men on a topic they feel men want nothing to do with. I agree it is a miracle that without something that is considered so gross by many people in the world today is one of the factors that comes into play when creating life. Think back to your high school health class and you learned all about the body and how it works. You know there is no way you could have a baby with out a period or "bleeding" so I almost feel like it should be celebrated not despised. Perhaps its only despised because it makes you feel so shitty. I wouldn't know as a man how horrible it can make you feel, but I think its funny, Sam is probably right in saying men would be making a contest out of it seeing who can have the bigger period. That's just the nature of guys, everything is a competition, and we're always trying to one of the guy before us.

That exact question passed through my head during class. When the one question came up that was geared to just white people and then to just black and brown people the responses that came through seemed quite different than the first time we used the poll everywhere. It seemed as though when white people said neg. types of replies there was a lot of anger through out the room and finger pointing. When rude things were said about white people by black and brown people the crowd seemed more hush hush and less concerned about what was said about them. This is most likely because white people have never really been at the bottom of the totem pole; so in effect they do not worry per say what others say. The feeling and knowing that they are on top majority of the time in society makes them feel empowered so what is said actually bounces off. If you walked up to me being a white male and called me a cracker I'll be honest... I would crack a smile be like are you serious and possibly laugh in your face. Going up to a black or brown individual and calling them a derogatory term

I feel as though it is all just stereotypes playing into the network to make what some consider "good TV". The networks most definitely plan out these shows with intentions of grasping a target audience and their way of reeling that audience in is by putting people on the show that look like their target audience. People are scrutinized in their auditions to see if they will be what their looking for on the show. Putting together a cast that will interact in a specific way is how they make ratings. Side thought is that they are putting together these casts in an effort to avoid certain racial slurs from having to be bleeped out, I'm sure some pretty intense words could start flying as the girls are fighting over Flava Flave or Joe Millionaire. The label reality TV is often put onto these shows in an effort to convey the idea that this is how people really are but what they don't realize is that people act differently when they are in front of a camera than when they are behind closed doors in the privacy of their own home.

You might even be able to go as far as saying that the lack of diversity on the show goes back to the person looking for the love. Producers may have had a meeting with the host/millionaire and said what do you look for in the opposite sex. Being a show for them or a show for the viewing public. If the show truly is about that persons quest for love the contestants on the show should be catered towards that individuals personal preferences when it comes to looking for "love". If this is the case then it may not be the producers who are the stereotypical racists. It would be the close minded millionaires that are having a hard time when it comes to the love department.

It would be interesting to do a review of the products that are being advertised during the same time slots as the show. Shows usually are tailored to bring in a certain demographic and if a network can prove to the companies that they are going to be bringing customers to them then the advertising space is much more valuable. There are certain products that just wouldn't go over well when watching Flavor of Love. For instance do you think there would be a strong response from commercials for denture glue? My guess is not so much. So they tailor the cast of the show to be that of the people they are going to be trying to sell products to. In the end I feel as though it is just all about business and what will make the most money for the network.