Why does our society dislike immigrants? I think that answer is clearly complex. I think that people feel like they have some kind of possessive hold on the land that we live on right now. A kind of first grader, I got here first, kind of thing. They believe that since their ancestors came here and took over the land they are entitled to regulate who comes and who goes in the country. I know that some of the reason people don’t like immigrants is because they are worried about the safety of our country. I think they believe that letting in people from other countries we are getting some of another countries culture. Since we are unaware of their culture we do not know or understand how they conduct themselves. Because of this people think that they are going to be wild and maybe increase the crime rate because in their mind Americans would never kill other Americans (whale face). Since crime is something typically looked at as negative this is where most of the negative attachment to immigrants come from. As Sam pointed out in class, the people we see getting incarcerated the most are people of color. Since the world was founded white most people think that anyone other white are immigrants. So since that is recorded when movies and TV try to get a realistic they cast people of color to be the aggressor or villian. People normally believe almost everything they see on the big screen and these images pop in their head when a crime is brought to their attention. This is a direct link to immigration and crime and then a negative image. Another reason people may think badly about immigrants is the job market these day. A good example is the movie Fun with Dick and Jane. When Dick lost his job he had to try and find work anywhere he can. When going to a place where illegal work was suggested, he stood around all Hispanic looking people. This clearly is a tie between movies and suggesting immigration taking all the jobs. The economy is clearly in a bad position and everyone is getting fired and then looking for jobs. Immigrants are seen as “taking” jobs out there even though jobs aren’t reserved for anyone. If they were then they wouldn’t be called jobs. Another reason the people think of immigration negatively is because immigrants don’t pa taxes. I think Americans think that these people are living on their land under unfair conditions. And if I was here paying to live here I would be upset that people are reaping the benefits of my hard earned money. I think I would be upset also. And these are the reason I think people think of immigrants negatively.

I think the telephone game is a good representation of how information travels. I remember always playing it in grade school and at summer camps. One person would tell a story and pass it from person to person and by the end the story is completely different from the beginning of the story. This happens in everyday life all the time. Whether it is in the household, school, politics, or just talking with friends casually. It happens so frequently that I believe that people think that its not a big of a deal when all these rumors get spread. I call them rumors because that’s what they have become. They start at the truth and then someone misinterprets what someone said or think they know the original meaning and start telling the story from their point of view. Because of this another person is completely astonished by the newly made up story and then begins to retell the story only focusing on the astonishing part and basically making up a new story. I think that information travels that way because people want to be a part of something all the time. Important things are going on around people and they feel that they should be a part of it because it is so important. This might sound mean but I believe that their lives are so unimportant they try to be involved in some one else’s drama. Because of this they become a facilitator in all the drama and start telling a wrong story. I remember something like this happened to me in high school. I went out with someone other than my ex boyfriend and some of his friends saw me. They went and told him I was on a date with this other guy when in actuality I wasn’t on a date at all. I saw my ex that night and was wearing a turtle neck and he thought that it was because of a reason when in actuality I just liked the shirt. I told my best friend at the time the story and she goes and tells my ex a different story along with the story that his friends told him. So now he has two stories that are not true at all floating around in his brain so when I had to explain to him the truth it was harder for him to believe me since all these other stories had already gotten to him. I believe things like this happen all the time even on a larger scale or in more important situations. I think it happens in politics, during negotiations with other countries and just in their daily lives. I think telephone needs to stop and then it would probably stop a lot of conflict.

In a woman ruled world sex would be totally different. First of all college would be a completely different place. In college people go out looking to hook up with others or want to bring someone back for the night. Women right now do not do that. Some women go out looking to be taken back home but most women do not go out just to be picked up. Casual sex would not happen as frequently I believe. Or I believe that it would be frowned upon a little. The whole process of wooing the woman and sex as the final product would be different. Although some women down want to admit it, everyone wants to be felt special. This is exactly what would happen in a women ruled world at first. The man would essentially have to court the woman. He would have to take her out to maybe dinner or do something else that is romantic. Some examples would be walking in the park, going to the movies, going to the museum, or doing something exciting like that. After the night, the man would not have try to have sex with the woman on the first date because I believe that when women go on dates they are looking for partners. The first date would then be followed by a phone call asking the woman out on a second date. This is essentially what is supposed to happen now but a lot of men feel that it is unneccary to go through all these troubles. The second date would be filled with getting to know the woman better. Finding out the things that the woman likes, dislikes, what her family is like, how she views the world, things the figuratively make the woman tick. After the second date the third date would encompass something that she mentioned she liked. Maybe a favorite dish of food or going somewhere she has always wanted to go. After this I believe that sex is acceptable at this point. The actual sex would be more than the action and leaning towards emotional and meaningful to the woman. All the things that I just stated I don’t really believe. I think this is how women think and like it or not but most women are sappy like this. Some refuse to admit it but deep down they would like something of this nature to happen before actually engaging in sexual activity. Although I do fully believe I live in a man’s world I am completely okay with that. Men are naturally stronger physically and emotionally and I would like to encompass some of their traits to an extent. Their strength I definitely their downfall also which allows them to have sex without emotion. This man’s world does have downfalls but it’s the only world I have to live in so I’m going to reap all the benefits it has to offer.

When I saw that nearly half the class has experienced racism at Penn State I was not surprised at all. It is true when Sam said diversity depends on where you came from. I came from DC and like the slide put on the screen DC is 60% African American. So I believe that Penn State is not diverse at all therefore I am not surprised that there is racism here and acts of racism happen almost everyday in different forms that those who are not used to will not understand. I read the first response before I started mine and I saw that the girl said that she believes Penn State is diverse and, I’m sorry, but I almost laughed. Penn State is not that diverse to me at least and this is one of the main reasons that I believe Penn State is racist. Life is obviously funny and last night I witnessed my second act of racism at McDonalds around 3 am. My friends and I are sitting down and we overheard someone saying I hate black people. I turned around because obviously that statement would make anyone turn around. I notice that a girl that is mixed who said it but I still got really offended because I think that its just something that I believe no one should say that. So my other friend that was with me felt the same way so we proceeded to tell her. She clearly did not think that her statement was serious because she was surprised when we confronted her about it. We said that a statement that like should not be said and she responded with “its not that deep”. I disagree. No matter what race some one is that is something that you do not say. My friend continued to get in a verbal argument with the girl but I decided to eat my food before it got cold. If any racist even happened I will always speak up because I feel that it is ridiculous how people can trick their mind into thinking that they are better than someone else because of their skin color. Another event is last Halloween when I went out and someone called my boyfriend the “n bomb” as Sam likes to call it. He went pretty crazy and I had to calm him down. Mostly I see people react to racism negatively and with a lot of emotion so I guess that is why I react the same way. I become very offended because race is something that no one chose and cannot change. I think it is very narrow minded of people to be racist but as always that is how the world works.

I decided to write on white privilege even though I am not white. I do not have any experiences with white privilege directly but I feel that racism is an indirectly experience with white privilege. I am an engineer so I go to the career fairs religiously each semester. Whenever I walk in, I am fully aware of my race. I think about if the people I am talking to are aware of my race also. I wonder if I am not getting calls for future interviews because I am black and the companies prefer someone white. But I also think that each company has a quota to fill for maintaining diversity. I believe this is a form of white privilege: your own thoughts. As Sam said in class, white people do not think of these things or question why they are called back. They do no rely on their white skin to help or even think about it when an opportunity is presented to them. With me it is not the same situation. I am not privilege as whites are to wake up every morning and know that people are looking at me and not my skin. Everywhere I go in this town, I feel as if people notice me out of everyone. Maybe it is because there are few people of color at Penn State but I feel that this place is so racially aware. I come from the city so I have been used to all different people and so has everyone else. I never noticed race as much until I came to Penn State and took this class. White privilege comes in that form too. They feel fine almost anywhere they go because they are the majority. I want to describe it as a feeling of safety or comfort always. In class we watched the video of how the black children on the screen were asked to choose between a black doll and a white doll when it came to positive and negative statements. Every time a positive statement was asked the black children picked the white doll but whenever a negative statement was expressed the children picked the black doll. I was sitting by a white male in my discussion group and the whole time he was completely amazed by this experience and I’m looking at him like “how do you not know that this is going on”. I know that it is part of Sam’s class and job to open eyes but my eyes were open to this when I was the age of the children on the screen. This is my point of white privilege: their thoughts and comfort are always safe. They do not know that they are the majority and what is preferred for even people of color and they do not have to go through feeling inadequate or uncomfortable. And I feel that they never will.

When I first saw the title I thought of a totally different “R” word. I actually thought that the video and article was about the word racist since this is Soc 119 but I was happily wrong. I think the R word is a very controversial topic with almost everything that these blogs discuss but always it is something that needs to be discussed. I believe that the R word is something that people say and use because they have heard it socially. Also I believe people use it in the same text as cursing or curse words. I know that I say it sometimes and believe it or not I always feel bad after I say it. I think that I feel guilty for saying it. Sam said in class that he never feels guilt or to never feel guilty because we shouldn’t feel guilt about any of our actions. I do believe guilt is a learned trait but I feel this word is something that the people who use it should feel guilty about. I think the video is a little over dramatic bringing in an actual kid with down syndrome but hearing their point of view on how the word affects them is insightful. I believe that it does hurt them though. They did not ask to be born with a mental illness and it is something that they are brave enough to deal with. To go on TV and interview about others using this word is very courageous. When saying this word now every time I will probably think of everyone in the world who is retarded hand has down syndrome. Another thing that is unbelievable about this video is the fact that politicians are using these derogatory phrases. Politicians are people that we are supposed to look up to and they are supposed to be role models for the computer. To hear that these politicians talk about mentally ill people in such horrible ways is degrading and not setting an example for the United States and its is almost making it acceptable for the rest of the community to use the R word. I remember when I was younger and I would use the R word without really thinking about it. The only time that I knew it was wrong was when a teacher told me to not use that word anymore. I didn’t really understand why until I thought about it. Now ever since a teacher told me, that is when I started to feel bad about saying the R word. I believe that the R word needs to treated like curse words and it should not be said and people need to pay more respect to others that are mentally challenged.

I think that this is a very interesting topic that was discussed in my discussion group this week. It really upsets me because I am part of the brown and black race and I do not like being labeled as being more vocal about my problems than other races. This topic came up because of the recent protest in front of Old Main. I heard that the event was publicized on face book but when going through the list my TA found that most of the people invited were only people of color. She also noted that there were many black and brown people than there were Caucasian people. When I heard this all I could think about was the statement in this video. I feel that when there is a problem with money or being held down, black and brown people are one of the first to complain. I might be ignorant and just not SEE all the other people complaining but I certainly HEAR the people of color more. The thought that immediately followed was Ryan in class. It made me angry that he tried to claim that he was with the 97 percent of people in the world that is below the poverty line. Just by being in the U.S. he is better off than ninety seven percent of the world but he tried to claim that “he does not have”. While he was making this claim I could not help but notice his blue tooth, designer glasses, flashy wristwatch, and a very nicely constructed sweater. I do not know but I guess that screams to some people “I’m in that three percent of the world.” It was unfortunate that he had to represent the people of color because now that unfortunate stereotype is reinforced in everyone’s mind. I believe that some of reason black and brown people are because of the oppression that was placed on our people in the early stages of this nation. Because of that oppression, it was harder for people of color to make a name financially for themselves in the Unites States. So I believe some people think this gives them the right in the present to make claims financially that they are struggling. I hear it all around me: my mom, friends, relatives, even myself sometimes. I do not want to be apart of that group and would like my race to try and stop complaining. Life isn’t easy and it’s not getting any easier. Times are hard and I think this is one stereotype that we have placed on ourselves. Although our past has been a dirty and bloody one, we need to stop complaining about our problems and start doing something about it. I believe that white people complain to but maybe it’s just not the first thing on their mind like it is ours. We as a race have been through so much and I believe that we can concur anything because we did concur our past. Its time to put our money where our mouth is.

The video about slavery that Sam showed in class was very eye opening. I did now know that slavery of that kind still existed around the world. I thought that from everything that happened in the past in America that the rest of the world will realize that it is absolutely degrading to the human race. Those boys on the Ivory Coast were being treated as if they were in the eighteen hundreds living in the south in the United States. I absolutely did not know that a little less than half the percent of chocolate imported was made by slaves. The slaves that were working on the plantation were being treated like animals. They were being beaten for the production of cocoa. One of the boys who could communicate with the interviewers said that those who eat chocolate around the world is eating their flesh. I completely agree with this statement. I am a big chocolate lover. I love chocolate cake, bars, cookies, anything chocolate. It really blew my mind to know that this product I love so much was made at the coast of forced unpaid labor. Not only was this labor unpaid but the slaves were whipped and beaten if they tried to run away or asked for their money. His statement of saying that those who eat chocolate are eating his flesh is very appropriate. Their blood, sweat, tears and flesh went into producing the chocolate and we in America consume probably on a daily basis. I believe that completely boycotting chocolate is totally unrealistic. I feel that indulgences are always going to be a part of human nature. Humans were clearly not born perfect and we will never be perfect so completely swearing off of is completely and utterly unrealistic. But we can try and push our selves everyday to maybe not eat as much chocolate that we did before we saw the video in class. Because in actuality we need to realize that the chocolate made was at the price of a slave on the ivory coast being whipped or beaten so that we can buy and eat the chocolate. The suffering that these slaves have to go through for people around the world to enjoy chocolate is ridiculous. For this problem to be rectify the only thing that needs to happen is that the boys working in the fields can be get paid. Once they are paid the slavery aspect is gone. The plantation owner does not want to pay the slaves for the same reason Sam said in class: the companies make more money when the labor is done by slaves. I don’t know how the people sleep at night knowing that they are allowing the people of America to eat flesh.

First of all, Lupe Fiasco is one of my favorite artist. I believe he has insight beyond the minds of the other musical artist in is genre. The lyrics “I think that the silence is worst than all the violence” is a very powerful line and says a lot. I interpret it to be that not speaking or standing up for things that are important is essentially worst than all the violence around. In some areas murders happen more frequently than other cities. In my adolescence class, a video was shown today about the city Denver in Colorado and how that city went through a shift in safety. It went from being a murder every now and then to a murder almost every day in one summer. Some of those cases were unsolved. I believe Lupe Fiasco is also referring to these types of event where something terrible has happen and no one speaks up so that the situation can come to justice. The chorus is one of my favorite lines: “Its so loud inside my head with words that I should have said […] I can’t take back the words I never said.” Another line says that he feels there is a jail inside himself and there is a cell in every one of us. I think he is totally right. I try to be very honest with myself and my friends around me and sometimes when I say things they put me down. It’s so hard for anyone to say what he or she is really thinking because the closest people to us put us down. So if people we love make us feel bad, then of course we will not say what we really think around people we do not even know. Society keeps us silent with their judging eyes. All of us in some way every day are kept silent with even the most little things. There have been many instances where I regret not saying what’s really on my mind sometimes. There are so many different types of people in the world that those who do not understand a particular way of thinking might reject the things that they do not understand. In other situations the truth could be the one silence. People plea their case but every one just turns a deaf ear. Its probably hard for those to keep on saying the truth or anything that’s on their mind because no one will listen to them. Just another popular line that I think speaks to the things we talked about in class is and this blog: “Your child’s future was the first to go with budget cuts.” What does this line and the line from the video mean to anyone?

God made everyone equal and the south is known to be a very religious part of the nation. The fact that they would skip over the fact that everyone is equal means those they was just letting their ignorance flood into other parts of their lives. The confederate flag to me today does not represent red necks and the country. I only think of the past.