First I would like to say that yesterday’s class was awesome. I never really supported the war, even going back to when I didn’t even really understand what was going on, but I never really saw the whole religious side of it. I also really liked the way Sam took us through everything from prewar to now. Now I did not vote with the texting, in part because I did not feel doing it, but also because I wasn’t completely sure what I’d do. I originally wanted to say that I would have joined an insurgency, but the more I thought about it the more I thought that I would most likely be a lot like how I am now. I would most likely just be trying to get on with my life and hope that everything works out. That being said it is hard to say I wouldn’t feel the need to fight, simply looking at how easy it would be for someone over there to feel threatened by the US invasion and everything currently going on. Personally I feel that the religion thing is what really matters to a person’s opinion. I was raised Christian, but ever since I was around the age of 15 I didn’t really consider myself “a Christian” anymore. So maybe that’s why I didn’t really see the 911 attacks as an attack on me particularly, but if I was really religious I could see how everything we see of Osama Bin Laden and Muslim extremist could make someone feel anxious about the whole thing. But I feel like this could be the same mindset of someone in Iraq who does not recognize themselves as Muslim. Now of course it is quite a bit different when comparing a gang of extremists on one hand then on the other is the most powerful government/military in the world. But the class definitely made me look at the war in a different light, and even our own government in a new way.

All of the information Sam gave us on Native Americans is shocking and upsetting, but I think the reason a lot of people on the class haven’t taken it home with them yet is simply because of a sense of “what can I do?” that is shared by a lot of people, and I include myself in this. Okay, we learn these facts about the genocide of Native Americans, and the stats show how they have the highest alcoholism, drug use, and suicide rate, but as a 21 year old college student, besides look into signing up for the study abroad that Sam has mentioned, there is not much that one person can go out and do that would bring about any change. When we were learning about discrimination from one race to another people could simply start being nicer to people and start having more understanding to someone of another race. But it is harder for someone to lend a helping hand while they are busy with school, and have their own expenses to worry about. Now I am not saying that this is a valid excuse to ignore what is going, I am simply saying that the effort to rectify the situation being done to Native Americans requires more effort, and it is effort that people in our age group feel they cannot spare. I feel the best thing we can do is to get the word out on what is happening. I know I really did not know any of these facts before, and why not? If people are aware of this they are way more likely to give a helping hand. From my memory, I have never seen any kind of organization devoted to improving the lives of Native Americans. If people were informed of what was going on and was given a place to donate money, I am sure that people would donate. It is way to large of an injustice to go unnoticed by the public if only more people talked about what happened and informed people. We do have the power to change this though, and just with how many people are being informed through this class I feel will help us make strides in the right direction. One day this generation will be in a position to change things in this world, and if we are aware of these issues that are out there but are not spoken about, we can bring them to the forefront of discussions that matter.

I feel that this person brought up a good point in how marriage is a “religious institution”, and that is used as an argument against using the term to describe a gay “union”. Firstly I would like to say, who cares? Really?! This is just many cases of people caring way too much about what other people do. Personally, as a straight male, I couldn’t care less about whether gays can enter into unions or marriages, and I cannot wrap my head around another straight person being strongly opposed to gays entering into marriage. I would also like to bring up the question, whatever happened to separation of church and state? If two people of the same sex want to do everything a married couple of opposite sex does, how can the government not say they are in the exact same category? I personally think that if marriage is a religious term, then the government should not recognize it. Maybe come up with another term. How about everyone is in civil institutions and only those who get married in a church and under religious ceremonies can call themselves “married”, but in the eyes of the government it is just a civil union. The only word I can use to describe people who are for straight marriage, but are against gay marriages, is hypocritical. Now I agree with Sam that hypocrisy is one of the worst things in the world today, and simply put I do not understand where it comes from. But it is obvious that the anti gay marriage stance is nothing short of it. I would also like bring up that between 40% and 50% of all opposite sex marriages in the United States end in divorce (depending on where you get your data). So what is so holy about marriage that we need to save that prevents gays from entering into it? Maybe those who feel that marriage is sacred and should only be between a man and a woman should stop and look at what should be done to make marriage the holy and sacred thing that they see it as. I would like for gay marriages be legal for say 20 years just so we can see the divorce rate for gay couples. Of course I’m sure that even if gay marriages turned out to be more likely to succeed, the people opposing it now would still probably be against for reasons that don’t make any sense to anyone but themselves. But it is obvious that gay marriage has gained support, and if the support grows at the rate it has I am confident that the US will have gay marriage legal in the near future.

Everything within this topic has been very interesting. The lectures, the ideas, the comments, all have been very thought provoking. Overall I would have to completely agree with what Sam said about being in the middle. When looking at determinism versus freedom, I feel that the middle is the only one that makes sense. Of course determinism will have a few good examples to make its point, just like freedom does, but in the end it is pretty obvious that where you end up in life is determined by how you play the cards you are given. While I did not look at my own life in this way, I definitely will from now on. I have realized that I have been blessed with a very good life. I am fortunate enough to have loving and caring parents, who on top of all the things they have done for me throughout my life, are helping me pay for my college and a few of my other expenses. I also know that it could have gone the other way, and if my parents did not have the money to help me, in all likelihood I would not be attending college. I know Sam talked about it, but just looking at that fact alone says quite a lot; if parents can pay or help pay for a college education for their kids, their kids are way more likely to go to college. Not that going to college makes or breaks someone’s future, but I think mostly everyone would agree that going to college definitely helps you out later in life. So right off the bat, if a kid is born to parents who can help pay for that kid’s college education, then they are going to have a lot more chances to succeed than if they were born into a family that could not help them with money for college. And yes people with poor parents who cannot help them financially can still go on to do great things, with or without a college education. On the flipside, and I know few of these people personally, there are people out there who are born into families with a lot of money, and yet they do not try in high school and do not go to college. So it turns out the Buddhists have had it right all along, the middle ground is the place to be.

I cannot believe that these kinds of things still happen. I really like soccer, and I try to keep track of European football as much as possible, which is reasonably hard to do, but I never knew anything like this went on in their stadiums. When you look at the players they are taunting it just makes it even more ridiculous. Thierry Henry and Samuel Eto’o are two of the best players in the world, and even possibly of all time. They are living legends and yet we see that even they are subject to the actions of the ignorant. European soccer fans have an extreme passion for the sport and for their individual teams, a passion so strong that it would make Philadelphia look like Candyland. There are loyal fans and then there are the hooligans, who are almost always the ones who take things too far. I’m sure there are a lot of fans who cannot stand the image hooligans bring to the sport, but unfortunately it is most likely the hooligans who continue to promote these racist ideas at the games.
Now I personally agree with how FIFA has tried to handle the situation. First they gave the responsibility to all the leagues, and now they see that the leagues have not done enough to make the issue go away, so they were going to step in and take control. I did not get a chance to look into how effective FIFA was during the world cup, but I also do not recall any games being abandoned, so I can only hope all went well.
Looking at the comments that Luis Aragones made about Thierry Henry, I honestly cannot tell if he was making a racist comment or if he was simply trying to motivate his players. At first he was simply saying that the French team “just gives it to the black”, and that is why they are good, because they just give it to Henry. It’s after this that he calls him a “black piece of shit”, which when I heard it I thought he was just saying that Henry was a “piece of shit”, and just so happens to also be black, not necessarily saying the two go hand in hand. However, even if he was not saying the two are related, it is still a very poor choice of words. I do think that the actions taken against Aragones are fairly appropriate, if anything a bit light. The fine was rather cheap in terms of what most fines in sports are, and the fact that this happened at a point in time where FIFA is clearly taking action to decrease the amount of racism in the game, I feel that a greater fine or some other kind of heavier punishment would have really sent the message that FIFA wanted to send.

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