In class we discussed the Chi Omega Sorority picture in which the girls threw a Mexican party, which consisted of sombreros, and other attire but what would be the most controversial part signs saying “Will cut grass for weed and beer”, and another with “We don’t cut grass we smoke it” written on each, which as a result offended many, and upset the Hispanic population as they were portrayed as lazy low class potheads, and alcoholics.
Upon first seeing the picture I honestly thought it was funny, as did many others, but the more we talked about it the more I thought it was wrong. See in American society, especially in the media everyone tends to make these jokes, and portray these stereotypes, which honestly makes us insensitive to when it occurs, and more acceptable. If you don’t believe me just watch an episode of Family Guy, more specifically watch for Consuela, a lowly maid who barely knows English, and is a running gag in quite a few episodes, and consider how we think that is funny and hilarious Family Guy has even won awards for such humor. Next consider a rap song where women are just sexually objects, and every black man is a hustler, playa, or gangsta, and the effect on kids of today, in which it has inversely told kids, violence is the answer, and you won’t get anywhere in life unless you are like the rappers. Let’s say your parents smoke weed, and you grow up watching shows like “That’s so 70’s show” one would think it is ok to smoke weed, when in actuality it is illegal, and frowned upon, this goes back to the idea of one fish swimming against the stream, if everyone especially the people you look to the most is doing something it is natural to think it ok to do yourself. Now I’m not saying what the girls did was overblown to everything else, but I will say I understand why they thought it was ok, America says it’s wrong to make these jokes, and stereotypes, but then you look at the media, Penn State says the same, and doesn’t punish the many others, and there have been, who have thrown parties like this, it is just a huge contradiction.
I think the picture was ignorant, and made walls between the races, rather than bridges, and as long as the wall is up, you can’t see the whole picture. Instead of making these stereotypes people should actually, learn about people and their culture, instead of declaring every Spanish person as Mexican, is it really so hard to ask where that person came from. We want people to understand us, and acknowledge us as unique person, but we can’t do the same on the most basic of levels. Finally I think the media is a huge part of this, and needs to be changed, the media gives us the ability to not have that experience, but still give us something to judge one another off, and when you watch shows like “Family Guy” is that how you really want people to see you as.

The topic for Tuesday’s class was homosexuality, to be more specific Sam talked about homosexuality, in relation to other the other sins of the bible. He went a step further to call everyone out on common sins we commit in everyday life, getting drunk, pre-marital sex, adultery , which met roars of laughter from the class, and final, Sam said homosexuality, and the class noticeably got quieter. I think the difference between homosexuality, and the other’s it is the least committed, or that the majority of Americans least identify with it. One since is that “Thou shall not tell a lie”, but we as Americans, or even people in general tell lies every day, the ones we actually perceive as lies, and other things, like how you tell someone they look nice, but you yourself don’t actually believe it. Homosexuality is not lying, as it is something you voluntarily commit, some people would even go as far to say it is a choice. Homosexuality all in all has somewhat of a negative taboo around it more so than drinking, or pre-marital sex, I personally think homosexuality is genetic, as why would someone choose to be gay, and suffer all the harassment, prejudice, and stigmatizes that come as a result. As a guy when Sam talked about finding a playboy in woods, and looking at all the girls, and “feeling things”, it was natural, those feelings, didn’t come from choice. Another problem is we portray it as bad and unnatural, referring back to the camp story while Sam looked at the girls his friend on the other hand, felt things while looking upon the men, and society had taught him that, he shouldn’t and it was wrong. I also don’t think that homosexuality is a sin, just as most people don’t see, drinking or pre-marital sex as a sin, or if so worthy of hell, just from what I learned as a science minded person, homosexuality is observed in over 500 species of animals, and only with humans we have phobia. Combining religion, science, with logic, if God created us, and said, to accept yourself as he made you, which is stated in the bible, and it is natural in over 500 species of to be homosexual, then, by default, it should be accepted, natural, and not a sin to be homosexual.

In class Sam stated that the longer you are with a group of people, the more you learn, and become open to their beliefs, this statement was of contact. I agree completely with the idea that contact is essential in understanding a people, a culture, or even as simple as an individual, as the same way one learns about anything in life. The key in this idea is experience, just as how we thought the world as flat, and that remained the general consensus, until someone actually traveled it and saw; Americans will continue to see Muslims as terrorists, Blacks as more violent, homosexuality as unnatural, etc. because with no experiences to actually refer to it is easier to go unknowing, and believe what we are presented, and told, in which most cases is the media, until an actual experience occurs.
Growing up I always considered myself comfortable with everyone, and all types of people, or thought that I was, until I was presented with, we’ll call him Adam, the first openly gay guy I’ve ever seen in 8th grade. There were stories of him, hitting on the straight guys, labeling some guys as “Still in the Closet”, and he dressed overly feminine, which combined with the stories, could unhinge even the bravest of men. The stories, or maybe even more the persona of Adam, gave me a negative outlook towards Gay/Lesbians, to the point of which I didn’t want to even associate with them. It wasn’t until 10th grade in which one of my good friends that as children we used to even share the same bed came out, at first I was skeptic as he never hit on me, or tried anything when we slept, and besides his obsession with playing as females in our videogames, which I credited to perverseness, he was no different from my other guy friends. After talking to him I understood that not all gay guys were like Adam, and that the only difference between us, was who we were attracted to, which made me even more open to, and comfortable with the idea of homosexuality, to the point in which I wanted to talk to Adam. My talk with Adam gave me a new experience, and better understanding of his situation and decision, I learned that he respected the choice of a man’s sexuality, and if they were straight, he’d leave them alone, and all those stories, about hitting on men, stemmed from one occasion in which he got drunk, and hit on a straight guy, and it has followed him ever since. I learned that he always felt like he was a girl, in a man’s body, and wanted to be as true to himself as possible, but overall, I learned the he was a person, and just like everyone else had his own demons to deal with, far greater than most I know.

Today we talked about prejudice in America, and how each person sees another, or is taught to see someone, and that a lot of the info we are learn is actually inaccurate, which in conclusion shapes us to see each other than how we really are. I honestly knew that most Americans, are misinformed about a lot of things, but I never knew, or at least understood how deep it went. As humans, we form opinions off of experience whether good or bad, and that dictates how we live and see things. The problem with this is there is so much out that we can’t see or experience everything in life, so we allow ourselves to be told “truths”, and in terms of America these “truths” come from the media, in which nowadays priority lies within the ratings, and not the facts. If we believed everything the media said, and held it as the actual truth, all black people would be criminals, and all Muslims would be terrorists but coming off of experience as a black male, I know for fact that not all black people are criminals as, seems to be portrayed in the media, and as someone who has experience with Muslims I also know that the actual terrorists are few and far in between. I was actually annoyed after learning that the rates of white people committing crimes was around equal to minorities, however the rate of white people going to jail for these crimes was 10 times lower than blacks, as if the world would be safer with us in jail, and that we could not be rehabilitated. What actually infuriated me, was the batman shootings, in which a white man killed a lot of people, but in the news they tried humanize him as if what he did, was not his fault, saying he was on drugs, and was in college, instead of pointing him out as the monster he was, and honestly if that was a black guy instead the first thing we would have heard about was a criminal history, and how black people are pre-disposed to violence, and to be violent. The aspect of American culture, the judge someone, something before you learn, truly hurts and separates us as a whole, instead of seeing for ourselves what is truth, we let biased opinions determine our thoughts. I think the best thing we could do as Americans, is to not be ignorant, and try to learn about life through our own experiences, and although I respect freedom of speech, in terms of the media, and how much influence it has in our life I think it should be controlled, with the focus being on truthfulness, not entertainment.

Class today, really opened my eyes to living conditions present to Native Americans, even more so was how America handled the decisions of our Founding Fathers. What truly depressed and outraged me, was how casual they talked about ending their lives, like there was nothing to live for, and no hope left, another thing was the struggle a few of them had selling a TV just to get food. After learning more about the unjust, no evil actions carried out against Native Americans, in our Founding Father’s so called “Manifest Destiny”, it is as clear as day that this land belongs to the Native Americans, but as we currently stand as a great superpower in the world, we could never give it back. In probably America’s darkest hour are many of the horrors we forced upon the Native Americans, from removing them from the land they know and lived centuries upon, most times sacred and forcing them often into truly foreign lands; Like the natives of Florida who during the Trail of Tears were forced as far as into the dry and for the most part uninhabitable parts of Texas, after massacring the majority of the people, who either refused to move, or died along the way. Today even we still avoid righting the wrongs of our forefathers, and returning the land, as how can we honestly give this land back, how do you tell America that we are giving back 1/5th of the states to the Native Americans, and that those in states such as California, New York, and even here in Pennsylvania have to leave, you just can’t, we have gotten too far. Knowing this simple truth I am still ashamed as an American that we continue to push this to the back of the closest, as things are not acceptable as they currently stand now. Today we learned that Native Americans have the highest numbers of poverty, in which they are essentially forced into, being on reservations. They also have the highest suicide rate, as there is little hope among people who are living like a 3rd world country in America. It honestly seems that America is just waiting for these people to die off, as to not give in and have to deal with it. I feel the only way we can truly help is work with the Natives, to get them back onto their feet to the point where they can provide financially, and stand economically, which means we have to on some level integrate them into America, even though at the same time they would be joining the monster, which started their problems, but I feel without this integration, Native Americans as a people of America, will sadly become extinct.

The King of the hill exercise, and our discussion during class taught me a lot about how things came to be, and why as of currently they will never change. What I took from the class, is that in America the whites who colonized this land put themselves at top, this means above blacks who were slaves, the native Americans who were looked at as savages, other minorities, and even whites like the Irish who were deemed lesser; and for the most part it’s been that way ever since. Referring back to the king of the hill game, they were lucky in that they got atop the table first, and ever since then, they been making the rules, and you can’t really lose a game in which you made the rules. Due to the obvious fact that there is no room for everyone on top of the table, these rules are meant to lock others out and to keep only the same kind of people coming to the top. Imagine striking it rich, you’d help your brother or sister reach the top with you, assisting them in anyway, before you helped the stranger, it just the way we are. An example I thought of when Sam was talking about, “locking doors to keep your shit safe”, was the idea of college, which I think is essential in bettering yourself or moving up a level, or class, and as a matter of truth, you practically have to go to college in order to get a good job, and move up in the world; and how do you control who is able to climb towards you, make it really expensive, and you’ll keep the people who are supposed to stay down, and keep them small mentally. We also discussed the standing point of races using the stairs in which the dream is to make it to the top, while Blacks weren’t even at the first step; Whites were almost at the top, showing the differences in standings in America. As a fellow Black, I personally think were disadvantaged in some aspects, but our biggest problem is not other races, but ourselves, and the way were viewed in the media, and the lifestyle were choosing to live. We got the younger generations believing that their only chance is to make it in life is either through rap, or sports, and not education and hard work, were constantly portrayed in the media as people who are prone to violence, and are future criminals, even though it’s only a small percentage, much in the same the media portrays Muslims. I feel like if we do better ourselves, and give a better stigma about being black, in essence run faster, and diminish the gap even if we can’t close it, relating to what Sam’s idea, that everyone runs faster, when they see another do the same.

Today we touched the surface, on what we in our American culture view as “normal”, and “acceptable” for women. The actual discussion was about body hair on women, in which we were show a picture of a girl with a beard, and side burns. The American norm is a clean-shaven girl with only hair on the head, so one could imagine the things said upon viewing the image, calling her an “it” or “transgender”, ultimately uncomfortable about it. Although a little uncomfortable at first, upon understanding the reasoning for it I came to respect the idea of Siks on honoring, and loving the body God gave to them, and think that our American girls, and guys even, could learn a thing or two from this, but on the opposite side of the spectrum, as an American born and raised here like most others, I think the main problems we face with this idea of norms is we were taught to identify facial hair, polished nails, dresses and such as gender traits; Girls wear dresses, and nail polish, guys have facial hair, and once you begin to blur the lines people get upset, and uncomfortable. One prime example is Gays, although I believe in the right to marry whomever you fall in love with regardless of sex, try as I might to accept it, I can’t fully embrace the idea of guys wearing nail polish, or clothing feminine clothing, simply based off the idea of that being a feminine trait, and that was how I was brought up. We can also incorporate America’s idea of the perfect woman, what we portray in the media, and the idea that women have to be skinny to be beautiful, the idea of hairy vs. hairless, correlates directly to the idea of skinny vs. bigger in the presumed beliefs that one has to look or be a certain way in order to be accepted, as bigger girls are pressured to be stick thin. Basically what separates one person from another are their differences, everyone has their own perception of beauty, and life, in which you can’t limit to one definition or term, and if we can understand that the sooner we can stop pressuring, and tearing down our own.

When I first saw the quote, as a statement coming from a Middle Easterner, I thought it was an ignorant statement made by someone who truly didn’t understand, or care to understand the other’s religion in which there are many similarities, an between the two religions, at the same time I also thought of how ignorant we Americans can be about Muslims. Then I heard the statement again, but this time coming from the mouth of a fellow American, and honestly although, I felt it was just as ignorant, I was more sympathetic just because it was a few days after 9/11, and we were hurt and angry. Ask me about this subject any time before taking SOC 119 and I might have said, the middle East would be the last place I ever wanted to go, mostly due to the media ‘s influence on us. The media tries to give us the impression that all the American-friendly Muslims have already come to America, and any of those that still are in the Middle East are terrorists, who would enjoy nothing more than to saw off the heads of Americans with a dull knife. The media makes it seem so severe, and horrible by telling us were losing our own people trying to save these savages, or lesser humans, who treat their women like slaves, and throw acid on them, add in the fact that, the media portrays the idea that these terrorist wish, pray, and hope for our deaths, and seem to revel in the life’s they took, and it gets easier to want to bomb them. Honestly if it weren’t for this class, I might have carried around this idea a lot longer, and I’d say the turning point was as simple as hearing, and learning, about life in the Middle East, how they actually like, and are interested in getting to know us, and an even bigger breakthrough was the discussion about the U.S. drone attacks. Here are these people that many Americans hate blindly, who suffer through these drone attacks, which take away hundreds of lives at a time, with no discrimination between men, women, and even children. As bad as 9/11 was, American life became for the most part normal years afterwards, we still have yet to see war firsthand, on our own territory, we don’t get bombed daily, and although I could kind of sympathize with any Middle Eastern who feels the same about the quote on Christianity, those who believe only make up a small percentage. Just like always, a few bad apples ruining the bunch, and media choosing to capitalize on it. I think the best way to change things is to better understand each other, their beliefs, and where their coming from, before you could decide on anything.

This question actually gave me a lot to think about, like when we see people with mental disorders, or physical disabilities in a way we see them as just a handicap first, before we see them as a person just the same as us, and that affects how we treat, view, and react to them, as there’s a sensitivity, and a lack of understanding. I concluded that everyone is in a wheel chair of their own; everyone has something about them that separates them, be it sexual, physical, racial, etc. but to truly one understands one has to lose their legs so to speak or, at least perceive it that way.
Everyone wants to be accepted, but the key is accepted as they truly are, I think one of the biggest problems we face in this matter is the idea of being color-blind, or general blindness, in which is really desensitizing our differences, in which White people are a major culprit, and honestly it’s not something you can ignore. I’m all for the idea, of everyone being looked at as equals, but to say you don’t see color shows you don’t accept all of me, or are willing to learn, my heritage, culture, and history. The truth of the matter is in the same way, you can’t suggest to someone in a wheelchair to take the stairs, you can’t blindly ignore the differences of each individual, but you have to learn that in which sets us apart, also makes us special in our own way.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, we have the people, mainly us people of color, who are too sensitive. As a Black American, I can never forget slavery, it’s a part of our people, but at the same time, I wasn’t whipped yesterday, and there are things we just need to let go. The same goes for the N-word, because honestly, it doesn’t mean what it used to anymore, and the “correct meaning” is now dying out with the older generation. After seeing those pictures of the drone attacks in the Middle East, I thought of our reason for still being there, and for some reason I thought slavery. Look it’s been 11 years since 9/11, and If I guess correctly we lost around 3000 that day, and I’d say now we’ve reached the point, were we’ve lost tenfold that number, and that’s just our side, were past the point of an eye for an eye, or America’s security, this has become something the US just refuses to let go of; and in the same way this can be applied to slavery, sure it was horrible, but worse still, when we think about how that period of time still affects us even today, It’s like when do we forgive the white people, when do forget the names, and decide to move on, cause we could never be truly together, and accept one another if we can’t look beyond the past.
In terms of understanding each other, I think the simplest, and ideal way to go about it, is to look at in terms of a relationship between a boy and girl. More precisely think of it as a girl can be one of the guys, she can be a friend, have similar interests, do the same things, but relating back to class, once a month she is a girl again, and as a guy you should not ignore the fact she is in pain, as that's apart of her in the same way you shouldn’t discard one’s culture, and just the same you should not hold against her the things she will say, and she will say some mean things, but forgive the past in the same way we should forgive slavery, as they are are a different person today.