en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/4224239 Comments by SOCrocksmysocks http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/04/10/voices-from-the-classroom-146/#IDComment338433372 I wasn’t actually all that surprised by the statistic about how many kids are kidnapped annually. At first I thought it could be one of the higher possibilities, but then I considered the fact that the vast majority of crimes that people see take place on tv, and aren’t representative of the actual crimes that take place in the world. In reality if a kid was kidnapped off the street, by that night the story would be all over the news with an amber alert sounded. On a show like csi every episode is centered on some heinous crime like murder or rape when really those are two of the least likely crimes to be committed. According to Sam’s stat the most common violence seen in movies or on tv is murder, while in the real world crimes like larceny, petty theft, and simple assault are by far the most common. When it comes down to it, our perception of danger and sense of fear is totally controlled by the media. I don’t blame people now a days who wont let their kids walk to school even if they live very close, with the kinds of things that people actually think are possibilities that could happen to them. A kidnapping is one of the most terrifying crimes to occur in America, no matter how rare, and any parent would do what they could to keep their kid safe. So it only makes sense that as we see more and more violence on tv we get paranoid and assume that the same goes for the real world and we develop a fear for what might happen. As Sam said, we are safer today than our parents were when they were our age, but yet we are more afraid than the older generation. I think that the origin of our illogical fears is without a doubt the way that the media depicts the news that we hear. Every story that makes the new has to do with someone or something being hurt or maimed in some way because that is what is seen as a good news story. It’s very rare to see a positive story on the news, and although there may be a few they are readily outnumbered by the negative. It seems that our generation has been taught to be overly scared and cautious regarding the outside world without a real concrete need to be. From the time we are born we were all taught to be careful because any terrible thing that happened on the news “could happen to us” but is our collective fear really a bad thing? I don’t know. That’s just how it is. Overall I think that we should take from that lecture the idea that we need to make decisions for ourselves, not based on what other people tell us. Fri, 13 Apr 2012 21:52:07 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/04/10/voices-from-the-classroom-146/#IDComment338433372 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/04/04/voices-from-the-classroom-142/#IDComment332721108 Before class on Tuesday I think I had a fairly good idea of what ethnocentrism is I just didn’t know what its official name was. Ethnocentrism is what keeps us in the cycle of only caring about ourselves and is the enemy of empathy. Without empathy places like Haiti would be doomed to never be anything more than a third world country with a high poverty rate, but with empathy we are able to appreciate the things that people of other cultures are experiencing. I would agree that this class was probably the most essential class of the semester because it drove home the message that he was trying to send all semester. From the beginning Sam has been trying to get us all to think with an open mind and not let influences in our society dictate the way we access other cultures. Basically he wanted us to walk in the shoes of someone else and make an unbiased decision based on our core values and not the influence of outside factors. The video at the beginning of class about idol worship initially struck me as just another video of a culture far different from ours. However, the second half of the video went on to explain how every aspect of the tribal rituals is almost identical to corresponding aspects of American sports. I found it very cool to see how similar the two actually are and I think it helped a lot of people to understand that just because it looks different doesn’t mean it is. Just as we might be scared of some of the rituals and practices involved with tribal life, I’m sure any one of the people in the video we saw would be terrified at the sight of a hundred thousand chanting, dancing, and screaming Penn State football fans. I was also very interested when Sam brought up the two Muslim girls who cover and asked them about their decision to do so. To us it is weird to see a woman with her whole body covered on a hot summer day, but after listening to the way they explained it, I consider it to be admirable. I had no idea that once a Muslim woman moves to America it is optional to cover, but finding out allowed me to respect and understand their decision to display their religion. The video of the guys from Sudan coming to America was the most eye opening part of class for me because it helped me to see that the things that we consider to be every day or normal are just as strange to foreigners as their practices are to us. I guess the moral of this entire class is to be open to new ideas and accept things for what they really are, not what they seem to be. Fri, 6 Apr 2012 01:45:16 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/04/04/voices-from-the-classroom-142/#IDComment332721108 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/03/27/voices-from-the-classroom-136/#IDComment328104045 When we watched the video of the Asian students at USC being interviewed in class I personally found it funny, along with what seemed like the majority of the class. I thought it was interesting though that when we were asked what we thought about the video, a lot of those same people that were laughing before were now condemning it as offensive and wrong. I felt bad for the one student who did speak up and say that he found it funny; this is supposed to be a class based on our opinions on race relations, but it seems that anytime something controversial is said that person is immediately criticized for being insensitive or racist. What he said didn’t come off as racist or offensive to me, it just seemed like he thought it was decently funny. He probably could’ve worded it a little differently, but I was very surprised at the reaction he got. I seriously doubt that all the people doing the correcting are as sensitive to things of that nature when they leave class. To me, it looks like this class is making people more aware of race, but also overly sensitive at times. Even after multiple Asian students agreed that the video was at least somewhat funny, people continued to ridicule the white student who said the same thing. I understand that race isn’t something that should be made fun of and anything degrading towards other races should be stopped, but as long as it isn’t degrading is it wrong to make a joke? Earlier in class we had watched a video of an Asian comedian making fun of Asian stereotypes and everyone found it to be hilarious, but what if it would have been a white man or a black man saying those same jokes? Would they still be funny or would they be wrong? If the goal of race relations is for all races to coexist on an equal playing field, then surely we should be able to talk and joke about our differences. I think that this class has helped to make people more aware of not just the racism going on around us but also the intent, whether malicious or ignorant in nature, of that racism. However, these skills can sometimes lead to people over evaluating situations and seeking out what they see to be the racial portions. Before this class if you asked me to place myself in one of the stages, I would have said a combination of the first three, but as of now I would say closer to five. Overall, I think a lot of people were quickly dragged through the first few stages over the course of this class so far and they now find themselves in a new state of mind regarding race and are adjusting to the new way they see the world. Fri, 30 Mar 2012 22:43:14 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/03/27/voices-from-the-classroom-136/#IDComment328104045 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/03/21/voices-from-the-classroom-126/#IDComment322852841 Growing up I wouldn’t say that it was strange for me to interact with people of color, but the small rural town I came from was almost totally white. It wasn’t out of the ordinary to hear racist jokes while walking to class or open use of derogatory terms in public and I think observing things of this sort helped me to see the way people tend to go blindly along with whatever everyone else is saying. Although it wasn’t predominant in my area, there were places near me that are known to be very racist toward anyone that’s not white. All the way up to high school you could count the number of black students on one hand but, I never really noticed the overabundance of white people in my town until I started my first semester here at Penn State. Before I came here I would have considered my hometown to be somewhat diverse, but I was way off. When I started applying for colleges there was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to go to a big university. I think it’s great to be on a big campus and be a part of a community of this size. The idea of seeing new and different people was very appealing to me, but I had no clue exactly how many people there are here. I’ve never been in an environment like the one here in State College, and I think places like this that work to mix all different kinds of people together are an essential step in recognizing and accepting race, but more importantly, in producing a generation that can acknowledge race and discuss its issues without it leading to violence. The way to eliminate race as a dividing factor in society is through education on the subject and interaction between races, both of which are encouraged here, specifically in this class. I can see how people that were raised similarly to me could become stuck in the first two stages, either being afraid to acknowledge any other race, or becoming comfortable around only their own race, but I guess I was able to move past that because of how my parents raised me. As long as I can remember, my parents have tried to instill a sense of self confidence in me, and I think that this plays a big role in why I can be open-minded around topics like race. They constantly encouraged me to be confident enough to think for myself and make my own decisions, and in turn as I grew up I was able to trust my choices and be affected less and less by the opinions of other people. Fri, 23 Mar 2012 18:35:10 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/03/21/voices-from-the-classroom-126/#IDComment322852841 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/03/15/voices-from-the-classroom-123/#IDComment317982313 I can’t say that class yesterday changed my general position on war, but there were definitely some eye opening facts presented. I think most people, myself included, consider war to be terrible but at times necessary. Violence probably isn’t the best way to solve the problems in the world, but the reality is that most of the time it is the first reaction to a disagreement. Everyone knows that war means people will die, some of them being innocent civilians. What I didn’t know is that the vast majority of people e killed in war are not soldiers, or involved with the military at all. I had never considered it before, but it is believable. This more than anything helped me to empathize with how the Iraqi people experiencing all of the effects of war must feel. In Sam’s video about Christian invaders he eluded to the fact that the war in Iraq is solely about oil, not so much the war on terror that we hear so much about. I don’t want to believe that oil would be the main reason behind our ten year stay in the Middle East, but considering how long we have been there I could see an ulterior motive playing a role. Personally, I don’t understand why we as Americans feel like we are entitled to intervene and influence other countries at all. We claim that we are spreading democracy, or “helping” the citizens of the countries that we invade, but what makes us think they want our help? I thought it was funny how simple the Iraqi man we talked to in classes’ answer was when asked what he would say to America. Simply put, you mess it up, you fix it. Putting myself in his shoes, I’m sure that I along with most people would be saying the same thing. From his perspective we invaded his country to take advantage of their natural resources, and decided while we’re there we might as well enact our principles in their country. It’s hard to imagine exactly how Americans would react if the war was brought to their doorstep the way it was to the Iraqis, but I’m sure that there would be a large number of patriotic soldiers willing to protect their country. Those people would be seen as our soldiers and defenders, but to our invaders they are considered insurgents. Sat, 17 Mar 2012 01:38:39 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/03/15/voices-from-the-classroom-123/#IDComment317982313 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/03/02/the-kiss-seen-round-the-web/#IDComment312431474 I think it’s funny that people still get bent out of shape about gay relationships or gay people showing affection. I understand that maybe your religion or your upbringing made you see homosexuality as wrong, but it seems like a fairly easy solution to me. If you don’t like it, look away. Problem solved. They aren’t hurting anything by being affectionate with each other, so who cares? It doesn’t really make sense to me that this story got as much attention as it did. He was just excited to see a loved one after a long time apart. I’m sure that same embrace can be seen between countless soldiers and their significant others, but this time it’s a huge deal just because it’s two men? I’m surprised that while we’re recovering from a recession, fighting multiple wars, and worrying about this summers’ gas prices, we couldn’t find something else to talk about. It seems to me like we as a country, need to get our priorities in order. In my opinion, it is totally ridiculous that gay marriage is even debated over anymore. If someone told a heterosexual person that they couldn’t marry the one that they loved because it violated some moral code it would be sternly rejected as an infringement on their constitutional rights, yet that is exactly what we tell homosexual people and no one seems to see a problem with it. “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” being repealed was a big step for the gay community, but why was it in place at all? For some reason in this country there is a deep seated fear and alienation of anything different, with homosexuality considered taboo by a lot of people. It seems like the majority of homophobic, or anti-gay people use religion as a cop out as to why they believe what they do. I find that ironic because just like Sam said in class, most religious people follow in the footsteps of their parents, not because that is necessarily what they believe, but because their parents raised them that way. Which means that those same people who reject homosexuality because it clashes with their religion weren’t even the ones who chose to follow that religion in the first place. All I’m saying is that when homosexuality is seen without the filter of religion it becomes a much more reasonable and acceptable occurrence. Just one person loving another. Hopefully soon, stories like these will be accepted, not blown out of proportion and paraded around on the internet. Fri, 9 Mar 2012 20:31:22 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/03/02/the-kiss-seen-round-the-web/#IDComment312431474 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/02/23/voices-from-the-classroom-115/#IDComment300991727 I think that the idea of people being judged simply on the basis of their name is ridiculous, but however sad or disturbing the idea of prejudice may be to talk about, it is still there. The fact that your name, something you didn’t even decide for yourself, is enough to keep you from a job is pitiful. You would assume that two people with identical resumes would be equally likely to be offered a job, but according to the stats Sam showed that clearly is not the case. It was shocking to hear that white people are fifty percent more likely to receive the job simply because of the way their name sounds. If I was an employer looking for potential employees, there would be a few factors that made up my decisions. Whoever I hired would need to have high qualifications, but at the same time they would need to mesh well with the rest of the people they would be working around. I think the second part of that is what most hiring employers get hung up on. When an employer looks through applications they are obviously looking for someone who they think has the ability to do the job well, but it also needs to be someone who they know they will feel comfortable with, and considering the apparent bias in hirings most of these new employees are white. I think that a lot of people were shocked to hear the statistics because the only real bias ever talked about in applications for jobs or colleges is affirmative action. It was interesting when Sam flipped it onto white people and showed that there is actually an advantage where there seemed to be a hindrance. As a white man I am not proud to say that I have a leg up on some of my competition just because of the color of my skin, but I can’t complain either. I don’t think there is a clear cut way to get rid of racism in the application process or just in general, but I do think that programs like affirmative action are doing more harm than good. I guess the intentions were good, but who wants to be awarded something off of a technicality? I’m sure that anyone would be more proud of themselves knowing that they got the job because they were the best person for it, not because of their race. Sat, 25 Feb 2012 02:21:25 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/02/23/voices-from-the-classroom-115/#IDComment300991727 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/02/15/voices-from-the-classroom-105/#IDComment295404251 I would not consider myself to be a particularly religious person, but I would still find it offensive if someone with no idea what I believe in just wrote me off without a second thought. It would not be the fact that they didn’t accept my religion, but the fact that they didn’t even let me try to explain what I had to say that would get under my skin. I was brought up Catholic, but I don’t necessarily consider myself to be a religious person. I went to church every week and attended Sunday school, not because I wanted to or because I was interested, but because my parents thought that it was the right thing to do. As their parents brought them up devout Catholic’s, they did the same for me. Just like Sam said in class, most people just blindly follow the ways of their parents. Somewhere down the line, one of my family members decided they wanted to try Christianity. Whether that decision was well founded or not I will never know, what I do know is that I do not have to blindly follow my parents into a religion the way they did with theirs. As I got older, I gradually developed my own beliefs, separate from my parents influence. I chose to take a more scientific view of the way that the world works, leaning more towards the big bang theory and evolution instead of the creationist, but that doesn’t mean that the way I see things is right, it’s just what I think. That being said, I don’t think any less of anyone that does believe in God or creationism, it’s just what they choose to believe. Living here in America we have the privilege to freely choose to follow any type of religion that we want, and I think that more people should take advantage of it. What could it hurt to understand someone else’s beliefs? The only product of conversing with people that believe things other than what you do is a more well rounded outlook on society and a general broader outlook on religion itself. The questions around religion and the possible existence of a god will probably never be fully answered, and the people who have faith in their gods will likely pass their beliefs on to their kids and their grandkids and the endless cycle of religion will continue. Sat, 18 Feb 2012 04:45:07 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/02/15/voices-from-the-classroom-105/#IDComment295404251 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/02/08/voices-from-the-classroom-99/#IDComment289188313 I do think that white people tend to shy away from the topic of race more than anyone else does, but I don’t think that necessarily happens on purpose, it is just a product of how society approaches diversity. We were taught since we were young that talking about another person’s race is a bad subject and is better left alone for fear of being taken offensively. Today it seems that it is considered racist to simply acknowledge that other races exist. It is as if seeing color of any kind is a bad thing, because that makes you racist, so instead we’ll pretend that everyone is the same color. No one wants to be seen as the ignorant racist white guy, so the topic tends to be avoided. This is especially true when race comes up in a group of mixed race people. I think that most of this hesitation to talk about race comes from the weight of the guilt still felt by white people over slavery and the general inhumane treatment of other races in our past. To make this guilty feeling worse we have things like Black History Month that perpetuate the idea that white people in general should be sorry for what happened. Personally I think that things like affirmative action and Black History Month are just continuing a cycle of producing sorry white people, but by this point white people are feeling guilty for the actions of their ancestors, not their own. It reminds me of the question in class about if the distant relatives of the settlers who took land from the Native Americans owe that land back to the distant ancestors of the Native Americans. The majority of the class said that after a few generations they were no longer responsible for correcting the actions of their ancestors. So, in theory white people should no longer need to be held accountable for how their forefathers treated other races. We as white people obviously don’t have the same feelings toward people of other races today that our ancestors did in the past, so why should race be such an awkward topic? I think it’s because white people are so worried about remembering to be politically correct and avoiding anything that they think may be offensive that it has become a hassle to talk about. The idea of race itself in my opinion is ridiculous. Thinking that everyone in the world fits into one of a few racial categories based on their physical characteristics makes no sense. What exactly does it take to be considered white? Simply having light colored skin? If that is true than much of the world’s population is identifying themselves with the wrong race. At this point races have combined to the point that it is pointless to try to identify someone solely by their race. Why should we even waste our time arguing over things as superficial as race, when in the end it doesn’t matter what color your skin is, we’re all gonna die anyway. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 23:36:03 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/02/08/voices-from-the-classroom-99/#IDComment289188313 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/01/31/voices-from-the-classroom-93/#IDComment283063738 I have never understood why there is such of an emphasis on immigrants speaking English here in America. People can say that they do not support immigration because immigrants take American’s jobs or that they are crowding our country or whatever they may believe, but I think that underneath it all, white people in America are terrified that one day they could become a minority in a place that was once almost totally dominated by white Europeans. We as Americans cannot advertise ourselves as a diverse culture if we don’t see ourselves that way. If we can’t even tolerate other races speaking their native language in this country, how are we supposed to live side by side with that same person? Regardless of what language an individual may speak, can’t they be respected simply for working hard and wanting to better themselves? I think that we should be able to set aside our stereotypes and preconceived notions about other cultures in order to better our country as a whole. The only thing that could come out of welcoming immigration is the possibility of growing into a more well rounded society with a broader view on the world. It seems to me that America is all about improving and becoming the best you can, so how is learning a new language any different? I think that the idea of a president hiding being bilingual on the basis that it might hurt their chances at getting elected is crazy. As Americans we would want our president to be a person who can best represent our country, so why then would we want a generic white president who only speaks English instead of a multi cultural president? I do not dislike English or think that it should be forgotten, I just think that far too much emphasis is placed on immigrants speaking our native language when they do not push theirs on us. To be perfectly honest it is ridiculous to think that we can hold onto English and make it the standard language in America because we all know that the growing flow of immigrants will not stop, and eventually white will not be the dominant race in this country. America is a great place to live and that is no secret. The same way we brought our beliefs, customs, and language here looking for a better life when this country was being created; immigrants from other places are trying to do the same today. We might as well get ahead of the curve while we can and accept it for what it is instead of an attack on Americans. Times are changing and we can either adapt and continue on, or remain static and become history, the choice is all of ours. Fri, 3 Feb 2012 20:13:23 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/01/31/voices-from-the-classroom-93/#IDComment283063738 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/01/20/questions-from-class/#IDComment276228101 I would say that we are all living the american dream right now. We live in a place where everyone’s rights are legally protected and the only excuse to not get where you want to go is laziness. I don’t think the american dream is gone, it’s just a little different now. Fri, 27 Jan 2012 21:02:10 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/01/20/questions-from-class/#IDComment276228101 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/01/20/questions-from-class/#IDComment276225792 The classic idea of the American dream is the concept that if you are a hardworking, honest person with an ambitious drive to get what you want out of life, you can achieve anything. The idea of the American dream has been around forever, but lately it seems to be more of a fairy tale than anything else. I do think that the American dream has lost its value to some American people because the outlook on hard work is different today than it was in the past. Today a get rich quick scheme is more highly valued than a good work ethic. Americans have become complacent with how great it is to live in this country and are starting to take some of the liberties and freedoms that are exclusively here for granted. We have lived with all of our privileges for so long that it feels as if they are owed to us at this point. It is no longer seen as rewarding to work for something if you cant get instant success from it. This is where immigrants come in. The jobs that we no longer see fit to do, because they are under our pay grade or too physically demanding are gladly being taken by immigrants coming to this country because they still believe that their labor now will pay off later and maybe someday they will be able to live the american dream along with the rest of us. In my opinion it would be very hypocritical of us to say that immigrants cannot join in our pursuit of the american dream. After all, who really is an american? Our country is essentially ruled by the assimilated offspring of foreigners with the only real Americans left currently living on reservations scattered throughout the country. So who are we to say that other people who are attempting to come here arent allowed in the same way that we came? We as Americans pride ourselves on the idea of America being a great big ethnic melting pot where the sky is the limit for anyone with the ability to get here, but yet we pass acts and laws to hinder or prohibit the opportunities for citizens of other countries from making it here. While I think that the american dream does still exist, I also think that each citizen has a little different idea what that dream is. Some people would say that it is simply to become wealthy or to be successful Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:58:52 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/01/20/questions-from-class/#IDComment276225792 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/01/17/voices-from-the-classroom-90/#IDComment269138667 after all it’s just a name. But with all things considered I think that it’s a very reasonable thing to ask for after all the years of abuse and oppression that we have caused them. While I think that reparations are deserved, I don’t think that a formal apology would be the right way to go about it. If anything, the best way to show that we were wrong would be to teach the history of the U.S. from a more pro Native American perspective, and maybe lose the dancing Indian mascots. Fri, 20 Jan 2012 01:07:25 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/01/17/voices-from-the-classroom-90/#IDComment269138667 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/01/17/voices-from-the-classroom-90/#IDComment269135747 Before this lecture I had a very limited knowledge of immigration, and an even more limited knowledge of the past hardships and current challenges that Native Americans face. I knew that today most Native Americans live on reservations and that a long time ago we came over from Europe and took their land, but I had no idea of the actual conditions that face them. Having grown up in a small rural town in Maryland, I had never and still have never known anyone with Native American heritage. To me, an Indian was nothing more than the mascot for my high school. More of a fictional character than a living person. It was eye opening to see the harsh realities that plague Native American people every day that no one is aware of. Everyone knows about slavery and about genocide, but for some reason these terms never get associated with Native Americans. The majority of things that people know about Native Americans come from movies theyve seen or stories theyve heard, and I think that is where most of the preconceived notions arise from. Im sure when the word Native American or Indian comes up the first thing that comes to mind for the bulk of people including myself is a stereotypical image. A primitive human with a painted face and a headdress full of colorful feathers, maybe even a teepee. This image that we have created for them is just adding insult to injury. The truth is that they dont live free and happily the way they did before, now they live in poverty stricken shanty towns on reservations with some of the highest suicide rates and lowest life expectancies in the country. Prior to our lecture I was strongly against the idea of changing team names and school mascots away from such things as the Redskins. I didnt understand why Native American people were so offended Fri, 20 Jan 2012 01:02:21 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/01/17/voices-from-the-classroom-90/#IDComment269135747