I do not know first hand the courage it would take to speak out because I am not a victim, but I do also believe it has a lot to do with who the sexual predator is to the person whether it be a friend, a family member, a co-worker, a significant other, a role model, or a random stranger. I think the major thing one would need is support (if I were in these shoes), the support levels would also vary again depending on who the abuser is. If it were a stranger I (I can not speak for others) would not need support at all, but if it became a lot closer (like a family member) I would need to know that I am not alone in this (that people are not here for them they are here for me). If you look at all the posts before mine a lot of people mention their parents and how supportive they are, I could not imagine knowing the strength one would have to call upon to help them in that kind of situation. I think another issue of this problem is age, the younger one is the harder it is for one to find someone to get this support. How many kids have people, other than their family, to give them that feeling of safety a home can bring. Which leads into the abuser giving gifts "bribing", this too would make it harder for one to say anything because people (children especially) enjoy gifts, not only that but when you get a gift (that you want) it is as though a person is really listening to you and understanding (making it that much more difficult to summon this courage. Another thing that factors into this is after this event, a person is left feeling powerless and probably thinking how nothing is going to matter or nothing will get done. In addition to that a person could lose their trust in people because they may see that everyone is like this. I believe that if we are going to help put a stop to this we are going to have to somehow have a better way to help people know that there is support for them, from a young age. If they think (and there is) a support system in place I am sure more people would be willing to open up sooner helping our society grow a little stronger. It needs to be a place that will listen investigate and help. The problem with that is that people would likely abuse that as well, leaving more victims just of a different nature. So it is a tough problem to solve.

Our Penn State generation has a lot to go through, unfortunately, I think a reason that a lot of people will not be prepared for it is because most students came here directly after high school. Most students have not had the world show them what it is like on their own, I do not blame them though (if I had the choice for my parents to support me I am not going to tell you I would not jump at the chance). I think that these events are going to make it increasingly difficult for the Penn State students, after college it is already harder to get a job. Now we have to deal with this negative stigma that has already affected THON fundraising and other students receiving internships. This is just one struggle, I do not know what they all are and only time will tell. Right now people are just jumping down our throats, and the next few years are going to be the roughest. I do not think we are f***ed, however I do believe that we all have to help each other get out of this hole that we were just thrown in.
I believe that the thing that most Penn Staters will leave with is perspective. This struggle we are about to endure is going to give us all a piece of what others go through. If there is a silver lining I believe that is it, the perspective we are all about to receive is going to be eye opening (for a lot of people).
As for the other reasons as to why people of our generation are just screwed, yea. I waited five years to come to college, my family had little to no resources to help me, I am working, going to classes, studying, finishing homework, trying to have a social life, and throw in my relationship (with an amazing woman to put up with me). I have improved my skills at juggling ten fold. Now I have to wonder at the end of all of this, at the mess our culture has to deal with, if I will even get to enjoy this. If a lot of the crap goes down, I just wasted my life in college, and now I need to figure out how to survive.
I have actually been putting a fair amount of thought into this as well, since I am in Bi Sci 003 (this course is developed around this), I have thought about an advanced Amish society if we run into the peak oil conflict. At the same time though I do not know what struggles we will have to endure right now, but I am trying to ensure that I am ready for as many as possible.

Well I consider myself to be in that twelve percent (financially), because my parents both went to trade schools so I am hoping that my college degree will bring me past that (in theory it should). I also believe that this "better" is viewed in a financial sense (why is that?), I think that presents a problem in and of itself (I left my first thought up there even to show and serve as an example). Better could mean so much more; for example better at sports, dancing, school, relationships, and more, but Americans (to me it seems) seem to focus on the financial aspect (I believe this has to do with the culture I am apart of). So when I actually saw the vagueness of the question being asked, I thought to myself why wouldn't everyone being doing "better" or worse. This to me seems to be a huge problem (as I said), I feel as though this helps this stagnation, it contributes to depression, and puts a halt to a persons progression. My last question on this would have to be; when there was no money (way, way, way back) what was better viewed as? So to answer the initial question again, yes I still believe that I will do "better" that my parents, and no I will not do better. As I said I will be better off financially (hopefully), but with that will most likely bring extra responsibilities (hopefully not). I think my mother would be a better parent than I, and my father a better mechanic than I.

However as for other whites I believe that the thought process behind this better (at least I think this is what I would struggle with) is that since I got so high up the financial ladder, it would is difficult for me to go up and I definitely would not want to go down. However I have to figure out how to keep climbing and it looks pretty difficult near the top of this ladder, because the steps keep getting further apart. So I just give in thinking I am going to be worse off than my parents. Then when you look at the minority they have to climb because most are further down then I am. Therefore leaving little room to move down and making it easier to a little higher up this financial ladder.

This "better" is just in the eye of the holder, yes financially I am better off. But that takes energy that others use elsewhere, leaving me worse off than others. So I am just saying that we are all better and worse, when you get more specific you are just leaving things out.

I think this is a very hard question to ask a person to judge where they are at, I think to really know that you would have to be put in a position where you are put to the test, or someone such as Sam would have to collaborate and put you in a stage. However since I am being asked to judge myself, I want to say I am a six (however someone may have to correct me on this). I feel I cleared stage one a long while ago, I realized there was a so called physical difference. In my head I saw it as dogs (for example), there are a whole bunch of different breeds, but they are all dogs. When I entered stage two I did not go the racist route (obviously), as I was growing up my mother was extremely against anything of the sort (although I noticed she did not have any friends of a minority), none the less had no problem smacking someone, including us, if she thought that there was any racist bashing going on. So I tried for a large part of my life to tip toe around the subject, and I stayed away from people who had no problem being racist (typically people known as bullies). As for stage three I do not feel as though I really got angry at the white man, I definitely did not agree with the racism that I heard about or saw, but I got angry at that instead. Which brings me to stage four, I feel this was a stage I noticed much more recently, the fact that it is not just white people who are racist. It just is that when groups (such as different race) get together, the have to be the best (group think). If a group cannot be the best at one thing, it will be another. I also want to say that I am not angry about that either, it just is (and I do not see that changing for a long time). As for stage 5, I would not say that I tried to get back into the good graces of minorities. I feel like stages 3 and 5 play little role in the development of where I am in this scale. Which brings us to stage 6, I would say that I have no problem with a person for being born into who they are on the outside, it is the inside that truly rubs me the wrong way. Another thing I may want to add is that I do believe people are more comfortable with (in a situation of complete strangers) people that right off the bat have similarities, I will admit that, that is even true for me, but that does not make me a racist, it makes me human. Let us simplify this statement, who would you hangout with a lion or a centaur? Probably the one you share the most in common with.

This is actually a story that hits very close to home with me. It was about two years ago when I decided that I was going to move into the house, I still to this day reside in. I was apart of the first three to be in this group (my girlfriend, her friend, and myself), and we started to look for additional roommates. A couple months go by and we finally have all six of us together. At this point I was nervous, I knew the guy for a couple of years and we were good friends (and still are). I was nervous because the last time I slept in the same house with a gay guy things turned very uncomfortable (like he did not understand what no meant). I am very comfortable with my sexuality, but the fact was that experience pushed my boundaries. So I definitely had to do some thinking, and it did not take long, I had felt like an asshole for thinking that this was what I should expect from all gay men. So we all lived together, I knew this before but, to be honest he broke every single stereotype of gays. He was messy, did not care if his clothes matched, was not overly or underly aggressive, and the rest of the typical stereotypes. Although I give it to him he could sing, he actually won the State College Idol held at The Arena by QuikRock, so I guess he fit one (and for his songs he did not pick female artists, I mention this because a lot of the gay performers did. However I knew they were gay before, because I had worked with them or they happened to be an acquaintance, I did not just assume that when they sang Lady Gaga that they were just immediately gay.) Anyhow living with him was very good for me to get past the other bad experience I mentioned.
Overall the actual experience of living with a gay roommate is the same as living with another person. You have to know that with every friend or significant other and especially family have their ups and downs, but you have to take them for them (if you cannot are you truely a friend?). However if gay really bothers you just realize that with another roommate that there will just be something else that bothers you. And the last thing I would like to say is that if you are happy about your relationships that is great, because I would rather be around all the positive energy, as opposed to the unhappiness (of people who cannot admit their orientation or just do not get along).

This video was very interesting, and was done very well. I think it could have covered a little more than just those three people though. I think that this is an interesting study and it reveals a lot about how far we have come and similarly could be used to measure how far we continue to go. With that being said I was still shocked by what this video revealed, and I wonder what I would have done would I be different. I would at least like to think I would be and after seeing this I feel like I would act differently (hopefully).

This short video did aggravate me, because it almost shows people that because of your race or gender that it is okay to do certain things (like stealing) and not okay for others to do those same things. It showed how people interpreted a situation and then when they asked a question, it was like they just heard exactly what they wanted to here. Afterwards depending on the person committing this theft they would leave them alone, call the police, or even help them.

So to start with the white guy stealing a bike, I thought it was amazing that he could sit there with minimal probing and after an hour someone finally does something. What are people thinking when they see this, oh this guy must have lost the key, and then they ask him. After they hear the fact that it is not his bike, this is when I would really like to understand their thinking. Do they just think that this guy is hard up at this point and once he gets back on his feet of course he will replace it, I do not get it.

As soon as the black guy starts with this act people are on there phone as soon as the guy cannot see them as if they would be stabbed. The worst part is that this reaction is subconscious and it will not be a quick fix.

Then there is the girl, I do not know what these people were thinking, but she is not going to take you home just because you helped her steal a bike. I cannot even begin to comprehend this thought process, like seriously what f***ing dots are you connecting. I understand that women can make guys go crazy, but seriously she might as well have handed this one older guy a knife and told him to stab his wife ( a little exaggerated, but the point is valid).

I think this is a good video to show just some of the things that we need to work on in our country.

I think that these are most definently amazing people and given all the information that we absorbed in this past week, I do believe that donating money and certain materials dies undermine the very societies we claim to be helping. Given a new look into this I believe the most helpful thing we are able to do is help them with materials that help them become a self-sustaining country. I believe it is important to do this because it will help these people of Haiti to appreciate themselves, not only that but if we continue to help these countries in this same fashion we are now the result will be everyone relying on us. America cannot handle that, I do not think any country could handle that resposibility. It is selfish to see it that way. When these crises occur I belive we should send an instant relief, but not to continue it. I think after this instant relief we should focus on helping them acquire the tools the need to be a once again self-sufficant county. All the free stuff ends up damaging the victims in the end, or after so long (I should say), so I have come up with this idea.
My idea to help Haiti is to pull money together somehow, wether we do fundraisers, look for sponsors, and donations. After we pull together whatever amount of revenue is needed, we do exactly what Sam did, go to Haiti and find people who are putting forth this amazing effort. Once you find them and talk with them to see if what they need is feesable and reasonable. Then you take all of this money that was raised, and you start a bank (of sorts), you loan this money out or even going as far to find these items (such as materials to make their products, or appliances to help them make their products) and bring them to Haiti for the business to pay you back. This would open up new jobs for the Haitian population, and help them grow at least a small economy. In this way we could say we helped them live again, and not suckle of the teat of America. I think overall this would help pull these people out of a depression and take some weight of of the U.S.'s shoulders. I think this would also help the world to advance as one as opposed to us all trying to get that leg up. It is just like that saying "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. " Except this would be on a much larger scale.

My one question would have to be, why white males? Why are we on top of the huge pyramid of race? How did we get there? I do not here people questioning it, it is followed on this blind faith that when we emerge into this world, it just is. I am not going to complain about (everything in) this life given to me, but it won't stop me from being curious.
I do know however that if everything would be equal no one could be happy, as soon as there is nothing to separate people there would be nothing to bring them together. So does the world have to work like so, I would have to say yes. Not because I am a white male, but because I do not believe we want to be robots. I feel we all know we need the ideals of the good and the bad no matter where people draw their lines at. So in that itself creates a system of better and worse, top and bottom, first and last.
I feel questions like this could be answered in a wide variety of ways. How does something become the best? Is it through a competition, or is it because it is the most well known, did someone judge everyone and just decide (if so who gave them the right, was it everyone or was that person self appointed). Was it deserved, if so what happened to be so deserving. I mean this just goes on and on.
However that still does not answer my initial question. Why are white males at the top of the pyramid? I do not know if I will get the answer, but I feel that is a at the very least a good question to put out there.

I understand both sides of this argument, first people are more comfortable urinating in front of a person of the same gender (from birth we have been shown that you go in this bathroom not the other bathroom). Although this may not be fair or right that a person born transgendered cannot have a certain job because they are of both sexes, it is about more than that. People have a need to feel comfortable, I do not think a person could feel comfortable knowing that they are being watched (during a mostly private event). Furthermore they may just be trying to keep a job they have and do not want the additional stress of is this person checking "me" out or are they just doing their job. I am not saying that this person is or is not checking someone out, but it does cross peoples minds, it can make one feel uncomfortable. This also is not a fair idea, but I think that this is apart of our culture (and it will not change overnight). I would find it to be another one of many great things to happen in our country, and maybe this will help this cause of the equality and recognition of all genders.
Another issue that this article brings up is why do so many people care what you are, when so many people know it is who you are (for the most part). It makes you wonder why they really posted this article, it is because this drama sells. They are bringing this one specific issue into light (mentioning that there are a few more cases out there), but what they could have done to be more effective and more helpful. They could have gone out and found cases (and I am sure there are plenty more), they could have gotten data and really made themselves helpful to society. By putting this one case up and talking about the number of incidents as though there are two others, they are setting themselves up for follow-up stories. More people are going to read about this and they are going to get more money, all they have to do is help minimally prolong this and get more money.

So basically what I am getting from all this is that the oil companies have so much money that they are able to put the officials they want in office. Therefore making it so they are making laws and tax breaks for themselves, leaving the rest of the people in the dust. I feel right now that we are powerless (in the eyes of the law) to do much of anything about it. Although I think the future is pretty clear on this, we may run out of oil and all the money that should have been going to finding an alternative source of power was wasted. The oil companies will have this power until the people rise against this power struggle. That or hopefully what will happen is that people wise up and start thinking about what we need to be doing. What I think needs to happen is first the population needs to stop growing, there is seven billion people I think we are good. After that we could stop wasting power (the place across the street will leave their lights on all night, they are closed), at least help conserve what we do have. Next is to have specific places of the world kept as sanctuaries of natural bliss (places that remain untouched by humans). Then we can figure out the best places to put things such as windmills(like Chicago lol you get what I mean) and solar panels (like the desert places places with unusual amounts of sun light). Finally everyone in their home gets a fan bike to bike on an hour a day (heck now we can have a population not plagued with obesity). Although all of this is years away (hopefully) we need to start thinking about this now, before we are really in trouble. Could you imagine losing all of our work because there is no more power, all the history we have gathered, the transportation that has been developed, the communication we have (instantly almost anywhere). What would our society do without power, we can afford to spend money figuring this out, or we can go back to the middle ages (maybe not that far but you get the point).