en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/767235 Comments by Trindle21 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/tent-cities-in-haiti__trashed/#IDComment69721805 I think this video really goes back to what I was saying in my other blog response that life moves on despite what sort of devastation happens. It is even better to see that the people who were affected by the devastation and found a way to move on from what happened and to try to rebuild their lives. You cannot help but feel bad for the fact that their economy is worse than ours, but they seem to be making do with what they can. Of course, as we learned in class, that is fine up until foreign aid puts them out of business in other areas. I think when Haiti finally gets back on their two feet that they will be able to get back into the business they once flourished in. Thu, 22 Apr 2010 13:30:24 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/tent-cities-in-haiti__trashed/#IDComment69721805 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/letter-from-an-inmate__trashed/#IDComment69714394 What I find the most interesting is that people in prison that hate each other have more compassion for one another when someone is having a major issue that two kids in high school would of a similar problem. This letter was interesting to read and it really shows that not every criminal is just cold forever. It is a shame that they did not figure out the wonders of life until it was taken away from them, but I guess for some people that is how they learn. I feel that is this individual was placed back into society he would be able to do great things. He would probably be an activist of some kind helping individuals that need help. At this point in his life, I think he wants to make up for what happened in his situation, and if given the chance he would do wonders. Thu, 22 Apr 2010 13:03:12 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/letter-from-an-inmate__trashed/#IDComment69714394 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/300000-whats-it-mean-to-us__trashed/#IDComment69710235 To answer this question I first must ask everyone to think back to September 11th. When that event happened, thousands died and thousands more were injured. But did life stop? Well maybe for a day or so, but life moves on because that is how it works. I know I got to get out early that day it happened from school, and then went back the next day. With anything that happens you have to move on, or be left behind in a mess. It might sound cruel, but it is what we have all been taught throughout our lives. If we fall, we are supposed to pick ourselves up and keep going. If a loved one dies, we mourn and continue on with her memory embedded in our heart and mind. If our boyfriend/girlfriend turns out to be the biggest jerk in the world we break up with them and go out and find another one. Life keeps moving constantly and never stops for anything whether it is one person or 300,000 people. That is not saying, however, that those who are devastated by something do not deserve worldwide attention and our aid, but the point is life does not stop. My favorite quote ever comes from Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings. He says: “All that you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you.” How we spend that time is up to us. We are allowed to feel sorry and bad for the people down in Haiti, or of any natural disaster that affects thousands, and if our family is involved in the tragedy we too can mourn for that loss. Are we going to do it forever though? I think probably not, but it will put a hold on our plans for the time being, but life still goes on. If any of my family members died in a horrible tragedy I know I would be devastated. It will screw me up mentally for many days to come. I know when Mr. Dado died I was having a hard time dealing with it mentally. I never even knew he existed in this world, but his death affected me just as much as it would have his friends. I mourned his death and thought about it for many days, but I kept doing my thing. And I am sure Dado’s friends are doing the same right now. So the answer to your question is yes we can feel bad about people who were affected in another country by a disaster, and yes not everyone will feel bad because that are not attached in some way, but that does not mean a person should not stop to mourn for what happened. But we should mourn and move forward because that is how life works. Thu, 22 Apr 2010 12:48:04 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/300000-whats-it-mean-to-us__trashed/#IDComment69710235 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/women__trashed/#IDComment68294794 What is comes down to is the media has portrayed women in some many different ways that nobody knows what the idea type of women should be. Women do not seem to know what is acceptable to society. Some say big breasts are good, others the ass, and some say it just does not matter. And that is the thing, it should not matter. We are born into this world with the body we have. It is our job to take care of it and use it properly. Adding anything is not us making up for what we believe God forgot to give us. It’s wrong and only degrades the body. How would breast implants help women when they are using a walker to get around? Plastic surgery should only be meant to restore our body back to it’s original self, not distort the body. Fri, 16 Apr 2010 00:31:51 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/women__trashed/#IDComment68294794 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/creating-terrorists__trashed/#IDComment68293539 Many of us, which includes those in our opponents in the war, view the other as a threat. We each think we are right in the situation and that the other is trying to do us harm. We view the Arabs as terrorists and who is to say the Arab’s do not view us as a terrorist. Why does terrorist have to be associate with Arab or anyone in the Middle East? Each army is creating soldiers to fight for a cause they perceive. One says we are fighting for the honor of the country and the freedom of it’s the people; the other fights to defend their country and their natural resources. So who is the real terrorists? Maybe we all are. Fri, 16 Apr 2010 00:20:44 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/creating-terrorists__trashed/#IDComment68293539 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/christian-invaders-the-turnaround__trashed/#IDComment68293016 Going into this class I did not know what to think. Once the topic was mentioned I was thinking to myself: “How is this going to be a really cool class?” By the time class was over, I understood why the class was going to be cool. As I walked out the door, I could not help myself but think, “Now I know why he’s labeled as a dangerous professor.” Sam can literally say he has been there and has done that because he truly has. He has been all over this world many times and comes before us today with this knowledge. He can be labeled dangerous because he is thinking and he knows what is going on. He truly understands. Half way through the class, which is after he showed many videos, it clicked into my head what he was saying. Now I knew what he was gearing towards with his lecture, but what clicked was that truly not many consider what the other side is thinking. Here in America, we think the Muslims are evil and violent and their sole purpose is to eradicate us from the earth. To us we believe that somebody should just push the button and turn their country into one big parking lot. What many of us do not consider is, well what are they thinking. Well, for the students who decided to stay in class today, as I saw people leave very early in it, we know what the other side is thinking. Most American’s probably do not consider that the people we are bombing are not all bad. We definitely do not consider that perhaps what they see in us is something different. We see them as evil people trying to cause us harm. They see us as trying to do them harm. As a result, everyone wants to fight. Sam made the Christian correlation because coincidentally every major general in the army or politician is Christian, and like Bush said, is on a crusade. I believe that Sam is right that nobody thought of crusade as a holy war so much as just us retaliating based on what happened nine years ago. Crusade was probably perceived as campaign, which most would agree is what everyone wanted America to embark on. Since Muslims are viewing this war as a “crusade” especially to take natural resources, yeah there is a problem, a big problem. America walks around with assault rifles and bibles; Arabs walk around with rocket launchers and the Qur’an. It’s beginning to shape up to be a holy war, and for the really religious who are counting down to the end of the world this is an indication time is drawing to it’s close. If anyone walked away from this class not thinking differently of what is going on with the current war, regardless of religion because the lecture was not even about religion, then I will be shocked. Fri, 16 Apr 2010 00:15:48 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/christian-invaders-the-turnaround__trashed/#IDComment68293016 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/how-can-we-ever-win__trashed/#IDComment65549046 I never really understood the whole thing about winning or losing. That is not me saying I do not understand that whole topic of discussion, but it is just like one poster had said regarding about this idea of winning and losing. You know, even the board game “Life” does not take race into account. So why are we playing “Life” the real version. Why do people have issues where issues do not need to be? Well, it starts in a variety of ways. Take the “Tokenism” discussion we had in last class for example. You have employers giving jobs out to people who are less deserving than others, which are wrong, but now make one of the job searchers white and the other black. Now suppose the black man is more qualified than the white guy, yet the white guy gets the job. I do not think the black man is going to say the better man won. You can be sure the words “racist” and “discrimination” will be tossed around. Then the black guy will start to believe that no matter what job he applies for the white guy will always win in the end. Therefore, his “team” is hardly ever going to win. But this does not apply to everyone of course. In the case of the LLBean magazine, Sam says Blacks would be judged as trying to be white and people will question whether their true blacks. As a city person, one thing I have seen if blacks hate it when white people try to be like them. The same can be said for some whites who do not want black people to try and act white. This is where the conflict of “teams” comes in because neither “team” wants to be diverse. Yet all sorts of publications, posters, or wherever photos can be found have to be diverse and include people from various teams. So would that the game of “Life” can leave room for each of the “teams” to blend together? Unfortunately for this game, neither team will ever win over the other. So how can this game ever end? My suggestion is to drop the stereotypes, racial issues, and discrimination then perhaps we can look at each other as one rather than many. If there is one thing we all have in common is our anatomy is the same. Just because one person is darker or lighter than the other does not make them a whole other person. We are one in the same. At this campus, or any campus, everyone is the same regardless of color. Even if a person who had pink skin color was attending this campus he is still one in the same with us. This game we are supposedly playing needs to be called a draw so we can start playing another game, like “Sorry.” Fri, 2 Apr 2010 13:05:47 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/how-can-we-ever-win__trashed/#IDComment65549046 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-about-multiracial-people__trashed/#IDComment65178142 Being that I am on the white team, I really do not know how to tell a multi-racial person to handle such a situation. My biggest conflict is whether or not my dominant ethnicity is Polish or American, and I was born in America but my family on my mother’s side, which includes her, was not. I would like to say just enjoy the fact that you get a taste of both worlds, but in our type of world maybe that is not exactly the best way to go. I guess what I can say is be yourself because we are who we are and that is all we should be. Thu, 1 Apr 2010 12:46:13 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-about-multiracial-people__trashed/#IDComment65178142 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/revisioning-the-revisioning-stage__trashed/#IDComment65176330 As a kid in pre-school and kindergarten, I was surrounded by a variety of people, like Blacks and Hispanics. I never thought anything about it. When I went to grade school, I only was surrounded by white kids, not because the school only accepted whites it is just my neighborhood was predominantly white. Then I went to high school, which so happened to be built within walking distance of my grade school, but because it was a high school, it brought people of all color and background there and still I never thought much of it. That is not saying I was ignorant to anything, it is just I treated everyone the same despite what I had learned in my history lessons in school. I gradually learned over time that not everyone was not as equal as I thought, financially speaking not regarding the color of their skin. By the end of high school, I knew somewhat well how everyone of different color, race, or ethnicity acted and partially understood why they acted the way they did. Of course, that knowledge has only increased since then. Thu, 1 Apr 2010 12:29:31 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/revisioning-the-revisioning-stage__trashed/#IDComment65176330 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/flip-the-script-for-a-moment__trashed/#IDComment64210645 I am constantly thinking. I think so much sometimes that I can’t sleep because I am thinking. I’ll think about whatever, school, life, friends, family, anything. It is those moments of thinking that remind me that I have a test to study for or an assignment is due that I forgot about for a while. When I think about things I often draw the conclusion that there is the right way and there is everything else. For some matters, despite what we think and what goes on the fact remains what it is no matter how much we like it. The more I think, the more I am beginning to understand my way of thinking in context with my Sociology of Deviance class. And just like Sam, I like to make people think too, but a sociologist I am not rather a journalist. Regardless what I am, it does not stop anyone from questioning anything and trying to discuss something. I always see in my friends that they do not want to talk about something. When that comes up I do try to make them talk because any issue is worth discussing because who knows what may come from it. So I am going to discuss my thoughts now and see what comes from it. If anyone actually thought Mr. Richards was out of his mind when talking about the menstrual cycle then clearly you have not figured him out yet. But he makes a good point that something natural should not be deemed wrong to talk about when it is as natural as hunger or nail growth. But I do get why some people might not want to discuss it. It goes back to our high school youth where if a guy openly admit he masturbates three times a day, his peers would look at him very strangely. Or if a women talks about her “period” people will think you are gross for discussing it. It is the immature mindset we believe everyone has, which most probably do, that deters us from talking about things naturally. We have reached a point in our life that we can construe any comment as something sexual. It is the immature mindset coming to play. Imagine if everyone was open about what we believe is private and that the people we talk to are actually understanding. It would not feel so bad would it? A women would probably be more comfortable talking about it. In conjunction to race, if everyone just stopped and listen and take words into consideration maybe everything does not have to be about race. Maybe we should all be more open about everything and start educating people to stop and think about life. Sam is doing it over 700 students at a time. If those students go out and educate others then we really will have something going. Just think about what might happen. Fri, 26 Mar 2010 15:45:20 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/flip-the-script-for-a-moment__trashed/#IDComment64210645 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/if-men-could-menstruate__trashed/#IDComment64033530 I guess when you do think about it, men and women were only educated to know about themselves and how we function. At this point in our lives though I think we understand one another a little better. For guys, when women start showing those signs, we know what is coming and vice verse. But perhaps if everyone has the same education about it and spoke about it more then it wouldn’t feel completely awkward. As a guy, I wouldn’t want to have a menstrual cycle like that because after seeing how it affects women, I’d rather not have it. By the way, if men did have it tampons wouldn’t be free. People would just market a mans version, like they do for adult diapers. Thu, 25 Mar 2010 13:12:34 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/if-men-could-menstruate__trashed/#IDComment64033530 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/whats-the-big-deal-with-periods__trashed/#IDComment64031878 I just want to first say that Sam did warn us at the beginning of the semester that he is probably going to offend us with some of the things he says. This would be one of those times it seems, but I am a guy so the whole conversation didn’t offend me at all so much as shock me that we were talking about it. But I agree with that the connection he was making regarding white people not understanding what it is like to be of color. I hope that was the point he was trying to make anyway. Regardless, it is true whites most likely don’t know what it means to be a person of color, unless we go on that one TV show where you can colored people can be white and whites could be colored for a day or so. I forget what that show was called, but unless we experience it that way we haven’t the foggiest how others deal with life. Thu, 25 Mar 2010 12:56:36 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/whats-the-big-deal-with-periods__trashed/#IDComment64031878 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-to-do-about-white-guilt__trashed/#IDComment62953819 I remember learning in grade school about the pilgrims and Native American story, but as the years went on I did learn about the problems that plagued the natives. I don’t recall the story being told as a total blood bath, but the textbook didn’t make the United State’s look good. Then in college I was taught that the Europeans, once they came over, actually and set up trading posts with the Indians and such and that it was rival Native American tribes that wiped out most of the tribes, foreign disease plagued most of the others, and we just picked up the pieces. That sort of took the wrong off ourselves and put it on other factors beyond our control. Of course, in the end we still kicked the Indian’s off the land and killed those who fought against us. And it was through our trading at the time, the natives had the guns they used against us, which shows our stupidity. We supply everyone the weapons of war then try to start one only to get killed and be like “What the hell were we thinking?” I don’t believe history should be changed just to make one race look superior to the rest. History is not a tall tale that can be told by anyone. History is told through facts that explain what happened. Granted at a young age, telling kids American’s committed a genocide isn’t a good idea, but to put it out there that it wasn’t all fun and games until they mature a bit to learn what exactly happened. Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:28:46 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-to-do-about-white-guilt__trashed/#IDComment62953819 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-happens-to-multiracial-people__trashed/#IDComment62775143 When it comes to the idea of color people, white is generally considered a color-less color if that makes sense. Color is everything like ROYGBIV and every various from that. For people, color is anything other than white. Sam says colored people probably based on that thought. If I was like your friend then I would have just answered the question twice. That is just me though, but the idea of how does a multi-racial person respond to that sort of question. I say just go with the side you most associate as. Besides, who is to say that the different groups didn’t add their own input to the other side’s question? Thu, 18 Mar 2010 13:43:17 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-happens-to-multiracial-people__trashed/#IDComment62775143 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/does-this-rudeness-thing-cut-both-ways__trashed/#IDComment62773907 This might get me in trouble, but sometimes I think blacks are just naturally offended by comments others say. Then when they try to make comebacks, it really doesn’t bother whites because their comments only make think more highly of ourselves. That’s just my opinion. When you look at the texting question during this last class, when the whites answered first, some of the comments brought negative responses from colored individuals, mainly blacks. Then when it was their turn to answer, all they said was what we said, like we are naturally superior or born rich. That isn’t offending us more so reinforcing our original point. Is the stereotyping true? Maybe, but let us think back to Sam’s point of us being lucky. Did any of us ask to be born into where we were? I don’t think we had a chit-chat with God saying I want to be born to a working-poor family or the upper class folks. I don’t think we had the choice to whether or not we wanted to be black, white, brown, or any other color of the world rainbow. It just happened and we’re dealing with it. But hey, we are all sitting in a Penn State University classroom paying a huge tuition to learn this right? It looks like we’re all getting through life pretty well at the moment. We can also look at just us in general. You have to come to expect there is going to be that one person in the class of over 700 who’s going to say something dumb. As soon as I saw the texting interaction I knew someone would just say something dumb because of the fact the texter is anonymous. Does that make it right for some to say, I did said professors wife during spring break? Not really, but Sam doesn’t buy into the students stupidity so neither should the colored individuals who see white students type in that blacks are inferior. If you believe in karma, then that student will have the door hit him on the way out, or if you are religious, you know that sum-biatch is going to be talking with the man in the red suit, and it isn’t Santa. But here’s the way I see it. All of us of every race, religion, ethnicity, and skin color are here together in Penn State University, what is referred to as a prestigious school. It shows that no one is superior to another because we are all here in the same place. Outside the school, we might not be equal, but while we are here at Penn State we are one in the same. Believe whatever you want about each other, and use some of the thoughts above as a way to rationalize our stupid behavior. Above all else, remember that we are one in the same here at school. Thu, 18 Mar 2010 13:32:26 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/does-this-rudeness-thing-cut-both-ways__trashed/#IDComment62773907 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/fired-for-a-scarf__trashed/#IDComment61555760 Yeah a lawsuit is a step in the right direction, but it is no guarantee that their policy will get changed. But I guess when enough awareness is made something has to get changed in order to keep customers from boycotting them. I do believe too that everyone deserves equal opportunity, but is some form of discrimination needed for a business to achieve their ascribed look? Should that be allowed? Maybe religion shouldn’t be a factor in hiring or firing someone, but if an employer does not want to hire someone for whatever reason they need to just not higher then in the first place to save themselves a headache later on. That isn’t saying it is right for them to do it, but it is a less harmful way. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:40:29 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/fired-for-a-scarf__trashed/#IDComment61555760 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/fired-for-a-scarf__trashed/#IDComment61555060 I heard of many reasons to get fired and most are justifiable. When you start firing people because of things like race, religion, and other things like that, there is no justifiable reason especially if that person is doing their job well. A few years back, my one friend got fired from Target, in Philadelphia, for calling his boss an asshole. He said a fellow worker, who was pregnant, always got loud with the boss and yet never got in trouble once. Is that fair? I do not think so. Even if she has anger issues because she is pregnant, if she curses the boss out she should get fired. Why would my friend have been fired when he said it once? Now, I get the idea behind why my friend got fired. He was making his boss look weak and the boss had to exert power to make himself look more dominating, but he only picked out my friend. That is what makes it unfair. It is also unfair to higher someone for a job then fire them when you disagree with something about them. My friend got fired because his boss disagreed with an idea my friend had, which lead to an argument. If an employee is doing their job well at work, then no store has the right to fire them because their beliefs are different than their workers. It puts up a barrier between employee and executive communication. I understand that some stores try to stick to a theme, like if their store is a Surf Shop your employees are probably going to be surfer’s or shore rats. Hip clothing shops will have hip employees that make the store run more smoothly. With that being the case, you make sure before hand you make known what it is you are looking for. It may be discriminatory, but it saves less headaches then when you higher somebody then fire them for reasons other than being a bad employee. This then brings the question up of is some form of discrimination necessary for a business to get the ascribed look it is going for? Some may think so while others may think not. I think if the job calls for a specific uniform to be worn than don’t higher a person who won’t wear it because they are wearing something that coincides with their religious beliefs. Save that headache of the racist argument after hiring and let it just be whispered quietly before signatures are made. Hearing about this issue just adds on to the fact that some businesses still have an issue with anothers religion and being active in it may make or break someone having a job. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:34:06 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/fired-for-a-scarf__trashed/#IDComment61555060 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/this-is-getting-to-be-too-much__trashed/#IDComment61386574 I’ve seen people do dumb things, but this is by far the dumbest thing I’ve seen any person do. My only question is why? Why was it necessary to act that way towards a specific type of person? It boggles my mind every time I see people do things that hurt other people of other skin colors or cultures or of varies ethnic backgrounds. Whatever the case may be, it’s wrong. I can’t really do much from here on the East Coast, but if something like that occurred at our campus, my voice will be heard. Such actions are unacceptable no matter what reason a person could come up with. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:49:02 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/this-is-getting-to-be-too-much__trashed/#IDComment61386574 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/whats-with-the-theme-parties__trashed/#IDComment59736990 I can’t say I’ve ever been a party that’s excluded someone because of race or skin color. I don’t think those who host themed parties are doing it to offend anyone because their using the theme to make an interesting party. A Hawaiian themed party isn’t offending Hawaiian people, it is just giving the guests an idea of how to dress, like flowered shirts or hulas and such. Maybe people take offense to it because it’s misrepresenting a culture, but those conducting the party aren’t doing it to bother anyone. Now it doesn’t go without saying that such parties probably do exist in the world. I’m sure they do and those people are wrong to do it. Thu, 4 Mar 2010 13:51:36 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/whats-with-the-theme-parties__trashed/#IDComment59736990 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/are-whites-the-only-people-willing-to-humiliate-themselves__trashed/#IDComment59735927 For a show like the “Bachelor,” my guess is the producers don’t feel it would do well if there were multiple races competing. Like a black bachelorette competing for a white bachelor. The whole idea of an interracial couple sometimes doesn’t suit with people so to not offend anyone; they just keep it all one race or at least color. I would like to say somebody would be offended either way whether there was or wasn’t other skin colored individuals on the show, but judging by the fact the show remains predominantly white must mean nobody cares that much. Then again, I know another show exists where bachelors and competing to get the bachelorette and everyone is black or dark skinned. So maybe somebody does care, it's just they don't verbally complain. Thu, 4 Mar 2010 13:44:02 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/are-whites-the-only-people-willing-to-humiliate-themselves__trashed/#IDComment59735927