I think if one day illegal immigrants just disappeared from our country, we would have many unfilled jobs that even Americans would refuse to do because they feel they are “above” them. I think illegals do us a favor in this way, work gets done that wouldn’t be otherwise. I don’t think a lot of Americans understand how this work gets done and don’t take into account that it would have a big impact on our country if illegals were no longer here to do the things most Americans don’t want to do. If they want to come over and make next to nothing to do work for our country, that is fine with me. It seems to be beneficial to us rather than hurting us.
I find it hard to be mad at illegal immigrants coming to this country, and I don’t think it should be on the top of our priority list to keep these people out. I honestly don’t know anyone whose life is negatively affected because of illegal immigrants, they help to support our economy in a large way. However, I do agree that first and foremost jobs in this country should go to people who are here legally. Is it fair to be denied a job because someone who isn’t here will do it for less? I still can’t decide what I think about this. Because a legal American could work for that wage if they wanted the job badly enough, but then get denied the legal minimum wage. Obviously, the work will always go to who is willing to be paid the least for it.
The argument on illegal immigration is very difficult and complex. Most people seem to be against it because of the fact that jobs are potentially taken away from Americans and given to illegal immigrants who will work for far less money and put in more hours. This is a confusing issue, because sometimes I see this situation as people taking jobs that others won’t do anyway. Illegal immigrants have the work ethic that every American should have. They work harder than anyone in the country and get next to nothing for their efforts. I greatly admire someone is willing to risk their life to cross the border, put it countless hours of work and make next to no money just so they have a chance of starting a better life for themselves in America. The truth is, most Americans have never worked that hard for anything in their life and wouldn’t. We take our place in a privileged country for granted every day, and we just do not realize how lucky we are to be born into a place with so many advantages.
When Sam asked us how we would feel if our resources were being taken from under our feet while living in poverty and a another country is flourishing it really made me realize that I have never thought about war and prosperity like that before. It’s also frightening to think about the things we were learning about like our dependence on oil and how little we have. We think we could survive without these countries giving us resources but we can’t. We barely have any here for ourselves, and it’s a scary thought that at any moment our oil could be taken from us and could flip our whole country on its back. This class made me think more than any lecture I have had this year and maybe even in my whole four years in college.
I thought it was also very interesting when Sam polled the class about what your goals in life would be if you lived in the Middle East. It was such a simple exercise, but it really makes you realize that all people want the same general things in life: to have a family and be safe, to live a good life, and to be able to be yourself. Just because there are radicals in these countries that want to pervert their religions into violence doesn’t mean that the general population does not want the same things we do. The segment on China was particularly eye-opening to me as well.
After sitting through the lecture on “Christian Invaders”, Sam was correct when he said that it would be the best lecture of the semester. This lecture was incredibly eye-opening and I think the information in this lecture are things all Americans should hear and consider. Sam put us in the shoes of other people and tried to get the class to think of the war from the perspective on people living in the Middle East. This is something no one on our side ever tends to do. It really made me realize how much we over generalize people because of a small minority and select things we see in the media. For example, it was easy to see how people in other countries could generalize Americans as violent Christians trying to convert everybody from seeing some of the videos Sam showed in class of religious fanatic Americans saying crazy things. It made me think about the videos and things in the media I see of people in the Middle East. We tend to see only the bad things here and therefore it makes us believe that all people over there are like what we see in the select videos on YouTube or on the television.
I found it very interesting that when I went to Mexico last summer, I did not have to speak a word of Spanish to have a question answered. It really shows how spoiled we can be sometimes as English speaking people. Because if a Mexican person came to visit America, I would guess that they would have a ton of trouble communicating and would not expect anyone here to accommodate their needs in Spanish. This makes me feel lucky to be an American, but at the same time I think this whole country needs an awakening. This is one of my goals is to actually learn another language and use it in another country. Diversity is important, we should welcome it rather than push it away.
I think it is such a cool thing for such a small area like this in the center of Pennsylvania to include such a diverse group of people and such a large number of different languages and cultures. It really makes me mad to hear people so non-accepting of other languages in the United States. Every time I have traveled to another part of the world, the people have been so understanding and willing to help communicate with me when they could tell I did not speak their dominant language. We as Americans take this for granted. We expect everyone else to learn our language when they travel here, yet when we visit other places we expect them to still accommodate our needs in English. I find it to be so ridiculous and hypocritical. It doesn’t bother me that the country is becoming more diverse as long as I can live my life normally
Honestly, I do not feel at all uncomfortable when I’m in situations with people speaking other languages in front of me. Instead, I am very intrigued by it and am very tempted to listen to it. I am fascinated by hearing people speak in other languages besides English, I am very interested in. I have always had trouble picking up foreign languages and speaking another one fluently is one of the things I want to learn most sometime in my life. I can’t be welcoming enough to people speaking different tongues around me because I think diversity is very important. People need to be reminded that the world is a gigantic place, and that white, English speaking people are not the only people that exist. I have honestly heard more languages spoken on the Penn State campus than I ever have before. At home, I rarely hear people speaking other languages because it is such a white, non-diverse area. Walking around campus, I will hear multiple languages spoken every time I walk to class or somewhere else.
But I think the acceptance of mixed race relationships would be a very large step forward toward combating racism in our society. It makes me happy to see when people cross the race line and willing to date anyone they please, regardless of what others say. I feel like they keeps a lot of interracial couples apart. I can’t imagine how hard it would be to deal with people’s comments and looks, because I know that that would happen. I think we need to work past the fact that people are scared to cross that race line. People need to realize that we all want the same things in life and we are all not so different than each other.
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