There are many reasons why society dislikes immigrants. The main reason I believe, is that our society claims that immigrants are taking over our jobs. Yes, it is true, but only because they have less money and are willing to work for much less than Americans. If you give up everything, your home, your family, and your culture, and have absolutely nothing, you would work for any amount of money. As an American business owner, you would prefer to pay as little salary as possible; therefore, you could make a larger profit. If immigrants are willing to work for less, you would hire the immigrant over the native. Obviously immigrants would try to get a higher paying job, but they would take whatever they could get. Because natives don’t have to give up everything that they have, they are not willing to work for smaller sums of money. So in reality, immigrants are not actually taking our jobs, we are letting them.

Another reason why society dislikes immigrants is because of the spread of their culture. They are afraid over immigrants coming over and “taking over” America. They don’t want them to come over and change our ways of living and develop and pursue their old ways of living. People need a reality check. Americans are on the top of the mountain. It is almost impossible for them to take over because of the laws we have created to keep them on the bottom and us on the top. People today don’t want to mix cultures. They want to keep their own culture strong. Allowing immigrants to come into the United States strictly goes against these beliefs.

My last reason of why our society dislikes immigrants is stereotypes. Americans in our country have developed false stereotypes about new immigrants. Some of the main ones are that blacks are harmful, and Mexicans are dirty and lazy. This is completely false. But as a society, we have fallen into this trap of beliefs just to make ourselves feel higher than others. They believe that if these harmful, dirty, and lazy people come into the United States, our country would turn into people like them. When in reality the people that immigrate here are the farthest thing from lazy. They are willing to give up everything hey own in order to have a better life. They are willing to work as long as they need for as much as they can get to have a better life for their family.

Now-a-days, we see a more diverse population in the United States. I think it is because the younger generations are getting more used to people of different backgrounds. We find it more accepting to marry someone of a different race than people of older generations. There are still racist people throughout our country but they are definitely dying down. I hope that this continues and the future generations are less racist than mine today.

As a female, I thought that the information given about my own sex was more interesting than that of the other sex. Going in to this lecture, I already had some prior knowledge of the sexual differences between males and females, but certainly not to this extent. I had no idea that it was more pleasuring for a female to have sex with someone of the same sex than from that of a male. This makes me question why there aren’t more lesbians in the world today. This is merely because men and women don’t know the female body. It is more common for men to masturbate than females; therefore, males know their own bodies better than females know their own bodies. How could women expect males to pleasure them if they don’t even know their bodies themselves?

Another point I had not thought of when it comes to sex is that females have many more things going on in their vagina's than males have in their penises. Women’s bodies are on a very complex cycle. Men don’t have to worry about getting periods, having children, where women do. This is another reason why it is more important for women to have a connection before engaging in sex. They are the ones that have to deal with these problems on a daily basis where men do not have to worry about a single thing. Their penis has few functions, where a women’s vagina has many, many functions, and things going on all at once.

Also, when Sam talked about how women dress when they go out and then compared it to males, I began to feel a bit stupid. How come men get to dress in baggy clothes when they go out on Friday and Saturday nights when women wear short, tight clothing with no jackets? Whey do women feel the need to gain mens attention? This point made me question everything I do as a female. Why do I wear makeup, and why do I spend hours getting ready? The answer is I really don’t know. I don’t want to say the reason is because of society, but in the back of my mind I know it is. In this day and age, everyone feels the need to fit in. I would bet any amount of money that I will never see a female at a party dressed the way males are dressed.

Going into this lecture, I felt a little awkward; I didn’t know what to expect. Overall, this lecture was very interesting. It brought my attention to many things I had never thought of before. It was a very eye-opening experience as to why men and women's sexual encounters are different.

Right now I am actually involved in an extremely racist situation. My best friend from home has been dating a puerto rican for the past two years now. For the past two years, her parents have not known about it. She has been afraid to tell them because she is scared of how they will react. She thought that they would forbid her to see him, and she was exactly right. Ever since she has dated him, she has had to sneak around her parents just to hangout with him; she would lie and tell them she was staying after school to talk to a teacher, or say she was at a friends house. She would actually have her parents drop her off at her friends house and then have her boyfriend pick her up. She eventually got caught. Like she guessed, her parents forbid her to see him. But she did it anyways. Her entire family agreed with her parents and she had no family to talk to, no one on her side. Her home was now uncomfortable; she would fight with her family everyday, and would be grounded every other week. It got so harsh that she moved out. One day after school, she just didn’t go home. She had no clothes, no nothing. She asked her parents if she could have some of her things, they said no. With the little money she had, she had to buy herself all new things.

Because I was at school, there was little I could do. When I got home for winter break, we went out to dinner. I tried to convince her to go home. She was throwing away her life. Of course her parents should let her date who she wants, they never even gave him a chance, never even met him face to face. But she was throwing away her life; how would she go to school? She has no money to pay for it. At least when she lived at home she had her own clothes, her own room, and a house she could call her own. Now, she lives in a terrible neighborhood.

Eventually she decided to come home and give her family one last shot. I had a party at my house for my dad’s 50th birthday party. Her family was there, of course. She kept asking me if she should come, and then finally asked if her boyfriend could come. I said yes. As soon as her father heard he was coming, he left. Her boyfriend was a very nice kid; never drank, never smoked, rarely partied. They had no idea, because they refused to meet him. She eventually moved back out.

She now has nothing, no place she can call her own, and no one she can call her family. It is hard to be in this situation because I don’t know what to do. I have tried to talk to her parents but they just won’t budge. The only thing I can do now is just be there for her, although her family has turned their back on her, I certainly will not.

I think there are many factors that play into who you date, and what is acceptable. Personally, I think parents are the main factor in who a person can and cannot date. Because they are a generation older, they are not as used to this sort of “mixed dating”. This is because as each generation comes into being, the world is getting more and more diverse. We are more used to people of different races than our parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc. I grew up in an all white neighborhood. My high school had only one black graduating senior. Because of this, I think that if I were to date someone of a different race, my parents wouldn’t be happy. But I know they would give him a chance.

Another factor making it difficult to date someone out of your race is your community. As Sam stated in class, people tend to hide their feelings for someone if they are in a different race. This is because they feel ashamed or embarrassed, they don’t want people to think less of them because of who they are dating.

We see this problem happening again in the LBGT community. Although this case doesn’t have to do with race, it is very similar. Every day we see people committing suicide because they are gay. They are being taunted in their own communities.

Recently, my best friend from home has been dating a puerto-rican male. Because she is white, her parents are not allowing it. They believe that it is not socially acceptable and are embarrassed of their own daughter. Because she loved him, she was sneaking out behind her parents back to hang out with her boyfriend; she got caught. Now, she is moved out of her house and lives with him, and her parents refuse to pay for her college. Basically they are throwing away her entire future because she is dating someone of a different race. They never even gave him a chance. Never invited him over, never talked to him. He is actually a very nice kid.

In my personal opinion, I think this needs to end. I think that everyone in the world has their own right to be who they want to be in life. I think that it is horrible what people go through just to be accepted into the world. Now-a-days, people feel so much pressure to fit in. This is ruining peoples’ lives. We need to look beyond the race factors and focus on the personality of each individual. To go to the extreme of suicide and kicking your own child out of the house is absurd to me and needs to stop.

Although I am white, I can honestly say that I had never felt guilt for being a certain race before this class. Growing up, I lived in bucks county, an area where most of the people are of the same race, white. I attended catholic elementary, middle, and high schools. I think there was only one black person in our entire graduating class, and since I went through elementary and middle school with her, I never thought of her as any less than myself. But as we got to high school, I began to see people making fun of her because of her race. I felt terrible for her and eventually it was stopped. This is the first time in my life where I had realized the harsh consequences for being of a different race. But, I would not say that I necessarily felt guilty for being white, nearly because this had not happened often, and I had never had the chance to live it. Because I went to a small catholic school, there was not much bullying, and if there was, a teacher would soon find out and put an end to it.

Being the only black senior, she was entitled to many privileges upon graduation. She was nominated for many scholarships and award, not because of her intelligence, but because of her race. Although it I didn’t care too much, many other students did. They began telling her that she would only get to through college because she was black and because she was entitled to scholarships that white people weren’t. At first, I began to side with them. They were right, it wasn’t fair.

Being in this class, I have began to see the advantages I have as a white person. I have a better opportunity to get a job, get a mortgage to a house, and many other things. I think it is ridiculous that white people with a criminal background have a better chance getting a job than black people without one! This is the first time in my life I can honestly say that I have felt bad for being white. In a perfect society, people should be equal. They should have the same rights to everything. As we learned in class the other day, there are different racial stages a person goes through. One of the higher stages involves knowing what race you are an accepting it to the point of not feeling guilty because it is not your fault you were born into a better family. Although I would like to eventually be in this stage, I am not yet. I have never had an encounter, that I know of, consisting of me feeling this way. Although white people have much more opportunities than people of color, I do think that every race has an advantage over another sometimes.

I think that it depends on the situation one’s family is in. Most people jump to the conclusion thinking that it is wrong for poor people to have so many kids. Yes, it is if you have no money and can’t afford to feed all of them. But you have to remember that most poor parents have a lot of children because they need them to work on their farms to make money. The role of children in rich countries, they are consumers. This means that if children in rich countries have jobs, it doesn’t go into the family’s income. But in poor countries or household, children are seen as producers, meaning that they are a source of income for their entire family. They are used to help with the household and work on the families land. Poor people don’t have enough money to pay for workers themselves so they need their children to do the work for them. Also, they see the children as a security for old age. They need the children to run the land when they get too old because they are not able to do it themselves because they don’t have pension, savings, or retirement income. I think that if poor parents don’t have any “work” for their children to do and have an abundant number of children, then yes they are selfish because they are not offering their children anything. They aren’t giving them a good life style and are basically willing to put their children into the lower class. But usually this is not the case. Most parents don’t have children knowing that their children have a slim chance of making it in this world.

We saw on the video that Tammy didn’t want to go on welfare. This to me showed a lot. We don’t realize that most of the poor people on welfare want to work. People jump to the conclusions too easily. Most people think that if people are on welfare then that means they are lazy. I think Tammy is an excellent mother. Although she does not offer her children much, she walks 10 miles every single day to work just to feed her children. Although we don’t know anything about her parents, if they had jobs for their children or not, it seems like that was what they needed her and her 20 other brothers and sisters for. I think that if Tammy didn’t work as a child to help her family’s income, then she would be one of the few poor people on welfare. Tammy has dreams to be a school teacher and get an education just like me. And although I don’t see that in her future, I hope the best for her and her family.

This was the line in the video that hit me the most. I agree with the statement that we are eating the slaves flesh. I think the former slave used it as a metaphor not to say that we are literally eating his own flesh and blood, but to say that we are eating his dignity, his happiness, and his rights. It is our fault that he was taken from his family and put into slavery. Because Americans are so selfish and need what they want when they want it, these slaves are working to make us happy because their “bosses” cant’t afford to pay to have people work. They have been tricked into working for people with no pay or compensation. These slaves had the intention of going away to make money to help support their family, they were willing to go to the absolute extremes of leaving their native lands and loved ones to for the good of their families. Little did they know that they would be the victims of forced labor. Although I had no idea that the chocolate I was eating could have been labored by slaves, I now feel guilty. After watching the video and being told to eat the second piece of chocolate, I couldn’t. Eventually I did but it took me longer and I had to think about it first. Sam was right, the second piece of chocolate didn’t taste nearly as good as the first. This video has made me realize that there are many possessions I own and consume that come from forced labor. I would never want someone to work as a slave being beaten, abused, and taken from their families just to please me. I am sure the clothes I am wearing right now have some parts that come from the slaves “flesh”. And as an individual, I feel like I can;t do much about it. Although I would love to not purchase things that could come from slavery, I know that it would be merely impossible. As Americans, mostly everything we own has a chance of being produced from slavery, and it would be impossible for one person to stop people from buying things they need. I think that the only thing that could help stop forced labor is to make people aware of these situations. As the most educated country in the world, it is our job to keep updated with recent events, and if we do that and let people now that they are buying into slavery, maybe people would be more willing to buy that free-trade chocolate instead of the chocolate that has a huge chance of somehow having salves “flesh”. This way, we will not be taking the dignity, the happiness, and the rights of these innocent people trying to earn a living to help their families.

After the lecture about king of the mountain, I left a little bit confused. But in my discussion group we talked about what it meant and I now understand it a little better. In the beginning, when the white males took over America, there was no one on the top. So, they decided to put themselves at the top because they thought they were better than other people of different descent. Now a days, there are many more people living in America than just white, and the people at the top of the mountain see them almost like outcasts. They are said to be not as good as the people on the top of the mountain. The people on the top have more free-will and determination than the people that are on the bottom of the mountain. Although many people see the king on the mountain as a white male having control over everyone and everything, we have to also think about it in other perspectives. If we travel to other countries such as China, Japan, etc, we would see someone of that background at the top of the mountain controlling everyone around him or her. People in other countries wouldn’t want white males at the top of their mountain just as much as a white male wouldn’t want someone of another descent at the top of their mountain. Honestly, who would wanna give up their power if they had full control? So in reality, there are more than one mountains for different people. All of the mountains are for different things. People could be on top for race, money, sports, determination, free will, etc. I think everyone has their own mountain, and as long as they are okay with where they are than everything should be fine. I don’t think that the “king of the mountain” will ever go away. I think that if the person on top was to get over thrown than the group who overthrew them would just go on top and it would just be a constant cycle. The only thing that could help this problem of “race” and not being on the top of the mountain is just making sure that the people on the top are aware of everyone that is behind them. They have to be aware of why they are there. Some people are only at the top because they were born into a successful white family, and others are there because they worked their entire life to get to where they are. If people acknowledge that there are people below them and what makes them different from the people that are below them, the world might be a better place. You might be a successful white male on top, but there could be a back male below you who works twice as hard as you and is only there because of his race.

I would have never thought that barely any of our DNA constitutes for our physical appearances. I think that talking about this with other people could help to stop the issue of racism, but I don’t know to what extent it would actually help. When you look at two people, for example, a white person and a black person, you are immediately drawn to the physical attributes each person has. First, you notice their skin color, then their hair, eyes, height, etc. This is just how we are as humans, this is how we were raised. Most people don’t intend to harm another by putting them into classified groups, but this is what we do. Honestly, I don’t think the issue of race will ever come to an end. We are raised in a society where black people play basketball, and white people play hockey. And if a family member plays basketball, you are more likely to gravitate toward that sport. This is something that is also preventing the stop of racism because it is keeping people with same physical characteristics in the same groups. I don’t think it is wrong to come to the conclusion that black people play basketball and run track because that’s what we see, those are the facts, this is life. Black people are more likely to play these sports because of their physical characteristics. Generally speaking, black people have longer legs and shorter stomachs, making it easier for them to run and jump. And on the other side, we see a lot more white people playing hockey because of the costs. I think it is wrong to assume that just because someone is a certain skin color then they have to be good at a certain sport. Also, it’s wrong to not let a white person play basketball or run track, or allow a black person to play hockey just based on their skin color. I don’t think that the issue of sports is a good example for showing racism in the world. I think that our physical features play a huge part in determining what sports you could be good at and what sports one wouldn’t necessarily be too good at. In conclusion, my personal opinion is that racism will not come to an in the near future. Of course I would love to live and see it happen, but the only day that will happen is when the whole human race is the same. This would take a while because there would need to be a lot of inner racial marriages. But on the other hand, I don’t think a lot of people are willing to marry between races because they are taught to keep the tradition going and not loose their race.

I think that there should be no need to be politically correct. Nowadays, there are so many different names for so many different cultural groups that it is too hard to keep up with what is the most popular, common, or what sounds better. Most people when talking to someone of a different race have no intention of hurting the other person. I think people get too offended sometimes thinking the other person is trying to mock them. If they have a problem with what they are being called, they should merely just correct the person and move on with their lives instead of giving them the title of a “racist.” There are some words one should not say and they are aware of it and if those words are said, one knows that they are meaning attacked or made fun of. The only time I think one should be politically correct is in a formal situation. If one is talking to an audience of people with mixed race, one should ask what people are preferred to be called. But today, there are so many names. A lot of people prefer to be called different things like white or Caucasian, or black or Native American. Most of the time people do not mean to offend the other. If someone calls someone of indian descent chinese or asian, it’s not because they are trying to offend or criticize them it’s merely because they don’t see the difference. And the reason they don’t see the difference is because they don’t care enough to figure it out for themselves and be politically correct. On the other hand, they probably do not know what is better to be mistaken for anyway. I think that way too many people focus on being politically correct. This can also be found offending because they don’t know what to call the other person. They are thinking too much into things where people don’t really care as much as they play it out to be. But I don’t think the issue of being politically correct will ever go away. Every year there are more and more words coming to the surface of what to call another human being. This will just make it more difficult because there will be more choices of what can say about someone of another race or ethnicity. I think that people need to realize that everyone is not a “racist” and not everyone is out to mock another human being. If people realize this, then there would be no such thing as political correctness. Just a simple, “Actually I prefer to be called...”, followed with a “Sorry.” can make this world a better and easier place to live in.