en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/761448 Comments by ame192 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/tent-cities-in-haiti__trashed/#IDComment69319643 This video starts extremely interest with the chants and singing. This shows the culture of Haiti to be one in which people are extremely high spirited. I am not sure if there would be chants here if an earthquake struck New York City. I like to compare Haiti and the population to New York City. Both are roughly the same in size with about 8-9 million residents. If this earthquake was in New York City the coverage would be dramatic. The United States would cease all operation for weeks. Classes would not be in session for at least a week. The news to this day over 3 month later would be only covering this earthquake. The story reported is extremely interesting about the economic culture in Haiti. I always assume the 6000 organizations were doing a great deed towards the Haitian community by giving them free food and bringing them water. I would have never thought this is promoting a society full of beggars. It is great that people need to start becoming entrepreneurs such as the lady who do cosmetics for half the price she originally started with. The only way to make a living is to sell their service now, which is great. Before the earthquake most people lived without electricity. Many people bought generators to help charge cell phones. They also started movie businesses with a TV. The abundance of time is what all children have so the key is the business. This was interesting because the people were so optimistic even though many Haitians will be living in tents for years. This is when it hit me I really need to go to Haiti. Overall Ian really inspired me to go to Haiti to help out with the entrepreneurs. I am generally a philanthropic person and help when I can. I am a hard worker and focus on school with hopes of working on Wall Street. I also like to have a great time on the weekend. Since Ian has spoke to our class yesterday I can’t stop thinking how much I want to go to Haiti. I am so excited to go. I haven’t even confirmed to go. I just messaged Sam but I already can’t wait to go. I so excited already it is going to be great. Words can’t explain how excited to go. Yesterday after class I had a professional development with Price Waterhouse Coopers a large accounting firm. They speakers were discuss the new program initiatives which allow workers to work in other parts of the world for the company. All I was thinking about this whole time was to be able to think about was how much I suddenly wanted to go to Haiti. Wed, 21 Apr 2010 15:07:32 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/tent-cities-in-haiti__trashed/#IDComment69319643 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/what-might-be-the-second-step__trashed/#IDComment67828894 This activity is extremely interesting; I have actually done this same activity before with a different video, showing that there is so much slavery and abuse in Africa where a majority of the worlds chocolate is made. I personally ate the chocolate because generally never eat chocolate. This video did affect me in a way in which was different than usual. I really don’t eat chocolate that much in general but will try to when I actually eat chocolate to eat slave free chocolate. Sam’s views on the world are sometime different than mine but overall he has a great concept on life. He really has the right heart, which is in the right place. My opinion with the whole doesn’t eat processed meats from factor farms or stop eating chocolate or stop using cell phones in my opinion is slightly ridiculous. It is good for the class to get the idea to be aware and acknowledge that there are slaves who made the products and they should be cognizant of this. What is also a good point is to be aware that when you are buying something for an extremely low price it most likely was made with cheap labor and inexpensive parts. Maybe look into you purchases and where they are made now knowing where a lot of slavery occurs and in which countries. When I honestly go out and purchase my items I really don’t think about where it was made or if slaves made it. I usually purchase my stuff based on price because as a college student I don’t have that much money. There are so many important issues in the world but me personally wont be able to save the world but whatever I can do to help is great and I sincerely try. I just sometimes feel Sam has trouble portraying some of his views because he every week gives us things he wants us to change in our lives and makes us sometimes feel bad about ourselves. Me personally would like to change some things to make me a better personal overall in my life. I will never be a perfect person or change everything in my life but what I have learned in that class and apply it to my real life. This includes in every way I possibly can which is in many ways which Sam wants people to do. Back to the chocolate issue my opinion is to try and cut down your chocolate use and when you buy chocolate to only buy chocolate which is slave free chocolate. That video was very disturbing how they were whipped and treated like ultimate shit. They didn’t receive anything and were lied to. Wed, 14 Apr 2010 00:06:16 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/what-might-be-the-second-step__trashed/#IDComment67828894 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/nothing-about-the-census-is-easy__trashed/#IDComment64848316 This video is an interesting to see people’s results and see what they say. The first guy was interesting because he was from Honduras however he considered himself African America. This exemplifies how race on the census is not only a touchy subject but there is not any correct way to accurately represent the population. The census is used for a estimate of the population the census will never be 100% correct but it just aims to get a correct view of the American population. This is why when people are against what it says, no one is being racist or anything of that sort it is simply more a way to find the population in the best way and some old school people consider themselves negro. The government put extensive research into making sure the answer choices on the ballot are as politically correct and would result in the best possible results. The second lady makes an interesting point that the Hispanic can be different or white or black. The guy understands that people make the point that people are the Negro point. The white ladies say there are so many people with so many races in them. The real choice should have mutt on the answer choice. The analyst says that Negro just sounds outdated; some callers said that Negro offends her because it brings back her heritage of the south back. Christian says that many white people think they are Native Americans in some part. The announcer makes a good point which Sam often makes that many people see each other based on physical characteristics. There are many different people and this will be the last time where Negro is on the census. The people were taken back and offended by the terms and the Latinos were very confused by the census. The announcer says it is good to see color and it makes each person unique. Not seeing color would be ridiculous because that would be taking away their heritage. Census and redistricting are all determined by the census. They said no simple form can fully respect everyone ideas and values. They hope in the Census 2020 has more accurate and better representative. Overall after seeing this opinion is people care too much about little things. I understand negro was an offensive term was an offensive term back in the day. The whole Hispanic thing is confusing as well to the people because they are more than one race and from different places. I understand race can be an offensive topic in general and for some people. I just really think the census has a hard time with race because it is so controversial. They would love to have 10000’s of open-ended choices but it is just not realistic. Tue, 30 Mar 2010 15:22:06 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/nothing-about-the-census-is-easy__trashed/#IDComment64848316 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-are-all-of-you-thinking-about-asians__trashed/#IDComment64053587 I think the discussion of Asians is an interesting one. Exactly who are Asians? Is it everyone from the Asian continent? There are so many diverse kinds of people from Asia who all look totally different. I think Asians are the hardest to distinguish between one another of all the races we have talked about in race relations so far. All races are complicated but in my opinion Asians are the most difficult to differentiate one another. The Asian race is very confusing to understand because they are so different. This starts the conversation of the difference of Asian Americans and Asians in our country. Just a note my opinions that I am going to give are just opinions and are very unbiased based on what I have personally seen at Penn state and are not judgmental. I play basketball at the IM building very often and consistently the Asians have their own court. I don’t know where in Asia they are from but personally I believe where they are irrelevant. This shows how some Asians separate themselves from the rest of the community On the other hand there are many Asians who I am personally really good friends. They are mostly Americanized and have lived in the United States for most of their lives. These students who are my friends have fully adapted to the American life style and most often like to hang out with Americans over a particular race. The Asians who I find distant themselves are the one who are from Asian and just come to Penn State for an education and go home in the summer. These Asians don’t really try to leave there comfort zone and hang out with the rest of the community. They typically only do everything in packs of people similar to themselves. I can understand why these Asians typically only want to hang out with themselves and no one else the main reason is obvious. There are so many cultural difference. If I was going to school in Japan which I am not generalizing and saying they are all from Japan but that is just simply an example. If I was attended the University of Tokyo I would probably look for people with similar interest. I would want to play American Sports and it would be a good chance that the people who would want to play with me would also be American as well. This is why it is always a good idea to look at the other point of view if it was me going to school in asia. The real question I sometimes ask is there a language barrier that makes some Asians only comfortable around other Asians who only speak their own language. There is sometimes a huge disconnect between Whites and Asians. Thu, 25 Mar 2010 16:04:11 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-are-all-of-you-thinking-about-asians__trashed/#IDComment64053587 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/women-and-sports__trashed/#IDComment62234723 This is awesome how Natalie Randolph is the coach of a high school football team. I think it is a tough challenge because she has to inspire the football players. It will be extremely interesting to see how they will do. The toughest challenge will be hard because football is the kind of sport in which you need to be tough sometimes on the players. The community is interesting to see how they will respond to a female and black coach. This might be the toughest part because there is a change she will get racism remarks from the families of the players. Everything is great right now but I am worried that when she actually has some rough patches in the season and the team possibly loses a game or a player isn’t playing as much as they want is when the racism and sexism might play into the game. Getting involved because she has always been a fan of football. Many women are really active in sports and love the sport so it is great to see her taking a big role in playing as a coach after playing in the women’s football league so she will have experience. This is similar to how many womens sports teams from high school through the professional level are coached by men such as men like Gino Auriema at UCONN. This team is a huge success currently having a winning streak of over 100 games which is incredible for the team and the players. This just shows that men and women can coach teams that are the opposite gender and coach these teams to successful season. Other team coaches in football are mostly big hard asses so it will be interesting to see how the other coaches treat her and if they respect her. They may treat her like crap and no treat her like a real coach. I feel like until Natalie gains respect as a coach it may be hard for her at first to be seen as a quality opponent. This is great because her job fell into place as coach. Personally playing football in high school I am not going to say that her job is going to be easy but it is definitely a possible job and I think she will be able to do a great job. At my high school our trainer was a female and she helped with drills as a coach and was very respected but I couldn’t see the same level of respect given for her if she was indeed the head coach of our football team. I hope Sam puts a follow up blog on for us to watch and see how Natalie is taken as a coach. Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:47:12 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/women-and-sports__trashed/#IDComment62234723 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/whats-with-the-theme-parties__trashed/#IDComment59808305 I just want to start by saying that I am in a fraternity and I never thought of this when we do our theme parties. The only two I can think of which may be racist are “blunts and 40’s” and “BET vs MTV”. I really don’t think the intent of either is at racism. They are fun themes, which have no racist intention. They are just fun parties. Many of my white friends smoke plenty of blunts and drink tons of 40’s. This is not racist. BET vs. MTV is about music not racist. We don’t have dress as a black person party This is the kind of remarks about racism that are really annoying. There is no back up evidence just acquisitions about people being racist with no backing. Where is this coming from is what I am wondering if she cgave examples of parties then I could see why. Some arguments people make are good and really open our eyes but this doesn’t at all.This is an example of why some white people are scared to say anything that will offend the black community. Comments like this are what keep the line between black and white Americans in the country. Most of the them parties we have are anything but clothes, Wild Wild west, dress like something with your first name, stoplight parties are four of the many. They are fun conversation starters and great things to dress up and have fun about. This comment is similar to saying that Halloween is directed at black people and an attack on them. People dress up as anything for Halloween too but it has never been criticized as being racist. This is such a frustrating comment to hear because it is like African Americans saying they are targeted for things. This is a straight example of a white American being targeted for no reason for a stupid cause. If this is racist then everything is racist. I don’t have to much more because I am just hit hard by this but would like to make more comparisons to what is racist then. Any parade that people dress up as themes is racist then. Any person who drinks a 40 ounce beer or does anything that it is typically done by blacks will be racist. This is like saying that if Blacks have a swimming and hockey party(neither sport is represented by blacks well) they are racist. That is not racist just fun. When I have a NBA party or wear your favorite jersey is that racist!?!? I don’t think that is racist at all! Can someone please respond to my comment and clearly explain how these parties are considered racist toward African Americans? Thu, 4 Mar 2010 23:46:36 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/whats-with-the-theme-parties__trashed/#IDComment59808305 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/when-do-we-do-or-say-something__trashed/#IDComment58831090 The example yesterday from the video was in my opinion the greatest example that was presented between all the classes so far. Most of the examples Sam gives are not as first hand as the one yesterday. I agree that people show without a doubt help out and support the Muslim lady who was rejected for no reason besides her race. I sincerely support the 13 people who stepped up and said that the owner was out of control. One person who stood out was the father of the son in Iraq who supporting the American rights. This was something I was never aware of before that Muslims face such extensive persecution from Americans. It is ridiculous the amount of people who experiences discrimination verbally or physically from people throughout the country. It is out of control that some Muslim women need to be in groups for their security. This is always a good idea to be in a group in general, however when you are in big cities at night it should only be necessary not simply going to get milk from the nearest convenience store. This is terrible it seriously a part of the daily life. Now I would like to move to my reasoning for it not saying anything. If this situation was not a experiment to see the example the store clerk seemed to be very abusive and many women and some men would feel like he is talking down to them and a threat. Personally I would say something without a doubt because it was absolutely ridiculous what the clerk was saying. It was offensive. However some people would feel that they just need to leave before anything escalates and there is a bigger scene or violence occurs. I personally feel my mother and younger sisters would be so appalled that they would be in complete shock leading them to drop everything and leave the store as quick as possible. This is not a statement that the person who doesn’t say anything agrees with what is occurring it is more they want no involvement. Sam and other thinks no involvement is bad however the best way to approach some situation is to stay uninvolved although I am not saying this situation it was correct to leave the store. I am saying that it is not in all persons character to SAVE THE WORLD and get involved in racial tension. Some people like others things and it is their cup of tea. A woman who is started by the situation just simply would want no part in what is occurring in the store. This was a great example which should be shown and I hope more examples in the future follow this example. Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:51:51 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/when-do-we-do-or-say-something__trashed/#IDComment58831090 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/lgbt-class-question-one__trashed/#IDComment57575064 I think Sam proposed a seriously valid point that many kids are subjected to not the most ideal parenthood. This leaves these children with less opportunity for success. Many of the links from class clearly display that more promising parents generally lead to more success including higher salaries, better jobs, and more economic stability. This generally leads to happiness for the children. I believe that if the situation was that there was a child who was being disregarded it would be in his best interest to be left in the hands of any parents. I agree that a couple of two men or two women would be a good set of parents with great intentions for the child. I believe they would give the child the best attention as possible. They would treat the adopted child as they were there natural son or daughter. This would be really good in all for the child. These non-biological parents are a much better option for the kid and would benefit the child. Especially if the biological parents want no part of the kid if he or she was an accident and is ignore the kid may end up in jail or worse. Now I would just like to offer the devil advocates point of view. Currently gay marriage is heading in the right direction towards acceptance. The older and more intelligent people become the more willing they are to accept gay and lesbian marriage and ownership of kids. It is the uneducated and lower class part of the American society in my opinion who are anti-gay. These people don’t accept the fact that gay parents are better than themselves at parenting the children. This fact is the same with elementary students. These kids think gay and lesbian jokes are funny and would ridicule a kid with “two moms or two dads”. As a pre-teen my feeling is this student would be made fun to the point that the youth couldn’t handle the situation and it could get extremely bad. This kid may have the feeling of such disappointment. There is nothing worse than a kid getting made fun of at a young age which can hurt his or hers confident for the rest of their life. But for a kid to be ridiculed about his or her parents would be crushing for the kid. The parents are children’s backbone for problem and if the kid is getting ridiculed about his or her parents it can get very bad. The real question is would a child be more beneficial with his of her biological parents who are abusive or with adopted parents who are gay or lesbian and many people have their own opinions but I think the clear cut answer is the same sex parents would lead to a much more successful set of parents for the kid and a more promising future. Fri, 19 Feb 2010 04:15:04 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/lgbt-class-question-one__trashed/#IDComment57575064 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/why-is-the-conversation-always-about-black-and-white-people__trashed/#IDComment56504383 The Race Olympics When I think about race relations the first thing I think of also is Black vs. White. There is the largest race struggle between the two groups. A good example that I can compare Black and Whites to is the struggle between the Democrats and Republicans for a control of congress. They are the two major players in all political events. There are other parties such as the green party and smaller varieties are conservative and liberal thought. However, they are nothing important in the overall playing of congress. The smaller parties especially in a presidential election have no chance of ever winning. Ralph Nader runs for president every 4 years which is a terrible investment for him because he always has no chance of winning however it is to make his point. I compare Ralph Nader and other smaller players in the presidential elections to the players in the race relations war like Asians, Native Americans, and Latinos. They are definitely not as accepted in American as Whites. However it is the Blacks who are typically under the most scrutiny. My opinion why Blacks are in the largest amount of attention and go head to head with whites is they want it. This is a good thing though, why should whites be the supreme character of the United States. It is complete bull shit; pardon my language but yea I am a white male. As a white male I think it is completely out of control. Blacks are the only race who does not feel content with the silver or even worse in the United State while whites are clear gold. Asians, Latinos, and other immigrants are content with bronze or honorable mention in the Race Olympics. The Olympics are starting today so I believe this is a great comparison. Why would anyone want to suffer in not achieving their goal and be the gold. This is an example of determinism. Whites try to preach that via determinism they are the clear and number one race in the United States and the world. Many say Blacks put themselves on this pedestal of competition but this is what they want. Dave Chapel is a great example, although I don’t think his ultimate motive was to bring more tension between Blacks and Whites. My opinion is his racism towards all races brought additional tension. In conclusion at the Olympics and all competition based events there is only room for one winners. Unfortunately the world also works this way and there are not co champs. This is also how the way racial supremacy works and has working for thousands of years. People always have scapegoats and there are no multiple people on top of the world in charge. It will be interesting to see who takes the lead in the race Olympics as Barack serves his final three years. Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:39:05 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/why-is-the-conversation-always-about-black-and-white-people__trashed/#IDComment56504383 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/negros-of-the-world-unite__trashed/#IDComment55526448 In class Sam talked about how people of different races want to be categorized. I personally think that besides for statistics, why do people need to be categorized? It is completely unnecessary, for when someone looks at them to say “o they are black” or anything. As Sam said 99.9 of the person Genome is the same regardless of what you look like or what your race is. The other .01 is all external and what people physically see when looking at another person. Race should mean nothing when you first look at someone. Unfortunately people judge or get a first impression of someone immediately when they look at someone. These are usually generalizations of the person and are completely incorrect and untrue. Everyone is different and a person should be judged based on what they are like and what they physically do. Racist people really frustrate me. They don’t like people without even knowing them. Some people don’t like others people based on race and religion. They make stereotypes and judge people without even knowing them Much of the violence in the world is attributed to racism. Countries in the Middle East fight each other constantly over religion and in Africa there are fighting over race. In the middle east they have been fighting for hundreds of years over religion and who is right. To me someone who is not the most religious guy my belief is who cares what other people believe. Everyone should be allowed to believe in whatever they want! And to us we all consider them black. They are black to us, or “African” however to them they are all different. On the census which is taken every 10 years throughout the years the census is changing and has different descriptions of race in order to be politically correct. The world negro is very tough because it used to be used as a racist term especially in the slavery days and the segregation days. However, still to this day there are 56,000 people who wrote negro to describe them I like how the census does this to ensure the most accurate data for this diverse country. The United States is one of the most diverse countries in the world. I personally think it is the most diverse country, so many different types of people here today! We now restrict immigration which as sam points out is not fair because we all were immigrants and everyone was one back in the day. Why are we allowed to stop allowing immigrants today. I think it is a great value to be such a diverse country, you can learn so much from different types of people. There is so much value from learning from other people. Fri, 5 Feb 2010 21:06:53 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/negros-of-the-world-unite__trashed/#IDComment55526448 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/racism-looks-pretty-good-on-this-side-of-the-atlantic__trashed/#IDComment54211999 As a huge sports fan, Soccer is not my favorite sport. However I fell in love with the World Cup 2006. I am looking forward to the world cup this year it is the most exciting event in the world and I enjoy it more than the Olympics. It is unbelievable to watch. When I watched this video I was in disbelief I never knew exactly how racist the fans can be in Europe especially to Carlos Kameni the Espanyol Football Club Goalkeeper when he is their own goalie. Marc Zoro from the Ivory coast made a great scene when they were chanting monkey and throwing bananas he needed to stop the game. Henry is one of the greatest players and took his team all the way to the finals in the 2006 world cup before losing to a tough Italian team. He says that even he gets spit at and chanted monkey while being such an elite player. I didn’t realize that there is such a little Black population in Europe with such far right conservative parties that breed there hate for Blacks and use propaganda to gain support. In Europe they are facing denial that its only some fans, however my opinion is this absolutely can’t be tolerated in the least bit and is completely ridiculous that the fans are not kicked out of the stadium. My friends were kicked out of a Jets game for peeing in the women’s room cause there was too long a line at the men’s room. Also other friends have been kicked out of sports games for swearing both of which are not right by any measure or stretch of the imagination however are nothing compared to what is happening overseas in Europe. I think Luis Aragones as a an American coach in any of the four major sports would not have been coach no longer and would absolutely have been fined as well as kicked out as coach immediately. However the most appalling thing to me is he didn’t apologize but was in denial. He is terrible, he claims he does it to intrigue the soccer player. This is similar to the Kansas football team in which the coach was recently fired for insulting players and hurting them to attempt to inspire them. It simply can’t occur. Henry went out and actually did something which is extremely important because as Richards says he went out and said something. Additionally when Sepp Blatter changed the rules and said that if any fans, players, coaches to make sure in the future they are not allowed or they will be kicked out of the stadium. I really think this is a great idea, hopefully in World Cup 2010 that fans can lose teams points and not allow them to advance in the world cup standings. Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:35:45 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/racism-looks-pretty-good-on-this-side-of-the-atlantic__trashed/#IDComment54211999 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/last-name-begins-with-e__trashed/#IDComment53874584 Ehrlickman Tue, 26 Jan 2010 01:49:44 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/last-name-begins-with-e__trashed/#IDComment53874584 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/haitis-calamity__trashed/#IDComment53357592 In a world that is highly politically and religiously divided, a tragic event as the disaster in Haiti brings the world to peace. Why does events like this happen in the world today? I don’t think anyone ever will know why the suffering and devastation struck Haiti and tore apart all infrastructure the country had. It could happen anywhere and tear apart any place; I know some of the poverty levels in Haiti helped to not have much defense. I think this strong of an earthquake on a small island would tear almost anything down. I personally actually went on a cruise and we stopped Haiti at the Royal Caribbean private island, it was one of my favorite islands and I remember having a great time and all the workers were from the island and were some of the most considerate people I have ever met. I think it is a beautiful sight to see many countries all coming together as one united force to help the people in need in Haiti. Natural Disasters unfortunately can’t be predicted or stopped however how we respond can save thousands of lives. People in Haiti are starving and food is almost impossible to get into the country. However people should be trying as hard as they can to get everything possible to Haiti. I think more government support for an emergency agency that is always ready to help in natural disasters should be funded. I think the United States should take what just happened in Haiti and realize that on the West Coast of our country are at large risks for earthquakes and tsunamis. A huge threat is a tsunami that could devastate the western coast. In the pacific a tsunami is bound to happen from the plate that is active. This tsunami scientist know is bound to happen at some point which would lead to devastation worse than I Haiti. Millions could be affected however the United States currently has not done a single thing to prevent this yet. Additionally in San Fran there is a huge threat of an earthquake and with the infrastructure in S.F. the water, fire rescue services, and power could all be cut off for the city including locking people in without any road and bridges functioning if they all get destroyed. This is a really big risk and needs to be worried about. In conclusion first lets help Haiti rebuild for success and hope this never happens again. Second I think we need to come to the reality that a natural disaster will indeed happen again in the future and be terrible and what we can do for now is plan and protect for it in the future and acknowledge and think of dangers in advance to save lives , communities and countries. Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:12:09 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/haitis-calamity__trashed/#IDComment53357592