en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/2410467 Comments by arm5156 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/18/war-through-the-ages/#IDComment145260686 It’s sad and scary how much war has been integrated into our human nature. We have this mentality where if someone has something you want and they won’t give it to you, simply kill and steal until you can get it. That seem too simplified for some but it’s true -especially here in the states. We’re a large machine. Large machines need larger quantities of goods and resources. Unfortunately, because we have scarcity it constantly pins us in a competition at a disadvantage. We have to work harder to get where we want and feel entitled to be. So a lot of times what do we do? We cheat. But we cheat good. We’ve figured out how to cheat and still be the good guys. We do it under to guise of democracy and freedom. We’re not here to steal your resources for our machine, we’re here to set you free…and get a little something for ourselves as a reward. We want to instill our great democracy system because it will make people happier…not because it’s much less volatile and can be more easily controlled. This seems so dark, and in some ways it is. But the gray area here is that it’s necessary. If we want to live here in the states and consume beyond our means like we have been for the past fifty years we have to pay the price. Everyone could look at the first paragraph and say “yea, the US is a big bully, we should stop doing that”. Easier said than done. Once gas balloons to six dollars a gallon and it ruins your vacation to myrtle beach because you were planning on driving there…then you might opt to look the other way and let America do it’s think. You might decide that it’s better for the machine to be full than wanting. I think that’s what this class has taught me. How much gray area there is in the world. Sometimes there just is no right or wrong, just opinions and different ways of doing things- and that, my friend, is a pretty scary concept Sat, 23 Apr 2011 01:13:21 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/18/war-through-the-ages/#IDComment145260686 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/19/why-does-society-dislike-immigrants-and-why-are-they-portrayed-badly-119-blog/#IDComment145252123 There are a bunch of reasons. First, though I don’t think it’s the biggest contributor to the hate, is job security. Americans are worried that they will lose their jobs to a lower cost immigrant worker. This is especially infuriating because we American’s feel some type of entitlement simply because we were born on this specific portion of dirt. For some reason we think that just because someone was born outside of our imaginary borders that they don’t deserve the same opportunities that we have. Americans think these jobs are specifically American jobs. In actuality, the employers, for the most part, don’t care one way or another who’s doing work for them. They’re more concerned with profit than patriotism. I think that if this is the main reason that one hates immigrants then they should clearly redirect their finger pointing towards the businesses. After all immigrants just want to work to provide better lives for their friends and family. Most of us would do the same thing in their shoes. I think another reason is that it’s just rooted in blatant racism. As a result we’ve made all these stereotypes to justify this hate. We say that Mexicans are lazy with their siestas and coronas, we think that all Arabic people must be terrorist etc. etc. Many of us don’t even realize it either. How many of us get pissed off when we hear other people carrying on a conversation in another language? I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve heard people mutter to themselves or say to me “This is America, speak English!” Where do we get off telling people how to communicate and more importantly why do we even care? People will always find some reason to justify the hate they have. There’s really no legitimate reason to hate an immigrant but people wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if they saw it this way. I think many people are also afraid of being forced out of their comfort zones with a cultural change. People think that America has an established way or system about it. This is because they only look at the small picture. Though we may not see it day to day, part of being a melting pot is that we don’t have a definite culture. It’s consistently changing and has been since the inception of the United States. The American culture is a collection of cultures. Just look at New York. In one place you have China town, Queens, and a whole plethora of different cultural influences. I know it’s cliché to even bring up but it is pretty ironic that a bunch of immigrants are getting pissed off about immigration. Sat, 23 Apr 2011 00:23:17 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/19/why-does-society-dislike-immigrants-and-why-are-they-portrayed-badly-119-blog/#IDComment145252123 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/11/transgendered-complications/#IDComment143001026 There will always to be ways to discriminate against people. Transgender people are just the next frontier of discrimination. For whatever reason just the thought of a transgender makes most people feel uncomfortable. Because we care more about our own comfort than actually trying to understand people most of just shove them away. I believe that the biological person and the physical person are two different entities; most of the time these two entities link up, but sometimes they don’t. From what I’ve heard and from the gay people I actually know it has never really been a choice. They’ve always sort of known that they were different. Why would anyone choose to be gay? It doesn’t seem to have too many perks in our modern day society. Since people don’t have a choice in the way their body chemistry works why not give them the choice to decide who they want to be. If you feel like a male trapped in a woman’s body then I think you should be able to identify yourself as male. Why not? It’s not hurting anyone, it’s just a title. Think how much it benefits psyche of the person who feels that way and how little it affects your everyday life. With hormones and surgeries most people wouldn’t even notice. I took a gender studies course last semester and we spoke with a transgender, female to male. He (That’s right he) was growing facial hair and everything. Afterwards I noticed that he was in one of my forum classes. He was carrying on conversations with the guys next to him about football and basketball and they had no clue. Not even an inkling of skepticism. I just think transgender is taboo because we still haven’t quite gotten over gay people yet and this is like gay squared. In response to this article I think it’s pretty obvious that he got fired on unfair terms. They clearly gave him the job in the first place and didn’t recognize that he was transgender. If the employers that question and analyze potential employees didn’t recognize how do you expect everyday Joes that are just there to piss in a cup and leave are going to notice. The whole “gender is a qualification” thing because people feel more comfortable peeing with someone who is the same sex sort of loses its credibility in that respect. Fri, 15 Apr 2011 03:33:41 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/11/transgendered-complications/#IDComment143001026 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/12/what-are-your-thoughts-on-everything-we-saw-and-heard-in-lecture-about-native-americans-119-blog/#IDComment142968658 This just goes to show how the history books truly are written by the winners of war. I can recall learned about scalping and thinking how cruel and grotesque of an act it was. Never once did I stop to think about the reasons why the Native Americans were doing it. I’d be pissed off too if I was just peacefully enjoying my peace pipe; appreciating mother nature and a bunch of white guys came along and decided to mess everything up. Being vastly outnumbered and outmatched I too would probably have to rely on tactics to strike fear into my opponent rather than overpower them. We forget all these things after the fact because of course we’re never the bad guys. We came to America in search of freedom and to escape tyranny! Pretty ironic that we did it at the expense of the freedom of another culture. But what do we care, they were in the way of our freedom that we for some reason or another felt entitled to capture at any cost. Once the deed has been done we just sweep that side of the story under the rug. Of course we would. How else would we live with ourselves if we thought that we had become the same thing that we fought to escape from? Now white people might even get offended if a Native American feels some type of way about that. White people would then throw out their go to response of “I didn’t do it, I can’t be held accountable for what my ancestors did”. But it’s like Sam said. The key to sociology is empathy. That is the ability to step out of yourself and see through the perspectives of others. If you’re great great great grandfather was attacked and thrown off of his own land his hostility towards the white man would be passed down to his son- then from his son to the next generation and so on and so forth . At what point does it become ok to have that sort of thing happen to you. At what point during that process does the next generation decide that what happened, happened and we should just move on. I think many of us would still be pissed- If not for what happened but by the blatant ignorance of it by the majority of the American population. Hell if I were a Native American I would at least want people to take the time to understand and acknowledge that what had happened was wrong. Additionally I would hope that people would give me the respect of acknowledging my culture after all was said and done. I feel that that would be the least you could do. Instead the majority of Americans have chosen to do neither. I’d be mad too. Fri, 15 Apr 2011 01:28:36 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/12/what-are-your-thoughts-on-everything-we-saw-and-heard-in-lecture-about-native-americans-119-blog/#IDComment142968658 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/07/4827/#IDComment141112739 I think that it’s clear to see that there are some major flaws in our political system. It’s this type of selfish and self-interested decision making that proves it. Maybe the public is to blame. Maybe we’ve taken our privilege and responsibility of being able to vote too lightly. We’ve given the system away to big business and face a seemingly endless wall of opposition. Now it’s hard for the common person to play the game because the party who is abusing the system is making all the rules. Even when the majority of Americans know that the benefits of cutting oil subsidies far exceeds the costs there’s nothing we can do about it. Even if we do recognize that our leaders’ decision making is being skewed by legalized bribery and we choose not to re-elect him next term where do you think our next candidates are coming from? Regardless of republican or democrat, most likely they had to play the game to get to where they are too. Everyone is cheating and getting unfair advantages. If you don’t join in it’s likely that you’ll fall to the wayside. Therefore we’d just be replacing one cheater with another. We can’t think that just because these people are elected officials that they are exempt from wanting to act in their own self-interest. They just humans just like everyone else. My big issue is that using oil for energy just seems so primitive. I know there has got to be an alternate way but anything that comes around that could potentially dethrone big oil is bought up and stashed away. We’ve put men on the moon there’s got to be a way to make a car run without oil. We should expand wind and solar but more importantly tap into geothermal energy. I realize that it can’t be an all at once shift but we’ve got to start making bigger moves. The rate at which the population is expanding and the ever increasing demand for energy makes it necessary. Scarcity is was makes big oil powerful. Expanding geothermal, wind, solar, and a slew of others could knock them down a peg. Fri, 8 Apr 2011 23:15:35 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/07/4827/#IDComment141112739 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/05/after-this-class-do-you-still-blame-terrorism-119-blog/#IDComment141097645 This was my favorite class of the semester. It just shows us how much our media is skewed to portray a particular message rather than the facts. It’s scary to think that very rarely do we receive true unbiased information – That everything we hear has been filtered or modified in some way. How can we know what is real? Who and what should we believe? What is the real truth? Most of us don’t care to even find out. That’s not to say that it’s easy. Many times we have to dig deep. We have to question everything we hear. And even when we do try to look at things from the other perspective how to we know that that information hasn’t been altered by some ulterior motive also? Clearly they’ve rationalized a reason to kill us as well. In their minds it must be right, or else they wouldn’t do it. In their eyes they’re the good guys and we’re the bad guys. Their information must convey something completely different than ours. Neither of which may be true. If we look at it this way it’s hard to really condemn anyone as being evil. We’re all just victims of media brainwashing. Whether or not one should blame people for their own ignorance is a matter of opinion. In America I think we’ve cleverly been deceived into thinking that as Americans we always do what is right. Even once we begin to question we’re faced with so many distractions that many times we are deterred from this quest for truth. Why go around looking on third party nonprofit news sites when I can go home and play Playstation for eight hours straight? Forget about hooking that shit up to high definition 3D flat screen, I might be gone for days. I can throw on some Call of Duty and now I get to take out those Osama lovers myself. I just upgraded my M-16 and I’m dropping people left and right no questions asked. This is a point within itself. War has become a game to many of us. It’s definitely become a big business. The Call of Duty franchise is the number one selling game franchise is Playstation history. We love shooting terrorists, we do it in our free time for fun! We don’t think about what we’re doing we just want to be the best killer on the net. The more people you kill the better you are. If you get killed it’s ok, you just respawn in 5 seconds anyway so you can get back to more killing. It’s sort of screwed up when you think about it. These people we’re replicating have significant others and children- maybe even a dog who knows. Once you kill somebody that’s it, they’re gone forever. That has a ripple effect that affects everyone that was close to them. It’s odd how desensitized we’ve become to that. Fri, 8 Apr 2011 21:54:25 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/05/after-this-class-do-you-still-blame-terrorism-119-blog/#IDComment141097645 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/30/so-what-your-take-on-those-inequality-classes/#IDComment139187573 The rich are getting richer, well of course they are. Currency and power have become our modern day survival of the fittest. We’re all beasts at heart, and most of us will claw, scratch, and even kill our way to the top. It’s in our nature; it’s how we even made it to this point. Power is infectious; once you get a taste you only want more of it. In the society that we’ve established money is power. Money gives us this false façade of freedom when in all actuality it acts more as a prison cell. Most of us are slaves to it and very few can harness the power of it. So again, of course the rich are getting richer. Why would the slave owners purposely give up their power and work amongst the slaves. A really good friend of mine just happened to land a really nice job right out of college. In a couple of months he’s going to move to another branch and he needs someone to replace him. Even though I have no real work experience in the field there is a good chance I might get the job. Granted I am a hard worker and have a pretty solid GPA, I’m sure there is someone out there who is much more qualified than I am. Am I complaining? Not really. See there’s the problem. Everyone things everyone else is the problem and their situation is an exception. Of course I would like to see more equality in our country. Would I give up this job opportunity to someone who may be better at it than I am and who may have put in more work to get to the point where they’re at? I doubt it. Here I’m just one small case, but this is happening all over America. That’s why everyone always says it’s not what you do it’s who you know. That’s why the career center keeps throwing the work “networking” down everyone’s throat. Everyone wants to reach that point of power and stability. They make the rules. If we can tap into the network there is no way we’re going to pass that up. People , for the most part, are looking out for their own self-interest. 90% of Americans will complain and preach about equality until they have that opportunity to be in the top 10%. Then they’ll start complaining about taxes. Fri, 1 Apr 2011 20:07:45 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/30/so-what-your-take-on-those-inequality-classes/#IDComment139187573 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/29/how-will-you-be-treated-differently-if-whites-become-the-minority-119-blog/#IDComment138906462 My first question is whether or not white Americans will be an actually minority (meaning that there is more of some other particular race) or a comparative minority to ALL other races in the country (like white people make up 49% of the country and the rest is a slew of other races). If it is the latter then white people would still technically be a majority. Regardless, this shift still has some major implications. The mountain is getting a little less steep and not quite as high and this is pretty scary for a good deal of white people. Along with majority status comes the power of the majority vote. There’s a better chance that the voices of white people will be heard and accommodated for. Without the majority we will have less power to press the needs of the white race. Surely people will begin to say that we’re losing our country and that we need to tighten up immigration laws; Newsflash, we’re all immigrants, we’re just adding a little more brown sugar to our melting pot (haha! sorry). This is not to say that this is wrong or unwarranted either. Any race in the position of the white race would do the same. It’s not easy to give up power, even if it is for the common good. Our entire social establishment is centered around the white male ego and white people are going to fear a crumbling of the system they’ve created. However, if we can use history to predict the outcome of such a shift it will most likely not crumble, rather it will change and rebuild in a new direction. Many white people may not be as happy with the new direction but rest assured there will be no apocalypse. It’s also not going to be an overnight change, which will definitely make the transition much easier. White people will be forced to interact with people of different cultures and my guess is that many of them will find that a good deal of the stereotypes they’ve attributed to that particular race aren’t true. On the other hand multicultural people will definitely assimilate to a good bit of the white culture and ideals as well. It is only natural that we will influence each other and at the end of the day, as long as you haven’t been hiding under a rock or fighting the transition, I think that many of us won’t even notice the change. We’ll just be eased into it. Eventually we’ll look back and think “Hey! That was pretty weird of me to think this or that about another race in the first place. I’m glad things changed; we’re a happier people because of it” Thu, 31 Mar 2011 19:02:27 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/29/how-will-you-be-treated-differently-if-whites-become-the-minority-119-blog/#IDComment138906462 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/24/religion-in-the-future/#IDComment137605354 I’ve been in Catholic schools for the majority of my schooling. Despite that I am now what I guess you would consider agnostic. I believe there’s something going on out there that our brains can’t quite comprehend. I don’t think that thing (call it God or whatever) has a significant investment in what goes on our little rock amongst the vast universe. I know a lot of people that share my same views on this. I think a good deal of it has to do with technological and informational advances. More and more things that used to be attributed to the divine because people couldn’t explain them otherwise are now being explained with science. Additionally the ease and speed with which we can now communicate makes the world a little bit smaller. We don’t hear tales about someone over in another city bringing people back to life and turning water into wine we have Youtube videos. When was the last time you saw a miracle on Youtube? Now there’s no room for wonderment, we just have information thrown in our face. This is making people look at religion a bit more objectively and I think people are starting to realize how cult-like and absurd organized religion really is. I think it’s funny when Catholics go off on how ridiculous scientology is because it’s all about aliens and “science fictiony stuff”. Part of me wants to tell them to look in the mirror, you believe that some Holy Spirit came down and impregnated some woman who later gave birth to the “messiah” who died and three days later came back from the dead… sounds pretty goofy to me. I read something on CNN the other day that said The Vatican proclaimed that the opponents of gay marriage are victims too. Really? I couldn’t help but laugh. And the whole no condom thing? Come on it’s time to get with the program. We all know that eventually you’re going to come around, the same way it took you a bit to accept the fact that the world isn’t flat or that we’re not the center of the universe. I think a lot of religion is just losing its credibility and people are just looking elsewhere to fill the void and to give their life meaning. Sat, 26 Mar 2011 00:54:04 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/24/religion-in-the-future/#IDComment137605354 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/24/would-you-date-someone-like-me-119-blog/#IDComment137585833 There’s a good bit that goes into deciding whether or not to date someone. In the very beginning stages it’s about physical attraction. Once the initial contact is made then you delve deeper into personalities and sense of humor. At this point it’s all about connection and whether you not you like this person enough to shun off all other options for them. For interracial relationships there are a lot of variables thrown into the equation that might disrupt this process or make people not mesh as well. Certainly this is not the case for all people because obviously relationships take place on an individual level. The first deterrent for some may be that they simply aren’t attracted to the features of someone who is black. Many of us, unfortunately, have been socialized to be more attracted to the features of the white European look. The lack of attraction prevents many people from exploring the potential connection you might have with that person. In my experiences it seems that males are more concerned with attraction than females. If you are attracted or if looks don’t matter too much to you there are also barriers that may prohibit you to connecting with one another. Upbringing and culture play a large part in shaping who we become. Many times black people and have very different experiences than white people growing up, and this shapes attitudes, views on life, and even personality. People gravitate towards people who see the world as they do, it makes communicating ideas much easier. When you communicate better both parties feel like they’re on the same page and it strengthens the bond. No one wants to be with a person that they feel like doesn’t get them. The different views and personalities as a result of different experiences may convolute the passage ways of communication and may make it seem like both parties don’t connect. In addition to this there is still pressure from society that keeps people from even exploring the waters of interracial relationships. For me, even though my parents are not racist, I feel like if a brought a black girl home she would have to prove herself or something. If I bring a white girl home it’s just expected, we can all just enjoy each other’s company. In the same way if I visited her parents I would feel like I had something to prove to them. Why is that? That’s some invisible string shit right there. As deplorable as it is, there is just some stigma associated with dating someone of a different race. It’s not normal yet, and anything that isn’t normal people tend to shy away from. That’s one of the major downfalls of the human race. Fri, 25 Mar 2011 22:43:17 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/24/would-you-date-someone-like-me-119-blog/#IDComment137585833 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/15/lgbt-families-theres-a-lot-of-fear-out-there/#IDComment135661988 This guy is a compelling speaker. It makes me feel good to see someone show people first hand that there biases and homophobic tendencies are flawed. It’s frustrating to hear people rattle off a bunch of facts about how gay marriage would do this or gay marriage would do that; these are the same people that said allowing women to vote or allowing black people to be free would cripple the system. I ask them if the system promotes stereotyping and sexism is it really a system that is worthy of being upheld? I’ve got Zach here beat, I’ve got THREE moms. When my biological parents divorced my father married a lovely woman who I’ve known since the age of three and I consider to be another mother; my mother also happened to remarry…to another woman for which I also have strong feelings. To make this even more interesting, add to this the fact that I went to Catholic school and that my mother had their marriage (along with photo) printed in the newspaper. With all that “adversity” I must have turned into some sort of social outcast who may or may not have been infected with “the gay” myself, right? To the contrary I think I’ve turned out quite normal. I’m straight, I have a 3.73 GPA right now, and I just happen to be pretty happy believe it or not. If we’re worried about protecting the sanctity of marriage why don’t we first focus on the fact that more than fifty percent of “normal” marriages end in divorce. Studies have shown that families with two members of the same sex actually happen to have more love and support in them than heterosexual families. When you think about it, if two people in a same sex relationship have a kid there’s a good chance they went through a lot to get one. As a result they must really have the desire to love and support offspring. There’s no chance it happened on accident. You’re telling me that an abusive heterosexual relationship that just happened to bear children because two people got drunk and fucked one night has more credibility than my situation? I don’t think so. Thu, 17 Mar 2011 19:58:14 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/15/lgbt-families-theres-a-lot-of-fear-out-there/#IDComment135661988 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/15/how-do-irrelevant-racial-signifiers-affect-racial-stereotypes-119-blog/#IDComment135650677 I believe that racial signifiers aren’t inherently a bad thing. As humans we like to put things into categories so we can more easily understand the broader picture of existence. Certain characteristics such as the Asian eye or the broad African nose aren’t stereotypes, they’re facts. When people point out those differences and apply it to a broader group of people that isn’t racist. We’re just trying to gain a more clear understanding of the human race and how it is. People who get offended when we do so simply don’t realize this. Certainly one can use these racial signifiers to promote racism, but it is not a direct effect of the signifiers themselves, it is simply a display of that particular person’s inner racism through the outlet of the signifier. As a society we have been socialized to think that many of these signifiers are not the norm or unattractive. Unfortunately, those with the characteristic also fall victim to this. That is why we see products such as skin lightener and procedures such as eyelid surgery. Racist people, or those with some degree of racism whether it be subconscious or not, recognize the insecurity and capitalize on the ability to strike at a point of weakness. That is a seemingly vindictive case. It can also be quite subtle. I’ve been told by some of my friends that I’ve got “n-word” lips. I’m white, and even though it doesn’t really bother me it implies that that characteristic, the characteristic of many people of African descent, is one that is negative or undesirable. This promotes racism even though the actual racist remark was directed at a white person! So now not only are we projecting our negative thoughts on people of different ethnicities but we’re also infecting others amongst the majority with our negativity. When we take a step back and look at this it’s easy to see how this could be a tough cycle to break. In this way we have created racial signifiers as a means to be racist. I think in order to break this problem we must address it at its core. In order to prevent people from using racial signifiers as an outlet for racism we need to reevaluate our thoughts on what beauty are. We need to reevaluate what we see as the norm and learn to accept others differences rather than use them as a means to objectify them. Once we do this irrelevant racial signifiers will no longer be able to be used for racist purposes; whether they be blatant or not. As the melting pot of the world I think it is our job as Americans to be at the forefront of this cause. Thu, 17 Mar 2011 19:01:11 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/15/how-do-irrelevant-racial-signifiers-affect-racial-stereotypes-119-blog/#IDComment135650677 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/06/are-whites-racially-oppressed/#IDComment134362589 ^ supposed to be a new paragraph after "crumble all together" Sat, 12 Mar 2011 04:43:55 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/06/are-whites-racially-oppressed/#IDComment134362589 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/06/are-whites-racially-oppressed/#IDComment134362109 Are whites racially oppressed? I can answer this blog posting with one word. NO. It’s ludicrous to think otherwise. What this article shows is the sad ignorance that suns rampant in our society. Look at the facts people. What, you think that because a few colored people see some kickbacks from affirmative action that now you’re oppressed? What, because our president is black that you have no longer have a voice in America? Could it be that the playing field is beginning to be a bit more level and the privileges of being white are starting to diminish a bit? I think so. We’re moving towards a more equal America, at least racially. Many people aren’t going to like that. The minorities staring upwards at the so called “king of the mountain” are beginning to see some ropes being thrown down to them; some outreaching hands beckoning them closer to the top. The kings fear that the weight at the top will may cause the mountain to crumble all together. This push towards equality is forcing white Americans to acknowledge, as weird as it sounds, that they are white. Suddenly you’re in the unemployment line with everybody else are you start thinking, hey I shouldn’t be here, I’m white, I went to college my brain has a lot of important stuff in it that these other people don’t have. Now they’re looking back at you like, Yea so did we, welcome to the party. So now you’re like Fuck, these bastards are taking all my jobs, this whole melting pot thing sucks. I wish all these colored people would go back to where they came from so I can grab myself a good nine to fiver. Suddenly you see all the privileges that used to come with being white and you miss them, and now you’re calling for ethnic studies programs to promote “racial pride”. You’re not being oppressed, things are just changing. They’re always people that are going to cling to the ways of old and preach of an apocalypse if we stray from the beaten path. Sadly enough history isn’t in their corner. Turns out women aren’t too emotional to make a rational voting decision. It also turns out that those “Uppity Negroes” didn’t revolt and cause mass hysteria throughout the nation upon being released. The list goes on and on. America is changing, but we will adapt as we always have. We may not adapt the way some want us to, but we tend to adapt in a way that has a greater overall benefit to society. Did I mention that I’m white? I don’t know if it matters but I thought that it might…plus I needed a couple more words to hit the min. Alright got it. Not that I’m a slacker, I just felt like I got my point across at 430 something and I didn’t want to force it ya know Sat, 12 Mar 2011 04:40:53 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/06/are-whites-racially-oppressed/#IDComment134362109 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/01/lighting-our-way/#IDComment134271423 I think this video shows how interestingly primitive some aspects of the human mind still are. Our bodies aren’t set up to be nocturnal; SAD is just one way of our bodies telling us that. I think it’s funny how people eat more and gain weight. People don’t realize that their subconscious is telling them to fatten up for the cold harsh winter. Depression is an interesting side effect of SAD (the acronym is pretty ironic as well), and I can say that I’ve definitely experienced this effect of the winter season for myself. I think much of it has to do with the fact that cold weather and more darkness makes people less active. If it’s too cold it gives you an excuse to stay inside and pop on the TV. If it gets dark at five then your natural body clock tells you the day is over; giving you another excuse to pack it in and pop on the TV. After a while people just get bored. When there are less distractions and when dull monotony kicks in many people are forced to face themselves or any problems they may be dealing with. Everything you’ve been putting off in your mind comes all at once you smack you in the face. Then when you’re sitting around not doing anything because you’re bored and bummed out you start thinking about how apathetic you’re being wasting your time not being productive. It can be a vicious cycle like that. I don’t know whether it’s the way society has bred us or how the human mind is wired but I feel like we constantly need to have a task or something that makes us feel like we’re being productive; something that makes us feel worthwhile that gives our lives purpose. Without purpose we feel useless, which can breed depression. The sun is something that most of us take for granted. When put in a situation like the people in Helsinki face every winter we come to realize how precious sunlight actually is. The one guy said it himself. You don’t know how much it affects you until it’s gone. Fri, 11 Mar 2011 19:57:49 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/01/lighting-our-way/#IDComment134271423 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/24/is-it-selfish-for-people-in-poverty-to-have-more-kids-because-of-their-lower-income-119-blog/#IDComment130654354 It may be the case that these less fortunate people are simply trying to fill the void with family. They get their happiness through comradery and feeling of being wanted or needed. More things to love might mean more happiness for some. Can I blame them or deem them selfish for wanting a larger family then? I don’t think that I can personally. Additionally, when we have less distractions and less focus on material goods to fill up our day we tend to find joy in the simpler things in life…like sex. You might argue that sex isn’t simple but that’s neither here nor there haha. Regardless it’s cheap (most of the time) and it’s fun. Would you rather sit around for another three hours watching family guy reruns on your twenty two inch TV screen, or go upstairs strip down and get your rocks off? I think that most of us would choose the latter. Do that enough times coupled with being uninformed about contraception and potentially even wanting to have a large family to fill the void society has made for you and you’ll find yourself popping out a couple of knuckleheads that look a lot like you. Some planned and some maybe not so much. Taking all this into consideration I think that it’s unfair to call poorer people selfish. They’re just looking for happiness the same way we are. Fri, 25 Feb 2011 18:42:33 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/24/is-it-selfish-for-people-in-poverty-to-have-more-kids-because-of-their-lower-income-119-blog/#IDComment130654354 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/24/is-it-selfish-for-people-in-poverty-to-have-more-kids-because-of-their-lower-income-119-blog/#IDComment130654306 I don’t think that it is entirely selfish. I think what some people may be forgetting is that some invisible strings may be at work here. The fact that we see people with lower income levels having more children on average across the board means that some level of determinism must come into play. It’s not like all impoverished people had a meeting and decided to do the nasty a lot more. As we all know, there is a strong correlation between people’s income and what we perceive as intelligence. Or maybe it is unfair to say intelligence but rather schooling. This means that people who are better off typically have had some form of formal education. These people are more informed; they go to class and talk with peers. Maybe they’ve even taken a sex ed class. Maybe they also have a computer to do their work and to surf the web when they’re bored. What I’m trying to say is that people who are better off tend to be more informed and may be more aware of various forms of contraception. On top of that they have the ability to purchase various forms of contraception. How can it then be selfish if poorer people are simply just unaware? The blame can’t entirely fall on them. Some other reason behind impoverished people having more kids might just be for their own personal pursuit of happiness. Having less money and opportunities means less material luxuries and less satisfying job placement. Fri, 25 Feb 2011 18:42:15 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/24/is-it-selfish-for-people-in-poverty-to-have-more-kids-because-of-their-lower-income-119-blog/#IDComment130654306 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/21/rethinking-education/#IDComment130414357 . I can tell you being an Economics major has certainly taught me how to work the system, but whether or not I’m learning the concepts is questionable. I’m teaching myself to learn how to get good grades on the tests, memorizing which lines move when and under which circumstances - This symbol does this thing when this happens. I just got back my first econ test today and I got a 100%. I rocked it. If you asked me about the work I did and its meaning I don’t think you would get a 100% worthy answer. I think another important point that this video makes is what suffers because of this one size fits all philosophy - Creativity and art, philosophy and the grander meaning of existence. We’ve become so wrapped up in this production line of education and how we can become more efficient machines that we’ve forgotten how to experience life. Everyone has become so concerned about finding more lucrative ways to sell hours of their life away for purchasing power that I believe we’ve missed the broader picture. Thu, 24 Feb 2011 21:07:00 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/21/rethinking-education/#IDComment130414357 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/21/rethinking-education/#IDComment130414323 I think what this video best points out it that the current one size fits all educational system is in dire need of reform. The system we use right now places intelligence in a box. In reality intelligence comes in many forms. The old system doesn’t recognize this and places people down a path according to outdated parameters of what standardized testing views as intelligence. All those who don’t fit this mold are screened out and deemed unskilled and unintelligent laborers. In reality those who don’t fit the mold are the people who I think we can learn the most from. We’re socialized to acquire this inside the box mentality, but almost every employer is looking for outside of the box problem solvers. It’s quite contradictory. Look at Einstein for example. The fact that he failed math proves that the system is almost laughable. I believe that school is essentially making us more effective machines. Sometimes I wonder what percentage of this material that is being thrown in my face I’m actually retaining and going to be able to put use. Thu, 24 Feb 2011 21:06:46 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/21/rethinking-education/#IDComment130414323 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/17/how-do-you-feel-about-the-way-people-live-in-america-compared-to-other-places-around-the-world-119-blog/#IDComment128986114 I’ll pay an extra fifty cents for a snickers bar if I don’t have to see a video like we saw in class ever again. This would take away some of the power of the big juggernauts like Wal-Mart, which is essentially its own country, and bring it back to mom and pop shops who don’t take advantage of the less fortunate. Sat, 19 Feb 2011 01:45:48 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/17/how-do-you-feel-about-the-way-people-live-in-america-compared-to-other-places-around-the-world-119-blog/#IDComment128986114