Yesterday in class we watched a video about the guy who helped immigrants by bringing them one meal every single day. I think it said that he makes over thirty meals a day and I find that to be absolutely heroic and admirable. This man has absolutely no responsibility to do this; he has no obligation to do this, yet he does it every single day without complaining. Most people would not do this because it would be “too much work” or they would say that they are exhausted after a long day at work. But this man has a job AND he still takes hours out of his day to do this for people that he does not even know. These people are not even his friends, they are just people that are in similar situations as to the one that he was in when he first arrived in the United States.
I find it very heroic what this man does. I can honestly say that I do not know if I would do the same thing if I was in a similar situation. I would love to say that I have the heart to do this, but in the end, I would probably be too lazy to actually help. It is really hard to say though what I would actually do because I have never been in the situation that they are in. I have never been an immigrant so I have absolutely no idea how bad these people have it. If I was like the guy in the video and had actually gone through something like this, then the situation would be completely different and I would probably feel as if it is my responsibility to help them. Seeing people in bad situations that are similar to ones that you yourself have overcome is something that really hits a spot in your heart. It makes you want to help out because you just want them to overcome their hard times like you once did.
I definitely would not turn away immigrants that need help, but I probably would not go to the extremes of making over thirty dinners each day. I would try to do anything that would help them out even if it would only help them out slightly, but making that many meals is just too time consuming. I think that it is really dumb for people to “hate” immigrants and want them to leave. These people are just people who are trying to make a better life for themselves and there is nothing wrong with that. We should all try to be more supportive about the fact that they are just trying to make a better life.

Today in class Sam talked a lot about Native Americans and the struggles that they go through. I am actually glad that he brought up this topic because I have noticed before just how clueless the average person is about the true struggles that Native Americans go through every day. These struggles, I believe, are definitely our fault. We came and took their land, and now we are not even decent enough people to actually make sure that they are living at least somewhat decently? We should all be ashamed of ourselves for not helping the Native people of the land that we live on.
I think one reason that people seem to overlook the struggles of Native Americans is because they do not want to even think about the lives that their ancestors ruined. Yes, it was our very own ancestors that came and forced the native Americans out of their very own land. It was our ancestors that forced them to abandon their homes and to start over new lives that were very different from their original ones. It was, all in all, our ancestors fault for giving the native Americans the hardships that they must live with today.
Another reason that I think Americans seem to overlook the hardships of native Americans is because we just simply do not see them. Ever hear the phrase “out of sight, out of mind”? Since we do not see native Americans and their struggles, we just do not think about them. It is not like we see on the news that they are constantly the targets of violent crimes, or the victims of alcoholism. We do not see any of this because it is not broadcasted. Because of this lack of visual evidence, we simply do not go about our days thinking about the lives of these people. I can not exactly say that it is, therefore, not our fault that we are so blind to their struggles, because we should still take it as our own responsibilities to inform ourselves about the world, including the people who were native to this very country.
I believe that we all really need to change the lives of native Americans by helping to rid them of their hardships and their struggles. To start this, we must first educate the people of this country about their hardships. We should start teaching about them in school. After all, we are taught all about poverty and how it affects so many countries in the world, but we are not actually taught about the very people in our own country that are struggling from it. If we at least were educated about this, then I know that a lot more people would take it as their responsibilities to try to help the native Americans.

After doing the activity in class the other day, my views on the war in Iraq have changed dramatically. I have always heard the expression “put yourself in your enemy’s shoes”, but I must say that that is usually easier said then done. People tend to say that they have tried to understand why their enemy acts the way they do, but usually they do not really know the full story. Putting yourself in someone else’s shoes is the best way to get over hatreds for other people.
Understanding why an enemy might be the way they are is extremely hard to do unless you completely and 100% put yourself in their shoes. People act the way they do for certain reasons, and this was definitely demonstrated during the activity in class. Sam asked us to pretend that we are middle easterners, and he told us to imagine what we would feel if Americans were coming into our country. It would be strange and frightening, and obviously this would make them hate Americans for invading their home land. Also, just the environment that the middle easterners have to live in is terrifying and definitely a reason for them to be untrusting of foreign people. If I really was an inhabitant of the middle east, I would probably hate America for trying to send its people into my land and trying to take over our homes.
Along the lines of putting yourself in your enemies shoes, I think that the best way to adequately understand your enemies actions is to not only put yourself in their shoes, but to also make an effort to reach out to them in order to understand them. It is not very hard for Americans to simply make an effort to talk to middle easterners to figure out what their views are and why they act the way they do. This would get rid of a lot of problems and misunderstandings between the two different groups of people.
One of the biggest things that the activity taught me was to not put a whole group of people into one category. Even though a few of the middle easterners may have participated in the terrorist attacks on September 11th, it does not mean that we Americans should hate every single person that lives in the middle east. It is stereotyping if we honestly act as if every single Middle Easterner has the tendency to perform terrorist attacks. That is like saying that every single American likes pizza or football. Stereotypes are sometimes what lead to people having enemies. They form a false image in their head of a person or of a group of people, and this is what causes us to never fully stop having an enemy or enemies.

After doing the activity in class the other day, my views on the war in Iraq have changed dramatically. I have always heard the expression “put yourself in your enemy’s shoes”, but I must say that that is usually easier said then done. People tend to say that they have tried to understand why their enemy acts the way they do, but usually they do not really know the full story. Putting yourself in someone else’s shoes is the best way to get over hatreds for other people.
Understanding why an enemy might be the way they are is extremely hard to do unless you completely and 100% put yourself in their shoes. People act the way they do for certain reasons, and this was definitely demonstrated during the activity in class. Sam asked us to pretend that we are middle easterners, and he told us to imagine what we would feel if Americans were coming into our country. It would be strange and frightening, and obviously this would make them hate Americans for invading their home land. Also, just the environment that the middle easterners have to live in is terrifying and definitely a reason for them to be untrusting of foreign people. If I really was an inhabitant of the middle east, I would probably hate America for trying to send its people into my land and trying to take over our homes.
Along the lines of putting yourself in your enemies shoes, I think that the best way to adequately understand your enemies actions is to not only put yourself in their shoes, but to also make an effort to reach out to them in order to understand them. It is not very hard for Americans to simply make an effort to talk to middle easterners to figure out what their views are and why they act the way they do. This would get rid of a lot of problems and misunderstandings between the two different groups of people.
One of the biggest things that the activity taught me was to not put a whole group of people into one category. Even though a few of the middle easterners may have participated in the terrorist attacks on September 11th, it does not mean that we Americans should hate every single person that lives in the middle east. It is stereotyping if we honestly act as if every single Middle Easterner has the tendency to perform terrorist attacks. That is like saying that every single American likes pizza or football. Stereotypes are sometimes what lead to people having enemies. They form a false image in their head of a person or of a group of people, and this is what causes us to never fully stop having an enemy or enemies.

After doing the activity in class the other day, my views on the war in Iraq have changed dramatically. I have always heard the expression “put yourself in your enemy’s shoes”, but I must say that that is usually easier said then done. People tend to say that they have tried to understand why their enemy acts the way they do, but usually they do not really know the full story. Putting yourself in someone else’s shoes is the best way to get over hatreds for other people.
Understanding why an enemy might be the way they are is extremely hard to do unless you completely and 100% put yourself in their shoes. People act the way they do for certain reasons, and this was definitely demonstrated during the activity in class. Sam asked us to pretend that we are middle easterners, and he told us to imagine what we would feel if Americans were coming into our country. It would be strange and frightening, and obviously this would make them hate Americans for invading their home land. Also, just the environment that the middle easterners have to live in is terrifying and definitely a reason for them to be untrusting of foreign people. If I really was an inhabitant of the middle east, I would probably hate America for trying to send its people into my land and trying to take over our homes.
Along the lines of putting yourself in your enemies shoes, I think that the best way to adequately understand your enemies actions is to not only put yourself in their shoes, but to also make an effort to reach out to them in order to understand them. It is not very hard for Americans to simply make an effort to talk to middle easterners to figure out what their views are and why they act the way they do. This would get rid of a lot of problems and misunderstandings between the two different groups of people.
One of the biggest things that the activity taught me was to not put a whole group of people into one category. Even though a few of the middle easterners may have participated in the terrorist attacks on September 11th, it does not mean that we Americans should hate every single person that lives in the middle east. It is stereotyping if we honestly act as if every single Middle Easterner has the tendency to perform terrorist attacks. That is like saying that every single American likes pizza or football. Stereotypes are sometimes what lead to people having enemies. They form a false image in their head of a person or of a group of people, and this is what causes us to never fully stop having an enemy or enemies.

I thought that it was interesting how Laurie pointed out the fact that girls always feel the need to get completely dressed up to go out while boys can wear basically what they wore to class that day. We are almost required to wear short skirts, high heels, tons of makeup, and with our hair done. I sometimes get annoyed with how much time it takes to get ready to go out, but I have always just accepted it as something that is necessary and normal. When you go your whole life seeing girls acting like this, you do not question it since it is such a learned behavior.
When Laurie said that we actually do not really want to dress up and that we just do because it was always what we were taught was very eye opening. Learned behaviors such as this one really do shape our lives in a huge way. We are taught things in a way that makes us just accept that as part of the norm and it leads us to never question these ways.
If girls started to actually question why we get all dressed up to go out, it may or may not even have a difference. I feel like, mainly, it would not change anything because we are still so used to doing it that we would not change it even if we had the choice. It is something that runs so deep within us that it would be really hard to change this way of thinking.
I definitely do find it unfair though that girls have to try so hard to impress the guys while the guys can look like complete slobs and still be considered “cool” and “attractive”. If you see a girl out in jeans and a tee-shirt you would probably assume she was going to the grocery store instead of going out to a party, because it is not acceptable for a girl to ever dress like that for a party. We are required to be completely dressed up when we attend a party or get-together, not dressed down.
In contrast to what I have said so far, I actually think that, even though it is a pain to get dressed up, girls actually like the process of getting “prettier”. You constantly hear girls saying that they are not pretty until they put on their makeup and their nice clothes and do their hair. Getting ready to these extremes just gives girls an opportunity to almost change their physical appearances in order to grab a guy’s attention. Most girls are extremely insecure, so dressing up gives them an opportunity to feel better about themselves and to feel less self-conscious.

I think that interracial relationships are completely and 100% acceptable. Our world is constantly trying to make itself into a judge-free and non-racist place, so why not start by being in an interracial relationship? People need to just relax with their insecurities about race differences. I see absolutely no big deal in dating someone of a different race, because at this point everyone should just be looking for someone who they can love and who can love them back.
An interracial relationship is something that should not be a big deal to anyone. If there are gay people who can go out of the norm and date someone who is not of the typical sex, then why cant people just go out of the norm and date someone of a different race? Love is something that is not supposed to judge based on looks (race). Love is something that happens when two people fall in love with each other’s personalities and qualities, not their looks. Therefore, why would we even dare to put boundaries on who a person can and cannot love? A person can be with absolutely whomever they want to.
Sometimes people will say that they would never date someone of the opposite race because of fear of how their own family would react. But a family is supposed to be understanding. A family is not supposed to pass judgments on their relatives, or make them feel bad for who they fall in love with. Because of this, I think that no person should hold back from dating a person of another race in fear of what his or her family will say. If their family really loves them, then they will understand and accept that person. If not, I would not even worry about it because it is the family who is being the unreasonable ones.
Yet another reason that prevents people from partaking in interracial relationships is the fear of what anyone will think of them. If I (a white girl) dated a black man, I know that if we were to walk down the streets or through the mall that we would receive many looks from people thinking “what are they doing?!” But that is just something that I would have to accept if I was with someone who I loved. People need to stop worrying about what others will think, or they will go their whole lives living a life that is clearly not their own.
It actually does seem like nowadays more and more people are partaking in interracial relationships. Our world is advancing in this aspect, because more and more people are realizing that it really does not matter who they fall in love with, as long as that person is who they love.

The video that we watched yesterday in class was kind of disturbing. I never really thought about the influence that parents can have on their children about race until I saw that video. Overall, I do think that parents play the most part in teaching a child about the racial differences and what color is better.
If black parents are constantly telling their children that lighter skin is better and more attractive, than these children are going to grow up thinking that they are not good enough. They will grow up and not be able to appreciate their natural beauty because they will constantly be thinking that they could be better if they only had lighter skin. White parents can also tell their children that they are lucky to be white, therefore making them think they are better than others.
When I was growing up, I never had to worry about my parents teaching me wrongly about the differences in skin color. They always taught me that everyone was created equal and that everyone should have a fair chance in the world (no matter what their skin color may be). I never realized that I was lucky to have parents like that. I did not have parents who raised me to think that white people are superior to blacks, which I am extremely thankful for. Children with parents like that grow up to have biases and prejudices towards others, and that is why racism continues to exist in the world today.
Along with parents teaching children this, I also know that media plays a large part. Mostly, little kids watch cartoons and in these cartoons they see mainly white children as the main characters. These white children are cool and fun, so children start to associate white people as the better race. If media could only better disperse the different races amongst their tv shows, children would better be able to see that all races are equal and that no one race is better than another.
The third and last group that has a contribution on the way that children see the differences in color may just be from the people around them on a daily basis. This does not necessarily mean parents, but also the people that they see outside of their houses. When children go to school, they might hear friends talk about skin color as if it means a lot. For example, one child may come in to school and say that his/her parent told him/her that white people will always be better and that black people will never be equal to them. This child will then have a huge effect on the other children at the school. Biases and prejudices can be passed so easily amongst children because they so easily absorb what is around them and what other people are saying.

While affirmative action is a great stance taken by the United States, it actually may be taking things too far. If the government is telling companies that they need to hire a certain amount of minorities, than the non-minorities (white people) may actually be cheated out of a job that they rightfully earned and that they are fully qualified for. I personally think that, nowadays, the government should not continue to press the importance of affirmative action. Racism has been very quickly diminishing over the years and I highly doubt that companies would still not hire someone just because they are a minority.
Affirmative action can be extremely helpful but I honestly think that it is simply causing racism to still exist in our society. For example, imagine that two candidates are applying for the same job and that one was white and one was black. Now imagine that the black person gets the job. The white candidate may, in fact, think that the he/she did not get the job simply because the employer had to fill some sort of “quota” imposed by the government saying that they had to have a similar ratio of whites to blacks. This would, therefore, cause the white person to have a sort of resentment towards the black person, which may eventually escalate and turn into a prejudice towards all black people. This example is just one way in which affirmative action may be taking things too far in our world, by creating prejudices and racism rather than getting rid of them.
Basically, what I am trying to say is that I agree with the people who say that affirmative action is somewhat “reverse discrimination”. You cannot deny someone a job because they are white, just like you cannot deny someone a job because they are black. These laws that establish quotas and rules that companies must follow are just causing the system to be more out of whack. I understand that the government is trying to create a place where differences in race do not mean anything, but by trying to do this they are just causing our society to be even more prejudiced and unequal.
Mainly, I think that affirmative action is taking things too far because racism is something that, for the most part, needs to be eliminated on its own. I understand that certain laws are necessary, such as the very first laws establishing no segregation, etc, but other laws just seem as if they might be intruding too much. Racism is an issue so sensitive and likely to change depending on so many factors. Because of that, I believe that creating too many laws (such as affirmative action) will just make racism into even more of an issue than it already is.

I have never really been conscious about who I sit next to in class or of who I sit next to on the bus, or anywhere. Obviously I notice what the person sitting next to me looks like but I do not make my decision based on this. If I see two people, one white and one black, sitting in two different rows, I honestly would probably choose my seat based on which row was closer or which person looks the friendliest. Usually, I try not to sit next to someone who looks grumpy or mad because then I just feel like I am bothering them. But, I never would choose my seat based on the fact that one person is white while the other is black.
After we had the class with the “experiment” about who sits next to whom, I could not help but think that the experiment was not very accurate. I do know that some people tend to sit next to a person of their race, but in this case that obviously would not happen considering the fact that the whole entire class was watching these people choose where to sit. They should have conducted this experiment in a much better way. They should have had those four people sit in the front of class before the class started. Then, as people were entering class, Sam should have told four random people to go join the people up front and THEN we could have seen their real decisions. If the experiment had been conducted this way, the people would not have known at all what the experiment was about so their choices would most likely be more accurate to what they would be if these were seats on a bus.
Even though I did not think that the experiment was very accurate, I did find it quite interesting and it opened my mind to things I had never really considered before. I never thought of how people might choose what seat to sit in on the bus. I never stopped to consider that maybe people are not as free of racism as I had begun to believe. Lately, I have made a point to watch people more closely when they get on a bus or when they enter the classroom, to see where they choose to sit. Unfortunately, these observations are not always quite useful. It is hard to tell if a person chose a certain seat because it was the closest seat to the door, or because the person occupying the adjacent seat was of their same race, etc. However, I do still find it interesting to make these observations because it is interesting to imagine the idea that racism and prejudices are still hiding everywhere around us.