en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/766801 Comments by briansandrick https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/the-tyranny-of-radical-muslims__trashed/#IDComment68453663 I really never thought much about how deep the feelings toward Osama Bin Laden run in a lot of Muslims I do have friends that are Muslim and I know that they don’t support him but we have never talked about their specific feelings toward him. I can understand how the feelings could run so deep. When a lot of Americans see any radical Muslim they see all Muslims and Arabs not the individual person. When a lot of Americans see a radical Christian leader they tend to see that person as radical not all of Christianity. I think this is because most Americans either are Christians or have a better understanding of Christianity than they do of Islam. I personally have generalized Muslims It took me a while to realize just how crazy this was I don’t think it was until I was in Iraq and got the chance to meet a lot of different Arabs that were both Muslim and Christian and also Kurdish people and it did change my outlook on an entire population and realize that there are individual people that do not speak for an entire people. Sat, 17 Apr 2010 01:06:42 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/the-tyranny-of-radical-muslims__trashed/#IDComment68453663 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/what-if-we-got-rid-of-welfare__trashed/#IDComment65592330 I think that if we just stopped the entire welfare system than there would be a lot of problems. Like Sam said that most of the people receiving welfare assistance are children so to just shut down the system we would be in effect taking food out of the mouths of these children. I do support some changes to the system because I feel that giving someone the welfare check that is capable of working but not willing is pretty stupid and just plain wasteful. But if someone is unable to work for some reason I feel that it is a good idea. Fri, 2 Apr 2010 19:17:32 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/what-if-we-got-rid-of-welfare__trashed/#IDComment65592330 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/is-quality-the-question__trashed/#IDComment65590860 I think that to a point this could affect quality to some extent. in the medical field even if the bases of hiring a person is affirmative action that person would still need to have passed medical school and have their doctorate so in that regard I do not think that the quality would be affected to an extreme. There I probably some situation out there where the quality of service would be compromised but right now I can’t think of any in particular. In regards to nepotism I think that this might have a bigger effect especially in fields where a degree is not a necessity. Fri, 2 Apr 2010 19:04:30 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/is-quality-the-question__trashed/#IDComment65590860 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/nothing-about-the-census-is-easy__trashed/#IDComment65589277 I don’t think that there ever will or ever could be a point that no one would be offended at something. After all the time and money spent on research for the survey there are still people that don’t like something. When the ideas of political correctness are constantly changing and what is acceptable is also changing how is anyone of any race supposed to know what is socially acceptable as a whole. When I filled out my form it even said that it was simplified so that it would only take 10 min to fill out. Will all the multiracial people in this country there are very few people that would be able to fit into just one category. I really don’t understand what the big deal is with the census. There was numerous times before the actual forms came out that I heard that the term negro would be on the census so first off if people were shocked when they saw it on there then they were just out of the loop. Second there was plenty of explanation from numerous sources that I saw before it came out that did explain that there is still a large number of people that refer to themselves as negro. And on top of that there was also black and African American for the same box. I do feel there that there is some sort of that us against them mentality in some people. and if you don’t like something you should just keep complaining. It seems to me that all these people just want to keep complaining without any solutions. One of the things that I hate is complaining without solutions. If you have a problem with something then figure out a way to change it. In this case there really is nothing that any average person can do to change it. Without turning this into a religious discussion, from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, “To worry about something you can’t change is useless. To worry about something you can change is foolish!” These people are never going to change anything so they should just get over it. I really don’t have anything else to say about this but I need to get the four hundred and fifty words so I need to fill a lot of space. Well my wife just took her kayak out I should have gone with her but I have a lot of homework to do tonight. Maybe I will go out tomorrow. The weather is finally nice enough to go out I think I am going to have to take my bicycle for a ride and finish the homework a little later and that is 450. Fri, 2 Apr 2010 18:50:55 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/nothing-about-the-census-is-easy__trashed/#IDComment65589277 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/native-hawaiians-ever-think-of-them__trashed/#IDComment64260429 I think that this is a good thing if at least just a start for the native Hawaiians to be the last indigenous group to finally be recognized and at least start to get back what is rightfully theirs. Once everything is finalized I think that I will be a good thing for the children to learn more about their history and culture. Also this could eventually bring more tourism dollars to these people that will still travel to the islands and I think that the tourists will be more interested in learning about the native people of the islands. Fri, 26 Mar 2010 22:38:02 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/native-hawaiians-ever-think-of-them__trashed/#IDComment64260429 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/in-her-own-words__trashed/#IDComment64259074 A lot of people questioned what Sam’s wife thought about him talking about this in class and I believe him when he said that she knows and doesn’t mind. This video all but proves that. As it was said in another response the discussion in class was a little more in-depth than I or a lot of the class expected and more in depth than I feel was entirely necessary. But on the same side maybe it was necessary to fully express what Sam wanted us to think about and realize. And that’s all I have to say about that. Fri, 26 Mar 2010 22:24:08 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/in-her-own-words__trashed/#IDComment64259074 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/flip-the-script-for-a-moment__trashed/#IDComment64256613 One thing that I find interesting is that growing up we are told that if you don’t understand something that you should ask a question but there are still the areas that we cannot ask questions about and I still wonder why. There are plenty of things that do need questioned. Without questioning how is anyone going to learn and how is anything going to change. As Sam said the that’s just the way it is mentality in itself needs to be questioned. I do agree with some of the tea partiers in that we do need something major in the government to change. For the most part the people in the government are just continuing what their parties have been practicing for entirely too many years. Obama was preaching change during his campaign but after his election everything stayed the same. The two parties push their agenda as soon as they are in power and then as soon as they lose power the other one will do the exact same thing and the majority of the party will vote together for what I feel is nothing more than to have their party “win” and so often I think that they rarely completely understand what they are actually voting for. I could be completely wrong but I don’t think so. The health care reform proposal was close to two thousand pages. I wonder how many of these elected officials actually read and understand what they were voting for or against. My thought is that it isn’t too many. I think that so much of the time people don’t question anything is that they have become comfortable in the way things are and are unwilling to put themselves out there and possibly become uncomfortable with their position or even find something out about themselves. I do think that the discussion in class did just that. From reading a lot of these responses that is just what happened. A lot of people are responding that they were or are uncomfortable with that discussion. Personally I don’t feel one way or another about this subject. I am a guy so obviously don’t deal with this often so I don’t really have an opinion about it. If a female wants to talk about that subject I would be fine with that, if they didn’t ok I am fine with that too. During class Sam was wanting the girls to respond to the question asking if any of them were “bleeding” and that is something that is their own decision if they wish to answer or not. He was not about to force any of them to answer he was simply illustrating a point to try to get us to think and question why. Fri, 26 Mar 2010 22:00:45 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/flip-the-script-for-a-moment__trashed/#IDComment64256613 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/does-this-rudeness-thing-cut-both-ways__trashed/#IDComment63063168 I did notice that too and it did seem to me that there is possibly a double standard there. I could see that in the same way that the white people that talk about racism and inequality can be labeled as racist themselves. It would be just as easy for the person that said something about the comments made by black and brown people could themselves be labeled. This doesn’t seem right or fair to me with everyone talking about wanting equality. I could be way off on this and frankly I just plain don’t know but it does seem like a double standard. Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:56:26 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/does-this-rudeness-thing-cut-both-ways__trashed/#IDComment63063168 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-happens-to-multiracial-people__trashed/#IDComment63058778 I have personally never thought about that issue I am Polish, Ukrainian and pretty damn white. This does raise a pretty interesting question and I would have no idea how to even begin to start answering it. I do understand the people of color vs. white questions because pretty much white people have discriminated against people of every race, religion, color, and creed so whether right or wrong most other people are lumped together because they all have that one common factor. There particular group has been or is still being discriminated against and the common “enemy” or perpetrator of that discrimination is or was predominately the white people. So I think that there I sort of a double edge sword and in this situation I would think that people should answer with whatever they feel more comfortable with. Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:40:05 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-happens-to-multiracial-people__trashed/#IDComment63058778 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/women-and-sports__trashed/#IDComment63050856 It seems to me that during this interview that she might have been hiding her excitement and feelings. I don’t know if it is true but that was my impression. I also find it hard to believe that she said that she has not received any discrimination or sexism if you would call it that. I would assume that somewhere along the line there has been something or someone that has either said or done something. Maby not directly to her but I would almost guarantee that there a lot of people that have a problem with her. With that said I think that her getting the job could be a great thing as long as she didn’t get hired to make some sort of a statement or news story and I don’t think that this is the case with her experience I think that she could quite possibly be the best thing for the team. It will most likely not be the best season that the team has ever had simply because when there is a major change in any organization such as getting a new coach it will take some time for everyone involved to adjust to a new coaching style and I can see someone taking that very normal adjustment period and trying to flip that into the idea that she is not doing or capable of doing her job. This is more than likely not in the least bit true. I really do hope that the team has a good season and that will do something to possibly silence any of the naysayers. If this does workout I think that It could open a lot of doors for others in similar positions. One of the things I would like to find out is how the kids on her team do actually feel about having a female coach. I would suspect that none of them have ever had a female coach for any of their football teams. I know that I have never had a female coach at any of the levels of football I have ever played. One other good thing that I can see coming out of this is that there would possibly be more females that would consider playing football. I know that there are females that play at the high school level but they are few and far between and if there are females that want to play this could give them the little push needed to actually go out and try to make the team. I know that there were a couple of females that I went to high school with that I think would have made pretty good football players. But none of them ever tried out for the team. Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:12:32 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/women-and-sports__trashed/#IDComment63050856 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/the-world-is-full-of-surprises__trashed/#IDComment61796884 This was a very interesting article. That a tribe kept the oral traditions for that long is pretty amazing. What is really interesting to me is how Perez Hamandishe stated that Christianity is his religion and Judaism is his culture. With a lot of the laws and restrictions of certain religions to include Judaism I just don’t understand how that could be considered a culture without being a religion. The two sides Christianity and Judaism seem to me to be so different under the context of Jesus that I just don’t see how the two sides can coexist within the same person. I could be way off here but it just seems strange to me. The only thing I can think is that maybe the cultural aspect of it is all they follow. Not necessarily the beliefs but just like anywhere else have certain cultural foods and practices that they follow. The more I think about it it doesn’t seem that outrageous Sat, 13 Mar 2010 04:04:45 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/the-world-is-full-of-surprises__trashed/#IDComment61796884 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/prom-or-no-prom-just-dont-let-the-queer-students-dance-together__trashed/#IDComment61796278 This is just plain ridiculous I know that there are still a lot of individuals especially in the south that have some pretty extreme views about things like homosexuality but after national and international attention and the involvement of the ACLU for them to continue to ban a gay couple from prom and then canceling it I just don’t understand what was going through their minds to at some point feel that this was a good idea. When the teacher was asked about the ban the response was that she needed to “remember where she was” that seems to me like the lowest form of a bullshit excuse. I just cant see how after this much attention the canceling of the prom still happened. I can see so many lawsuits coming out of this that at some point someone in the school district has to realize that there will be a lot of backlash from this decision. The other thing is that I do feel bad for the girl not only was she first banned from her own prom but now that it is canceled she will have and already has a lot of the other students mad at her and she will be ostracized which could have some pretty serious detrimental effects on her. Also the labels that will be placed on her as another response brought up the point that she will not just be the girl that got prom canceled but the gay girl that got prom canceled. That makes me wonder what opinions these students will have of the LGBT community later in life are they going to continue with the discrimination when they grow up or will at some point will they realize that it was not the fault of Constance McMillen and simply the ignorance of the school board and its officials. I would like to see what ends up happening to the school district and the district officials. Something definitely needs to be done at least to say that acts like this are not acceptable. The school districts response was that the prom was canceled because there would be too many distractions to the educational process due to these events. What I can’t see is what these so called distractions would be I think that the canceling of prom would be a bigger distraction. Prom is not part of the educational process but not having it would have the kids thinking about what they missed and concentrating on that would be a distraction to the education of these kids. As insignificant as it seems to me a lot of these kids spend their high school careers looking forward to things like prom and to take it away form them is not right whether they are gay or straight. Sat, 13 Mar 2010 03:59:52 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/prom-or-no-prom-just-dont-let-the-queer-students-dance-together__trashed/#IDComment61796278 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/this-is-getting-to-be-too-much__trashed/#IDComment61796155 This seems a bit crazy to me that in light of the recent or possibly ongoing racial tensions that minority students would be the ones perpetrating these acts. And for the president of the black student union to say that that doesn’t change anything is interesting. It would be my thought that who does these things would change everything such as that there does need to be some sort of racial education for the entire school population not as he said that he wanted more of a student run education I think it would be great for the school to have certain classes and even mandate them for all students because the key is simply education. Sat, 13 Mar 2010 03:58:51 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/this-is-getting-to-be-too-much__trashed/#IDComment61796155 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/1880__trashed/#IDComment58876361 There are both good and bad that can come of this. I feel that the good does outweigh the bad. I may be slightly biased on this because I grew up in an oilfield town. Also I have seen a lot of the bad that can come out of this. At first glance added money will help the socioeconomic state on the reservation in one fell swoop taking the residents out of poverty. The tribe plans to use this added income to pay off some of the tribes’ debt and use it for important things like roads and healthcare. The casino general manager said that there are now locals that are spending their money in the casino showing that a lot more people on the reservation now have at least some disposable income. According to the article in 2000 close to forty percent of the population was out of work. It does not give current statistics but the current situation has added a lot of jobs which will help tremendously. There are always negatives that will come from an abundance of money suddenly added to the community. One of the things I saw in the town I grew up in was the use of drugs and people not getting education. I think that one of the reasons for a lot of people not graduating high school was that a lot of people could get jobs as roughnecks at sixteen or seventeen and after they got the job they figured that there was no point to finish their schooling. Another problem that I have seen from a large oilfield industry is the abuse of drugs and alcohol. I have seen a lot of uneducated people suddenly making pretty good money and not knowing what to do with it and eventually turning to drugs. With the difficult taxing work that is involved in the oilfield a lot of workers turn to these to try to relax or unwind after work. Being that there is already a much higher percent of Native Americans that are alcoholics and drug abusers this could have a huge affect on the next generation. This could possibly snowball and cause these statics to grow to a much larger percentage of the population. This could possibly be negated if the extra money coming into the reservation is put to good work. It was stated that they plan to put money to policing and if these considerations are taken into account I think that these problems could not be problems. If the tribes and the reservation as a whole makes more of an incentive for the children to stay in school and stay off drugs this oil field money could be a great thing for the community. Sat, 27 Feb 2010 02:43:31 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/1880__trashed/#IDComment58876361 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/native-americans-question-one__trashed/#IDComment58885519 I don’t think necessarily that teaching about the genocide to preschoolers is the best idea for the simple fact that I don’t believe that children of that age have the mental capacity to fully understand what genocide even is or how it affected this country or the native Americans. I do however think that it should be taught in schools. Most American history classes make little or no reference to these acts and the current struggles that face many Native Americans. I also feel that it would be a good thing for schools to teach about the different cultures of Native Americans even early in schools. Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:56:26 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/native-americans-question-one__trashed/#IDComment58885519 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/when-do-we-do-or-say-something__trashed/#IDComment58879958 Yes we are entitled to freedom of speech but so is the person making those racial comments. It is perfectly understandable to me why some people will not get involved. Whether you support the words and actions of the person behind the counter or not it is irrelevant. Some people believe that making a comment or standing up to the worker would not allow some of his freedoms, namely to say and believe what he chooses to whether it is racist or just politically incorrect. The true reason that I think most people didn’t say or do anything was simply anonymity they don’t want to bring undue attention to themselves. Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:08:24 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/when-do-we-do-or-say-something__trashed/#IDComment58879958 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/all-that-is-solid-melts-into-air-including-our-words__trashed/#IDComment56584217 It is almost sad that such a long spoken language will never be heard again. If not sad it is at least worth pondering, in another thousand years what will be left of our culture and language. Will everything we hold dear have vanished or will it still be around? If nothing is left of what we know, what will replace it? With things changing almost on a daily basis I feel that is still important to try to learn from the past and other cultures. Modern civilizations have also helped to preserve some cultures as in the Navajo and a written language being created from what was only spoken. Now there are a lot of stories and oral tradition that can be written down and preserved. Sat, 13 Feb 2010 02:21:17 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/all-that-is-solid-melts-into-air-including-our-words__trashed/#IDComment56584217 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/why-is-the-conversation-always-about-black-and-white-people__trashed/#IDComment56584152 I really agree with Laurie and the points she made about the cause of the black and white issue being related at least in some way to the civil rights movement. I can see how someone living through that time and those events could start to get an “us versus them” mentality and how that mentality could become such an influential force that it is still driving conversations today. I don’t think that it is because somehow the African Americans suffered more than any other racial groups. I am not going to try to downplay the suffering of one racial group over another I think that there are very few people that could make that argument with any amount of intelligence or accuracy and I am definitely not one of them. Sat, 13 Feb 2010 02:20:42 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/why-is-the-conversation-always-about-black-and-white-people__trashed/#IDComment56584152 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/animals-vs-humans-vs-welfare-cheats__trashed/#IDComment56583964 I believe in the freedom of speech as much as anyone and I do feel that anyone should have the right to say anything or just about anything about anyone whether it be derogatory or not. That said I also believe that people should have the responsibility to face the consequences of their actions whether these are simply making an idiot out of yourself, having a group of people mad at you or saying the wrong thing to someone at the bar and getting beat up. People should also have the foresight to think about the outcome of their actions and words before they make the mistake. Politicians are especially susceptible to backlash from what they say more so than other celebrities. Movie stars and musicians are almost expected to stir controversy and their actions will be forgotten in a week. Politicians on the other hand one wrong move could possibly ruin their career. Politicians are accustom to lying and so much of their lives are all but scripted. In that sense this should have never happened if he believes these statements or not is beside the point if every politician was ostracized for one of their beliefs there would be absolutely no support for any single person in Washington. There is really nothing that can be done except for the people in prominent places and power to try to watch what they say and maybe think before it actually comes out of their mouths. In no way am I saying that I agree with or support what Mr. Bauer said. It was immoral and just plain stupid. It is irreverent whether he actually believes this or not it is about his words and actions. No politician is going to do something or say something to possibly jeopardize their career. Politicians are held to a higher standard because they are elected as representatives of the people of the United States and in a perfect world they would never make mistakes or do anything that offends anyone but this is not a perfect world not everyone is going to agree all the time and some things are going to offend people that’s just the way it is. The welfare debate is one that is going to live on for some time in regards to who should receive money, how much, and what the distribution should be. There was a comment I heard on the radio about how nothing can ever get solved by simply throwing money at it without having some sort of expectations. And there are people that are receiving welfare checks without being anything close to a productive member of society, without even trying to better themselves or their situation. Also as the article stated there many more people that are receiving welfare subsidies that are very wealthy and have no need for additional assistance. Sat, 13 Feb 2010 02:19:01 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/animals-vs-humans-vs-welfare-cheats__trashed/#IDComment56583964 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/negros-of-the-world-unite__trashed/#IDComment55564463 As a whole I think that there is too much emphasis on race and ethnic makeup. I understand that It will never be a nonissue well at least not in my lifetime. I understand why the government wants that data, as it said in the article for things like loans and home owners. As far as the terminology goes no matter what term is used there will always be someone that is offended or if you head to the other extreme of political correctness people are going to feel left out and one way or another there will always be a measure of some error. I don’t think that there can or will be any perfect answer for this problem but with any luck sometime in the future there will be a solution to this. Sat, 6 Feb 2010 03:03:24 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/negros-of-the-world-unite__trashed/#IDComment55564463